Health News

Beta Amyloid May Be The Key To Diagnosis Of Alzheimer's In Healthy Patients

Date: Jun-12-2012
An arsenal of Alzheimer's research revealed at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's 59th Annual Meeting indicates that beta-amyloid plaque in the brain not only is involved in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease but may also precede even mild cognitive decline. These and other studies advance molecular imaging for the early detection of beta-amyloid, for which one product is now approved in the United States , as a major push forward in the race for better treatments...

News From The Journal Of Clinical Investigation: June 11, 2012

Date: Jun-12-2012
ALLERGY AND ASTHMA Evidence for a new therapeutic target for inflammatory skin diseases Many chronic inflammatory diseases, including atopic dermatitis and asthma, are initially triggered by an allergic reaction. However, the mechanism through which an allergic reaction becomes a chronic condition remains poorly understood. A recent study from Kenji Izuhara and colleagues at the Saga Medical School in Japan investigated the role of periostin, which is a protein involved in tissue development, in a mouse model of allergic inflammation...

SMART Tracking Of Influenza

Date: Jun-12-2012
In April 2009, the world took notice as reports surfaced of a virus in Mexico that had mutated from pigs and was being passed from human to human. The H1N1 "swine flu," as the virus was named, circulated worldwide, killing more than 18,000 people, according to the World Health Organization. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States said it was the first global pandemic in more than four decades. Swine flu will not be the last viral mutation to cause a worldwide stir...

Stem Cells In The Embryonic Kidney

Date: Jun-12-2012
Studying mice and humans, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and their collaborators in Paris have identified two proteins that are required to maintain a supply of stem cells in the developing kidney. In the presence of the two proteins, FGF9 and FGF20, mouse kidney stem cells stayed alive outside the body longer than previously reported. Though the cells were maintained only five days (up from about two), the work is a small step toward the future goal of growing kidney stem cells in the lab...

Long Term Insulin Not Linked To Higher Risk Of Heart Attack, Stroke, Cancer

Date: Jun-12-2012
Long term use of insulin does not put people with diabetes or pre-diabetes at higher risk for heart attack, stroke or cancer, according to a large international study that followed more than 12,500 people in 40 countries over 6 years. One of the study's two principal investigators, Dr Hertzel Gerstein, of McMaster University in Canada, presented the findings on Monday at the 72nd scientific sessions of the American Diabetes Association in Philadelphia, USA...

Using The Immune System To Fight Cancer

Date: Jun-12-2012
The human immune system has a natural ability to identify and attack tumor cells. Natural killer (NK) cells are innate immune cells that are particularly effective at killing tumor cells due to their ability to secrete cytotoxic enzymes. However, mutations have allowed many types of tumors to develop a resistance to NK-mediated killing through ill-defined mechanisms. Dr...

Unusual 'Altruistic' Stem Cell Behavior Identified With Possible Link To Cancer

Date: Jun-12-2012
When most groups of mammalian cells are faced with a shortage of nutrients or oxygen, the phrase "every man for himself" is more apt than "all for one, one for all." Unlike colonies of bacteria, which often cooperate to thrive as a group, mammalian cells have never been observed to help one another out. But a new study led by a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine has shown that certain human embryonic stem cells, in times of stress, produce molecules that not only benefit themselves, but also help nearby cells survive...

It Is Now Deemed Safe To Give Pre-Dental Antibiotics Only To High Risk Heart Patients

Date: Jun-12-2012
The incidence of infective endocarditis among dental patients in Olmsted County, Minn. did not increase after new guidelines called for giving preventive antibiotics before dental procedures only to those at greatest risk of complications, according to independent research published in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal. Infective endocarditis is a bacterial infection of the heart lining, heart valve or blood vessel. Although rare, it can occur when bacteria enter the bloodstream through breaks in the gums during invasive dental procedures or oral surgery...

Pancreatic Cancer Can Run But Not Always Hide From The Immune System

Date: Jun-12-2012
A pair of recent studies describes how pancreatic cancer cells produce a protein that attracts the body's immune cells and tricks them into helping cancer cells grow. The research, published by Cell Press in the June 12th issue of the journal Cancer Cell, also reveals that blocking the protein may be an effective way to treat pancreatic cancer. "We found that simply disabling the ability of tumors to make this molecule leads to a house-of-cards effect that resulted in massive tumor death in experimental models," says Dr...

Side Effects Of Statins

Date: Jun-12-2012
In a study of more than 1,000 adults, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, found that individuals taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are more likely than non-users to experience decreased energy, fatigue upon exertion, or both. The researchers suggest that these findings should be taken into account by doctors when weighing risk versus benefit in prescribing statins. Statin drugs are among the best selling and most widely used prescription drugs on the market. Recently, increasing attention has focused on statins' side effects, particularly their effect on exercise...