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New insights into cell division process

Which genes are passed on from mother to child is decided very early on during the maturation of the egg cell in the ovary.

12 Aug 2007

Legionnaires' disease in Surrey with links to Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright

The Health Protection Agency can confirm that its Surrey Health Protection Unit is involved in an investigation with the Health and Safety Executive and local environmental health officers of a reported case of Legionnaires' disease with alleged links to the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright, in Surrey .

12 Aug 2007

Staggering costs of end-stage renal disease in U.S.

Recent progress in the prevention and treatment of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the United States give reason for "cautious optimism," but skyrocketing costs are a major concern, according to a Special Article in the October Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

12 Aug 2007

Impaired energy production in heart muscle may underlie heart failure in some hypertensive patients

Many people with long-standing high blood pressure develop heart failure.

12 Aug 2007

The role of estrogens and polyphenols in hypertension and diabetes

Menopausal women are at relatively high risk for memory loss, high blood pressure (hypertension) and diabetes.

12 Aug 2007

TRF2 and POT1 proteins found on telomeres control DNA damage response pathways

No sooner had cells evolved linear chromosomes than they had a life-threatening problem to solve.

12 Aug 2007

Writing off Avandia may be premature

Rosiglitazone, a drug marketed by GlaxoSmithKline as Avandia, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, came under fire after an article published online May 21 by the New England Journal of Medicine linked it to significantly increased risk of heart attack and cardiovascular death.

12 Aug 2007

Connection between reduced glutathione and heart failure

Antioxidants are widely considered an important defense against heart disease, but University of Utah researchers have found excessive levels of one antioxidant - reduced glutathione - actually may contribute to the disease.

12 Aug 2007

Leptin controls our fondness for food

Scientists have discovered that leptin, one of the key hormones responsible for reducing hunger and increasing the feeling of fullness, also controls our fondness for food.

12 Aug 2007

90 percent of seniors now have prescription drug coverage

More than 90 percent of Americans age 65 and older now have prescription drug coverage, compared to more than 75 percent who were covered in 2004, according to a University of Michigan analysis. And poor seniors are as likely to have coverage as the rich.

12 Aug 2007

Light-activated molecules used to induce apoptosis in cancer cells

A key challenge facing doctors as they treat patients suffering from cancer or other diseases resulting from genetic mutations is that the drugs at their disposal often don't discriminate between healthy cells and dangerous ones -- think of the brute-force approach of chemotherapy, for instance.

12 Aug 2007

Chromatin remodeling complex connected to DNA damage control

When molecular disaster strikes, causing structural damage to DNA, players in two important pathways talk to each other to help contain the wreckage, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the August edition of Cell.

12 Aug 2007

Thyroid disease: Understanding hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism

Doctors often mistake the symptoms of thyroid disease for another disorder such as heart failure, high cholesterol, or even dementia, says a new edition of a report from Harvard Medical School.

11 Aug 2007

Women with migraines and aura have higher stroke risk

Women who have migraine headaches with visual symptoms (or aura) may be at increased risk for stroke compared to women who do not have migraines, researchers reported in Stroke, journal of the American Heart Association.

11 Aug 2007

Sex hormones play a significant role in the development of diabetic kidney disease

Women have a "female advantage" when it comes to chronic kidney disease. When compared to men, they have fewer and less severe episodes of this disorder throughout most of their lives.

11 Aug 2007

Smokeless tobacco products are not safe

It may not be inhaled into the lungs, but smokeless tobacco exposes users to some of the same potent carcinogens as cigarettes.

11 Aug 2007

Seat belt injuries in children

Ill-fitting seatbelts raise the risk of serious injury to children involved in car accidents. And seat belt injuries should alert physicians to look for signs of more serious consequences, particularly spinal cord injury, which is not always immediately apparent.

11 Aug 2007

All children adopted from outside North America should be screened for TB

University of Alberta researchers stress that all children adopted from outside North America should be screened for tuberculosis.

11 Aug 2007

FGFR4 gene plays a complex role in obesity, fatty liver and diabetes

Researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Institute of Biosciences and Technology at Houston have found that a gene in the liver and elsewhere in the body, when inhibited or increased, affects fatty liver and diabetes but does not alleviate both diseases at once.

11 Aug 2007

The skeleton is an endocrine organ

Bones are typically thought of as calcified, inert structures, but researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have now identified a surprising and critically important novel function of the skeleton.

11 Aug 2007