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Key survival circuit discovered in Salmonella bacteria

Hundreds of trillions of bacteria make their home in the vertebrate gut. Though many of these microbes perform helpful duties for their host, others - the pathogens - are unwelcome visitors, causing disease.

17 Dec 2008

Researcher refines aptamers to prevent HIV resistance

Evolving HIV viral strains and the adverse side effects associated with long-term exposure to current treatments propel scientists to continue exploring alternative HIV treatments.

16 Dec 2008

Researchers develop natural, nontoxic method for biodegrading carbon nanotubes

University of Pittsburgh researchers have developed the first natural, nontoxic method for biodegrading carbon nanotubes, a finding that could help diminish the environmental and health concerns that mar the otherwise bright prospects of the super-strong materials commonly used in products, from electronics to plastics.

16 Dec 2008

Just a little squeeze lets proteins assess DNA

To find its target, all a protein needs to do is give quick squeezes as it moves along the DNA strand, suggests new research from The University of Arizona in Tucson.

16 Dec 2008

Both theories about human cellular aging supported by new research

Aging yeast cells accumulate damage over time, but they do so by following a pattern laid down earlier in their life by diet as well as the genes that control metabolism and the dynamics of cell structures such as mitochondria, the power plants of cells.

16 Dec 2008

Single letter in the human genome points to risk for high cholesterol

Write out every letter in the human genome, one A, C, T or G per millimeter, and the text would be 1,800 miles long, roughly the distance from New York to Colorado.

16 Dec 2008

Discovery of promising new target in the battle against colorectal cancer

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have identified a promising new target in the battle against colorectal cancer - a biochemical pathway critical to the spread of tumors to new locations in the body.

15 Dec 2008

Receptor for prostaglandin-E2 plays key role in atherosclerosis development

Atherosclerosis - a disease that includes the buildup of fatty, cholesterol-laden lumps of cells inside the artery wall - is the underlying cause of heart attacks and strokes.

15 Dec 2008

GUMC researchers find gene inactivated in two aggressive cancers

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found a gene they say is inactivated in two aggressive cancers - malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer, and glioblastoma multiforme, a lethal brain tumor.

15 Dec 2008

New understanding of mechanism that regulates DNA methylation

Researchers in a University of Oregon lab have shed more light on the mechanism that regulates DNA methylation, a fundamental biological process in which a methyl group is attached to DNA, the genetic material in cells of living organisms.

14 Dec 2008

Having dense breasts increases breast cancer risk

Having dense breasts - areas that show up light on a mammogram - is strongly associated with increased breast cancer risk, but "why" remains to be answered.

14 Dec 2008

FDA approves Lusedra (fospropofol disodium) injection for monitored anesthesia care sedation

Eisai Corporation of North America today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Lusedra (fospropofol disodium) Injection, an intravenous sedative-hypnotic agent for monitored anesthesia care (MAC) sedation in adult patients undergoing diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.

14 Dec 2008

Exciting cancer discovery

Metastasis is the ability of cancer cells to spread from a primary site, to form tumours at distant sites.

14 Dec 2008

Overactive brain enzyme may play role in preventing weight gain and obesity

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that overactivity of a brain enzyme may play a role in preventing weight gain and obesity.

14 Dec 2008

Researchers identify how key mutations occur in human lymphomas

Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) have explained how certain key mutations occur in human lymphomas - a process that has, until now, remained a mystery.

12 Dec 2008

Timothy syndrome provides clues about enzyme role in arrhythmias

A University of Iowa study provides insight into a calcium-sensing enzyme already known to play a role in irregular heartbeats and other critical functions.

12 Dec 2008

Researchers find tamoxifen's power comes from endoxifen

Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered that a chemical known as endoxifen appears to be the primary metabolite responsible for the effectiveness of tamoxifen in treating breast cancer, and that it works against cancer in an entirely unexpected way.

12 Dec 2008

Enzyme that mutates antibodies also targets cancer-causing gene

The human immune system is in a perpetual state of self-experimentation. It expertly mutates and shuffles the DNA of its own cells to evolve new defenses against the vast array of microbes that try to invade our bodies.

12 Dec 2008

Trial looks at new treatment for solid cancer tumors and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Researchers at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) have opened a clinical trial, which aims to evaluate a new treatment for solid cancer tumors and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in combination with a chemotherapy agent called cyclophosphamide.

12 Dec 2008

Enzyme that mutates antibodies also targets a cancer-causing oncogene

Rockefeller University scientists have discovered that the same enzyme that enables the immune system's defensive creativity is also responsible for a particular genetic malfunction - a translocation of one piece of DNA to the wrong chromosome - that causes Burkitt's lymphoma.

12 Dec 2008