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Source - EurekAlert – Biology
Public Release: 10-Jun-2009
Scientists advance safety of nanotechnology
Scientists have identified for the first time a mechanism by which nanoparticles cause lung damage and have demonstrated that it can be combated by blocking the process involved, taking a step toward addressing the growing concerns over the safety of nanotechnology.
Contact: Emma Ross
rosswrite@mac.com
Oxford University Press
Public Release: 10-Jun-2009
Cancer: The cost of being smarter than chimps?
A study suggests that humans cognitively superior brains means more instances of cancer compared to chimpanzees.
Contact: David Terraso
david.terraso@comm.gatech.edu
404-385-2966
Georgia Institute of Technology
Public Release: 9-Jun-2009
Researchers identify new risk factor gene for rheumatoid arthritis
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and a team of collaborators from across the country have identified a new risk factor gene for rheumatoid arthritis. The gene, dubbed REL, is a member of the NF-kB family. The NF-kB family seems to have a big hand in regulating the body's immune response.
Contact: Jamie Talan
jtalan@nshs.edu
516-562-1232
North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System
Public Release: 9-Jun-2009
Study finds colorectal cancer rates increasing worldwide
A new study finds colorectal cancer incidence rates for both males and females increased in 27 of 51 countries worldwide between 1983 and 2002, and points to increasing Westernization as being a likely culprit.
Contact: David Sampson
david.sampson@cancer.org
American Cancer Society
Public Release: 9-Jun-2009
Colon cancer screening technique shows continued promise in new study
Recent clinical trials show that a new colon cancer screening technique created by Northwestern University researchers has a high enough sensitivity that it could potentially be as or more successful than a colonoscopy in screening for colon cancer.
Contact: Kyle Delaney
k-delaney@northwestern.edu
847-467-4010
Northwestern University
Public Release: 9-Jun-2009
New accurate diagnostic test for swine H1N1 influenza using RT-PCR technology
A new, easy-to-perform method for detecting seasonal influenza A virus and the emerging H1N1 swine-derived influenza A virus in human clinical samples offers a fast, sensitive, and cost-effective diagnostic test that runs on standard laboratory equipment. This timely and broadly applicable molecular technique is described in an article published online ahead of print in Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert Inc. The article is available free online.
Contact: Vicki Cohn
vcohn@liebertpub.com
914-740-2156
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News
Public Release: 9-Jun-2009
Immune cells ameliorate hypertension-induced cardiac damage in mice
Researchers in Berlin, Germany have found that a specific type of immune cell, the regulatory T lymphocyte plays an important role in hypertension-induced cardiac damage. The injected Treg that they harvested from donor mice into recipient mice were infused with angiotensin II, a blood pressure-raising peptide. The Tregs had no influence on the blood pressure response to angiotensin II. Nonetheless, cardiac enlargement, fibrosis, and inflammation was sharply reduced by Treg treatment.
Contact: Barbara Bachtler
bachtler@mdc-berlin.de
49-309-406-3896
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
Public Release: 9-Jun-2009
Alzheimer's disease: Newly found peptide offers hope of early test and better treatment
Researchers in Japan have detected a peptide in cerebrospinal fluid that can show whether a person is developing Alzheimer's disease. Measuring the level of this peptide could show that the disease process has started, long before any serious damage is done to the brain.
Contact: Ben Norman
wbnewseurope@wiley.com
44-012-437-70375
Wiley-Blackwell
Public Release: 9-Jun-2009
Protein linked to Alzheimer's disease doesn't act alone
A team of US investigators led by neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center are steadily uncovering the role that amyloid precursor protein (APP) -- the protein implicated in development of Alzheimer's disease -- plays in normal brain function. In the June 10 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, they discovered that APP interacts with another protein known as Reelin to promote development of abundant connections between brain neurons.
