Cancer researchers at Perth’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research (TICHR) have developed a new test that can rapidly detect the loss of genes in cancer cells, paving the way for more targeted and effective treatments for patients.

Australian Cancer Technology (AustCancer, ASX:ACU) today announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement with the Institute to commercialise this novel technology and bring it to the market as quickly as possible.

Professor Ursula

Imaging damaged brain cells in living mice provides Alzheimer’s clues

Using recently developed techniques for imaging individual cells in living animals, a team led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has watched as Alzheimer’s-like brain plaques damage mouse brain cells.

The results will be presented at 9 a.m. CT on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans.

“This wor

Managing pain may one day be as easy as sticking on a Band-AidTM. Russian researchers at the company BIOFIL Ltd. in Sarov are developing a line of miniature transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) devices that work as a non-drug alternative to pain relief and are small enough for patients to use without hindering daily life.

TENS technology is an accepted (FDA approved) and effective way to handle acute or chronic pain associated with diseases affecting muscles and joints. There a

The enzyme that can help turn a one-time experience into a long-term memory has been identified in mice, researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center reported today at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans. Ashok Hegde, Ph.D., of Wake Forest described the researchers’ work and proposed a theory for how lasting memories are formed, a process that involves the enzyme known as protein kinase C.

“One of the hallmarks of memories that last very lo

Researchers from Cardiff University have uncovered a molecular pathway that plays a pivotal role in the onset of arthritis. Their research, published this week in Arthritis Research & Therapy, could aid in the discovery of novel targets for arthritis drugs. The researchers found that inhibiting the molecule PKR could prevent two processes central to the onset of arthritis: the production and activation of enzymes that break down connective tissue; and the release from cartilage of one of its

Research News from British Journal of Surgery

Using key-hole surgery to remove a kidney from a healthy living donor means that donors require less pain relief after the operation, spend less time in hospital and return to work sooner than donors who give up a kidney by standard open surgery. Writing in the latest edition of the British Journal of Surgery, Dr Alexander Handschin, Dr Markus Weber, Professor Pierre-Alan Clavien and colleagues from Zurich, Switzerland, say that this metho

Advances in neurosurgery have opened the operating room door for an amazing array of highly invasive forms of brain surgery, but doctors and patients still face an incredibly important decision – whether to operate when life-saving surgery could irrevocably damage a patient’s ability to speak, read or even comprehend a simple conversation.

Now, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are developing a painless, non-invasive imaging technique that surgeons here already are usin

Researchers at UH College of Pharmacy find neurological benefits in nicotine

Cigarettes might just hold the key to treating some serious neurological problems. Scientists at the University of Houston have unlocked one of the first doors, discovering that nicotine repairs damaged brain function. Karim Alkadhi, associate professor of pharmacology, and his team of researchers at the UH College of Pharmacy recently have established that nicotine has a beneficial effect and, in many cases,

A nicotine metabolite shows promise for improving memory and protecting brain cells from diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s without addiction and other side effects of nicotine, says a Medical College of Georgia researcher.

Laboratory studies also indicate the metabolite cotinine may be a safe treatment for the debilitating psychotic behavior of schizophrenics, Dr. Jerry J. Buccafusco, pharmacologist and director of the MCG Alzheimer’s Research Center, says in an abstract present

American Heart Association meeting report

A drug that stimulates bone marrow to produce stem cells helped regenerate damaged heart muscle in one of the first studies of its kind, according to a report presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2003.

The drug, granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), treats some forms of cancer. It stimulates bone marrow to produce the different types of blood cells, including white blood cells that can become

American Heart Association meeting report

Heart valves engineered from patients’ own tissue may offer a new treatment for valvular heart disease, researchers reported today at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2003.

“Using this tissue-engineered valve overcomes many of the problems with mechanical or donor valves because it is a living structure from the patient’s own tissue, and so it does not cause an immunological reaction,” said Pascal M.

Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have discovered that a protein expressed by the immune system, called TL1A, is linked to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in patients, especially Crohn’s disease. This is the first time TL1A has been linked to Crohn’s. In a study involving fifty patients at U.Va., published in the Nov. 1 issue of The Journal of Immunology, the research team found that TL1A was expressed in patients suffering from IBD, but not in control patients who ar

Neuroscientists at Jefferson Medical College have shown for the first time that low levels of lead have a profound effect on the growth and development of embryonic stem cells.

According to Jay Schneider, Ph.D., professor of neurology, pathology, anatomy and cell biology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, researchers have known for years the potentially devastating effects of even low levels of lead exposure on the cognitive abilities of children. Lead exposure is

A team of researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder is developing a “Flu Chip” that will aid physicians in swiftly diagnosing respiratory illness for future flu seasons.

The Flu Chip will allow doctors and public health officials to differentiate between three types of influenza and other viruses that cause similar clinical symptoms, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

The CU team, led by Professor Kathy Rowlen and co-principal investigator and Associate

While examining the flight behavior of flesh flies, Cornell University entomologists have discovered that males of the species (Sarcophagidae: Neobellieria bullata ) — traveling at very high speed, soaring in sexual pursuit and swiveling their heads like gun turrets — literally can lose sight of a target female. Yet the males compensate for the momentary loss of vision and still catch up to mate.

A detailed explanation of this quirk in vision physiology and neurological processing could h

With the sequence of the human genome largely in hand and the majority of genes now available for study, scientists have increasingly turned their attention to better understanding the process of gene regulation. How is a gene turned on? How is a gene turned off? Estimates are that only one in ten genes is active in a given cell at a given time, so these questions are biologically significant. And in many ways, health turns on the appropriate and reliable control of genes. An array of disease conditi