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DNA scanning technology leads to new library of cancer targets
Date: Oct-16-2013More patients than ever stand to benefit from a promising new type of cancer treatment, after scientists compiled a library of molecules that can prime patients' immune systems to fight a range of cancers including leukaemia, myeloma, lung cancer and skin cancer. The UK and Dutch researchers developed a rapid DNA sequencing technology that newly identified 21 different molecules, called T cell receptors (TCRs), that can recognise markers found in cells from 11 different subsets of cancer...
Hypertension and happiness
Date: Oct-16-2013A synthetic gene module controlled by the happiness hormone dopamine produces an agent that lowers blood pressure. This opens up new avenues for therapies that are remote-controlled via the subsconscious. The endogenous hormone dopamine triggers feelings of happiness. While its release is induced, among other things, by the "feel-good" classics sex, drugs or food, the brain does not content itself with a kick; it remembers the state of happiness and keeps wanting to achieve it again. Dopamine enables us to make the "right" decisions in order to experience even more moments of happiness...
An artificial leg with a natural gait
Date: Oct-16-2013Walking is tricky business, as any toddler knows. And while most artificial feet and limbs do a pretty good job restoring mobility to people who have lost a leg, they have a ways to go before they equal the intricacy of a natural gait. As a result, over half of all amputees take a fall every year, compared to about one-third of people over 65. In cooperation with a Mayo Clinic scientist, researchers at Michigan Technological University are taking a giant step toward solving the problem...
Reproductive trait impedes tissue regeneration in zebrafish
Date: Oct-16-2013New research on the reproductive habits of zebrafish offers an explanation as to why some animals' bodies repair tissues. The research team previously noticed that male zebrafish regenerate their pectoral fins poorly, as compared to females. Their latest findings, publishing in the Cell Press journal Developmental Cell, reveal the basis for this sex-specific regenerative deficiency: structures that are used to improve reproductive success. The scenario represents an example of the tradeoffs between reproduction and survival...
Building human blood vessels in engineered tissues
Date: Oct-16-2013Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have identified a protein expressed by human bone marrow stem cells that guides and stimulates the formation of blood vessels. Their findings, which could help improve the vascularization of engineered tissues, were reported online in the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology. "Some stem cells actually have multiple jobs," says Dr. Jalees Rehman, associate professor of cardiology and pharmacology at the UIC College of Medicine and lead author of the paper...
High-risk individuals in the European Union are not being diagnosed and treated for osteoporosis
Date: Oct-16-2013A new report published by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) warns that as a result of ageing populations and osteoporosis not being treated as a priority, health care providers will be faced with an avalanche of fractures and rising costs. Approximately 22 million women and 5.5 million men in 27 member states of the European Union (EU27)*, have osteoporosis; the total burden is expected to increase to 33.9 million (increase of 23 per cent) by 2025...
Scientists reveal that mammalian body cells lack ancient viral defense mechanism
Date: Oct-16-2013A team led by Chris Sullivan, a professor of molecular biosciences at The University of Texas at Austin, has provided the first positive evidence that RNA interference (RNAi), a biological process in which small RNA molecules prevent genes from being expressed, does not play a role as an antiviral in most body, or "somatic," cells in mammals. Their research was published in Cell Host & Microbe. RNAi plays an important antiviral role in plants and invertebrates, but it has long been disputed whether it plays a similar role in mammals...
New approach may improve personalized cancer treatments
Date: Oct-16-2013Researchers from the University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic, and University of Toronto have successfully shown that a new method for targeting mutated cells could create a major breakthrough in a personalized medicine approach to treat cancer. The team's findings are published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association of Cancer Research...
Incentive program leads to quality improvement and cost reduction
Date: Oct-16-2013Neurosurgical resident-led effort to improve quality and reduce costs in a leading academic institution Charlottesville, VA (October 15, 2013). An incentive program to reduce the number of unnecessary diagnostic laboratory tests performed in neurosurgical patients at UC San Francisco (UCSF) was highly successful. Resident trainees in neurosurgery identified five frequently scheduled laboratory tests that rarely yield information that would change patient care. A new set of guidelines was developed to determine when these tests should be performed...
Clue to unlocking the mystery of life-saving heart drug offered by lung infections
Date: Oct-16-2013Scientists from the University of Sheffield have discovered ground breaking clues as to how the pioneering heart drug ticagrelor might reduce the risk of dying following a heart attack, in comparison to previous standard treatments. The new findings, published in Platelets, show that ticagrelor may reduce the risk of dying as a result of a lung infection after suffering a heart attack compared to patients treated with the drug clopidogrel...
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