Health News

Is a world free from cancers probable, possible, or preposterous?

Date: Mar-03-2014
A panel of leading health, economics and policy experts discussed the prospects for a future where cancers are rendered manageable or even eradicated and the variables affecting progress toward that goal so that cancer patients are able to lead normal, productive lives - and thus be "free from" their cancers. The forum was hosted by Research!America and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. The event, titled, "A World Free from Cancers: Probable, Possible, or Preposterous?" was held at the New York Academy of Sciences.Medical innovation has contributed to the economic success of the U.S.

For the first time, scientists monitor inhibitory neurons that link sense of smell with memory and cognition in mice

Date: Mar-03-2014
Odors have a way of connecting us with moments buried deep in our past. Maybe it is a whiff of your grandmother's perfume that transports you back decades. With that single breath, you are suddenly in her living room, listening as the adults banter about politics. The experiences that we accumulate throughout life build expectations that are associated with different scents. These expectations are known to influence how the brain uses and stores sensory information.

Genetic mutations identified that result in uncontrolled synthesis and secretion of the stress hormone cortisol

Date: Mar-03-2014
Cortisol is a hormone that is produced by the adrenal gland in response to stressful events, and modulates a whole spectrum of physiological processes. An international research collaboration has now identified genetic mutations that lead to the production and secretion of cortisol in the absence of an underlying stressor.The discovery emerged from the genetic characterization of benign tumors of the adrenal gland which produce cortisol in excess amounts. Patients who develop such tumors suffer from weight gain, muscle wasting, osteoporosis, diabetes and hypertension.

General optical imaging platform to examine activities of small biomolecules in living cells and animals

Date: Mar-03-2014
Researchers at Columbia University have made a significant step toward visualizing small biomolecules inside living biological systems with minimum disturbance, a longstanding goal in the scientific community. In a study published March 2nd in Nature Methods, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Wei Min's research team has developed a general method to image a broad spectrum of small biomolecules, such as small molecular drugs and nucleic acids, amino acids, lipids for determining where they are localized and how they function inside cells.

Nano-optical tweezers capable of trapping and moving an individual nano-object in 3 dimensions using only the force of light

Date: Mar-03-2014
As science and technology go nano, scientists search for new tools to manipulate, observe and modify the "building blocks" of matter at the nanometer scale. With this in mind, the recent publication in Nature Nanotechnology in which ICFO researchers demonstrate for the first time the ability to use near-field optical tweezers to trap a nano-size object and manipulate it in the 3 dimensions of space, is an exciting achievement.

In children, as one food allergy resolves, another may develop

Date: Mar-03-2014
Some children who outgrow one type of food allergy may then develop another type of allergy, more severe and more persistent, to the same food. A new study by pediatric allergy experts suggests that health care providers and caregivers carefully monitor children with food allergies to recognize early signs of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), a severe and often painful type of allergy that has been increasing in recent years.

Nanodiffraction opens up new insights into the physics of life: enables X-rays of living cancer cells

Date: Mar-03-2014
Gottingen-based scientists working at DESY's PETRA III research light source have carried out the first studies of living biological cells using high-energy X-rays. The new method shows clear differences in the internal cellular structure between living and dead, chemically fixed cells that are often analysed. "The new method for the first time enables us to investigate the internal structures of living cells in their natural environment using hard X-rays," emphasises the leader of the working group, Prof. Sarah Koster from the Institute for X-Ray Physics of the University of Gottingen.

More powerful cancer treatments with fewer side effects

Date: Mar-03-2014
What if there were a way to make chemotherapy and radiation more effective as cancer treatments than they are today, while also getting rid of debilitating side effects that patients dread? A new study led by Alexey Ryazanov, a professor of pharmacology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and member of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, suggests the day that happens could be getting closer.Side effects such as heart damage, nausea and hair loss occur when cancer therapy kills healthy cells along with the malignant cells that are being targeted.

How pathogens hack our immune systems to go undetected

Date: Mar-03-2014
A new report appearing in the March 2014 issue of The FASEB Journal helps shed light on what drives the evolution of pathogens, as well as how our bodies adapt to ward them off. Specifically, the report shows that our bodies naturally employ a mechanism, called "CD33rSiglecs," that not only dampens unwanted immune responses against one's own cells, but also evolves rapidly to recognize foreign invaders. What's more, the report explains how pathogens exploit this immunological "vulnerability" of "self-recognition" to evade our bodies' defenses.

Study of antibody evolution charts course toward HIV vaccine

Date: Mar-03-2014
In an advance for HIV vaccine research, a scientific team has discovered how the immune system makes a powerful antibody that blocks HIV infection of cells by targeting a site on the virus called V1V2. Many researchers believe that if a vaccine could elicit potent antibodies to a specific conserved site in the V1V2 region, one of a handful of sites that remains constant on the fast-mutating virus, then the vaccine could protect people from HIV infection.