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New mechanism that initiates metastasis

Researchers have known for years that the enzyme MMP-9 plays a key role in the spread of colorectal cancer. Now, scientists at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia have found out how the enzyme helps initiate the process, known as metastasis.

4 Apr 2006

Number of older people living in the English countryside is soaring

Figures show that 5.3m of England's projected 5.5m population growth in the period until 2028 will be due to the rise in the over-60s, who will mainly be living in rural districts. Numbers of people living in the countryside aged 85 and over are predicted to treble in this period.

4 Apr 2006

Yellow pigment that sits on the retina focus of macular degeneration research

Whether a tiny yellow pigment is the main thing standing between many older people and macular degeneration is under study at the Medical College of Georgia.

4 Apr 2006

Breakthrough in search for new anti-malarial drugs

Scientists at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia have made a significant discovery in the fight against malaria. Drexel researchers, along with a research group at the University of Washington, have determined a critical molecular structure of the cellular motor that allows the malaria parasite to invade human cells.

4 Apr 2006

Promising new targets for Alzheimer's drug therapies

An enzyme previously associated with preventing the dementia of Alzheimer's disease now appears to play an even bigger role in safeguarding against the disease, bringing the promise of new targets for drug therapies.

4 Apr 2006

Dysregulation of the Hedgehog pathway in human hepatocarcinogenesis

The unchecked activity of a cell signaling pathway crucial in embryonic development and the liver's response to injury leads to liver cancer, researchers from Duke University Medical Center and John Hopkins University School of Medicine have found.

4 Apr 2006

People with very agile minds tend to have a very agile cortex

Youth with superior IQ are distinguished by how fast the thinking part of their brains thickens and thins as they grow up, researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered.

4 Apr 2006

Mayo Clinic discover cellular secret that may explain how certain cancers move and spread

If the mechanism that drives cancer movement - also called metastasis - can be understood well enough to manipulate it, new and better treatments can be developed for patients with metastatic cancers.

4 Apr 2006

Enzymes that harm brain immediately after stroke may be beneficial days later

Insights from the study could change the way stroke is treated, extending the window for effective treatment from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks. The results may suggest new ideas for drug development.

4 Apr 2006

New mouse model technology in cancer vaccine tool-box

Cancer vaccines are being investigated in early-phase clinical trials around the world, with many of those trials recruiting patients with melanoma.

4 Apr 2006

Transportation of prion protein across the intestinal mucosa of scrapie-susceptible and scrapie-resistant sheep

While newly published research confirms that under laboratory circumstances prion-protein can be absorbed across the gut, it also shows that this is unlikely to occur in real life.

4 Apr 2006

Life or death can depend on teenage cancer patients taking their treatments properly

Teenagers and young adults with cancer need to understand the implications of not taking their treatments regularly, at the right time, and for the whole course. Those who don't are seriously compromising their future health - and for some it will be the difference between life and death.

4 Apr 2006

Researchers identify cell cue for destroying tumors

Mayo Clinic researchers have identified and characterized an important signal used by the human immune system to help destroy tumors.

4 Apr 2006

Mitochondria induce nuclear deformation

In a paper being presented in two American Physiological Society sessions at Experimental Biology 2006, a joint Estonian-French team demonstrated "for the first time that mitochondria are able to induce nuclear deformation, suggesting that mitochondria may mechanically regulate nuclear function."

4 Apr 2006

Enzyme released by cardiac mast cells during heart attack contributes to arrhythmia

In times of cardiac crisis, mast cells in the heart secrete a powerful enzyme, renin, that indirectly triggers dangerous arrhythmias, according to a team of researchers at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City.

4 Apr 2006

Nicotine and chemotherapy not a good mix

Researchers in the U.S. say that preliminary research has suggested that nicotine can prevent chemotherapy drugs such as taxol from killing lung cancer cells.

3 Apr 2006

Proteomics yields new drug targets for treating cardiogenic shock

When it comes to cell signaling and bioregulation, it's tough to find a more important molecule than nitric oxide (NO). Dysfunction of NO-mediated signaling is thought to be a culprit in lethal cardiovascular conditions such as angina, and septic, cardiogenic and hemorrhagic shock; it may play a role in many other illnesses as well.

3 Apr 2006

Gene key to infection-fighting immune cells identified

Every time the human body encounters a virus, bacteria or other infectious agent, immune cells called B-lymphocytes multiply in lymph nodes and then swing into action to fight off the intruders.

3 Apr 2006

Weill Cornell experts publish review of genetic medicine

In an article published in the April issue of Nature Reviews Genetics, two experts at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University sum up the achievements, challenges and promise of a burgeoning field: genetic medicine.

3 Apr 2006

Special education data provide misleading trends of changing autism prevalence

If statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Education are to be believed, in 1992 the state of Illinois had only 322 diagnosed cases of autism among school children. In 2003, according to the same statistical source, Illinois had more than 6,000 children diagnosed as autistic.

3 Apr 2006