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Oxyphenbutazone can kill drug resistant TB

An off-patent anti-inflammatory drug that costs around two cents for a daily dose in developing countries has been found by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College to kill both replicating and non-replicating drug resistant tuberculosis in the laboratory -- a feat few currently approved TB drugs can do, and resistance to those is spreading.

11 Sep 2012

Insight into how tissue stiffness drives cancer

The stiffness of breast tissue is increasingly recognized as an important factor explaining the onset of breast cancer. Stiffening induces molecular changes that promote cancerous behavior in cells. Bioengineering studies have found that breast cancer cells grown on a 3-D gel have enhanced cell replication and decreased organization as rigidity increases.

10 Sep 2012

Mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors can prevent radiation-induced tissue damage

Radiation therapy is one of the most widely used cancer treatments, but it often damages normal tissue and can lead to debilitating conditions. A class of drugs known as mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors can prevent radiation-induced tissue damage in mice by protecting normal stem cells that are crucial for tissue repair, according to a preclinical study published by Cell Press in the September issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.

7 Sep 2012

Study investigates effects of acidity on breast and pancreatic cancer cell lines

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the University of South Florida and Wayne State University have discovered that tumor cell survival relies on adaptation to acidic conditions in the tumor microenvironment.

7 Sep 2012

DNA synthesis methods: an interview with Clemens Richert

Automated DNA synthesis has been around for almost three decades. The key difference between the established methodology for making oligodeoxynucleotides (short stretches of single-stranded DNA) and our method is the template strand.

7 Sep 2012

Lack of Atoh1 master gene can lead to sudden infant death syndrome

When mice are born lacking the master gene Atoh1, none breathe well and all die in the newborn period. Why and how this occurs could provide new answers about sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), but the solution has remained elusive until now.

7 Sep 2012

Reduced NF-κB expression linκed to postradiation oral mucosa vulnerability

The fragility of oral mucosa after radiotherapy for oral squamous cell carcinoma may be due to the inhibition of the DNA transcriptor protein nuclear factor κappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells, show study findings.

6 Sep 2012

Preliminary research findings from Kessler Foundation’s Ekso device study on SCI

Kessler Foundation has released preliminary research findings from its clinical study of the wearable robotic exoskeletal device, Ekso. Gail Forrest, PhD, assistant director of Human Performance and Engineering Research, presented the Ekso research data on September 3, at the meeting of the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals at the Rio Suites in Las Vegas. Dr. Forrest directs mobility research at the Foundation, including activity-based locomotor therapy, functional electrical stimulation, and treadmill training with the LokomatPro v6, as well as Ekso.

6 Sep 2012

Researchers identify HIF2α gene mutation in cancer tumor cells

For the first time, a mutation in HIF2α, a specific group of genes known as transcription factors that is involved in red blood cell production and cell metabolism, has been identified in cancer tumor cells.

6 Sep 2012

TSC and PTEN genes important in controlling blood precursor cells in Drosophila

UCLA stem cell scientists have shown that two common tumor suppressor genes, TSC and PTEN, are vital to regulating the stem cell-like precursor cells that create the blood supply in Drosophila, the common fruit fly.

6 Sep 2012

Sleep apnoea severity associated with increased cancer mortality

Sleep apnoea severity has been associated with increased cancer mortality in a new study.

5 Sep 2012

Closing large intracardiac shunts does not improve sleep apnea

Clinically significant shunting of blood through a patent foramen ovale is more common among patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea than in the general population, study findings indicate.

4 Sep 2012

Morphological changes occur rapidly in response to cardiac injury

Cardiac injury leads to significant structural changes in the heart, including enlargement, excess formation of fibrous growth tissue, and abnormalities of the coronary vasculature. While associated factors have been targeted for therapeutic intervention, the results have been conflicting. Most studies have investigated these changes after six days of injury. However, advanced stages of remodeling have already begun by day seven following injury.

4 Sep 2012

Exercise paves way to healthy old age

Middle-aged people who have a high level of physical fitness have a significantly lower and later incidence of chronic conditions in old age than those who are less fit, report researchers.

3 Sep 2012

CT scan appears to predict risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations

The respective size of two major arteries, visible on a simple computed tomography, or CT, scan, is a strong predictor of the risk of exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham published online Sept. 3, 2012, in the New England Journal of Medicine.

3 Sep 2012

ImThera Medical announces results from targeted hypoglossal neurostimulation study on OSA

ImThera Medical, Inc. today announced that results from the first single-center study of targeted hypoglossal neurostimulation (THN) for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) will appear in an upcoming print edition of the European Respiratory Journal.

3 Sep 2012

Potential new COPD drug

A study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has shown that a compound used in some skin creams may halt the progression of emphysema and reverse some of the damage caused by the disease. When the compound Gly-His-Lys (GHK) was applied to lung cells from patients with emphysema, normal gene activity in altered cells was restored and damaged aspects of cellular function were repaired.

1 Sep 2012

Targeted intervention improves safety of MRI scans for children with sickle cell disease

Jude Children's Research Hospital reports success using a targeted educational approach to teach young patients to remain motionless during MRI scans, making the process safer.

1 Sep 2012

New intriguing knowledge on blood haemoglobin

Scientists at the research centre MEMBRANES at Aarhus University, Denmark, have completed an old puzzle, which since the 60s from many sides has been regarded as impossible to complete. The challenge was to solve the structure of the protecting protein complex that forms when haemoglobin is released from red cells and becomes toxic. This toxic release of haemoglobin occurs in many diseases affecting red cell stability, e.g. malaria.

1 Sep 2012

Concentration increase of HUWE1 protein leads to intellectual disability

2 to 3 % of the children are born with an intellectual disability. Possibly by a genetic defect, but in 80% of these cases, we do not know - yet - which genes are responsible. VIB researchers at KU Leuven show that increased production of the HUWE1 protein is the cause in some patients.

31 Aug 2012