Medical Science News

RSS

Scientists uncover one of the benefits of non-monogamous relationships

It's all about the grandkids! That's what a team led by an Indiana University biologist has learned about promiscuous female birds and why they mate outside their social pair.

3 Sep 2011

Plerixafor drug shows promise against WHIM syndrome

A new study reports that a drug already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in patients undergoing a bone marrow transplant may also have promise for treating people who have a rare immune deficiency known as WHIM syndrome.

3 Sep 2011

Researchers discover mechanisms behind BRCA1 gene mutations in breast and ovarian cancer

It is widely known that mutations in the breast cancer susceptibility 1 (BRCA1) gene significantly increase the chance of developing breast and ovarian cancers, but the mechanisms at play are not fully understood. Now, researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have shown that certain BRCA1 mutations result in excessive, uncontrolled DNA repair, which challenges the prior assumption that mutations in BRCA1 only contribute to breast cancer through a reduction in function.

3 Sep 2011

NASA, Louisiana Tech to conduct zero-gravity testing of DNA analysis device

Researchers from Louisiana Tech University will be floating high above the Gulf of Mexico this month to conduct zero-gravity testing of an experimental DNA analysis instrument developed at Tech that could benefit future NASA astronauts.

3 Sep 2011

Going bananas may help kids breathe easier

Going bananas may help kids breathe easier. Children who ate just one banana a day had a 34% less chance of developing asthmatic symptoms, according to new British research.

3 Sep 2011

Study: Growth hormone helps regenerate damaged hair cells in zebrafish ear

Loud noise, especially repeated loud noise, is known to cause irreversible damage to the hair cells inside the cochlea and eventually lead to deafness. In mammals this is irreversible, however both birds and fish are able to re-grow the damaged hair cells and restore hearing.

3 Sep 2011

New research puts an unexpected twist on how mitochondria divide within cells

New research from the University of California, Davis, and the University of Colorado at Boulder puts an unexpected twist on how mitochondria, the energy-generating structures within cells, divide.

3 Sep 2011

Scientists clarify endogenous mechanism that can prevent development of allergies

Scientists at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz have clarified an endogenous mechanism that can prevent the development of allergies. They were able to show that certain cells of the immune system, so-called killer dendritic cells, are capable of eliminating allergy cells.

3 Sep 2011

Health care politics: Perry's stem cell controversy, presidential contenders and health law; Biden Medicare fact check

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who recently underwent an experimental injection of his own adult stem cells to relieve back pain, pushed a bill through the Legislature in June that paves the way for a company co-owned by his doctor to become the first state-approved "bank" to store and cultivate such cells for medical treatment that fact illustrates two aspects of his record that are drawing increasing attention as he pursues the presidency: his enthusiasm for ideas that are sometimes outside the scientific mainstream and what critics view as his willingness to use the levers of state government to benefit friends and political benefactors.

3 Sep 2011

Jefferson's two-step bone marrow transplant procedure holds promise for cancer patients

Half-matched bone marrow or stem cell transplants for blood cancer patients have typically been associated with disappointing clinical outcomes. However, a clinical trial conducted at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson testing its unique, two-step half-match procedure has produced some promising results: the probability of overall survival was 45 percent in all patients after three years and 75 percent in patients who were in remission at the time of the transplant.

2 Sep 2011

Alcohol reduces awareness of how much a person cares about making mistakes

Most people have witnessed otherwise intelligent people doing embarrassing or stupid things when they are intoxicated, but what specifically happens in the brain to cause such drunken actions? A new study testing alcohol's effects on brain activity from the University of Missouri says that alcohol dulls the brain "signal" that warns people when they are making a mistake, ultimately reducing self control.

2 Sep 2011

New medicines to target LPA receptors may prevent serious developmental brain diseases

Examining brain damage that occurs when fetuses in the womb are deprived of oxygen, researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered that damage does not occur randomly but is linked to the specific action of a naturally occurring fatty molecule called LPA, acting through a receptor that transfers information into young brain cells.

2 Sep 2011

Researchers modify toxic chemical of marine cycyanobacteria to treat colon cancer

University of Florida researchers have modified a toxic chemical produced by tiny marine microbes and successfully deployed it against laboratory models of colon cancer.

2 Sep 2011

Discovery in rare disease may shed light on common causes of blindness

In a rare eye disease, the retina degenerates because light-receiving cells fail to regenerate, research led by a student at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine shows.

2 Sep 2011

Microtubule stability linked to increased sensitivity to paclitaxel

SCIENTISTS have discovered how blocking key cell signalling proteins could help boost the success rate of the tumour-shrinking drug paclitaxel, according to a study published in the journal Cancer Research today.

2 Sep 2011

Contraceptive pill prevents loss of eye sight

Scientists at University College Cork (UCC) have shown that the active component (Norgestrel) of the contraceptive 'Mini Pill' prevents the loss of sight in mice that have degenerative eye conditions that normally lead to blindness.

2 Sep 2011

Blocked blood vessels linked to familiar signs of aging

Many common signs of aging, such as shaking hands, stooped posture and walking slower, may be due to tiny blocked vessels in the brain that can't be detected by current technology.

2 Sep 2011

Chromatin might have another life as direct signaling molecule

Chromatin - the intertwined histone proteins and DNA that make up chromosomes - constantly receives messages that pour in from a cell's intricate signaling networks: Turn that gene on. Stifle that one. But chromatin also talks back, scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report today in the journal Cell, issuing orders affecting a protein that has nothing to do with chromatin's central role in gene transcription - the first step in protein formation.

2 Sep 2011

New genetic screening program for families at high risk of colorectal cancer

UT Southwestern Medical Center has developed a new lifesaving genetic screening program for families at high risk of contracting colorectal cancer, a deadly yet highly preventable form of cancer.

2 Sep 2011

Pemetrexed treatment produces better outcomes in ALK-translocated NSCLC patients

Patients with ALK-rearranged non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) responded significantly better to pemetrexed than patients whose cancer did not show ALK translocation, according to research published in the September issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the official publication of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

2 Sep 2011