Contact: Karen Mallet
km463@georgetown.edu
215-514-9751
Georgetown University Medical Center
Public Release: 9-Jun-2009
Gene activity reveals dynamic stroma microenvironment in prostate cancer
As stroma -- the supportive framework of the prostate gland -- react to prostate cancer, changes in the expression of genes occur that induce the formation of new structures such as blood vessels, nerves and parts of nerves, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
Contact: Glenna Picton
picton@bcm.edu
713-798-4710
Baylor College of Medicine
Public Release: 9-Jun-2009
Cancer found to be a moving target
In an article published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, Robert A. Beckman, a visitor in the Simons Center for Systems Biology at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., mathematically analyzes the mutator hypothesis and compares the cancer-generating efficiency of mutator and nonmutator pathways to cancer.
Contact: Rebecca Walton
rwalton@plos.org
Public Library of Science
Public Release: 8-Jun-2009
Fatal brain disease at work well before symptoms appear
Scientists with the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida have discovered why a paralyzing brain disorder speeds along more rapidly in some patients than others -- a finding that may finally give researchers an entry point toward an effective treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, often referred to as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.
Contact: John Pastor
jdpastor@ufl.edu
352-273-5815
University of Florida
Public Release: 8-Jun-2009
Gene therapy for hemophilia A mice
Hemophilia A is an inherited bleeding disorder caused by a lack of the blood clotting protein Factor VIII. Current gene therapy approaches to treat the condition have had little clinical success. However, hope is provided by researchers who have developed a new approach to target genes to the cells that are the main source of Factor VIII and used it to provide long-term expression of Factor VIII in hemophilia A mice, markedly reducing their disease.
Contact: Karen Honey
press_releases@the-jci.org
215-573-1850
Journal of Clinical Investigation
Public Release: 4-Jun-2009
Nanoparticle created to attack cardiovascular plaque
Scientists and engineers at UC Santa Barbara and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research have developed a nanoparticle that can attack plaque -- a major cause of cardiovascular disease. The new development is described in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.
Contact: Gail Gallessich
gail.g@ia.ucsb.edu
805-893-7220
University of California - Santa Barbara
Source - Science Daily:
Please note: Due to the format restrictions of Science Daily articles, you must click on the URL (web address) below the article summary, rather than the article title.
Oxygen Plus MRI Might Help Determine Cancer Therapy Success
June 11, 2009 — A simple magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test involving breathing oxygen might help oncologists determine the best treatment for some cancer ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090603091042.htm
Computer System For Dementia Patients
June 11, 2009 — A computer screen in the living room can help dementia sufferers to check the time and date and to remember ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090611065837.htm
Cancer Screening Fear Is Fueled By Lack Of Information Says Research Review Covering Nearly 6,000 Women
June 11, 2009 — Fear plays a major role in whether women decide to go for cancer screening or not. But healthcare providers underestimate how much women need to know and wrongly assume that they will ask for ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090611065835.htm
Key Molecular Pathway To Replicate Insulin-producing Beta Cells Identified
June 10, 2009 — Researchers are trailblazing the molecular pathway that regulates pancreatic beta cell replication, the insulin-producing cells that are lacking in people who have diabetes. They describe mouse ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608182423.htm
Hormone Therapy May Confer More Aggressive Properties To Prostate Tumors
June 10, 2009 — Hormone therapy is often given to patients with advanced prostate cancer. While it is true that the treatment prevents growth of the tumor, it also changes its properties. Some of these changes may ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090610074521.htm
Defeating Nicotine's Double Role In Lung Cancer
June 9, 2009 — A lung cancer treatment that inhibits nicotine receptors was shown to double survival time in mice, according to new ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608125107.htm
Common Chemotherapy Drug Can Trigger Fatal Allergic Reactions
June 9, 2009 — A chemotherapy drug that is supposed to help save cancer patients' lives, instead resulted in life-threatening and sometimes fatal allergic reactions. A new study identified 287 hypersensitivity ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608131154.htm
New Era In Hepatitis C Treatment?
