Biomarker News and Research

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A biomarker is a biological molecule found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a normal or abnormal process, or of a condition or disease. A biomarker may be used to see how well the body responds to a treatment for a disease or condition. Also called molecular marker and signature molecule.

Children would need different medical care in wake of dirty bomb

If terrorists were to attack with a dirty bomb, medical authorities should be prepared to treat children differently than adults because their developing bodies would absorb and respond to the radiation exposure in distinct ways, according to a new study from the University of Rochester Medical Center.

31 Oct 2007

Possible biomarker for colon cancer in people under 50

An abnormality of chromosomes long associated with diseases of aging has, for the first time, been linked to colon cancer in people 50 years old and younger, an age group usually considered young for this disease.

28 Oct 2007

Possible biomarker for colon cancer in people 50 and under

28 Oct 2007

Blood markers can help choose best dose for antiangiogenic drugs

Scientists at Sunnybrook have new information that may help to improve the use of anti-cancer drugs designed to block the growth of new blood vessels in tumors, a process called angiogenesis that is critical to tumor growth.

25 Oct 2007

Human decision-making linked to an individuals' need to maintain a homeostatic balance

A researcher at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine suggests that psychiatrists may need to approach the treatment of psychiatric patients from a new direction - by understanding that such individuals' behavior and decision-making are based on an attempt to reach an inner equilibrium.

25 Oct 2007

Severely restricting calories leads to a longer life

New research now has shown for the first time that such a diet also can maintain physical fitness into advanced age, slowing the seemingly inevitable progression to physical disability and loss of independence.

24 Oct 2007

Potent inhibitor of Kinesin CENP-E demonstrates tumor cell inhibition

A first-in-class, targeted investigational therapy specifically designed to inhibit a single protein that functions only during cell division shows potent activity in a broad range of cancer cell lines, say researchers from GlaxoSmithKline.

24 Oct 2007

Advances in drug screening

With the discovery of suitable molecular targets - cellular molecules along pathways crucial for sustaining the life of cancer cells - comes the perplexing dilemma of where to find the next therapeutics that will bind to and disable those targets.

23 Oct 2007

Study explains why physical activity is beneficial in preventing heart attack and stroke

It is well known that physical activity can improve cardiovascular health. But it's the impact exercise has on specific known risk factors that accounts for about 60 percent of that improvement, researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

22 Oct 2007

Severely restricting calories leads to a longer life

22 Oct 2007

Illumina launches MicroRNA assay for gene expression profiling

Illumina, Inc. today launched a MicroRNA Assay for Gene Expression profiling. Priced at $95 per sample, this assay is the only solution available to allow rapid and reproducible miRNA expression profiling at a price less than half that of other commercially available methods.

From Illumina, Inc. 22 Oct 2007

Health Discovery receives notice of allowance of U.S. patent application covering kernel selection methods

Health Discovery Corporation has announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a notice of allowance of HDC's patent application covering methods for selection of kernels, i.e., functions or algorithms that are used to transform input data into a different configuration, known as "feature space", which allows for easier recognition of patterns within the data.

18 Oct 2007

Sugars, not proteins make bones tough

Researchers have discovered that the structure of human bones is vastly different than previously believed - findings which will have implications for how some debilitating bone disorders are treated.

17 Oct 2007

New knowledge about basic cancer biology

Merging technological innovations and new knowledge about basic cancer biology, cancer researchers now target specific molecules involved in critical chemical pathways of cancerous cells.

17 Oct 2007

New insight into Herceptin resistance in breast cancer

A new study provides important insight into the mechanisms involved in resistance to treatment of breast cancer patients with trastuzumab (Herceptin). The research, published by Cell Press in the October issue of the journal Cancer Cell , identifies markers that may help to identify patients who are unlikely to respond to trastuzumab treatment and provides a potential strategy for treating these patients.

16 Oct 2007

Hooked on chocolate? the answer why may lie in your gut

For the first time, scientists have linked the all-too-human preference for a food - chocolate - to a specific, chemical signature that may be programmed into the metabolic system and is detectable by laboratory tests.

15 Oct 2007

Arsenic exposure during pregnancy linked to low-birth-weight infants

Bangladeshi women exposed to high levels of arsenic during pregnancy are at increased risk of having a low-birth-weight infant, reports a study in the October Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine , official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

15 Oct 2007

Biopharmaceutical infrastructure key to lower drug development costs

Improvements to the technology infrastructure for researching and developing new biopharmaceuticals would be expected to save the industry hundreds of millions of dollars annually, according to a new economic study sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

12 Oct 2007

Cancer researchers investigate free radicals

The University of Leicester has been selected as the hub of a worldwide network of researchers to investigate one of the causes of cancer.

11 Oct 2007

African-American men have a slightly higher risk of PSA recurrence

African-American men are more likely to have their prostate cancer return after treatment, but their disease is no more aggressive when it does recur than that of their white counterparts, according to a study led by Duke Prostate Center researchers.

10 Oct 2007