Health News

Can personalized tumor vaccines improve interleukin-2 treated metastatic melanoma?

Date: Jan-24-2014
New Rochelle, NY, January 22, 2014-Metastatic melanoma has a poor prognosis, but treatment with high-dose interleukin-2 (IL2) can extend survival. Now, a combination of IL2 therapy and activation of patients' immune systems using personalized vaccines made from their own tumor cells has been shown to improve survival rates even more than IL2 alone, according to a new article in Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals website.

Scripps Florida scientists offer new insight into neuron changes brought about by aging

Date: Jan-24-2014
How aging affects communication between neurons is not well understood, a gap that makes it more difficult to treat a range of disorders, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.A new study from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) offers insights into how aging affects the brain's neural circuitry, in some cases significantly altering gene expression in single neurons. These discoveries could point the way toward a better understanding of how aging affects our cognitive ability and new therapeutic targets for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease.

Central Europeans already digested milk as well as us 1,000 years ago

Date: Jan-24-2014
Back in the Middle Ages, Central Europeans were already capable of digesting milk, yoghurt and cheese just as well as us today. Researchers at the University of Zurich's Centre for Evolutionary Medicine have discovered that the population of the medieval town of Dalheim had a similar genetic predisposition for milk digestion to present-day Germans and Austrians. Moreover, the study reveals that lactose tolerance was more widespread than previously believed. Milk is the staple food for infants and contains the sugar lactose.

Fixing damaged hearts through tissue engineering

Date: Jan-24-2014
In the U.S., someone suffers a heart attack every 34 seconds - their heart is starved of oxygen and suffers irreparable damage. Engineering new heart tissue in the laboratory that could eventually be implanted into patients could help, and scientists are reporting a promising approach tested with rat cells. They published their results on growing cardiac muscle using a scaffold containing carbon nanofibers in the ACS journal Biomacromolecules.Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Rui L. Reis, Ana Martins and colleagues point out that when damaged, adult heart tissue can't heal itself very well.

Lingonberries halt effects of high-fat diet

Date: Jan-24-2014
Lingonberries almost completely prevented weight gain in mice fed a high-fat diet, a study at Lund University in Sweden has found - whereas the 'super berry' açai led to increased weight gain. The Scandinavian berries also produced lower blood sugar levels and cholesterol.The Lund University research team used a type of mouse that easily stores fat and therefore can be regarded as a model for humans who are overweight and at risk of diabetes.Some of the mice were fed a low-fat diet, while the majority of the animals were fed a diet high in fat.

Idelalisib shows promise in treating indolent non-Hodgkin lymphomas

Date: Jan-24-2014
Slow-growing, or indolent, non-Hodgkin lymphomas are difficult to treat, with most patients relapsing repeatedly and the disease becoming increasingly resistant to therapy over time.But a new drug made by Seattle-based Gilead Sciences Inc. appears to offer hope for fighting the disease, according to a study published online in the New England Journal of Medicine in advance of its March 13 print issue.

Workers' energy zapped by nighttime smartphone use

Date: Jan-24-2014
Using a smartphone to cram in more work at night results in less work the next day, indicates new research co-authored by a Michigan State University business scholar.In a pair of studies surveying a broad spectrum of U.S. workers, Russell Johnson and colleagues found that people who monitored their smart phones for business purposes after 9 p.m. were more tired and were less engaged the following day on the job.

Identification of gene tied to motor neuron loss in ALS

Date: Jan-24-2014
Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have identified a gene, called matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), that appears to play a major role in motor neuron degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The findings, made in mice, explain why most but not all motor neurons are affected by the disease and identify a potential therapeutic target for this still-incurable neurodegenerative disease. The study was published today in the online edition of the journal Neuron.

Diagnosis by 'smart' holograms

Date: Jan-24-2014
'Smart' holograms, which are currently being tested to monitor diabetes, and could be used to monitor a wide range of medical and environmental conditions in future, have been developed by researchers."While these sorts of inexpensive, portable tests aren't meant to replace a doctor, holograms could enable people to easily monitor their own health," Ali Yetisen said.

Emerging class of therapeutics represents a coming wave for developers and manufacturers

Date: Jan-24-2014
After years of research, development and testing, a new class of drugs is emerging on the market with two frontrunners acting as harbingers of what's to come. The cover story in Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine, explores the potential of these antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and the challenges in developing and manufacturing them.Ann M. Thayer, senior correspondent at C&EN, explains that ADCs are essentially molecular missiles. They are made up of a toxic payload (a drug) attached to an antibody that specifically seeks out sick cells, such as tumor cells.