June 10, 2009 — For patients with the most common form of hepatitis C, the addition of a hepatitis C-specific protease inhibitor called telaprevir to the current standard therapy can significantly improve the ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090605112257.htm
Routine Diabetes Screenings Could Cut Health-care Costs
June 10, 2009 — Screening adults for diabetes could result in significant cost-savings for health-care systems compared to the costs of not screening individuals at ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090607102508.htm
New Antibiotics Could Come From A DNA Binding Compound That Kills Bacteria In 2 Minutes
June 9, 2009 — A synthetic DNA binding compound has proved surprisingly effective at binding to the DNA of bacteria and killing all the bacteria it touched within two ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608212136.htm
Stopping Fatty Change In Heart Cells
June 9, 2009 — One molecule is all it takes to set a fatal chain of events in motion that can end up leading to heart failure. Cell biologists have discovered why oxygen deficiency causes the myocardial muscle to ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090604104804.htm
Link Unraveled Between Chromosomal Instability And Centrosome Defects In Cancer Cells
June 9, 2009 — Scientists have disproved a century-old theory about why cancer cells often have too many or too few chromosomes, and show that the actual reason may hold the key to a novel approach to cancer ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090607153300.htm
New Test Could Help Diagnose Early Dementia
June 9, 2009 — A new cognitive test for detecting Alzheimer's disease is quicker and more accurate than many current tests, and could help diagnose early ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090609220603.htm
Cancer Found To Be A Moving Target
June 9, 2009 — Scientists have mathematically analyzed the mutator hypothesis and compared the cancer-generating efficiency of mutator and nonmutator pathways to ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090609215943.htm
New Lead For Autoimmune Disease From Chinese Medicine
June 8, 2009 — A major challenge in treating autoimmune disorders has been suppressing inflammatory attacks on body tissues without generally suppressing immune function. Now, a drug from Chinese medicine shows ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090604144328.htm
Stem Cell Protein Offers A New Cancer Target
June 8, 2009 — Stem cell researchers have shown that a protein that keeps embryonic stem cells in their stem-like state, called LIN28, is also important in cancer. It offers a new target to attack, especially in ... >
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090601140930.htm
Skin Lesion Leads To More Cancer Types Than Once Believed
June 8, 2009 — Dermatologists have found that sun-damaged rough patches on the skin known as actinic keratoses lead to more forms of skin cancer than previously thought. They also determined that lesions can become ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090602162000.htm
Novel Mechanism Controlling Tumor Growth In The Brain Uncovered
June 8, 2009 — As survival rates among some patients with cancer continue to rise, so does the spread of these cancers to the brain -- as much as 40 percent of all diagnosed brain cancers are considered metastatic
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608182547.htm
Vaporized Viral Vector Shows Promise In Anti-cancer Gene Therapy
June 8, 2009 — A new lung cancer therapy employing a vaporized viral vector to deliver a cancer-inhibiting molecule directly to lung tissue shows early promise in mouse ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608125112.htm
Toward New Drugs That Turn Genes On And Off
June 8, 2009 — Scientists are reporting an advance toward development of a new generation of drugs that treat disease by orchestrating how genes in the body produce proteins involved in arthritis, cancer and a ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608101607.htm
New Way To Enhance Stem Cells To Stimulate Muscle Regeneration
June 7, 2009 — Scientists have discovered a powerful new way to stimulate muscle regeneration, paving the way for new treatments for debilitating conditions such as muscular dystrophy. The research shows for the ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090604124025.htm
Gene For Deadly Inherited Lung Disease Identified
June 7, 2009 — A rare, deadly developmental disorder of the lungs called alveolar capillary dysplasia with misalignment of pulmonary veins (ACD/MPV) that usually kills the infants born with it within the first ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090604124019.htm
Source - Health Day:
Health Highlights: June 10, 2009
- Controversial Chelation Study Enrolling New Participants
- New Orleans Mayor Released From Swine Flu Quarantine
- Diabetes Screenings Could Lower Medical Costs: Study
Israeli researchers find short-term use during pregnancy should be safe
Ovarian Cancer Breakthrough Heralds New Era of Treatment
Scientists identify cause of deadly tumors and predict life-saving developments could follow
Finding May Lead to Vaccine for Traveler's Diarrhea
Researchers discover key clues to bacteria's structure
Clinical Trials Update: June 10, 2009
- Women's Health
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
- Healthy Patient Studies
- Post-Menopausal Symptoms
- Pandemic Flu Vaccine (Healthy Volunteers)
- High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
- Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
- Osteoarthritis
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Healthy Volunteers
- Atrial Fibrillation
- Epilepsy
- Restless Legs Syndrome
- Depression
- Alzheimer's Disease
- Sleep Apnea
- Weight Loss
Source - Yahoo Biotech News:
New Phase 3 Data Continue to Indicate that Wyeth's Investigational 13-valent Vaccine Has the Potential to Broaden Coverage Against Pneumococcal Disease
New data from Phase 3 European clinical trials reinforce that Wyeth's investigational pneumococcal vaccine, Prevenar 13* , has the potential to provide coverage against the 13 most prevalent serotypes associated with pneumococcal disease , the leading cause of vaccine-preventable death in children younger than five worldwide.
