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Potential avenue to make an unhealthy heart grow more like a healthy version

Identification of three fatty acids involved in the extreme growth of Burmese pythons' hearts following large meals could prove beneficial in treating diseased human hearts, according to research co-authored by a University of Alabama scientist and publishing in the Oct. 28 issue of Science.

28 Oct 2011

Scientists challenge theory about why chemotherapy agents target cancer

Challenging a half-century-old theory about why chemotherapy agents target cancer, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have devised a test that can predict how effective the drugs will be by determining whether a patient's tumor cells are already "primed" for death.

28 Oct 2011

Two new studies could provide tools to prevent rehospitalizations after major surgeries

Studies have shown that patients returning to the hospital soon after they've been discharged may cost Medicare up to billions of dollars each year, but two new studies presented at the 2011 Annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons could give surgical teams and their patients tools to prevent rehospitalizations.

28 Oct 2011

Platform approach to chemically incorporate homing receptors onto surface of cells

Stem cell therapies hold enormous potential to address some of the most tragic illnesses, diseases, and tissue defects world-wide. However, the inability to target cells to tissues of interest poses a significant barrier to effective cell therapy.

28 Oct 2011

Scientists describe how protein acts as courier in cell signaling pathways

Normal development, from fertilized egg to adult organism, depends on each cell receiving proper instructions from its environment. In response to such incoming information, receptors on a cell's surface send signals to the nucleus that tweak gene expression and control cellular function.

28 Oct 2011

Patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis harbor Flt1 protein that blocks blood vessel repair

In some kidney diseases, patients have high blood levels of a protein that blocks blood vessel repair, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

28 Oct 2011

Three economic indicators linked with high risk of stroke

People living in poor countries or countries that spend proportionately less on health-care are about 30 per cent more likely to have a stroke, a new study shows.

28 Oct 2011

Functional link between IKBKE and Akt activation in breast cancer

Publishing in the current issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry (Vol. 286, No 43), researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., have discovered additional mechanisms of "Akt" activation and suggest a component of that activation mechanism - inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B kinase subunit epsilon (IKBKE) - could be targeted as a therapeutic intervention for treating cancer.

28 Oct 2011

Special hospital team reduces cumulated risk of stroke in TIA patients

Patients who had a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), sometimes referred to as a "mini stroke", were much less likely to experience further vascular events in the first year if their care was co-ordinated by a special hospital team.

28 Oct 2011

Social stressors around the transition into adulthood sow seeds of disease in middle age

Being hard up socially and financially during adolescence and early adulthood takes its toll on the body, and leads to physiological wear and tear in middle aged men and women, irrespective of how tough things have been in the interim. According to Dr. Per E. Gustafsson from Umeå University in Sweden and colleagues, experience of social and material stressors around the time of transition into adulthood is linked to a rise in disease risk factors in middle age, including higher blood pressure, body weight and cholesterol.

28 Oct 2011

Researchers explore novel therapeutic approach for thyroid cancer

Some forms of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) respond to treatment with radioactive iodine, which is taken up by the thyroid gland, destroying the cancerous cells. However patients with two forms of thyroid cancer, radioiodine-refractory DTC and anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC), do not benefit from radioiodine therapy, and other treatment options are limited.

28 Oct 2011

Researchers announce new method to build important heparin drug

Robert Linhardt is working to forever change the way some of the most widely used drugs in the world are manufactured. Today, in the journal Science, he and his partner in the research, Jian Liu, have announced an important step toward making this a reality. The discovery appears in the October 28, 2011 edition of the journal Science in a paper titled "chemoenzymatic synthesis of homogeneous ultra-low molecular weight heparins."

28 Oct 2011

ACR supports Diagnostic Imaging Services Protection Act

The American College of Radiology supports the Diagnostic Imaging Services Protection Act (H.R. 3269), which would prohibit any multiple procedure payment reduction to the "professional component" of CT, MRI and ultrasound exams received by the same patient, on the same day, in the same setting in 2012.

28 Oct 2011

UCLA professor to receive ATA's Sidney H. Ingbar Distinguished Lectureship Award

The American Thyroid Association's (ATA) Sidney H. Ingbar Distinguished Lectureship Award recognizes outstanding academic achievements in thyroidology. An honorarium is conferred each year at the ATA Annual Meeting to an established investigator who has made major contributions to thyroid-related research over many years.

28 Oct 2011

Biogen Idec enters global collaboration for oral Syk inhibitor program with Portola

Biogen Idec and Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that they have entered into an exclusive, worldwide collaboration and license agreement under which both companies will develop and commercialize highly selective, novel oral Syk inhibitors for the treatment of various autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

28 Oct 2011

E-learning may not effectively improve dietary behaviors

With more people online and using smart phones, health applications or "apps" as they are popularly known are being promoted to help with everything from exercising to quitting smoking. A new review suggests that apps designed to change and improve eating habits may not make much of a difference.

28 Oct 2011

American College of Gastroenterology to hold special briefing for journalists

The American College of Gastroenterology will hold a special briefing for journalists at its 76th Annual Scientific meeting in Washington, DC highlighting new clinical science that explores the role of the "gut microbiota" - the bacterial composition of the GI tract - and the efficacy of probiotics in treating various GI conditions, including antibiotic-associated diarrhea, abdominal discomfort and bloating.

28 Oct 2011

NCI awards UAB $2.3M brain-tumor SPORE grant

The UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UAB Division of Neurosurgery have been awarded a prestigious SPORE, or Specialized Program of Research Excellence, grant from the National Cancer Institute for $2.3 million over three years to conduct research and develop new therapies to treat brain tumors.

28 Oct 2011

New rapid method for detection of BRAF V600E gene in thyroid tissue

During surgical removal of thyroid tissue suspicious for cancer, fast, reliable, and cost-effective techniques are needed to analyze the resected tissue for biomarkers—including BRAF V600E, is a molecular biomarker for papillary thyroid cancer (PTC)—that can confirm the presence and type of cancer cells. Researchers have developed a new, rapid method for direct detection of the BRAF V600E gene in thyroid tissue without the need to purify DNA from tumor cells—high resolution melting analysis.

28 Oct 2011

IFPA event to raise awareness of psoriasis on Oct. 29

Psoriasis can be a truly devastating disease, as it not only affects your health but can also have a severe impact on how you live your life. Many people with psoriasis experience social stigmatization and discrimination on a more or less daily basis, in a wide range of settings; at school, at work, at the gym, in public bath houses.

28 Oct 2011