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Scientists reprogramme malignant melanoma cells to become normal pigment cells

Scientists at Northwestern University and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have reprogrammed malignant melanoma cells to become normal melanocytes, or pigment cells, a development that may hold promise in treating of one of the deadliest forms of cancer.

1 Mar 2006

Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) reduces angina

Patients with angina (chest pain) and left ventricular dysfunction respond very well to treatment using enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP), with little or no future heart failure events, according to researchers from the Cardiovascular Institute at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).

1 Mar 2006

Cell-death mechanism linked to developmental and degenerative brain disorders

Conclusive evidence that neurodevelopmental disorders such as mental retardation and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and ataxias can be caused, at least in part, by specific gene defects that interfere with the electrical impulses of rapid-firing brain nerve cells called bursting neurons.

1 Mar 2006

Research shows promise for the advancement of cancer and stem-cell research

The paper explains how proteins, known as epigenetic activators (such as Ash1 from the fruit fly Drosophila), bind to their target DNA and activate genes that determine what function a cell will have in the body.

1 Mar 2006

Night blindness is a new clinical symptom of Chagas disease

"This is a new observation, a new clinical symptom of Chagas disease," said Levin, head of the Laboratory of the Molecular Biology of Chagas Disease at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Levin and colleagues report their findings in the March 2006, issue of the FASEB Journal.

1 Mar 2006

Researchers edge closer to cardiac tissue engineering

Researchers have developed a method to engineer blood vessels within the tissue of previously engineered heart muscle. Trials have resulted in significant improvement in heart function.

1 Mar 2006

New findings on epoetin alfa for anemia

Mayo Clinic researchers working in concert with other North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) investigators have found that administering epoetin alfa for anemia once every three weeks to patients with anemia and cancer, instead of the traditional weekly epoetin treatments, maintains similar levels of red blood cells.

1 Mar 2006

Can stem cell research lead the way to affordability?

The proliferation of patents in the emerging stem cell field may impede scientists from developing new treatments, says Merrill Goozner of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.

1 Mar 2006

The legal and ethical issues associated with human embryonic stem cell research

"As my university gears up for human embryonic stem cell research," says Stanford law professor Henry Greely in an Essay for PLoS Medicine, "it finds that a host of ethical and legal questions still need to be answered."

1 Mar 2006

Effects of stress on the brain could trigger Alzheimer's

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have identified for the first time a certain area of the brain which can shrink in old age and cause depression and Alzheimer's disease.

1 Mar 2006

Eating and drinking Cocoa helps you live longer

According to Dutch researchers, men by eating or drinking cocoa lowered their risk of dying from heart disease by 50 percent compared to those who did not eat cocoa, and also lowered their blood pressure.

28 Feb 2006

Analysis of protein interactions dispels old notions of what's important about them

Discoveries made during the first large-scale analysis of interactions between proteins in our cells hold promise for identifying new genes involved in genetic diseases, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins and the Institute of Bioinformatics (IOB) in Bangalore.

27 Feb 2006

Researchers transplant insulin-producing neonatal porcine islet cells into monkeys

A team of researchers from the University of Alberta, the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University and the Emory Transplant Center has successfully transplanted insulin-producing neonatal porcine islet cells into monkeys, a procedure the researchers say represents a promising intermediate solution to the critical supply problem in clinical islet cell transplantation.

27 Feb 2006