Health News

Grape Seed Extract Effective In Colorectal Cancer Treatment

Date: Jan-21-2013
Grape seed extract is effective in inhibiting the growth of colorectal cancer cells, researchers from the University of Colorado Cancer Center reported in the journal Cancer Letters. In fact, the more advanced the colorectal cancer cells are, the more grape seed extract stops their growth and survival, the authors added. Not only does grape seed extract target the cancer cells effectively, it also leaves healthy cells alone...

Challenging Long-Held Belief That Low Blood Flow To The Premature Brain Necessarily Kills Brain Cells

Date: Jan-21-2013
Physician-scientists at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital are challenging the way pediatric neurologists think about brain injury in the pre-term infant. In a study published online in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the OHSU Doernbecher researchers report for the first time that low blood and oxygen flow to the developing brain does not, as previously thought, cause an irreversible loss of brain cells, but rather disrupts the cells' ability to fully mature...

Artificial Lung Technology Treatment Normally Used For Lung Transplant Patients Saves Lives Of Critically Ill Flu Patients

Date: Jan-21-2013
In recent weeks the intensive critical care units at University Health Network's Toronto General Hospital have used Extra Corporeal Lung Support (ECLS) to support five influenza (flu) patients in their recovery from severe respiratory problems. ECLS systems are normally used at the hospital as a bridge to lung transplantation but increasingly, the hospital is using ECLS on patients where the usual breathing machines (ventilators) cannot support the patient whose lungs need time to rest and heal...

Altering Gut Microbes Protects Against Disease, Supporting The 'Hygiene Hypothesis'

Date: Jan-21-2013
Early life exposure to normal bacteria of the GI tract (gut microbes) protects against autoimmune disease in mice, according to research published on-line in the journal Science. The study may also have uncovered reasons why females are at greater risk of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus compared to males. Researchers from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) found that when female mice at high risk of autoimmune (type 1) diabetes were exposed to normal gut bacteria from adult male mice, they were strongly protected against the disease...

Researchers See In Real-Time The Earliest Molecular Stages Of Cancer And Aging In Luminescent Mice

Date: Jan-21-2013
In a study published in the journal Cell, researchers from the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed a new method to visualize aging and tumor growth in mice using a gene closely linked to these processes. Researchers have long known that the gene, p16INK4a (p16), plays a role in aging and cancer suppression by activating an important tumor defense mechanism called 'cellular senescence'...

A Closer Look At The 'Borderline Personality' Brain

Date: Jan-21-2013
New work by University of Toronto Scarborough researchers gives the best description yet of the neural circuits that underlie a severe mental illness called Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and could lead to better treatments and diagnosis. The work shows that brain regions that process negative emotions (for example, anger and sadness) are overactive in people with BPD, while brain regions that would normally help damp down negative emotions are underactive...

Mutation Of A Key Folic Acid Enzyme Causes Neural Tube Defects In Mice

Date: Jan-21-2013
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered that the lack of a critical enzyme in the folic acid metabolic pathway leads to neural tube birth defects in developing embryos. It has been known for several decades that folic acid supplementation dramatically reduces the incidence of neural tube defects, such as spina bifida and anencephaly, which are among the most common birth defects. In some populations, folic acid supplementation has decreased neural tube defects by as much as 70 percent...

Endothelin Receptor Antagonists Benefit Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension But Could Have Adverse Effects On The Heart

Date: Jan-21-2013
A research team with the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta reported findings that significantly improve understanding of how widely used drugs in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) affect the heart health of treated patients. The research shows that medications often prescribed for PAH could block the function of an important hormone in the heart, decreasing the strength of contraction of the right heart chambers, a potentially important and yet unrecognized adverse effect...

The Importance Of Autophagy Regulation

Date: Jan-21-2013
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a molecular mechanism regulating autophagy, a fundamental stress response used by cells to help ensure their survival in adverse conditions. The findings are published online in the journal Cell. Senior author Kun-Liang Guan, PhD, a professor of pharmacology at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, and colleagues report that an enzyme called AMPK, typically involved in sensing and modulating energy use in cells, also regulates autophagic enzymes...

Regulating The Cellular Message To Make Histone Proteins - A Molecular Twist

Date: Jan-21-2013
Histone proteins are the proteins that package DNA into chromosomes. Every time the cell replicates its DNA it must make large amounts of newly made histones to organize DNA within the nucleus. An imbalance in the production of DNA and histones is usually lethal for the cell, which is why the levels of the messenger RNA (mRNA) encoding the histone proteins must be tightly controlled to ensure the proper amounts of histones (not too many and not too few) are made...