Pfizer exec reinforces company's generic drug plan
An executive at Pfizer Inc. said Wednesday the drug developer will focus on expanding its portfolio of generic drugs in order boost sales and build its position in that market.
Source - Google Health News:
Antibodies against H5 and H9 Avian Influenza among Poultry Workers ...
New England Journal of Medicine (subscription) - MA,USA
To the Editor: Human infection with the H5N1 or H9N2 avian influenza virus has been reported in the city of Guangzhou in southern China. ...
Lethality of H1N1 Influenza Virus Increasing According to Latest ...
PR Newswire (press release) - New York,NY,USA
... made available for testing against H1N1 a Two-Punch(TM) PanFlu(TM) vaccine. The same vaccine system has been successfully tested against H5N1 in chickens.
Vaccine strategy poses serious quandary
The Japan Times - Japan
... Protein Sciences Corp. of the US, is conducting clinical tests on a vaccine for the H5N1 bird flu, which is expected to hit the market in three years. ...
Expecting further flu spread, Asia-Pacific gov'ts keen to find ...
Xinhua - China
Regarding the A/H5N1 vaccine, Vietnam is now positioned to conduct further clinical trials of this influenza vaccine in accordance with the international ...
Japan Plans To Produce Enough H1N1 Flu Vaccine To Treat 20 Million ...
OfficialWire - New York,NY,USA
It can stop the SARS coronavirus, Avian Influenza (H5N1) and we have a treatment program with plenty of this drug already stockpiled.”
Ten Lessons Learned from the H1N1 (Swine) Flu Outbreak
Huffington Post - New York,NY,USA
This Administration clearly recognizes that purchasing the H1N1 vaccine is a public responsibility. But we have two concerns associated with this request. ...
Transcriptionally Regulated, Prostate-Targeted Gene Therapy for ...
UroToday - Berkeley,CA,USA
Novel and effective treatment such as gene therapy is greatly desired. The early viral based gene therapy uses tissue-nonspecific promoters, which causes ...
Anti-cancer gene therapy shows promise
United Press International - USA
Although gene therapy is an area of great promise, the scientists said delivery mechanisms have proven problematic for effective delivery of genetic therapy ...
AMT starts gene therapy preregistration trial
European Biotechnology News - Berlin,Berlin,Germany
... with the orphan disease lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD) with its AAV-based gene therapy product GlyberaTM in a preregistration clinical trial. ...
Gene therapy for hemophilia A mice
EurekAlert (press release) - Washington,DC,USA
It had been hoped that gene therapy would provide a breakthrough in treatment, but the most common gene therapy approach has had little clinical success. ...
Source - Medical News Today:
High Levels Of Type Of Cholesterol Not Routinely Screened Linked To Heart Attacks
A genetic analysis from three studies of people living in Denmark found that those who had higher levels of a cholesterol known as lipoprotein (a) due to genetic reasons were at higher risk of heart attack. The researchers suggested that although their findings were strong enough to support the idea that higher levels of lipoprotein (a) due to genetic reasons very probably cause higher risk of heart attack, only randomized clinical trials that show fewer heart attacks occur when lipoprotein (a) is reduced through therapy can prove it. The study was the work of Dr Pia R Kamstrup, of Herlev Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital in Herlev, Denmark, and colleagues, and is published in the 10 June issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153454.php
Promising New Tool For Fighting Infections
Though it looks like a tiny purple blowtorch, a pencil-sized plume of plasma on the tip of a small probe remains at room temperature as it swiftly dismantles tough bacterial colonies deep inside a human tooth. But it's not another futuristic product of George Lucas' imagination. It's the exciting work of USC School of Dentistry and Viterbi School of Engineering researchers looking for new ways to safely fight tenacious biofilm infections in patients - and it could revolutionize many facets of medicine.
