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Holey nanoparticles create new tumor imaging and therapeutic agent

Using a polymer that has both water-soluble and water-insoluble regions, a team of investigators from the Siteman Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence has created a nanoparticle shaped like a bialy, a close relative of the bagel. Combining this nanoparticle with manganese, a metal that boosts magnetic resonance imaging signals, and an antibody that targets blood vessels, the investigators then created a new type of imaging agent that also has the potential to deliver drugs to tumors.

9 Jul 2008

Nanoparticles detect telomerase activity

Telomerase, an enzyme that prevents chromosomes from shortening when they divide, is widely suspected of playing a key role in making cancer cells immortal.

9 Jul 2008

The good and bad side of dopamine

The chemical dopamine induces both desire and dread, according to new animal research in the July 9 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Although dopamine is well known to motivate animals and people to seek positive rewards, the study indicates that it also can promote negative feelings like fear.

9 Jul 2008

Genetic change in dopamine transporter supports a role for dopamine signaling in ADHD

A genetic change in the dopamine transporter - one of the brain's dopamine-handling proteins - makes it behave as if amphetamine is present and "run backward," Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators report this week in The Journal of Neuroscience.

9 Jul 2008

Smart nanoparticle bomb precisely targets a tumour's blood vessels

A team of researchers in the U.S. have developed a nanoparticle with the ability to precisely deliver cancer-fighting drugs.

9 Jul 2008

New understanding of how malaria parasite survives in and totally changes red blood cells

A new study-done on a scale an order of magnitude greater than anything previously attempted in the field of malaria-has uncovered an arsenal of proteins produced by the malaria parasite that allows it to hijack and remodel human red blood cells, leaving the oxygen-carrying cells stiff and sticky.

8 Jul 2008

Stopping drinking may lead to health problems including depression

Scientific evidence has long suggested that moderate drinking offers some protection against heart disease, certain types of stroke and some forms of cancer.

8 Jul 2008

UAB joins elite brain cancer research group

Brain cancer experts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have been selected for membership in the Ivy Genomics-Based Medicine Project. The project is a national consortium of cutting-edge hospitals and academic centers working to improve treatment and survival for patients with a kind of malignant brain tumor called a glioma.

8 Jul 2008

Pregnancy increases risk of acute myocardial infarction

Although acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is rare in women of child-bearing age, pregnancy can increase a woman's risk of heart attack 3- to 4-fold, according to a study published in the July 15, 2008, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

8 Jul 2008

A paradigm shift for targeted cancer therapy

We already know that recycling benefits our planet; and now new research suggests that the cellular version might be useful for battling cancer.

8 Jul 2008

Black box warning for epilepsy drugs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is calling for the strongest type of warning to be placed on drugs which are used to treat epilepsy.

8 Jul 2008

Experts call for cholesterol drugs to be used in young children

Medical specialists in the U.S. are calling for more stringent cholesterol screenings for young children.

8 Jul 2008

U-M study to look at effects of chemotherapy on brain function of breast cancer survivors

While Maria Lyzen was being treated for breast cancer, she found she couldn't concentrate or decipher information, and just functioning day-to-day at home was difficult.

7 Jul 2008

Discovery of new function for an old enzyme in sialidosis

The lack of a single protein usually thought of as a run-of-the-mill enzyme that helps to recycle molecules in cells causes an incurable and often fatal disease of children, according to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators.

7 Jul 2008

Discovery of molecule that kills kidney cancer cells

Kidney cancer patients generally have one option for beating their disease: surgery to remove the organ. But that could change, thanks to a new molecule found by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers that kills kidney cancer cells. Ideally, the researchers said, a drug created from this molecule would help fight the life-threatening disease while leaving patients' kidneys intact.

7 Jul 2008

The paradox of anti-HIV vaginal microbicides

With no HIV/AIDS vaccine or cure in sight, vaginal microbicides now in clinical trials are one of the most promising weapons that will protect women against HIV infection. Yet these microbicides could be of more benefit to men than to women, according to a new study co-authored by the University of New South Wales' National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR) and UCLA.

7 Jul 2008