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Botanical treatment holds hope for triple-negative breast cancer

A unique formula made from medicinal mushrooms, traditional Chinese herbs and other natural ingredients inhibits aggressive, human triple-negative breast cancer and breast-to-lung metastasis in mice. This is the third peer-reviewed study to demonstrate the botanical formula's anticancer effects.

29 Oct 2012

The App That's Transforming Blood Banking

An interview with Celia Tombalankian, discussing the benefits of automation in blood banking and the development of a new blood banking app.

From Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc. 29 Oct 2012

Light-sensitive protein to study Parkinson's disease

Introducing a light-sensitive protein in transgenic nerve cells... transplanting nerve cells into the brains of laboratory animals... inserting an optic fibre in the brain and using it to light up the nerve cells and stimulate them into releasing more dopamine to combat Parkinson's disease...

29 Oct 2012

Research team receives grant to study impact of urban air pollution on TB immunity

An international team of researchers, led by Stephan Schwander, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Global Public Health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Public Health, has received a $2.96 million grant to conduct a "real-world" study on the impact of urban air pollution on the human immune system's ability to resist Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis.

29 Oct 2012

Researchers use baker's yeast to identify new therapies for Lou Gehrig's disease

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig's disease, is a devastatingly cruel neurodegenerative disorder that robs sufferers of the ability to move, speak and, finally, breathe.

29 Oct 2012

New HIV test for babies differs from conventional test, delivers diagnosis in less than an hour

Today, mothers in Africa sometimes walk more than 10 miles to a clinic only to learn that conventional HIV test results for their babies are not available yet.

29 Oct 2012

Scientists hope to unravel mystery of how Borrelia burgdorferi causes Lyme disease

Investigators at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have accelerated the search for the bacterial genes that make the Lyme disease bacterium so invasive and persistent. The discovery could advance the diagnosis and treatment of this disease, which affects an estimated 30,000 Americans each year.

29 Oct 2012

Researchers investigate unique features of arcuate neurons in the hypothalamus

Maintaining a healthy body weight may be difficult for many people, but it's reassuring to know that our brains and bodies are wired to work together to do just that-in essence, to achieve a phenomenon known as energy balance, a tight matching between the number of calories consumed versus those expended. This careful balance results from a complex interchange of neurobiological crosstalk within regions of the brain's hypothalamus, and when this "conversation" goes awry, obesity or anorexia can result.

29 Oct 2012

Mouse model may provide clues on mechanism that links diabetes and aging to Alzheimer's

Growing evidence suggests that there may be a link between diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, but the physiological mechanisms by which diabetes impacts brain function and cognition are not fully understood. In a new study published in Aging Cell, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies show, for the first time, that diabetes enhances the development of aging features that may underlie early pathological events in Alzheimer's.

29 Oct 2012

Study describes how Dbr1 gene halts toxic buildup of TDP-43-a protein

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes and the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered how modifying a gene halts the toxic buildup of a protein found in nerve cells. These findings point to a potential new tactic for treating a variety of neurodegenerative conditions, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease)-a fatal disease for which there is no cure.

29 Oct 2012

High worldwide drug-resistant TB figures are “worrying

The prevalence of resistance to second-line therapy among individuals with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is high, show the results of a study conducted using data from eight countries worldwide.

26 Oct 2012

Researchers identify genes that control regeneration of the intestine in planarian flatworms

Researchers report in the journal Developmental Cell that they have identified genes that control growth and regeneration of the intestine in the freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea.

26 Oct 2012

Targeted deletion of major VEGF gene in mice induces vision loss

Millions of people with "wet" macular degeneration are prescribed a class of medication known as anti-VEGF drugs. But now scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found that a drastic reduction of VEGF activity may do more harm than good.

26 Oct 2012

Project identifies mechanism behind rapid evolution of male genitals

A new collaborative project among researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden and the University of Cincinnati has, for the first time, demonstrated experimentally the evolutionary force behind the rapid evolution of male genitals, focusing on a species of seed beetle.

26 Oct 2012

Human Gene Therapy articles describe two novel anti-tumor therapies

Targeted T-cells can seek out and destroy tumor cells that carry specific antigen markers. Two novel anti-tumor therapies that take advantage of this T-cell response are described in articles published in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

26 Oct 2012

Researchers identify new means to eradicate malaria infections

Researchers have identified a new means to eradicate malaria infections by rapidly killing the blood-borne Plasmodium parasites that cause the disease.

26 Oct 2012

CUMC researchers develop first true mouse model of typhoid infection

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have created the first true mouse model of typhoid infection. The development promises to advance the study of typhoid and the creation of new vaccines against the infection, which remains a major health threat in developing countries.

26 Oct 2012

HCFC1 protein may cause intellectual disability

Genetics researchers at the University of Adelaide have solved a 40-year mystery for a family beset by a rare intellectual disability - and they've discovered something new about the causes of intellectual disability in the process.

26 Oct 2012

Scientists create yellow potatoes with high carotenoid levels

Potatoes with higher levels of beneficial carotenoids are the result of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) studies to improve one of America's most popular vegetables.

26 Oct 2012

NetBio to present ANDE system at 2012 IEEE homeland security conference

Current DNA analysis methods require expert users in a controlled laboratory environment and take weeks to months to produce results. The ANDE system from NetBio would allow the generation of CODIS-quality DNA profiles by non-technical users in a field environment in less than 1.5 hours.

25 Oct 2012