Calcium News and Research

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Calcium, the most abundant mineral in the body, is found in some foods, added to others, available as a dietary supplement, and present in some medicines (such as antacids). Calcium is required for muscle contraction, blood vessel expansion and contraction, secretion of hormones and enzymes, and transmitting impulses throughout the nervous system. The body strives to maintain constant concentrations of calcium in blood, muscle, and intercellular fluids, though less than <1% of total body calcium is needed to support these functions.

The remaining 99% of the body's calcium supply is stored in the bones and teeth where it supports their structure. Bone itself undergoes continuous remodeling, with constant resorption and deposition of calcium into new bone. The balance between bone resorption and deposition changes with age. Bone formation exceeds resorption in growing children, whereas in early and middle adulthood both processes are relatively equal. In aging adults, particularly among postmenopausal women, bone breakdown exceeds formation, resulting in bone loss that increases the risk of osteoporosis over time.

Interrupting key interaction between p68 and calcium-calmodulin inhibits cancer metastasis

Disrupting a key interaction between two types of proteins in cells inhibits the spread of cancerous cells, providing researchers with a new pathway toward developing cancer-fighting drugs, according to new findings by Georgia State University scientists.

31 Jan 2013

Temple scientists to solve long-standing mystery in sepsis

Scientists at the Center for Translational Medicine at the Temple University School of Medicine are inching closer to solving a long-standing mystery in sepsis, a complex and often life-threatening condition that affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. every year.

28 Jan 2013

HSS involving resiniferatoxin receives U.S. patent to alleviate intractable pain

The U. S. Patent and Trademark Office recently issued a patent to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services involving resiniferatoxin, or RTX, an experimental compound that represents a potential new class of drugs to alleviate the intractable pain that can occur in people with advanced cancer, severe arthritis, and other extremely chronic conditions.

28 Jan 2013

High blood calcium levels may predict ovarian cancer

A new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is the first to report that high blood calcium levels might predict of ovarian cancer, the most fatal of the gynecologic cancers.

25 Jan 2013

Researchers find new genetic differences in human hearts

Healthy men and women show little difference in their hearts, except for small electrocardiographic disparities. But new genetic differences found by Washington University in St. Louis researchers in hearts with disease could ultimately lead to personalized treatment of various heart ailments.

25 Jan 2013

Study examines associations between blood calcium and ovarian cancer

A new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is the first to report that high blood calcium levels might predict ovarian cancer, the most fatal of the gynecologic cancers.

24 Jan 2013

Calmangafodipir protects against side effects of cancer treatments

A drug developed at Linköping University in Sweden protects against the side effects of cancer treatments while strengthening the effects on the tumour.

22 Jan 2013

Chemical sensitivity of TRPA1 ion channel may boost melanin production

Last year, a team of researchers at Brown University discovered that certain skin cells use a light-sensitive receptor found outside of the eye to sense ultraviolet light and quickly begin pumping out melanin to protect against DNA damage.

22 Jan 2013

New review examines role of nutrition in sarcopenia

Sarcopenia, or the gradual loss of muscle mass, is a common consequence of ageing, and poses a significant risk factor for disability in older adults. As muscle strength plays an important role in the tendency to fall, sarcopenia leads to an increased risk of fractures and other injuries.

19 Jan 2013

Calcium receptor – potential drug target for sleeping sickness

While its common name may make it sound almost whimsical, sleeping sickness, or African trypanosomiasis, is in reality a potentially fatal parasitic infection that has ravaged populations in sub-Saharan Africa for decades, and it continues to infect thousands of people every year.

19 Jan 2013

Researchers identify signaling pathway used by malarial parasites to destroy host cells

One of the most insidious ways that parasitic diseases such as malaria and toxoplasmosis wreak their havoc is by hijacking their host's natural cellular processes, turning self against self.

18 Jan 2013

Multivitamins should be taken with care

In light of research released today by Canstar Blue showing more than half of Australians who take multivitamins don’t know they are medicines, NPS MedicineWise is reminding people that complementary medicines are medicines too.

18 Jan 2013

Lack or excess of CaM kinase II affects heart muscle cell stiffness

A certain enzyme, the CaM kinase II, keeps the cardiac muscle flexible. By transferring phosphate groups to the giant protein titin, it relaxes the muscle cells. This is reported by researchers led by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Linke of the Institute of Physiology at the Ruhr Universität in the journal Circulation Research. In failing hearts, which don't pump enough blood around the body, the scientists found an overly active CaM kinase II.

18 Jan 2013

Some epileptic seizures may originate in glia: Study

Epileptic seizures occur when neurons in the brain become excessively active. However, a new study from MIT neuroscientists suggests that some seizures may originate in non-neuronal cells known as glia, which were long believed to play a mere supporting role in brain function.

17 Jan 2013

Aggressive breast cancer’s metastasis molecular switch identified

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College have discovered the molecular switch that allows aggressive triple negative breast cancer cells to grow the amoeba-like protrusions they need to crawl away from a primary tumor and metastasize throughout the body. Their findings, published in Cancer Cell, suggest a novel approach for developing agents to treat cancer once it has spread.

15 Jan 2013

Clinical trials aim to repair bones using adult stem cells combined with biomaterials

The clinical trials aim to repair bones using adult stem cells combined with biomaterials. It will be conducted in France in the Cr-teil University Hospital Centre and the Regional University Hospital Centre in Tours, in collaboration with the French Blood Establishment.

10 Jan 2013

Tibial artery calcification predicts foot ulceration

Tibial artery calcification is a significant risk factor for foot ulcers in patients with Type 2 diabetes, research suggests.

9 Jan 2013

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals reveals positive RenaZorb Phase 1 clinical trial results

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company with fully integrated commercial and drug development operations with a primary focus in hematology and oncology, today announced positive, statistically significant data from the Company's Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the safety and tolerability of RenaZorb (also referred to as SPI-014) in healthy volunteers.

8 Jan 2013

Study finds a new way in which calcium signaling may be controlled

In a study published in Current Biology, scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center, Marquette University and Oberlin College discovered a new way in which calcium signaling may be controlled. Study authors say their findings define a mechanism for regulating calcium signaling that has never been recognized before and should be of great help to the thousands of scientists who study the extremely important role of calcium signaling in health and disease.

7 Jan 2013

Stanford scientists identify molecular basis for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

When a young athlete dies unexpectedly on the basketball court or the football field, it's both shocking and tragic. Now Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have, for the first time, identified the molecular basis for a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that is the most common cause for this type of sudden cardiac death.

4 Jan 2013