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Asthma may be linked to a decreased risk of brain cancer

According to new research there is a suggestion that gene variants known to raise the risk of asthma, might also decrease the risk of a common type of brain cancer that progresses rapidly and is fatal.

18 Jul 2005

Genome studies may help target new drugs to fight them

One parasite causes a deadly sleeping sickness in Africa. The second damages the internal organs of millions of Latin Americans. The third causes terrible lesions on the face or limbs of victims from Brazil to India.

18 Jul 2005

New molecular insights may one day lead to opportunities to stave off old age

Delving deep into the molecular subtleties of a strain of mice engineered to age rapidly, scientists have found that an accumulation of genetic mutations prompts a cascade of programmed cell death that seems to underpin the aging process.

18 Jul 2005

Scientists sequence the genomes of three species of parasites responsible for causing diseases that kill or cripple millions

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) scientists who participated in the project say the sequencing of the genomes of the parasitic protozoa that cause Chagas disease, African sleeping sickness, and leishmaniasis, could significantly impact world health. Some of the genes discovered may prove to be good drug and vaccine targets.

17 Jul 2005

Malpractice litigation has little to do with erratic quality of health care

Conventional wisdom holds that malpractice lawsuits are the bane of modern medicine, with high insurance premiums driving doctors from the profession and the threat of lawsuits discouraging health-care employees from reporting and correcting medical mistakes.

17 Jul 2005

RNA dynamics may help in drug design

Biophysicists have developed a method for studying, in real time, a nanoscale "docking and undocking" interaction between small pieces of ribonucleic acid (RNA), a technique that may be broadly useful in studying structural changes in RNA that affect its function.

17 Jul 2005

Lipid helps cell wall protein fold into proper shape

A protein that provides a vital passage through a bacterium's outer cell wall will misfold and malfunction if that wall is built of the 'wrong' material, scientists at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston report in a finding that has long-term implications for understanding diseases caused by misfolded proteins such as cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's disease, and mad cow disease.

17 Jul 2005

PGE2 may be a target for Celebrex therapy

A product produced by lung cancer tumors fuels the cells that suppress immune function in patients and may be a target for Celebrex therapy, giving oncologists another weapon to fight cancer, according to a study by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center.

17 Jul 2005

Scientists have begun to clarify how one of the body's molecules controls the trafficking of T cells through the blood

...lymph nodes and on to tissues to fight infection -- a crucial response that sometimes goes awry, attacking the body's own tissues and causing autoimmune diseases.

17 Jul 2005

New research on atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation is an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) in which the atria, or upper chambers of the heart, beat quickly and inconsistently.

17 Jul 2005

Complicated plasminogen system yields potential therapeutic target; Implications for aging and degenerative diseases

Skeletal muscles naturally repair themselves very efficiently after injury. But when they don’t, otherwise successful recovery following damage from overuse during exercise, surgery or trauma can be stymied. Furthermore, as we age, muscle repair slows noticeably, and in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and other degenerative muscle diseases, normal repair functions can’t cope with disease progression.

14 Jul 2005

FDA panel says asthma drugs should stay on market but must carry warnings

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel has declared that three asthma drugs are safe enough to stay on the market, after concerns that in rare cases they raise the risk of severe asthma.

14 Jul 2005

Researchers gain better understanding of how nerves need to be reconnected after spinal cord injury

Nerve cells relay messages at blink-of-the-eye speeds by squirting chemicals called neurotransmitters across tiny gaps called synapses to awaiting message receptors. But lots of different receptors and neurotransmitters work simultaneously. Which goes where to send the proper message?

13 Jul 2005

"Ipod-like" device to help correct balance disorders

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University's Neurological Sciences Institute and the University of Bologna have developed a portable "Ipod-like" device that can be used to help correct balance disorders. Scientists believe this new device, based on auditory feedback of balance, can be worn on the belt like a pager to provide regular therapy for patients with balance disorders, improving their day-to-day activities.

13 Jul 2005

New method may accelerate the way cancer-causing genes are found

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have discovered a new method that could accelerate the way cancer-causing genes are found and could lead to a more accurate identification of the genes, according to two studies in the July 14, 2005, issue of Nature.

13 Jul 2005

Researchers identify six genes associated with lymphocytic bronchitis - could mean new test, treatments

Researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have identified six genes associated with lymphocytic bronchitis, which is thought to lead to obliterative bronchitis (OB), the most common cause of long-term failure of transplanted lungs.

13 Jul 2005

A new study shows that the number of Americans who had weight-loss surgery quadrupled between 1998 and 2002

A new study shows that the number of Americans who had weight-loss surgery quadrupled between 1998 and 2002.

13 Jul 2005

Targeted program drastically reduced hepatitis A in U.S.

According to a newly released study, the number of cases of hepatitis A have fallen by 76 percent in the United States since a vaccination campaign targeted children in communities with the highest rates of the disease.

13 Jul 2005

ID Biomedical's flu vaccine granted fast track status

ID Biomedical Corporation announced today it has been advised by the United States Food and Drug Administration's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) that the Company's Influenza Virus Vaccine (Fluviral) has been granted a Fast Track designation.

13 Jul 2005

Abnormal heart rate variability is partially responsible for depression's effects in heart patients

Scientists have known for years that depression increases the risk of dying in the months after a heart attack, but they haven't understood how depression raises that risk.

13 Jul 2005