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Cannibalistic signals help mammalian embryos develop normally

A cannibalistic process called autophagy spurs dying embryonic stem cells to send "eat me" and "come get me" signals to have their corpses purged, a last gasp that paves the way for normal mammalian development, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

8 Mar 2007

New discovery suggests novel methods for treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered previously unsuspected mutations that contribute to the formation of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common cancer in children.

8 Mar 2007

Gene that prevents cancer also controls the skin's suntanning machinery

"The p53 tumor suppressor is commonly mutated in human cancer," explained David Fisher, director of the Melanoma Program in Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "Now, we've found that it plays a role in the skin's tanning response."

8 Mar 2007

Obese couples are less fertile

According to Danish researchers being obese can hinder conception and this is especially true if both partners are overweight.

8 Mar 2007

Sunny days pose risk of 'flicker illness' for a few airlifted patients

"This shouldn't preclude transporting a patient from point A to point B in an aircraft, but this concern does need to register as a legitimate risk for a small number of patients. Personnel ought to know how to guard against it."

8 Mar 2007

Researchers discover a new mechanism that regulates stem cell division

Errors in stem cell division can give rise to tumours. By studying stem cells in the fruit fly, scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) have identified one of the mechanisms that govern how these cells divide.

7 Mar 2007

Discovery about fatty tissue that burns fat

In an article now being published in the leading American journal PNAS, a research team led by Barbara Cannon and Jan Nedergaard at the Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University in Sweden, together with British and American scientists, have managed to show for the first time that the cells that become the so-called brown or white fat tissue already know from the very beginning what sort of fat tissue they will be.

7 Mar 2007

Coffee fix in the morning just a myth

According to researchers in Britain that cup vital cup of coffee in the morning may not actually give you the lift you think it does.

7 Mar 2007

Gene tests and brain imaging reveal early dementia

Dementia diseases develop insidiously and are generally discovered when the memory has already started to deteriorate. New research form Karolinska Institutet shows, however, that approaching Alzheimer's can be detected several years before the symptoms manifest themselves.

6 Mar 2007

Teens at school short changed on training and safety in the workplace

According to researchers in the U.S. teenagers working part-time in retail and service jobs during the school year, do an average of 16 hours a week, often at jobs that are dangerous and unsupervised.

6 Mar 2007

Australian researcher unveils pregnancy mystery

Belinda Hardman completed the study for her PhD with Deakin's Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology under the supervision of Dr Leigh Ackland.

5 Mar 2007

New Alzheimer's genes found

Cardiff University researchers have found evidence for new genes involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

5 Mar 2007

New drug delivery method incorporates drug molecules in fat

Devastating blood-borne fungal infections that can be lethal for HIV/AIDS, cancer, and organ transplant patients may be treated more successfully, thanks to a new drug delivery method developed by researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

5 Mar 2007

Biomarker for lung cancer identified

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified a gene expression marker that distinguishes smokers with lung cancer from smokers without the disease. The findings, reported in the March 1, 2007 advanced on-line edition of Nature Medicine, may have immediate clinical relevance and public health impact.

5 Mar 2007

Scientists answer brain mystery

The taste of champagne, the sound of a train, the flash of a pop fly into left field - indeed all of human perception ' begins in the brain's center. That's where sensory information passes from the thalamus to the neocortex for processing.

5 Mar 2007

Erectile dysfunction drugs may be better than nitroglycerin in protecting the heart after a severe heart attack

During a heart attack, the heart is deprived of oxygen, which can result in significant damage to heart muscle and tissue. After the attack, most patients require treatment to reduce and repair the damage and improve their chances of survival.

5 Mar 2007

Sleep apnea linked to heart disease

New research in the U.S. suggests that people who suffer from sleep apnea have an increased risk of heart disease.

5 Mar 2007

Reduce your heart attack risk by eating whole-grain breakfast cereals

The health benefits of whole-grain breakfast cereals have been lauded yet again by the medical profession.

5 Mar 2007

Rare cell prevents rampant brain activity

One of the mysteries of the brain is how it avoids ending up in a state of chaos, something which happens only on exceptional occasions, when it can lead to epileptic fits.

4 Mar 2007

University of Bristol to create new medical research centre

The University of Bristol has been awarded £2.7 million by the Medical Research Council (MRC) to create a new research centre which will apply knowledge from genetic analyses to large-scale studies of the health of the population. These investigations will aim to find the factors that are causing disease, which can then be influenced to reduce risk.

4 Mar 2007