Health News

Fluorescent Tags Enable Observation Of Crucial Step In Human DNA Replication

Date: Apr-03-2013
For the first time, an elusive step in the process of human DNA replication has been demystified by scientists at Penn State University. According to senior author Stephen J. Benkovic, an Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry and Holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Chemistry at Penn State, the scientists "discovered how a key step in human DNA replication is performed." The results of the research were published in the journal eLife. Part of the DNA replication process - in humans and in other life forms - involves loading of molecular structures called sliding clamps onto DNA...

Link Discovered Between Blood Clotting And Immune Response

Date: Apr-03-2013
Rice University researchers have found an unexpected link between a protein that triggers the formation of blood clots and other proteins that are essential for the body's immune system. The find could lead to new treatments for thousands of patients who suffer from inflammatory diseases and disorders that cause abnormal blood clotting. The research is available online in the journal PLOS ONE...

Nuclear Medicine Enables Earlier COPD Diagnosis

Date: Apr-03-2013
In vivo ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) imaging can detect early changes to the lung caused by cigarette smoke exposure and provides a noninvasive method for studying lung dysfunction in preclinical models, according to research published in the April issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. These measures have the potential to be applied clinically to study and diagnose the early stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD is a slow-progressing, debilitating lung disease which is commonly caused by cigarette smoking...

For-Profit Hospitals Outscore Public/Non-Profit On Performance Measures

Date: Apr-03-2013
For-profit hospitals are outperforming other hospitals when treating stroke, heart attack and pneumonia patients in emergency departments and, thus, will be more likely to receive bonuses under Medicare's new payment rules, according to a new Northwestern Medicine® study. Though nonprofit and public hospitals are lagging behind in performance, many are making noticeable improvements and also many will be eligible for bonuses, too...

Certain Kinds Of Household Air Pollution Can Be Deadly

Date: Apr-03-2013
Almost four million people die each year from household air pollution (HAP) caused by exposure to the combustion of biomass fuels (wood, charcoal, crop residues, and dung), kerosene, or coal. These individuals are among the tens of millions who rely on such products to cook their meals, heat their rooms, and light their homes. Those in lower and middle income countries are among the hardest hit by the effects of HAP exposure, which also causes childhood respiratory infection, chronic lung disease, and cardiovascular disease...

Single Fathers Due To Cancer: Unique Group Offers Support

Date: Apr-03-2013
Men who have dependent children and whose spouses or partners died from cancer are an overlooked population. These fathers face unique challenges not addressed by traditional grief support groups that often attract an older, female population. Faculty in the UNC Department of Psychiatry report on a successful pilot peer support program called "Single Fathers Due to Cancer" they created to help these men. The program is the first of its kind in the United States...

Using Virus' Ability To Evade The Immune System To 'Fortify' Adult Stem Cells

Date: Apr-03-2013
Using the same strategy that a common virus employs to evade the human immune system, researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine have modified adult stem cells to increase their survival - with the goal of giving the cells time to exert their natural healing abilities. "Basically, we've helped the cells be 'invisible' to the body's natural killer cells, T cells and other aspects of the immune system, so they can survive to promote healing," said Graca Almeida-Porada, M.D., Ph.D...

Inhibiting SRC-3 Could Overcome The Cancer-Promoting Effects Of The Mutations In SPOP

Date: Apr-03-2013
Mutations in a protein called SPOP (speckle-type POZ protein) disarm it, allowing another protein called steroid receptor coactivator-3 (SRC-3) to encourage the proliferation and spread of prostate cancer cells, said researchers led by those at Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Normally SPOP acts as a tumor suppressor gene by marking SRC-3 for destruction, said Dr. Nicholas Mitsiades, assistant professor of medicine - hematology/oncology and molecular and cellular biology, and corresponding author of the report...

Researchers Warn Against A Potential Backfiring Of Certain Cancer Therapies In Development

Date: Apr-03-2013
Highly expressed in various cancers and known for its cytoprotective properties, TRAP1 protein has been identified as a potential target for antitumor treatments. As a result of the research conducted by Len Neckers, from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, USA, and Didier Picard, from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, this outlook is now being called into question. The researchers' findings, published in PNAS, describe how TRAP1 disrupts the metabolism of malignant cells, and shows that the quantity of this protein decreases as they progress to a more aggressive stage...

Two Servings Of Fatty Fish Per Week Associated With Lower Risk Of Dying Among Older Adults

Date: Apr-03-2013
Older adults who have higher levels of blood omega-3 levels - fatty acids found almost exclusively in fatty fish and seafood - may be able to lower their overall mortality risk by as much as 27% and their mortality risk from heart disease by about 35%, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of Washington. Researchers found that older adults who had the highest blood levels of the fatty acids found in fish lived, on average, 2.2 years longer than those with lower levels...