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Black women in the US less likely to access preventative cancer treatments

A report from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia says that black women in the US with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, are far less likely to seek genetic counselling and possible testing than their white counterparts, and although the reasons for the disparity are not clear, it is suspected that mistrust of both the medical system and advice from primary physicians may be factors.

12 Apr 2005

HIV treatment-experienced patients set high standards for therapy success

Patients who have previously failed at least two anti-HIV regimens continue to have high standards for their treatment success, according to a survey commissioned by the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).

11 Apr 2005

Research suggests a central role for NMDA receptors in learning and memory

Learning and memory are processes that link experience with behavior and therefore play central roles in our daily experience. That there exists a physical basis for these processes seems at first hard to imagine--except for the fact that physical disruptions in the brain, such as stroke or disease, can make them go wrong.

11 Apr 2005

Fifteen-year hunt uncovers gene behind pseudothalidomide syndrome

A team of scientists from Colombia, the United States and elsewhere has successfully completed a 15-year-plus search for the genetic problems behind the very rare Roberts syndrome, whose physical manifestations often include cleft lip and palate and shortened limbs that resemble those of babies whose mothers took thalidomide during pregnancy.

11 Apr 2005

Now revealed that Salk polio vaccine was a team effort

The cure for polio came as a result of the collaboration between Thomas Francis Jr. and Jonas Salk.

10 Apr 2005

The liver may produce most of the body's good cholesterol

Research in mice suggests that the liver may produce most of the body's "good" cholesterol, an unexpected finding that might one day help scientists develop new treatments to raise levels of this heart-protecting molecule in humans.

10 Apr 2005

Some people with autism and large heads may have an increased risk of cancer

A gene that is changed in many forms of cancer has also been found to show similar changes in some forms of autism, according to preliminary research.

7 Apr 2005

Why different tissues in the human body vary in their susceptibility to "amyloid" diseases

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute are reporting the results of a recent study that addresses why different tissues in the human body vary in their susceptibility to "amyloid" diseases, which include Alzheimer's disease and a cluster of ailments called the familial amyloidoses.

7 Apr 2005

Method of gene therapy accurately corrects mutations in disease-causing genes

Harnessing the strength of a natural process that repairs damage to the human genome, a researcher from UT Southwestern Medical Center has helped establish a method of gene therapy that can accurately and permanently correct mutations in disease-causing genes.

5 Apr 2005

Pair of cancer genes found to drive both cell migration and division

Johns Hopkins researchers have found that two genes already known to control cell movement are also needed for proper cell division. They report their findings in the April issue of Developmental Cell.

5 Apr 2005

DNA repair kit announced by scientists

A study by scientists at Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. has demonstrated the use of the Company's zinc finger DNA-binding protein (ZFP) technology to achieve highly efficient, permanent correction of a disease-causing gene in primary human cells.

5 Apr 2005

Much more money needed to tackle flu virus

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is recommending that governments throughout the world need to set aside 5 per cent of what they spend on influenza vaccines to help get ready for the next big flu epidemic.

4 Apr 2005

Gene mutation protecting against malaria linked to prostate cancer incidence in African-American men

Research from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine suggests that the 60 percent greater incidence of prostate cancer among African-American men is related to a gene mutation developed generations ago in West Africa as nature's way of providing protection from the malaria infection endemic in that part of the world.

4 Apr 2005

Method of gene therapy that can accurately and permanently correct mutations in disease-causing genes

4 Apr 2005

Mutations in the HFE gene directly associated with chronic joint disease

Mutations in the HFE gene, which is involved in iron regulation, seem to be directly associated with chronic joint disease (or haemophilic arthropathy) among haemophilic patients, claim a team of Portuguese scientists in the April issue of the journal Blood.

4 Apr 2005

New chemicals to inhibit HIV infection

In corporation with peers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York University, researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), a CAS affiliate, have come up with new chemical inhibitors against HIV reproduction, marking a significant progress in the development of anti-AIDS drugs based on natural host resistance.

4 Apr 2005

Potential therapeutic role for the ataxin-3 protein for Machado-Joseph disease

The repetition of three little "letters" within the gene that codes for the ataxin-3 protein is both the cause of and perhaps a solution to Machado-Joseph disease and an entire family of similar genetic disorders, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.

3 Apr 2005

Researchers show role of Epstein-Barr virus in cancer

Researchers at the University of Toronto have mapped the molecular details that show how a viral protein coded in the Epstein-Barr virus immortalizes cells and causes them to continuously grow, thereby predisposing people to certain types of cancer.

3 Apr 2005

Exposure to organochlorine compounds increases the risk of suffering colorectal cancer

A team of researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, The Catalan Institute of Oncology and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) have published a study indicating that exposure to organochlorine compounds, which we ingest in our diets, increases the risk of suffering colorectal cancer.

3 Apr 2005

Stress may enhance the body's ability to fight the flu

Short bouts of intense social stress improved the ability in the mice to recover from the flu. The stress apparently did so by substantially boosting the production of specialized immune cells that fought the virus.

3 Apr 2005