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Integrated system, rapid transfer offers lifeline for heart attack victims

Heart attack patients received lifesaving treatment quickly when hospitals and communities used an integrated, rapid transfer system to get patients to a facility equipped to perform artery-opening procedures, according to a report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

3 Aug 2007

Electricity - a new weapon for stalling the progression of cancer

Low-intensity electric fields can disrupt the division of cancer cells and slow the growth of brain tumors, suggest laboratory experiments and a small human trial, raising hopes that electric fields will become a new weapon for stalling the progression of cancer.

3 Aug 2007

Discredited Korean embryonic stem cells' true origins revealed

A report from researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute sheds new light on a now-discredited Korean embryonic stem cell line, setting the historical record straight and also establishing a much-needed set of standards for characterizing human embryonic stem cells.

3 Aug 2007

Possible anthrax drug targets

In the American government's biodefense efforts, the potential for terrorists to cause a deadly anthrax outbreak remains a significant concern, six years after the letter attacks that shook the nation shortly after 9/11.

3 Aug 2007

New detection techniques for pancreatic cancer

Using novel light-scattering techniques, researchers have found the first evidence that early stage pancreatic cancer causes subtle changes in part of the small intestine.

3 Aug 2007

Scientists find why red beans and rice can be nauseating

Scientists have discovered how lectins, a family of proteins believed to be a natural insecticide that is abundant in undercooked legumes and grains, can make you feel temporarily miserable.

3 Aug 2007

Detection of gene fusions in prostate cancer

Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered how genes turn on the switch that leads to prostate cancer.

3 Aug 2007

Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol opens door for virus that causes Kaposi's sarcoma

The major active component of marijuana could enhance the ability of the virus that causes Kaposi's sarcoma to infect cells and multiply, according to a team of researchers at Harvard Medical School.

2 Aug 2007

Prototype vaccine against tuberculosis

Using a novel approach, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed a prototype vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) that works better in animal models than the only TB vaccine now available.

2 Aug 2007

Nimesulide delays pancreatic cancer precursors in mice

Nimesulide, a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, delays the progression of precancerous pancreatic lesions in mice, according to researchers at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

2 Aug 2007

Coffee and liver cancer

After lung and stomach cancer, liver cancer is the third largest cause of cancer deaths in the world.

2 Aug 2007

Fear protein found

A University of Iowa study shows that loss or chemical inhibition of a protein, known as acid sensing ion channel protein (ASIC1a), reduces innate fear behavior in lab animals, making normally timid mice relatively fearless.

2 Aug 2007

COX-2 inhibitors delay pancreatic cancer precursors in mice

Nimesulide, a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, delays the progression of precancerous pancreatic lesions in mice, according to researchers at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

1 Aug 2007

Neighbor clustering better identifies functionally related genes on the bacterial chromosome

The moment a bacterial pathogen makes contact with its host, its goal is simple: to infect.

1 Aug 2007

Nanoparticles may provide safe pain control on the battlefield

University of Michigan scientists have received a pilot grant of nearly $1.3 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to test whether nanoparticles can solve a pressing problem in battle zones like Iraq: how to administer sustained, safe doses of the most effective painkillers to injured soldiers, long before they can reach expert medical help.

1 Aug 2007

Discovery of pathway that controls cell size and division

Organisms precisely regulate cell size to ensure that daughter cells have sufficient cellular material to thrive or to create specific cell types: a tiny sperm versus a gargantuan egg for example.

1 Aug 2007

New target for Hodgkin lymphoma

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have identified a protein that prevents the body's immune system from recognizing and attacking Hodgkin lymphoma cells.

1 Aug 2007

Folic acid protects againts exposure to bisphenol A in the womb

Experiments in animals have provided additional and tantalizing evidence that what a pregnant mother eats can make her offspring more susceptible to disease later in life.

1 Aug 2007

Chromosomes responsible for a critical enzyme's activation during cell division

In a dividing cell, chromosomes interact with cellular scaffolding - called spindle microtubules - in order to move themselves to opposite ends of the cell, ensuring that both daughter cells receive an exact copy of their parent cell's genetic material.

1 Aug 2007