Health News

Adrenal tumors: hormone secretion linked to cardiovascular events

Date: Jan-29-2014
New research suggests that patients with adrenal tumors that secrete a hormone called cortisol are at higher risk of suffering cardiovascular events and increased mortality. Investigators say their findings may lead to better clinical management of patients with these tumors.This is according to a new study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.Adrenal tumors (adrenal incidentalomas) can often produce a sex hormone called cortisol. High secretion of cortisol can lead to Cushing's syndrome (overt hypercortisolism).

Food bug toxin may trigger multiple sclerosis

Date: Jan-29-2014
New research presented at a scientific meeting adds to a growing body of evidence that a toxin produced by a common food bug may trigger multiple sclerosis, an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system.Dr. Jennifer Linden, a microbiologist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, presented the research at the 2014 ASM Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting that is taking place in Washington, D.C., this week.

Scientists make pure precursor liver and pancreas cells from stem cells

Date: Jan-29-2014
A new study published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, describes how scientists have developed a way of producing highly sought populations of a pure tissue-specific cell from human pluripotent stem cells.Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are precursor cells than can produce over 200 distinct cell types in the human body. They hold great promise for regenerative medicine and drug screening. The idea is to be able to generate a range of pure tissue types by manipulating these precursor cells.

AMSilk advances silicone breast implant coating made from spider silk

Date: Jan-29-2014
AMSilk has completed preclinical testing of its proprietary silicone implant coating made from spider silk. AMSilk's coating consists of a thin layer of spider silk proteins manufactured by AMSilk. It modifies the implant, presenting a more acceptable surface to the human tissue. The coating can be applied to any silicone implant in the final production step, just prior to packaging and sterilization; it does not alter the mechanical performance of the implant.The preclinical results have been published in Advanced Functional Materials.

New technique developed to control cervical cancer

Date: Jan-29-2014
A group of researchers from Mexico's General Hospital, Health Secretariat, Medicine Faculty and the Institute of Cellular Physiology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) identified a therapeutic target for cervix cancer: gene CDKN3.The researched performed at the lab indicates that when this gene is blocked in culture cancerous cells, the neoplastic proliferation greatly diminishes.

Novozymes Biopharma announces new data highlighting potential for monthly drug dosing

Date: Jan-29-2014
Novozymes Biopharma, part of Novozymes A/S, a world leader in bioinnovation, has announced new data on extending the serum half-life of albumin in vivo. This compelling data set, recently presented at PepTalk 2014, demonstrates the potential of the company's half-life extension platform to deliver greater control of the therapeutic half-life of drug candidates, while showing how the technology can introduce the possibility for monthly dosing.

BioLamina's LN-521 removes problems delaying stem cell therapy

Date: Jan-29-2014
BioLamina (Stockholm, Sweden) is a company developing, producing and marketing tools that help scientists handle different types of primary cells including stem cells. One of the main products is LN-521™, a human recombinant laminin-521, which has now shown to solve several critical technical problems that have been delaying or even blocking the development of cell therapy and regenerative medicine.Only a few clinical trials have so far been performed with cells of embryonic stem cell origin since they were first isolated in 1998.

A natural sugar delivers DNA aptamer drug inside tumor cells

Date: Jan-29-2014
Drugs comprised of single strands of DNA, called aptamers, can bind to targets inside tumor cells causing cell death. But these DNA drugs cannot readily get inside tumor cells on their own. Effective delivery of DNA aptamers using a natural polysaccharide as a carrier is described in an article in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers.

Promising class of antibiotics discovered for treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis

Date: Jan-29-2014
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have discovered a promising new class of antibiotics that could aid efforts to overcome drug-resistance in tuberculosis (TB), a global killer. The drugs increased survival of mice infected with TB and were effective against drug-resistant strains of TB. St. Jude led the international research effort, results of which appear in the current issue of the journal Nature Medicine.The antibiotics, called spectinamides, were created by changing the chemical structure of an existing antibiotic, spectinomycin, which does not work against TB.

CSU researchers discover three new feline viruses, raising questions about transmission and disease

Date: Jan-29-2014
Pathogen researchers at Colorado State University have discovered a family of cancer-causing viruses in several U.S. populations of bobcats, mountain lions and domestic cats, raising questions about whether the previously undetected viruses could be transmitted between cat species - and whether they might be the root cause of some cancers found in housecats.Scientists tested nearly 300 individual blood samples from cats in three geographic regions in Florida, Colorado and California.