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Researchers discover chemical compounds that could lead to new antibiotics
Date: Oct-15-2013Researchers at McMaster University are addressing the crisis in drug resistance with a novel approach to find new antibiotics. "We have developed technology to find new antibiotics using laboratory conditions that mimic those of infection in the human body," said Eric Brown, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences. He is the lead author of the paper published in the online edition of Nature Chemical Biology. Brown is also a member of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR)...
Esophageal and gastric cancer a greater risk in later life for overweight adolescents
Date: Oct-15-2013Overweight adolescents were twice as likely as their normal weight peers to later develop esophageal cancer in a recent study from Israel. The study, which is published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, also found that lower socioeconomic status as well as immigration from higher risk countries were important determinants of gastric cancer...
Artificial antigen-presenting cells bolster the body's defense against cancer
Date: Oct-15-2013Researchers at Johns Hopkins have succeeded in making flattened, football-shaped artificial particles that impersonate immune cells. These football-shaped particles seem to be better than the typical basketball-shaped particles at teaching immune cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells in mice. "The shape of the particles really seems to matter because the stretched, ellipsoidal particles we made performed much better than spherical ones in activating the immune system and reducing the animals' tumors," according to Jordan Green, Ph.D...
Folding ribosomal RNA requires paired tagging sequence - choreographed origami
Date: Oct-15-2013An important step in building ribosomes - the cell's protein factories - is like a strictly choreographed dance, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have discovered. To build these factories, other 'machines' inside the cell have to produce specific RNA molecules and fold them into the right shape, then combine the folded RNA with proteins to form a working ribosome. Like a budding origami artist pencilling in the folds, the cell uses tags called methyl groups to help mark where and how an RNA molecule should be folded...
Laughing away pain
Date: Oct-15-2013Laughter may not be the best medicine, but it can help those suffering chronic pain, according to research presented at last week's meeting of The European Pain Federation (EFIC) Congress, held in Florence, Italy. A team of Swiss researchers reported that laughter and humor can increase pain tolerance and improve quality of life. According to Thomas Benz (RehaClinic Zurzach, Switzerland), targeted humor interventions should be part of pain therapy...
News from the Annals of Internal Medicine: Oct. 15, 2013
Date: Oct-15-2013Lifestyle changes can prevent diabetes in high-risk patients A review of published evidence found that comprehensive lifestyle changes can reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes in high-risk patients. Evidence was not strong enough to determine if patients already diagnosed with type 2 diabetes could benefit from such interventions...
School Psychologists call for evidence-based practices, especially for students who struggle with writing
Date: Oct-15-2013Writing instruction in U.S. classrooms is "abysmal" and the Common Core State Standards don't go far enough to address glaring gaps for students and teachers, a Michigan State University education scholar argues. In a new study, Gary Troia calls for a fresh approach to professional development for teachers who must help students meet the new writing standards. His research, funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, appears in the journal School Psychology Review...
Fra-1 protein is causally involved in liver fibrosis and protects the liver from drug-induced liver damage
Date: Oct-15-2013Drug abuse and alcohol are some of the most frequent causes of liver damage, particularly in developed countries. Such kind of liver damage can cause irreversible liver failure and even cancer. Researchers from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have discovered an important new protective role of the Fra-1 protein, which neutralizes the damage caused by agents, such as the analgesic drug acetaminophen (Paracetamol). This is the first study to reveal a function of Fra-1 in protecting this important organ. The study is published in the journal Hepatology...
President Taft's struggle with obesity chronicled through letters
Date: Oct-15-2013As the only person to have served as both President and Chief Justice of the US, William Howard Taft's political contributions are well-documented. And now, correspondence with his physician provides a rare view into how obesity was tackled in the early 20th century. In an article published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, Deborah Levine, PhD, from Providence College, RI, analyzes how President Taft and English diet expert Dr. Nathaniel Yorke-Davies worked together long-distance to keep Taft's weight in check...
New database tracks Med schools' policies on physician-industry ties
Date: Oct-15-2013U.S. medical schools have made significant progress to strengthen their management of clinical conflicts of interest (CCOI), but a new study demonstrates that most schools still lag behind national standards. The Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) study, which compared changes in schools' policies in a dozen areas from 2008 to 2011, reveals that institutions are racing from the bottom to the middle, not to the top...
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