MRI can effectively detect cancers missed by mammography and physical examination, but cancers can have some surprising characteristics on the MR image, a new study shows.

The study included 59 women with 65 cancers that were not detected by physical examination or on a mammogram, said Lia Bartella, MD, assistant professor of radiology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The classic criteria for cancer on an MR image is a mass that looks bright after contrast media is inje

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center are describing an entirely new way by which cells can become cancerous. And they say their finding provides an answer to a mystery in lung and other cancers: why a potent tumor suppressor gene called FUS1 functions as it should, yet none of the protein it produces can be found anywhere in a cancer cell.

In the May issue of Cancer Research, Advances in Brief, the investigators report that protective proteins made by FUS1 are

One of the unfortunate side effects of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation is that the newly implanted cells often stage an internal attack against the patient they’re intended to help. Stanford University School of Medicine researchers now have a better grasp of this phenomenon, known as graft-versus-host disease, or GVHD, and have proposed a possible method of prevention: simple ultraviolet light.

In a new animal study, researchers identified the principal culprit in GVHD: an i

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) currently afflicts approximately 4.5 million Americans. One of the most feared diseases of old age, AD robs its victims of their memories and personalities long before it takes their lives. Curing or slowing the progress of AD has been a high priority in the scientific community, but an early and accurate diagnosis is equally important given that several other forms of dementia display the same symptoms as AD, especially in the early stages.

A promising breakth

Parkinson’s disease was first described in 1817 by the London physician James Parkinson. A great amount of research has been carried out since that time but the fundamental causes of the disease remain unresolved. Some time ago now researchers found that a neurotransmitter, dopamine, played a key role in this illness. This is why the majority of treatments used today to counter Parkinson’s increase the level of dopamine in the brain exciting the receptors of this neurotransmitter.

Animal

There is little, if any, evidence that adult stem cells can build other cells in an adult organism than those formed in the organs they themselves come from. At any rate, blood stem cells do not convert to heart muscle cells in a damaged heart, which was previously hoped. This has been shown by a research team from the Stem Cell Center at Lund University in Sweden in an article in Nature Medicine.

During the end of the 1990s and early 2000s scientists nourished great hopes that adult stem ce

The overproduction, or ‘overexpression’, of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is one of the most common aberrations in cancer, and subsequently agents that inhibit EGFR are among the most hotly-pursued potential products in the pharmaceutical industry. Now, just weeks after one of the first anti-EGFR antibodies, ImClone’s Erbitux (Cetuximab), was approved for use in Europe and the USA, a ‘second generation’ anti-EGFR antibody is set to enter early-phase clinical trials in Australia. In two

What’s a little male fish’s secret weapon for attracting the lady fish? Something some guys but few other males in the animal kingdom have thought of: It acts like a good dad.

Sand gobies, small fish native to the European coast, are among about 20 percent of fish families worldwide that display some form of care for eggs or hatchlings. But in experiments reported in the current issue of the journal Behavioral Ecology, a team that includes a University of Florida scientist reports

Certain types of cells from fat tissue can repair skull defects in mice, say researchers at Stanford University Medical Center. Because this type of healing process does not depend on the use of embryonic stem cells or gene therapy, it may one day allow doctors to use a patient’s own unmodified cells as building blocks to heal fractures, replace joints, treat osteoporosis or correct defects in bone growth or healing.

“These cells are from you, for you and by you,” said Lucile Packard Child

Because they target and track deadly brain tumor cells – even those that migrate within the brain – neural stem cells appear to be effective “delivery systems” to transport cancer-killing gene and immune products. But not all neural stem cells take on this tracking role.

Now researchers at Cedars-Sinai’s Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, using mouse and human cells, have defined a subset of neural stem cells that have this tumor-tracking potential. They also have identified a bioc

A drug that suppresses the immune system delays the onset of AIDS in patients with HIV, according to a study published this week in BMC Medicine. Prednisolone, taken without any antiviral therapy, postponed the loss of T-cells that leads to AIDS in 50% of HIV sufferers by between 2 and 10 years.

HIV leads to a complex disorder that combines an initial chronic activation of the immune system with a progressive decrease in the number of CD4+ T cells, which are involved in the immune response.

Nearly a century after Alzheimer’s disease was first identified, there has been no foolproof way to diagnose the illness in a living patient. But a new method used by doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas is almost 100 percent accurate when combined with clinical assessment.

Testing blood flow in a specific region of the brain may boost the degree of diagnostic certainty in difficult cases from 90 percent to almost 100 percent, said Dr. Frederick Bonte, director of the Nuc

Multidetector CT (MDCT) is superior to plain film x-rays for detecting problems that occur in patients who have undergone hip replacements, a new study shows.

Hip prostheses generally last 10-15 years, said Joshua Farber, MD, vice chair of clinical affairs at Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis. Then a series of complications can occur. Dr. Farber studied 45 patients who had pain in their replaced hip, using both plain film x-rays and MDCT to diagnose the problem. MDCT was 100

Benign breast masses can be safely and effectively removed without surgery—using a vacuum assisted breast biopsy system, preliminary results of a study show

The study found that breast masses as large as 3 cm could be completely removed with just a small incision. The study included 24 patients, with 27 lesions, said Priscilla Slanetz, MD, director of breast imaging at Caritas St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, MA, a teaching affiliate Tufts University School of Medicine.

Cells derived from the inside of a tooth might someday prove an effective way to treat the brains of people suffering from Parkinson’s disease

A study in the May 1 issue of the European Journal of Neuroscience shows dental pulp cells provide great support for nerve cells lost in Parkinson’s disease and could be transplanted directly into the affected parts of the brain. The study’s lead author is Christopher Nosrat, an assistant professor of biological and materials sci

Staying close to mother helps baby dolphins swim – but they can’t keep together when fleeing from fishing boats

Why has the introduction of dolphin-friendly tuna-fishing methods not led to a recovery of dolphin populations? A new study shows how chase by tuna fishermen may sever the link between mother and baby dolphins, to disastrous effect.

Young dolphins keep up with their mothers, who are more powerful swimmers, by adopting the ideal position to get a ’free ride’ in th