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Genetic background to ravages of obesity

Why do some overweight people stay healthy (apart from possible musculo-skeletal disorders) while obesity in other individuals leads to complications like diabetes and cardiovascular disease?

6 Mar 2006

Cannabis destroys cancer cells

Researchers investigating the role of cannabis in cancer therapy reveal it has the potential to destroy leukaemia cells, in a paper published in the March 2006 edition of Letters in Drug Design & Discovery.

1 Mar 2006

Treating orthopaedic trauma during pregnancy - most testing and treatments safe for fetuses and mothers

Pregnant women who suffer orthopaedic trauma should be diagnosed and stabilized in the same manner as any other patient, according to research published in the March 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

1 Mar 2006

Fibulins inhibit both tumor growth and blood-vessel formation

Researchers at National Jewish Medical and Research Center report in the March issue of Cancer Research that a pair of promising proteins, known as fibulins 3 and 5, slow the growth of cancer tumors in mice by preventing blood vessels from sprouting. The proteins are promising candidates for use in cancer therapy.

1 Mar 2006

New method for examining how radiation damages body tissue

The knowledge may make it possible to reduce side effects for cancer patients or to develop treatments for radiation exposure.

1 Mar 2006

Sperm banking should be a routine part of treatment for teenage cancer patients

Teenage boys being treated for cancer should be encouraged to bank their sperm so they might enjoy a family life in the future, say researchers at the University of Manchester.

From The University of Manchester 1 Mar 2006

Ancient DNA helps unearth potential hemophilia therapy

A cut can be life-threatening for people with hemophilia, whose bodies don't produce enough of a protein that prevents prolonged bleeding.

1 Mar 2006

Defective apoptosis of dendritic cells can be a critical component of autoimmune diseases

The failure of programming that sparks the death of dendritic cells - those that activate the immune system - can initiate autoimmune disease, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Science.

1 Mar 2006

Scientists reprogramme malignant melanoma cells to become normal pigment cells

Scientists at Northwestern University and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have reprogrammed malignant melanoma cells to become normal melanocytes, or pigment cells, a development that may hold promise in treating of one of the deadliest forms of cancer.

1 Mar 2006

Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) reduces angina

Patients with angina (chest pain) and left ventricular dysfunction respond very well to treatment using enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP), with little or no future heart failure events, according to researchers from the Cardiovascular Institute at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).

1 Mar 2006

Cell-death mechanism linked to developmental and degenerative brain disorders

Conclusive evidence that neurodevelopmental disorders such as mental retardation and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and ataxias can be caused, at least in part, by specific gene defects that interfere with the electrical impulses of rapid-firing brain nerve cells called bursting neurons.

1 Mar 2006

Research shows promise for the advancement of cancer and stem-cell research

The paper explains how proteins, known as epigenetic activators (such as Ash1 from the fruit fly Drosophila), bind to their target DNA and activate genes that determine what function a cell will have in the body.

1 Mar 2006

Night blindness is a new clinical symptom of Chagas disease

"This is a new observation, a new clinical symptom of Chagas disease," said Levin, head of the Laboratory of the Molecular Biology of Chagas Disease at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Levin and colleagues report their findings in the March 2006, issue of the FASEB Journal.

1 Mar 2006

Researchers edge closer to cardiac tissue engineering

Researchers have developed a method to engineer blood vessels within the tissue of previously engineered heart muscle. Trials have resulted in significant improvement in heart function.

1 Mar 2006

New findings on epoetin alfa for anemia

Mayo Clinic researchers working in concert with other North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) investigators have found that administering epoetin alfa for anemia once every three weeks to patients with anemia and cancer, instead of the traditional weekly epoetin treatments, maintains similar levels of red blood cells.

1 Mar 2006

Can stem cell research lead the way to affordability?

The proliferation of patents in the emerging stem cell field may impede scientists from developing new treatments, says Merrill Goozner of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.

1 Mar 2006

The legal and ethical issues associated with human embryonic stem cell research

"As my university gears up for human embryonic stem cell research," says Stanford law professor Henry Greely in an Essay for PLoS Medicine, "it finds that a host of ethical and legal questions still need to be answered."

1 Mar 2006

Effects of stress on the brain could trigger Alzheimer's

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have identified for the first time a certain area of the brain which can shrink in old age and cause depression and Alzheimer's disease.

1 Mar 2006

Eating and drinking Cocoa helps you live longer

According to Dutch researchers, men by eating or drinking cocoa lowered their risk of dying from heart disease by 50 percent compared to those who did not eat cocoa, and also lowered their blood pressure.

28 Feb 2006

Analysis of protein interactions dispels old notions of what's important about them

Discoveries made during the first large-scale analysis of interactions between proteins in our cells hold promise for identifying new genes involved in genetic diseases, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins and the Institute of Bioinformatics (IOB) in Bangalore.

27 Feb 2006