Finding identifies how estrogen-blocking ability of gene inhibits tumor growth

A UC Irvine researcher has found a novel tumor- suppressor function for a gene that, when mutated, often triggers breast cancer in women. The work also provides further evidence about how estrogen helps activate a disease that afflicts thousands of American women each year.

Dr. Ellis Levin, a professor of medicine, biochemistry and pharmacology at UCI, and colleagues at the Long Beach Veterans Ad

Characterize intermediates at atomic level

University of Toronto scientists are helping to answer one of the most important questions in biochemistry, one that has implications for treating neurodegenerative diseases: how do proteins fold into their three-dimensional structures?
In research published in the July 29 issue of Nature, U of T post-doctoral fellow Dmitry Korzhnev and his supervisor, Professor Lewis Kay of the Department of Biochemistry, become the first researchers

The presence and severity of peripheral arterial disease, as measured by comparing blood pressures in the arm and leg, and the nature of the leg symptoms a patient experiences can be used to identify those at highest risk of decline in walking endurance, according to a study in the July 28 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a chronic condition that results from narrowing of the vessels that supply oxygen-rich blood to

The latest scientific and clinical advancements in head and neck cancer, one of the most deadly forms of this disease, will be presented at the 6th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer being held August 7-11, 2004, at the Wardman Park Marriott in Washington, DC. The meeting, sponsored by the American Head and Neck Society, will host world renowned experts in the diagnosis, treatment, reconstruction, rehabilitation, and basic science of head and neck oncology.

Head and neck canc

U.S. adults spent an average of three days a month feeling “sad, blue, or depressed”, during 1995-2000, according to a study published today in Health and Quality of Life Outcomes.

“People who reported a higher number of sad, blue or depressed days also reported engaging in unhealthy behaviours such as cigarette smoking and physical inactivity,” write the authors of the study. “Although most people who report depressive symptoms several days each month probably do not have a diagno

Having been a victim of stuttering, only able to relieve the pressure of the inability to enunciate my thoughts at a young age through concentration and replacement of words, this topic has special meaning. After quite a long time spent in a career in broadcasting where speaking was what I was paid for, the hope of conquering stuttering is not only strong but it is mandatory. It’s causes are few while it’s consequences are vast. It is time for research to concentrate on causes and not on w

The preferred treatment for hepatitis C, peg-interferon and ribavirin, is safe for people who are also infected with HIV, according to a new study in the July 29 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. Moreover, this treatment proved superior for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in HIV-coinfected persons when compared with the previously accepted treatment, standard interferon and ribavirin.

The study compared the effectiveness of two forms of interferon: a once-weekly dose of

Reproductive technology is an issue that grows more complicated and more controversial each day. Some experts believe that imminent reproductive techniques, like human cloning and germ-line genetic engineering, pose the risk of injuries so frequent and so serious that they should be prohibited completely. Others believe this technology has endless medical possibilities and should be used to its fullest potential. A new book by a University of Missouri-Columbia researcher helps create a road map for

Even though we have lost much of our fear of tuberculosis in the industrialized countries, according to the WHO about 2 mio. people worldwide die each year of this infectious disease. Researchers at the University of Leeds have now discovered a carbohydrate with an unusual structure in the cell walls of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. This could be a new starting point for pharmaceutical research.

The main component of the cell walls of mycobacteria is a l

Scientists at Johns Hopkins are calling for simultaneous evaluation of both genetic and epigenetic information in the search to understand contributors to such common diseases as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Writing in the August issue of Trends in Genetics, available now online, the scientists provide a framework for systematically incorporating epigenetic information into traditional genetic studies, something they say will be necessary to understand the genetic and environmental factors be

Trees and grass are usually the only “heroes” that come to mind for consuming carbon dioxide and producing oxygen for planet Earth, but they have allies in the water: phytoplankton, or in another word, algae.

Phytoplankton are mostly single-celled photosynthetic organisms that feed fish and marine mammals. They are responsible for nearly 50 percent of the earth’s annual carbon-dioxide consumption and more than 45 percent of the oxygen production. Despite the important roles of modern p

Emory University scientists have for the first time used a new class of luminescent “quantum dot” nanoparticles in living animals to simultaneously target and image cancerous tumors. The quantum dots were encapsulated in a highly protective polymer coating and attached to a monoclonal antibody that guided them to prostate tumor sites in living mice, where they were visible using a simple mercury lamp. The scientists believe the ability to both target and image cells in vivo represents a significant s

Scientists at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University have uncovered the genes that enable plants to interact with beneficial soil dwelling fungi and to access phosphate delivered to the roots by these fungi — a first step, they say, toward enhancing the beneficial relationship for crop plants , while reducing fertilizer use and phosphate pollution in the environment.

Discovery of the phosphate-transport genes was announced today (July 28, 2004) by Maria Har

Nearly everyone has heard the popular notion that the blind hear better than the sighted – possibly to make up for their inability to see. Now, researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), McGill University and at the Université de Montréal have shown that the blind really do hear notes more precisely but only if they became blind when they were very young. Their findings, Pitch discrimination in the Early Blind, were published in the journal Nature (July 15th).

Dr. Robert Zat

As many as 65 percent of stroke patients are likely to be treated with antihypertensive medications during the first four days of hospitalization, despite current guidelines of the American Stoke Association that recommend against treating all but the most severe cases of hypertension during the first few days following a stroke. A recent retrospective study found that nearly all stroke patients who were being treated for hypertension prior to admission had their medication regimens continued or int

In a study using hypothetical cases, physicians commonly made end-of-life treatment decisions that were not consistent with patient preferences stated in explicit advance directives, according to an article in the July 26 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

According to background information in the article, significant concern remains about how well physicians know and follow the treatment preferences of their patients. Decisions are particularly