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Scientists link treatment-induced growth factor to cancer spread

In advanced cancer, anti-tumor therapies often work only partially or not at all, and tumors progress following treatment.

7 Apr 2007

TGF-beta inhibitors stop tumors spreading to new sites

For several types of cancer, persistently high levels of the soluble factor TGF-beta in the blood after surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy correlate with increased risk of early metastasis and a poor prognosis.

7 Apr 2007

Stem cells offer new ways of treating hearing loss

Have you ever walked by someone listening to their i-Pod loud enough for you recognize the song? Studies have shown noise-induced hearing loss is going to become the next big epidemic affecting our younger generation though the effects won't show until it is too late to treat.

7 Apr 2007

Remarkable power of social norms

Most people want to be normal. So, when we are given information that underscores our deviancy, the natural impulse is to get ourselves as quickly as we can back toward the center.

7 Apr 2007

San Antonio students aim to raise $500,000 to save the life of Adrian Flores-Saucedo

They started out a small group of students from San Antonio universities coming together regularly to pray for the world around them, now 25 members of the St. Matthew's Catholic Church prayer group Oriens have embarked on a more challenging mission, a humanitarian effort to try and raise $500,000 to save the life of Adrian Flores-Saucedo, a seven-year-old boy from Piedras Negras, Mexico in desperate need of a heart transplant.

7 Apr 2007

Stress affects levels of serum cytokines across pregnancy

A new study shows that women who report high levels of stress and low social support during pregnancy are more likely to have increased immune system activity, which can trigger inflammatory responses and put them at risk for premature labor and preeclampsia.

7 Apr 2007

Statins lower risk of sepsis in patients on kidney dialysis

Researchers at Johns Hopkins may have discovered an unintended benefit in the drugs millions of Americans take to lower their cholesterol: The medications, all statins, seem to lower the risk of a potentially lethal blood infection known as sepsis in patients on kidney dialysis.

7 Apr 2007

New regulatory mechanism for critical protein signaling domain

The study is being published in Science Express, an advanced online edition of the journal Science, on April 5. It will appear in the print version of Science later this spring.

7 Apr 2007

Framing science - scientists should adopt new communication techniques

Seed Washington Correspondent Chris Mooney and American University professor and ScienceBlogs contributor Dr. Matthew Nisbet are co-authors of a provocative new article in Science entitled, Framing Science.

7 Apr 2007

Scientists decode genome of Streptococcus sanguinis

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have decoded the genome of a bacteria normally present in the healthy human mouth that can cause a deadly heart infection if it enters the bloodstream.

7 Apr 2007

Conceptualizing and defining public health emergency preparedness

A panel of experts convened by the RAND Corporation has recommended actions that communities around the United States should take to be better prepared to deal with bioterrorist attacks, pandemic flu outbreak and other large-scale public health emergencies.

7 Apr 2007

Physician's role in getting patients active

Physicians and their patients alike know that physical activity is an important component of a healthy lifestyle, but what is less clear is what kind of a role doctors should have in increasing their patients' activity levels.

7 Apr 2007

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators offer lifesaving benefits, return to active life, and reduced cost

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine have discovered that implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) -- electric monitoring devices that deliver a lifesaving shock in the event of a cardiac arrest -- help patients with heart problems live longer more active lives.

7 Apr 2007

Cylindrical nanoparticles deliver drugs to tumors

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine & School of Engineering and Applied Science have discovered a better way to deliver drugs to tumors.

7 Apr 2007

Thyroid surgery can be done safely in an outpatient setting

Thyroid surgery, which has traditionally been an overnight hospital procedure, can be done safely in an outpatient setting, and in fact is preferable because it is less expensive, according to a new study published in the April issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery .

7 Apr 2007

Chlamydia screening questioned

The value of opportunistic chlamydia screening is called into question in the British Medical Journal.

7 Apr 2007

Largest-ever Parkinson's disease trials

Researchers with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) have initiated one of the largest-ever Parkinson's disease clinical trials.

7 Apr 2007

Environmental factors in the development of Parkinson's disease

The Parkinson's Institute today announced that new findings concerning the role of environmental factors in the development of Parkinson's disease will be reported at Asilomar (Pacific Grove, CA) as part of the final meeting of the Collaborative Centers for Parkinson's Disease Environmental Research (CCPDER).

7 Apr 2007

New standards could cut number of malnourished children on feeding programs

The introduction of new standards to assess nutrition in children could lead to confusion and a cut in the numbers of malnourished children eligible for emergency feeding programmes, warn researchers in the British Medical Journal.

7 Apr 2007

New role for sugars on proteins

In a ground-breaking study published in the top journal, Cell, Dr. James Dennis, senior investigator at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital, has discovered a new role for sugars on proteins.

7 Apr 2007