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Defining biomarkers for better colon cancer treatment

Barcelona, Spain: New research has yielded a clearer picture of which biomarkers could help doctors more precisely target the treatment of colon cancer, bringing closer the day when patients who will not benefit from chemotherapy are spared it, while those that will, get the more aggressive treatment they need.

27 Sep 2007

Study finds post-traumatic stress symptoms in adolescent children of cancer patients

Barcelona, Spain: A new study by Dutch researchers has found that adolescents may suffer from severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress when a parent is recently diagnosed with cancer and that parents tend to underestimate the problems.

27 Sep 2007

Scientists produce equivalent of test-tube inner ear hair cells

Birds, fish and amphibians can do something that humans and other mammals generally cannot: re-grow damaged or lost inner ear hair cells.

27 Sep 2007

Discovery of new pathway causing cell death related to frontotemporal dementia and ALS

Scientists have discovered a link between a mutated gene and a protein found in dead brain cells of people who suffer from a form of dementia and other neurological disorders.

27 Sep 2007

Sandia develops portable microfluidic platform to detect biotoxins

Of all the threat scenarios facing emergency responders around the country, the release and spread of a dangerous biotoxin in a large public space is one of the most troubling.

27 Sep 2007

Research at Rice may help explain aspects of synesthesia

A research team led by Rice University Psychology Professor Tony Ro has published its findings that may help to explain the phenomenon known as synesthesia, in which stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory pathway.

27 Sep 2007

New molecular target in blood clot formation

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have identified a new molecular target in blood clot formation, which seems to reduce clotting without excessive bleeding, the common side-effect of anti-clotting agents.

27 Sep 2007

Variation in drug responses can be analyzed by studying simpler organisms like plants

While prescription medications work successfully to cure an ailment in some people, in others the same dose of the same drug can cause an adverse reaction or no response at all.

27 Sep 2007

Call for food industry to phase trans fats out of their products

Experts on nutrition and public health are calling on leaders in the food industry to speed up the elimination of industrially produced trans fatty acids from the foods they produce and distribute, and to become partners in promoting healthy diets throughout the Americas.

27 Sep 2007

New breast cancer screening guidelines

New guidelines from the American Cancer Society (ACS) recommend that women at very high risk for breast cancer receive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) along with annual mammography, reports the October 2007 issue of Harvard Women's Health Watch .

27 Sep 2007

Ethnic minorities may be more willing than was previously thought to take part in clinical research

The study, published in the Aug. 29 issue of BMC Public Health , contradicts previous research suggesting that ethnic minorities are less likely to volunteer for clinical research, possibly due to infamous breaches of medical ethics such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

27 Sep 2007

Smallpox evolved earlier than believed

Smallpox is older than thought, according to results of a new technique reported in the Sept. 24 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

27 Sep 2007

Potential new weight-loss wonder drug

More than 60 percent of American women are overweight, with nearly a third falling into the category of obese and at greater risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

27 Sep 2007

Probiotic bacteria improve diarrhea in infants

Each year more than half a million infants worldwide, primarily in developing countries, die from diarrhoea caused by rotavirus.

27 Sep 2007

Caffeine and acetaminophen don't mix well

Consuming large amounts of caffeine while taking acetaminophen, one of the most widely used painkillers in the United States, could potentially cause liver damage, according to a preliminary laboratory study reported in the Oct. 15 print issue of ACS' Chemical Research in Toxicology, a monthly journal.

27 Sep 2007

The jury is in: microRNAs can cause tumors to metastasize

These tiny molecules fine-tune protein production and play a powerful role in biological processes ranging from development to aging. Now scientists have proved that they can prompt otherwise sedentary cancer cells to move and invade other tissues.

27 Sep 2007

Mice teeth explain the troubles with human wisdom teeth

During evolution, many of a species' properties are shaped by ecological interactions.

27 Sep 2007

Married esophageal cancer patients fare worse in some quality of life aspects than single patients

In a surprising finding, American scientists have found that when battling oesophageal cancer, married patients don't fare as well as their single counterparts in certain aspects of their quality of life.

27 Sep 2007

$2.19 million grant to study therapy for women with depression

A University of Rochester Medical Center psychologist has received a $2.19 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health that will fund a study of the effectiveness of Interpersonal Psychotherapy in the treatment of women with depression and a history of childhood sexual abuse.

27 Sep 2007

Less invasive lymph node biopsy method could spare thousands unnecessary operations

Barcelona, Spain: Using an ultrasound-guided fine needle to biopsy lymph nodes could spare thousands of melanoma patients every year worldwide from having to undergo unnecessary and sometimes unpleasant surgery to verify whether their cancer has spread, new research indicates.

27 Sep 2007