Health News

How Antibiotics Function Inside Living Bacteria May Improve Use Of Old Drugs And Accelerate Development Of Smarter Antibiotics To Fight TB

Date: Nov-05-2012
Weill Cornell Medical College researchers report that mass spectrometry, a tool currently used to detect and measure proteins and lipids, can also now allow biologists to "see" for the first time exactly how drugs work inside living cells to kill infectious microbes. As a result, scientists may be able to improve existing antibiotics and design new, smarter ones to fight deadly infections, such as tuberculosis. The new study was published in the early online edition of Science...

New Computer Program Improves Genetic Test Results For Lynch Syndrome

Date: Nov-05-2012
Many patients who have genetic testing for Lynch syndrome, a hereditary predisposition to colon cancer, receive the inconclusive result "variants of uncertain clinical significance." This can be a problem, as people with Lynch syndrome have a much higher probability to develop colon cancer, and often develop colon cancer at an earlier age than is common among the general population; consequently, they need to begin screening at a much younger age...

New Diagnostic Tool Could Lower Numbers Of Unnecessary Lymph Node Surgeries In Breast Cancer

Date: Nov-05-2012
Using advanced microscopes equipped with tissue-penetrating laser light, cancer imaging experts at Johns Hopkins have developed a promising, new way to accurately analyze the distinctive patterns of ultra-thin collagen fibers in breast tumor tissue samples and to help tell if the cancer has spread...

African American Women With HIV/HCV Less Likely To Die From Liver Disease

Date: Nov-05-2012
A new study shows that African American women coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are less likely to die from liver disease than Caucasian or Hispanic women. Findings in the November issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, indicate that lower liver-related mortality in African American women was independent of other causes of death. Medical evidence reports that nearly five million Americans are infected with HCV, with 80% having active virus in their blood (viremia)...

The Way Doctors Detect And Treat Disease Enhanced By Computational Medicine

Date: Nov-05-2012
Computational medicine, a fast-growing method of using computer models and sophisticated software to figure out how disease develops - and how to thwart it - has begun to leap off the drawing board and land in the hands of doctors who treat patients for heart ailments, cancer and other illnesses. Using digital tools, researchers have begun to use experimental and clinical data to build models that can unravel complex medical mysteries. These are some of the conclusions of a new review of the field published in the journal Science Translational Medicine...

Researchers Develop Tool To Detect Low Levels Of Sugars Produced By Living Organisms

Date: Nov-05-2012
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed an ultrasensitive method for detecting sugar molecules - or glycans - coming from living organisms, a breakthrough that will make possible a more detailed understanding of cellular functions than either genetic or proteomic (the study of proteins) information can provide. The researchers hope the new technique will revolutionize the study of glycans, which has been hampered by an inability to easily detect and identify minute quantities of these molecules. "The glycome is richer in information than the genome or the proteome...

DNA Damage Repair: A Protein's Role

Date: Nov-05-2012
In a new study, University at Buffalo scientists describe the role that a protein called TFIIB plays in helping cells repair DNA damage, a critical function for preventing the growth of tumors. The research appeared online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Early Edition. TFIIB, short for "transcription factor II B," is a protein that binds to DNA in cells to initiate the process of transcription, which is critical for building new proteins...

Studies Investigate Aspects Of Nutrition And Blood Pressure Control In Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Date: Nov-05-2012
Three studies presented during the American Society of Nephrology's Annual Kidney Week provide new information on diet and blood pressure in kidney disease patients. Nimrit Goraya, MD (Texas A&M College of Medicine) and her colleagues investigated whether adding fruits and vegetables to the diet can improve the health of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Alkaline therapy is used to treat CKD patients with severe metabolic acidosis (when there is too much acid in the body). Dr...

Caffeine's Effect On The Brain's Adenosine Receptors Visualized For The First Time

Date: Nov-05-2012
Molecular imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) has enabled scientists for the first time to visualize binding sites of caffeine in the living human brain to explore possible positive and negative effects of caffeine consumption. According to research published in the November issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, PET imaging with F-18-8-cyclopentyl-3-(3-fluoropropyl)-1-propylxanthine (F-18-CPFPX) shows that repeated intake of caffeinated beverages throughout a day results in up to 50 percent occupancy of the brain's A1 adenosine receptors...

New Target Discovered For Treatment Of Peanut Allergy

Date: Nov-05-2012
Researchers at National Jewish Health have discovered a novel target for the treatment of food allergies. Erwin Gelfand, MD, and his colleagues report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that levels of the enzyme Pim 1 kinase rise in the small intestines of peanut-allergic mice. Inhibiting activity of Pim 1 markedly reduced the allergic response to peanuts. "Pim 1, and its associated transcription factor, Runx3, play a crucial role in allergic reactions to peanuts," said Dr. Gelfand, senior author and chair of pediatrics at National Jewish Health...