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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

Soy-rich diet can mitigate effects of bisphenol A

New research led by researchers at North Carolina State University shows that exposure to the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) early in life results in high levels of anxiety by causing significant gene expression changes in a specific region of the brain called the amygdala. The researchers also found that a soy-rich diet can mitigate these effects.

10 Sep 2012

New strategy will have positive impact on people with brain disorders

New research offers a possible strategy for treating central nervous system diseases, such as brain and spinal cord injury, brain cancer, epilepsy, and neurological complications of HIV. The experimental treatment method allows small therapeutic agents to safely cross the blood-brain barrier in laboratory rats by turning off P-glycoprotein, one of the main gatekeepers preventing medicinal drugs from reaching their intended targets in the brain.

10 Sep 2012

Cedars-Sinai receives CIRM grant to continue study of stem cell therapy for heart disease

A team of Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute stem cell researchers today was awarded a $1.3 million grant from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine to continue study of an experimental stem cell therapy that treats heart attack patients with heart-derived cells. Earlier this year, data from the first clinical trial of the stem cell treatment showed the therapy helped damaged hearts regrow healthy muscle.

10 Sep 2012

GSK, University of Cambridge aim to discover and develop new medicines for liver disease

A new collaboration based at the University of Cambridge will aim to discover and develop new medicines to treat liver disease.

10 Sep 2012

UH lecture to explore hormones in health and disease

While estrogen is essential for many of the body's normal processes in both men and women, it also plays a role in diseases such as breast, ovarian and prostate cancer. The impact of this hormone on such diseases will be addressed during a lecture Sept. 25 at the University of Houston (UH).

10 Sep 2012

Yale researchers to investigate poorly understood nature of autism in females

The reasons why autism spectrum disorders are almost five times more common among boys than among girls may soon be revealed, thanks to a five-year, $15 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant awarded to Yale School of Medicine for the Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE) research program.

10 Sep 2012

UC Irvine receives CIRM grant to advance stem cell-based treatments for AD, retinitis pigmentosa

Efforts to begin human clinical trials using stem cells to treat Alzheimer's disease and retinitis pigmentosa received a $37.3 million boost from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine during its most recent round of funding on Sept. 5.

10 Sep 2012

Scientists report first comprehensive genetic analysis of lung squamous cell carcinoma

A nationwide consortium of scientists has reported the first comprehensive genetic analysis of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, a common type of lung cancer responsible for about 400,000 deaths each year.

10 Sep 2012

CIRM awards Cedars-Sinai $1.3M to study stem cell therapy for heart attacks

7 Sep 2012

Neuronal inhibition plays key role in memory formation

Stefan Remy and colleagues at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the University of Bonn have illuminated how this system works. "The system acts like a filter, only letting the most important impulses pass," explains Remy. "This produces the targeted neuronal patterns that are indispensible for long-term memory storage."

7 Sep 2012

Children and young patients with chronic HBV infection do have a protective immune response

Scientists from A*STAR's Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS), together with clinical collaborators from London , discovered for the first time that children and young patients with chronic Hepatitis B Virus infection (HBV carriers) do have a protective immune response, contrary to current belief, and hence can be more suitable treatment candidates than previously considered.

7 Sep 2012

BCAA supplementation may treat autism and/or epilepsy

An international team of researchers, led by scientists at the University of California, San Diego and Yale University schools of medicine, have identified a form of autism with epilepsy that may potentially be treatable with a common nutritional supplement.

7 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

Germline BAP1 mutations associated with novel cancer syndrome

University of Hawai'i Cancer Center researchers have discovered germline BAP1 mutations are associated with a novel cancer syndrome characterized by malignant mesothelioma, uveal melanoma, cutaneous melanoma and atypical melanocytic tumors. Germline mutations are hereditary gene defects that are present in every cell.

7 Sep 2012

Biopsies may misdiagnose eosinophilic esophagitis

University of Utah engineers mapped white blood cells called eonsinophils and showed an existing diagnostic method may overlook an elusive digestive disorder that causes swelling in the esophagus and painful swallowing.

7 Sep 2012

Study sheds light on how high-fibre diet affects the gut environment

Savvy consumers and health professionals know that fibre is an essential nutrient associated with important health benefits, yet barriers such as overall poor tolerance to higher-fibre diets may be why average intake is far less than experts recommend.

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

OncoMed announces data from demcizumab preclinical study on pancreatic cancer

OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage company developing novel therapeutics that target cancer, today announced the online publication in Clinical Cancer Research of preclinical data demonstrating the potent anti-cancer activity of anti-DLL4 (demcizumab) in patient-derived pancreatic tumor models.

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