Capillaries News and Research

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Scientist generates mutant version of IL-2 protein to treat advanced cancers

The utility of a naturally occurring protein given, sometimes to great effect, as a drug to treat advanced cancers is limited by the severe side effects it sometimes causes. But a Stanford University School of Medicine scientist has generated a mutant version of the protein whose modified shape renders it substantially more potent than the natural protein while reducing its toxicity.

19 Mar 2012

Simple and accurate device to study malaria

University of British Columbia researcher Hongshen Ma has developed a simple and accurate device to study malaria, a disease that currently affects 500 million people per year worldwide and claims a million lives.

29 Feb 2012

Study aims to achieve early detection of heart disease

With the month of February designated as Heart Health Month, physician-researchers in the Division of Cardiology at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) - Dr. Matthew Budoff and Dr. Ronald Oudiz - continue to pave the way with their efforts to develop treatments and therapies for conditions affecting the heart, and to help improve overall heart health.

22 Feb 2012

Researchers derive vessel-forming stem cells from amniotic fluid

Researchers at Rice University and Texas Children's Hospital have turned stem cells from amniotic fluid into cells that form blood vessels. Their success offers hope that such stem cells may be used to grow tissue patches to repair infant hearts.

7 Feb 2012

Intra-arterial technique of stem cell transplantation may enhance functional recovery from TBI

Experiments in brain-injured rats show that stem cells injected via the carotid artery travel directly to the brain, where they greatly enhance functional recovery, reports a study in the February issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

2 Feb 2012

Potential way to block second wave of death from pneumonia treatment

An international research team may have found a way to block a second wave of death that can result from pneumonia treatment.

1 Feb 2012

Excess salt stimulates production of adrenalin and causes hypertension

A review article by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) debunks the widely-believed concept that hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the result of excess salt causing an increased blood volume, exerting extra pressure on the arteries. Published online in the Journal of Hypertension, the study demonstrates that excess salt stimulates the sympathetic nervous system to produce adrenalin, causing artery constriction and hypertension.

12 Jan 2012

Researchers reveal how podocytes may regenerate themselves during normal kidney function

Damage to podocytes -- a specialized type of epithelial cell in the kidney -- occurs in more than 90 percent of all chronic kidney disease. Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have uncovered an unexpected pathway that reveals for the first time how these cells may regenerate and renew themselves during normal kidney function.

6 Dec 2011

New laser technique could create tissue scaffolds, microneedles

In the emerging field of tissue engineering, scientists encourage cells to grow on carefully designed support scaffolds. The ultimate goal is to create living structures that might one day be used to replace lost or damaged tissue, but the manufacture of appropriately detailed scaffolds presents a significant challenge that has kept most tissue engineering applications confined to the research lab.

3 Nov 2011

Knife-edge scanning microscopy rapidly maps new blood vessels in organs

Like normal tissue, tumors thrive on nutrients carried to them by the blood stream. The rapid growth of new blood vessels is a hallmark of cancer, and studies have shown that preventing blood vessel growth can keep tumors from growing, too. To better understand the relationship between cancer and the vascular system, researchers would like to make detailed maps of the complete network of blood vessels in organs. Unfortunately, the current mapping process is time-consuming: using conventional methods, mapping a one-centimeter block of tissue can take months.

1 Nov 2011

LA BioMed's lead investigator hopes to bring PAH awareness this November

As the month of November kicks off PH Awareness Month, Dr. Ronald Oudiz - lead investigator at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) - hopes to bring greater awareness to this disorder that has affected the lives of so many. Dr. Oudiz is a pioneer in this field, having received the 2011 Award for Excellence earlier this year from the Pulmonary Hypertension Association for his dedication to find new ways to treat this often fatal disease.

1 Nov 2011

Scientist granted over $138,000 to explore Vitamin C therapy in sepsis

Sepsis kills more people than breast, colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancers combined. Outside of coronary care units, it is the leading cause of mortality in intensive care units. Every year 18 million people worldwide develop this potentially fatal disease. Thanks to a generous grant of $138,238.65 from the Jesse and Julie Rasch Foundation, Lawson Health Research Institute's Dr. Michael Sharpe is exploring a new sepsis therapy using Vitamin C.

15 Sep 2011

Scientists invent new system that uses magnetism to purify hybrid nanoparticles

A team of Penn State University scientists has invented a new system that uses magnetism to purify hybrid nanoparticles -- structures that are composed of two or more kinds of materials in an extremely small particle that is visible only with an electron microscope.

8 Sep 2011

Single engineered protein blocks two related angiogenic receptors

Cancer needs blood. In fact, some cancer medications work solely to slow or prevent cancer cells from creating new capillaries, choking off their much-needed blood and nutrient supply to halt the growth of tumors.

12 Aug 2011

New method of delivering growth factors could lead to revolutionary heart treatment

Ever since the Nobel Prize for nerve growth factor was awarded more than 30 years ago, researchers have been searching for ways to use growth factor clinically.

3 Aug 2011

BTI's IPOXYN data on traumatic shock and ischemia to be presented at XIIIth MGH symposium

Boston Therapeutics, Inc., a public company registered with the SEC and a developer of diabetes therapeutics, announced today that experiments performed in the laboratory of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) faculty member Warren M. Zapol, MD, Emeritus Anesthetist-in-Chief and Director of the MGH Anesthesia Center for Critical Care Research, on BTI's new oxygen carrier for traumatic shock and ischemia, IPOXYNTM, will be presented at the "XIII International Symposium on Blood Substitutes and Oxygen Therapeutics" to be held July 27th-29th at MGH.

29 Jul 2011

Artificial lung reaches efficiencies akin to the genuine organ

An artificial lung built by Cleveland researchers has reached efficiencies akin to the genuine organ, using air - not pure oxygen as current man-made lungs require - for the source of the essential element.

26 Jul 2011

Malvern and Paraytec enter into development and technology licensing agreement

Malvern Panalytical (Malvern Panalytical, UK) and Paraytec Ltd (York, UK) have entered into a development and licensing agreement that will see Paraytec’s ActiPix® technology being added to Malvern Panalytical’s materials characterization portfolio. The agreement will give Malvern Panalytical exclusive rights to further develop, market and sell ActiPix® UV area imaging technology in specific fields of use related to the characterization of complex fluids for applications in biopharmaceuticals, foods and personal care industrial sectors.

From Malvern Panalytical 20 Jul 2011

Protein globin E helps avian eyes 'breathe' and contributes to visual acuity

Say what you will about bird brains, but our feathered friends sure have us -- and all the other animals on the planet -- beat in the vision department, and that has a bit to do with how their brains develop.

24 Jun 2011

New discoveries about role of blood vessels in early lung development

A research team at The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles has made critical new discoveries about the role of blood vessels in guiding early lung development, especially in the essential, highly reproducible branching pattern of lung airways.

4 Jun 2011