Two of the study's authors are Chunqi Jiang, a research assistant professor in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics, and Parish Sedghizadeh, assistant professor of clinical dentistry and Director of the USC Center for Biofilms. "Nanosecond Pulsed Plasma Dental Probe" appears in the June 2009 issue of Plasma Processes and Polymers.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153414.php
Colorectal Cancer Rates Increasing Worldwide, According To Study
new study finds colorectal cancer incidence rates for both males and females increased in 27 of 51 countries worldwide between 1983 and 2002, and points to increasing Westernization as being a likely culprit. The rise was seen primarily in economically transitioning countries including Eastern European countries, most parts of Asia, and some countries of South America. The study is the first in a peer-reviewed journal to present colorectal cancer incidence trends across all five continents. It appears in the June 2009 issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention. An accompanying editorial says the rise points toward a failed early detection and prevention strategy as well as failure to address lifestyle and dietary challenges of urbanization that affect most of the globe. Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men and the third most common cancer in women worldwide. Previous studies have reported rapid increases in colorectal cancer incidence rates in economically transitioning countries in many parts of the world, likely reflecting changing dietary and physical activity patterns. However, those studies used old data and examined regional or country-specific trends. The new study, led by American Cancer Society epidemiologist Melissa Center, MPH, reviewed colorectal cancer incidence data from 51 cancer registries worldwide with long-term incidence data from the Cancer Incidence in Five Continents (CI5) databases created by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Researchers analyzed the change in incidence rates over the past 20 years; 1983-87 through 1998-2002.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153337.php
Metastatic Melanoma PV-10 Trial Results Encouraging Says Drug Company
Early results of a clinical trial that treated 40 patients with metastatic melanoma using PV-10, a form of the staining compound better known as Rose Bengal, were described as "encouraging" because the drug was well tolerated and showed selective tumor destruction in the majority of patients, said the drug company developing the treatment. The early results of the phase 2 trial of its lead oncology treatment were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Orlando, Florida last week by Provectus Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a new development-stage oncology and dermatology biopharmaceutical company based in Knoxville, Tennessee.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153024.php
One-Two Drug Punch Knocks Down A Lethal Cancer
In the battle against cancer, allies can come from unexpected sources. Research at The Jackson Laboratory has yielded a new approach to treating leukemia, one that targets leukemia-proliferating cells with drugs that are already on the market. Jackson Adjunct Professor Shaoguang Li, M.D., Ph.D., who now has a laboratory at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, led a research team that identified a gene involved with the inflammatory response that could hold the key to treating or even preventing chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a lethal cancer.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152905.php
Novel Cell Therapies To Treat Cancer
Ortho Biotech Oncology Research & Development, a unit of Centocor Research & Development, Inc., has announced that it has entered into a five-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), with Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., chief, Surgery Branch, serving as the NCI principal investigator, to research and develop novel cell therapy technologies as potential treatments for a variety of cancers. These adoptive immunotherapy technologies are designed to work by helping the immune system fight cancer. Standard cancer treatments still have not progressed much beyond surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, which are effective at killing tumor cells but also can harm or kill healthy tissues. Adoptive immunotherapies have the potential to spare healthy tissue because they are designed to directly find and destroy cancerous tumor cells using a patient's own immune system T cells. Dr. Rosenberg has been a pioneer in the field of adoptive immunotherapy of cancer for decades. His group developed Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs), T cells obtained from a patient's tumor, expanded and then re-administered to actively seek and destroy cancer cells. Remarkable responses to this therapy have been observed in patients with malignant melanoma, a type of skin cancer that ranks sixth among U.S. men and seventh in U.S. women for the most commonly diagnosed cancer, according to the NCI. In recent years, Dr. Rosenberg's team pioneered a new technology in which T cells obtained from a patient's blood are genetically engineered to express receptors that give them specific immunity against cancer cells and then re-administered.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152864.php
Source - MIT's Technology Review:
Off-the-Shelf Genetic Testing On Display
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22765/?nlid=2088
Making Fat Disappear
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22757/?nlid=2084
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