Health News

Research Into Articular Cartilage Provides Insight Into Osteoarthritis

Date: Apr-23-2013
A researcher at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research has discovered additional mechanical properties of articular cartilage, a protective cartilage on the ends of bones that wears down over time, resulting in the development of osteoarthritis. The findings are published in the April issue of PLOS ONE. To better understand the onset and progression of osteoarthritis, Nadeen Chahine, PhD, and collaborators at other institutions looked at cells from articular cartilage using atomic force microscopy (AFM)...

Giving Dietary And Exercise Advice Simultaneously Produces Better Results Than Focusing On One Behavior Change At A Time

Date: Apr-23-2013
A worrisome increase in obesity levels in much of the world suggests that current methods of motivating people to eat healthier food and get more exercise are not all that successful. Much of today's research focuses on ways of delivering messages in order to obtain the best sustained adherence to these two key health behaviors. One such study by Abby King and colleagues from the Stanford School of Medicine in California looks at the timing of giving exercise and nutrition advice. The researchers found that a higher success rate might be possible when the advice is given at the same time...

Not Enough Is Being Done To Educate Those Living In Border Communities About The Long-Term Effects Of Antibiotic Overuse And Misuse

Date: Apr-23-2013
For one scientist from Texas Rio Grande Valley, it's not about what the research of tomorrow holds: It's about the kind of action the people in communities like his need today. Subburaj Kannan, an instructor of microbiology at Southwest Texas Junior College, is passionate when he talks about how antibiotic resistance is affecting patients in Eagle Pass, Texas, a town with a population of 26,000 just across the border from Mexico's Piedras Negras...

Proliferation Of Two Breast Cancer Lines Stymied By Low-Dose Aspirin

Date: Apr-23-2013
Regular use of low-dose aspirin may prevent the progression of breast cancer, according to results of a study by researchers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo., and the University of Kansas Medical Center. The study found that aspirin slowed the growth of breast cancer cell lines in the lab and significantly reduced the growth of tumors in mice. The age-old headache remedy also exhibits the ability to prevent tumor cells from spreading...

General On-Off Switch Suggested By Structure Of Cell Signaling Molecule

Date: Apr-23-2013
A three-dimensional image of one of the proteins that serves as an on-off switch as it binds to receptors on the surface of a cell suggests there may be a sort of main power switch that could be tripped. These surface receptors are responsible for helping cells discern light, set the heart racing, or detect pain. The finding, published online in the journal Nature by a research collaboration involving this year's Nobel laureates in chemistry, could help in the development of more effective drugs to switch on or off the cell receptors that regulate nearly every bodily function...

Scientists Create Biggest Family Tree Of Human Cells

Date: Apr-23-2013
Cells are the basic unit of a living organism. The human body consists of a vast array of highly specialized cells, such as blood cells, skin cells and neurons. In total more than 250 different cell types exist. How are the different types related to each other? Which factors are unique for each cell type? And what in the end determines the development of a certain cell? To answer these questions, the research team designed a computer-based method that uses already existing biological data from research groups all over the world and analyses them in an entirely new way...

Tumor Growth In Breast Cancer And Angiosarcoma Inhibited By Novel Monoclonal Antibody

Date: Apr-23-2013
A monoclonal antibody targeting a protein known as SFPR2 has been shown by researchers at the University of North Carolina to inhibit tumor growth in pre-clinical models of breast cancer and angiosarcoma. In a paper published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, a team led by Nancy Klauber-DeMore, MD, professor of surgery and a member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, used a monoclonal antibody to target SFRP2 expressed in cells from triple-negative breast cancer and the aggressive blood-vessel malignancy angiosarcoma, reducing the rate of tumor growth...

Research Suggests 'Chemo Brain' May Involve Neurophysiological Change

Date: Apr-23-2013
For many years, breast cancer patients have reported experiencing difficulties with memory, concentration and other cognitive functions following cancer treatment. Whether this mental "fogginess" is psychosomatic or reflects underlying changes in brain function has been a bone of contention among scientists and physicians. Now, a new study led by Dr...

Study Finds 2 Days Of Staging As Effective As 4 For Soldiers On High-Altitude Climbs

Date: Apr-23-2013
Afghanistan's geography is dominated by a collection of craggy peaks, the highest - a mountain known as Noshaq - has been measured to 7,492 meters. Consequently, the soldiers on duty in this mountainous terrain must often ascend to great heights as part of their duty. However, quick climbs without adapting to altitude can lead to a condition called acute mountain sickness (AMS), marked by headache, fatigue, gastrointestinal distress, nausea, and insomnia...

New Potential Target For Cancer Therapy Identified

Date: Apr-23-2013
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that alternative splicing - a process that allows a single gene to code for multiple proteins - appears to be a new potential target for anti-telomerase cancer therapy. The enzyme telomerase is overexpressed in almost all cancer cells, and previous research efforts have failed to identify good telomerase inhibitors. The study by Dr...