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EurekAlert - Biology:
Public Release: 7-Mar-2010
Vitamin D crucial to activating immune defenses
Scientists have found that vitamin D is crucial to activating our immune defenses and that without sufficient intake of the vitamin - the killer cells of the immune system -- T cells -- will not be able to react to and fight off serious infections in the body. The research team at the University of Copenhagen found that T cells first search for vitamin D in order to activate and if they cannot find enough of it will not complete the activation process.
Contact: Sandra Szivos
sasz@sund.ku.dk
453-532-6921
University of Copenhagen
Public Release: 5-Mar-2010
Studies on nutrients, gene expression could lead to tailored diets for disease prevention
Researchers at Kansas State University recently published an academic journal article discussing the potential for nutrigenomics, a field that studies the effects of food on gene expression. The researchers discussed the possibility of using food to prevent an individual's genes from expressing disease. The researchers said nutrigenomics could completely change the future of public health and the food and culinary industries.
Contact: Denis Medeiros
medeiros@k-state.edu
785-532-0150
Kansas State University
Public Release: 4-Mar-2010
Genetic variant offers protection against TB and leprosy
A study into why some people are more resistant than others to diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy has identified a new genetic variant which affects susceptibility to these diseases. The findings, published today in the journal Cell, may have implications for future treatments for the two conditions.
Contact: Craig Brierley
c.brierley@wellcome.ac.uk
44-207-611-7329
Wellcome Trust
Public Release: 4-Mar-2010
Breakthrough reveals blood vessel cells are key to growing unlimited amounts of adult stem cells
In a leap toward making stem cell therapy widely available, researchers have discovered that endothelial cells, the most basic building blocks of the vascular system, produce growth factors that can grow copious amounts of adult stem cells and their progeny over the course of weeks. Until now, adult stem cell cultures would die within four or five days despite best efforts to grow them.
Contact: Andrew Klein
ank2017@med.cornell.edu
212-821-0560
New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College
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.
March 5, 2010 — Researchers have discovered how cells communicate with each other during times of cellular injury. The findings shed new light on how the body repairs itself when organs become diseased, through ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100226101328.htm
New Form of Prion Disease Damages Brain Arteries
March 5, 2010 — Scientists investigating how prion diseases destroy the brain have observed a new form of the disease in mice that does not cause the sponge-like brain deterioration typically seen in prion diseases. ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304202246.htm
Study Identifies Key Cause of Chronic Leukemia Progression
March 5, 2010 — Researchers have discovered a key reason why chronic myeloid leukemia progresses from its more-treatable chronic phase to a life-threatening phase called blast crisis. The study indicates that CML ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304184544.htm
March 5, 2010 — A new has shown a link between Vitamin D levels and basal cell carcinoma, a finding that could lead researchers to better understand the development of the most common form of skin cancer. In a small ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304131609.htm
March 5, 2010 — Scientists in Germany have applied a new strategy to identify and characterize genes involved in endocytosis. From their findings the scientists also hope to derive significant information about how ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100305093644.htm
How the Demons of Dementia Possess and Damage Brain Cells
March 4, 2010 — A new study may lead to new forms of treatment following a better understanding of how amyloid-beta found in cerebral plaques, typically present in the brain of Alzheimer's patients, may lead to ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100303131652.htm
Nuclear Physics Promises Earlier Detection of Brain Tumors With Just One Scan
March 4, 2010 — Time taken to detect brain tumors could soon be significantly reduced, thanks to researchers in the UK who are developing the technology for next generation SPECT (single photon emission computed ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100303113956.htm
Predicting the Progression of Alzheimer's
March 4, 2010 — An assessment has been developed which reliably predicts future performance in cognition and activities of daily living for patients with Alzheimer's disease. Researchers followed 597 patients over ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100222200858.htm
Sea Squirt Offers Hope for Alzheimer's Sufferers
March 3, 2010 — Plaques and tangles in the brains of Alzheimer's patients mark its slow, inexorable progression. Finding new drugs to prevent plaques is currently the best hope for sufferers. However, efficient drug ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100302083451.htm
Health Highlights: March 5, 2010
- Abortion Fight Threatens Health-Care Reform
- End Ban on Gay Blood Donors: U.S. Senators
- Massive Polio Vaccination Campaign Planned in Africa
- Heartburn Drug's Name Changed to Prevent Errors: FDA
New Prostate Cancer Guidelines Aim to Empower the Patient
Diagnostic test not infallible, can lead to unneeded treatments with unwanted side effects.
Clinical Trials Update: March 4, 2010
- High Blood Pressure
- Migraine
- Healthy Volunteers
Shares of drug developer InterMune Inc. surged Friday after federal health officials posted their review of the experimental drug pirfenidone, which is designed to treat a rare lung disease.
Gene Therapy a Step Closer to Restoring Eyesight to Some Blind Patients
Voice of America
Bennett, one of the researchers, says the study participants have been clamoring to have their other eye treated with the gene therapy. ...
Safety and Efficacy of Subretinal Readministration of a Viral Vector in Large ...
Science Magazine (subscription)
4 Nonhuman Primate Research Program, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Gene Therapy Program, ...
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Medivation, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) announced results from two Phase 3 trials of the investigational drug dimebon (latrepirdine*) in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the CONNECTION trial, dimebon did not meet its co-primary or secondary efficacy endpoints compared to placebo. Co-primary endpoints were measures of cognition and global function. "The results from the CONNECTION study are unexpected, and we are disappointed for the Alzheimer's community," said Dr. David Hung, president and chief executive officer of Medivation. "We are working with our colleagues at Pfizer to better understand the CONNECTION data and we plan to present these data at an upcoming medical meeting."
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/181285.php
Clues To The Role Of Brain Plaques Typical In Alzheimer's Patients
A study from EPFL's (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) Laboratory of Neuroenergetics and Cellular Dynamics in Lausanne Switzerland, published today in theJournal of Neuroscience, may lead to new forms of treatment following a better understanding of how Amyloid-Beta found in cerebral plaques, typically present in the brain of Alzheimer's patients, may lead to neurodegeneration. Researchers in Lausanne have studied how the functions of certain cells called astrocytes - which normally protect, repair, and transfer energy to neurons - are impaired when "possessed" by aggregated Amyloid-Beta. Alzheimer's disease currently affects more than 26 million people worldwide and estimates of up to four times as many sufferers by 2050 has made studying its causes a top priority for neuroscientists.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/181228.php
Dendreon Corporation (Nasdaq: DNDN) announced updated results from its pivotal Phase 3 IMPACT (IMmunotherapy for Prostate AdenoCarcinoma Treatment) study demonstrating that PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T) extends overall survival in men with metastatic, castrate-resistant (hormone-refractory) prostate cancer (CRPC). The data will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2010 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO-GU) in San Francisco on Friday, March 5 at 1:45 pm PT. A sensitivity analysis performed with longer-term follow-up (36.5 months) and additional events (349 deaths) collected at the time of study closure demonstrated that PROVENGE increased three-year survival by 40 percent compared to placebo (32.1 percent vs 23.0 percent), the median survival difference of PROVENGE compared to placebo was maintained at 4.1 months, with a 24.1 percent reduction in the risk of death [HR=0.759] and a p-value of 0.017.
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