Endocrine News and Research

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Clever ants may hold the secret to antibiotic resistance

New research has revealed that ants that tend and harvest gardens of fungus carry on their bodies a secret weapon, an antibiotic-producing bacteria, which works against the parasites that invade their crops.

9 Jan 2006

Hopkins discovery provides molecular marker to assess risk for patients with papillary thyroid cancer

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have found that a mutation in the gene that triggers production of a tumor growth protein is linked to poorer outcomes for patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC).

6 Jan 2006

Common gene variation lessens Tamoxifen’s benefit

Researchers have discovered that one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for breast cancer, tamoxifen, may not be as effective for women who inherit a common genetic variation.

19 Dec 2005

Some children like sweets not just because they taste good, but also because sweets make them feel good

Now researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center report in the current issue of the journal Pain that the analgesic efficacy of sweet taste is influenced both by how much a child likes sweet taste and by the child's weight status.

15 Dec 2005

Capecitabine and Gemcitabine help battle pancreatic cancer

The prognosis of pancreatic cancer is poor but new therapies such as gemcitabine have contributed to improving the outcome for patients. Data presented at the 13th European Conference (ECCO) revealed that using the combination of gemcitabine and capecitabine increased overall survival in some patients.

3 Nov 2005

Substance found in evening primrose oil inhibits breast cancer gene

Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), a substance in evening primrose oil and several other plant oils used in herbal medicine, inhibits action of Her-2/neu, a cancer gene that is responsible for almost 30 percent of all breast cancers, Northwestern University researchers report.

3 Nov 2005

Simple, at-home treatment for jet lag

A simple, at-home treatment -- a single light box and the over-the-counter drug melatonin -- allows travelers to avoid jet lag by resetting their circadian body clock before crossing several time zones, according to new research being published in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

3 Nov 2005

First study to confirm the benefit of anti-angiogenic therapy in patients with breast cancer

Results from the first and only interim analysis of an important trial assessing the potential of Herceptin (trastuzumab) to improve disease-free survival (DFS) in HER-2 positive breast cancer patients after adjuvant chemotherapy, have shown that Herceptin affords a significant survival advantage.

1 Nov 2005

Testosterone may improve women's sex lives after menopause

The addition of testosterone to hormone therapy in women after menopause enhances their sexual function. However, it may also reduce HDL cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol) in women, according to a systematic review of current evidence.

23 Oct 2005

Menin is a key player in the development of some forms of acute leukemia

Tumor-suppressor proteins work to inhibit tumor growth in our bodies and when they win, they spare us a battle with cancer. But one such protein, menin, appears to have a split personality.

20 Oct 2005

Distress caused by hot flushes seriously under-played

A study by UK researchers of over 200 breast cancer patients receiving hormone treatments such as tamoxifen has found that nearly two-thirds would prefer to take a tablet daily and around a quarter would prefer a monthly injection, given that both treatments would be equally effective and have similar side-effects.

19 Oct 2005

Consistently, African-Americans have been found to have worse health outcomes than whites

Ninety-five percent of older African-American clinic patients reported at least some exposure to racism during their lives in a study by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

19 Oct 2005

Gastric bypass surgery may not be the most effective surgery in producing weight loss

"Overall, we found that patients who elect to have duodenal switch end up slimmer than those who choose gastric bypass," says Dr. Gladys W. Strain, director of research for bariatric surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and associate research professor of nutrition in surgery at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

16 Oct 2005

PCBs found widely in the environment and absorbed in the diet - may damage sperm

Research by an European Union-supported international team of scientists has shown that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) - synthetic organic chemicals found widely in the environment and absorbed in the diet - may damage sperm.

13 Oct 2005

Findings increase understanding of how an organism's body size is determined and how the speed of its development is controlled

In particular, the work sheds light on the molecular and cellular pathways that act to convey information about a growing organism's size, as well as on pathways that use that information to correctly time critical transitional events during development.

26 Sep 2005

Increlex - first major innovation in 20 years for the treatment of growth failure

Rush University Medical Center is participating in a clinical trial to evaluate the potential benefit of the first major innovation in 20 years for the treatment of growth failure.

26 Sep 2005

Tobacco industry hindered federal and international regulations on pesticide use

The tobacco industry coordinated cross-industry campaigns to delay and weaken federal and international regulations on pesticide use, according to new findings by University of California - San Francisco (UCSF) researchers.

26 Sep 2005

Methoxychlor (MXC), a common insect pesticide may lead to reduced fertility in women

Methoxychlor (MXC), a common insect pesticide used on food crops, may interfere with proper development and function of the reproductive tract, leading to reduced fertility in women, researchers at Yale School of Medicine write in the August issue of Endocrinology.

19 Sep 2005

Methoxychlor (MXC) may interfere with proper development and function of the reproductive tract, leading to reduced fertility in women

The researchers found that MXC, which was manufactured as a safer replacement for the now-banned DDT, alters the estrogen-regulated gene Hoxa10 in the reproductive tract and reduces the ability of the uterus to support embryo implantation. The researchers used mice and then human cell lines to confirm their findings.

7 Sep 2005

New ways to enhance or block fertilization

Researchers have capitalized on the unique properties of a sperm cell to follow cell membrane fusion as it occurs during fertilization, tracking the full cascade of events for the first time. The findings could reveal new ways to enhance or block fertilization, as well as how to control the secretion of neurotransmitters and hormones such as insulin.

6 Sep 2005

Endocrine News and Research

Clever ants may hold the secret to antibiotic resistance

Hopkins discovery provides molecular marker to assess risk for patients with papillary thyroid cancer

Common gene variation lessens Tamoxifen’s benefit

Some children like sweets not just because they taste good, but also because sweets make them feel good

Capecitabine and Gemcitabine help battle pancreatic cancer

Substance found in evening primrose oil inhibits breast cancer gene

Simple, at-home treatment for jet lag

First study to confirm the benefit of anti-angiogenic therapy in patients with breast cancer

Testosterone may improve women's sex lives after menopause

Menin is a key player in the development of some forms of acute leukemia

Distress caused by hot flushes seriously under-played

Consistently, African-Americans have been found to have worse health outcomes than whites

Gastric bypass surgery may not be the most effective surgery in producing weight loss

PCBs found widely in the environment and absorbed in the diet - may damage sperm

Findings increase understanding of how an organism's body size is determined and how the speed of its development is controlled

Increlex - first major innovation in 20 years for the treatment of growth failure

Tobacco industry hindered federal and international regulations on pesticide use

Methoxychlor (MXC), a common insect pesticide may lead to reduced fertility in women

Methoxychlor (MXC) may interfere with proper development and function of the reproductive tract, leading to reduced fertility in women

New ways to enhance or block fertilization

Discover how SciY empowers scientists

Why use light scattering to analyze proteins and viral vectors?

Changing the landscape of R&D to build clinical success from the ground up

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