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Scientists create nanoscale vehicle to battle cancer without harming healthy cells

A tiny capsule invented at a UCLA lab could go a long way toward improving cancer treatment. Devising a method for more precise and less invasive treatment of cancer tumors, a team led by researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed a degradable nanoscale shell to carry proteins to cancer cells and stunt the growth of tumors without damaging healthy cells.

9 Feb 2013

TIC10 may improve usefulness of TRAIL protein in cancer therapy

A compound that stimulates the production of a tumor-fighting protein may improve the usefulness of the protein in cancer therapy, according to a team of researchers.

9 Feb 2013

Rekom Biotech designs new biomarkers that can identify West Nile virus, dengue

Researchers at the University of Granada have designed a set of biomarkers that can be used in diagnostic tests for the detection of dengue and the West Nile virus, two infectious diseases transmitted by the bite of a mosquito. These biomarkers can be used to identify these viral diseases, which affect millions of people worldwide.

9 Feb 2013

Novel combination of ibrutinib and bortezomib could be effective new therapy for blood cancers

Laboratory experiments conducted by scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center suggest that a novel combination of the drugs ibrutinib and bortezomib could potentially be an effective new therapy for several forms of blood cancer, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

7 Feb 2013

Study finds two biomarkers of acute kidney injury

Acute kidney injury strikes large numbers of hospitalized patients, including those with no prior kidney-related illness, and is one of the most costly and deadly conditions affecting critically ill patients.

7 Feb 2013

Investigators discover two new genes associated with severe early-onset disorders of heart rhythm

A team led by Vanderbilt University investigators has discovered two new genes - both coding for the signaling protein calmodulin - associated with severe early-onset disorders of heart rhythm.

7 Feb 2013

Studies to identify molecular causes and preventive and therapeutic strategies for Parkinson's

On the fourth floor of Wichita State University's McKinley Hall, biochemistry professor Kandatege Wimalasena and his group of doctoral and undergraduate students are hard at work researching Parkinson's disease (PD) - the second-most common neurodegenerative disease, affecting 1 to 2 percent of people older than 60.

7 Feb 2013

Scientists trace nanoparticles taken up from soils by crop plants

Scientists have, for the first time, traced the nanoparticles taken up from the soil by crop plants and analysed the chemical states of their metallic elements. Zinc was shown to dissolve and accumulate throughout the plants, whereas the element cerium did not dissolve into plant tissue.

7 Feb 2013

Researchers identify an exceptional mouse model of schizophrenia

Researchers at the Institute for Comprehensive Medical Science, Fujita Health University and the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Japan, along with colleagues from 9 other institutions, have identified an exceptional mouse model of schizophrenia.

7 Feb 2013

Key details of how TRF2 protein performs crucial chromosome-protecting function

We take it for granted that our chromosomes won't stick together, yet this kind of cellular disaster would happen constantly were it not for a protein called TRF2. Now, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered key details of how TRF2 performs this crucial chromosome-protecting function.

7 Feb 2013

Drug-carrying nanoparticles have another hurdle to overcome - escaping the bloodstream

Many medically minded researchers are in hot pursuit of designs that will allow drug-carrying nanoparticles to navigate tissues and the interiors of cells, but University of Michigan engineers have discovered that these particles have another hurdle to overcome: escaping the bloodstream.

7 Feb 2013

Basis of antidepressant drugs and electroconvulsive therapy found

Through a series of investigations in mice and humans, Johns Hopkins researchers have identified a protein that appears to be the target of both antidepressant drugs and electroconvulsive therapy. Results of their experiments explain how these therapies likely work to relieve depression by stimulating stem cells in the brain to grow and mature.

7 Feb 2013

Liver gene found to regulate cholesterol and fat blood levels

Researchers have identified a microRNA liver gene, miR-27b, which regulates lipid (cholesterol or fat) levels in the blood. This regulator gene controls multiple genes involved in dyslipidemia—abnormal blood cholesterol levels that can contribute to heart disease.

7 Feb 2013

Migraine, epilepsy and genetics: an interview with Dr. Melodie Winawer

This work is the product of an extraordinary consortium called the Epilepsy Phenome/Genome project (EPGP). It is a consortium of 27 centres in the U.S. and internationally with several hundred physicians and staff who have worked together to enrol more than 4000 patients with epilepsy and their family members.

7 Feb 2013

New method can determine seriousness of cancer prognosis with 80% certainty

The number of incorrect cancer prognoses can be halved with computerised image analysis. In three years time, the method can be used on patients with bowel cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer.

6 Feb 2013

More than £6M funding awarded to enhance development of biopharmaceuticals

More than £6M of funding has been awarded to enhance the development of biopharmaceuticals. In total £6.5M will fund 12 projects to deliver commercially important results, such as industrial-scale production of antibodies, stem cell preservation at room temperature, biopharmaceutical production using microbes and commercial scale stem cell therapy.

6 Feb 2013