A diet rich in flaxseed seems to reduce the size, aggressiveness and severity of tumors in mice that have been genetically engineered to develop prostate cancer, according to new research from Duke University Medical Center. And in 3 percent of the mice, the flaxseed diet kept them from getting the disease at all.

“We are cautiously optimistic about these findings,” said Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, Ph.D., associate professor, division of urology and senior author of the study that appears in t

Understanding the timed messages within cells could lead to new medical treatments

Researchers from The Johns Hopkins University and other institutions have discovered a biochemical “clock” that appears to play a crucial role in the way information is sent from the surface of a cell to its nucleus. These messages can cause the cell to thrive or commit suicide, and manipulating them could lead to new treatments for cancer and other diseases, the researchers say.

The findings,

Syracuse University researchers pick up where Darwin left off: Groundbreaking study to be published in the Nov. 8 issue of Science

When it comes to mating and determining whose sperm reaches the elusive egg, females control both the playing field and the rules of the game, according to a new study on male sperm competition vs. female choice to be published in the Nov. 8 issue of Science.
“Our study demonstrates, unambiguously, the active role females play in determining the condi

The lotus – a flowering wetland plant native to Asia – may not at first glance be of interest to the nanotechnologist. But researchers at German chemical company BASF are developing a spray-on coating that mimics the way lotus leaves repel water droplets and particles of dirt. The story is reported on nanotechweb.org, the Institute of Physics’ global portal for nanotechnology.

The leaves of Lotus plants are coated with minute wax crystals around 1 nm in diameter which repel water, droplets f

An international team of scientists has discovered a novel genetic trait that protects its carriers against the deadliest forms of malaria, while people without the trait are more likely to succumb to its fatal consequences.

This trait — a mutation or “polymorphism” in the NOS2 gene — controls the production of nitric oxide, a small chemical that can kill parasites and prevent malaria disease. Results of their study are published in the Nov. 9, 2002, issue of The Lancet.

The gen

Virtually hairless, venerably wrinkled and very nearly blind, naked mole-rats — those homely rodents from underground Africa — remind some zoo-goers of little old men.

The resemblance is more than coincidence. They really are really old males — and females, too — biologists report in an article scheduled for November publication in the Journal of Zoology (Vol. 258, Part 3). Many naked mole-rats ( Heterocephalus glaber ) in laboratory colonies in the United States and South A

Researchers studying the Hedgehog signaling pathway have identified small molecules that could form the foundations of exciting new treatments for Parkinson’s disease and certain cancers. New research published in Journal of Biology – the open access journal for exceptional research – has identified small molecules that are able to stimulate or block the Hedgehog signalling pathway, which is essential to the development, maintenance and repair of cells in the human body. The potential o

New data examines effect of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) on survival in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

The findings of a retrospective database study examining the effect of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) on survival in COPD patients1 were presented today at the American College of Chest Physicians CHEST 2002 Annual Conference in San Diego.

The investigators identified male and female patients, ages 40 and older, who were enrolled in the Lovelace

Aspirin may reduce ovarian cancer growth, a laboratory study by the USF College of Medicine has shown.

The study, published in the October issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, demonstrated that aspirin inhibited ovarian tumor cell growth by as much as 68 percent. The higher the dosage of aspirin added to the culture of ovarian cancer cells, the more growth inhibition was observed.

The researchers also found that combining aspirin with a monoclonal antibody specific for th

Drug users with access to controversial syringe-exchange programs are up to six times less likely to put themselves at risk of HIV infection, according to a new UC Davis study published in the November issue of Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

“While programs to control the spread of HIV by providing clean needles to drug users remain controversial in California and around the country, this study clearly shows that syringe-exchange programs save lives — and save society mil

In a finding that could open the door to future treatments for many genetic diseases such as sickle cell anemia and muscular dystrophy, researchers have produced high levels of transplanted, healthy stem cells in mice, while sharply reducing a hazardous side effect of cell and organ transplants called graft-versus-host disease.
By combining prenatal transplants of blood-forming stem cells with manipulations of blood cells after birth, researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia a

Study finds expectation of humor has a biological effect on body

Go ahead, laugh. In fact, look forward to the upcoming positive event. It does the body good.

Yes, even looking forward to a happy, funny event increases endorphins and other relaxation-inducing hormones as well as decreases other detrimental stress hormones, a UC Irvine College of Medicine-led study has found.

In previous studies, the scientists found that anticipating a funny video reduced feelings

In the race to cure cancer, researchers look for roadblocks that could stop cancer in its tracks, preventing it from spreading to other parts of the body. Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison may have found that blockade – an enzyme critical to the ability of cells to metastasize, a biological phenomenon by which cells migrate. The findings are published in the Nov. 7 issue of the journal Nature.

“The real, life-threatening problem with most cancers is that they migrate away

How do 30,000 genes in our DNA work together to form a large part of who we are? How do one hundred billion neurons operate in our brain? The huge number of factors involved makes such complex networks hard to crack. Now, a study published in the October 25 issue of Science uncovers a strategy for finding the organizing principles of virtually any network – from neural networks to ecological food webs or the Internet.

A team headed by Dr. Uri Alon, of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Mo

Electronic nose detects pneumonia in critically ill patients

According to a team of researchers from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, an electronic nose – a relatively new version of a sensor previously used in the food, wine and perfume industries – can quickly and accurately diagnose pneumonia in critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients. The results will be presented at the CHEST 2002 Annual Meeting Tuesday, November 5th in San Diago.

“We wanted to fu

Although a casual observer in the operating room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Oct. 8 could have been pardoned for initially believing that the surgeon was playing high-tech video games, he was actually performing the nation’s first Zeus® robotic system-assisted gastric bypass surgery. Zeus, manufactured by Computer Motion, is a multi-armed, highly evolved robotic system for computer-enhanced surgery.

The patient, Kim Kishi, was released from the hospital on Friday, Oct. 11, just thre