Health
New Hope for Rare Genetic Disease
April 4, 2013 11:02 am | News | CommentsScientists have found that a drug treatment administered at the earliest signs of a rare genetic disease could prevent the condition from developing in later life.
Key Immune Link Found Between Obesity, Diabetes
April 4, 2013 10:43 am | News | CommentsNew research has identified a key mechanism in the immune system involved in the development of obesity-linked type 2 diabetes. The findings open up new possibilities for treatment and prevention of this condition, which is becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide.
Brain Decline Signs Found Before Dementia Symptoms
April 4, 2013 10:31 am | News | CommentsResearchers have used a brain-imaging tool and stroke risk assessment to identify signs of cognitive decline early on in individuals who don't yet show symptoms of dementia.
Mutating Bird Flu Takes Fourth Life
April 4, 2013 9:03 am | News | CommentsA middle-aged man who transported poultry for a living has died from a new strain of bird flu, the fourth death among 11 confirmed cases in China, the government and state media reported today.
Update: Bird Flu Strain Causes Fifth Death in China
April 4, 2013 5:51 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsAnother unidentified person has died from a new strain of bird flu, bringing the death toll to five among 14 confirmed cases in China, the government and state media reported Thursday. The official Xinhua News Agency did not identify the fifth fatality, but said that person also died in Shanghai on Wednesday.
Telerobotic System Designed to Treat Bladder Cancer
April 3, 2013 11:31 am | News | CommentsAlthough bladder cancer is the sixth most common form of cancer in the U.S. and the most expensive to treat, the basic method that doctors use to treat it hasn’t changed much in more than 70 years.
New System Provides Improved, Affordable DNA Sequencing
April 3, 2013 10:36 am | News | CommentsA sensing system is being commercialized in the UK for use in rapid, low-cost DNA sequencing, which would make the prediction and diagnosis of disease more efficient, and individualized treatment more affordable.
Obama Proposes $100M For Brain Mapping Project
April 3, 2013 8:50 am | by NEDRA PICKLER AND MALCOLM RITTER | News | CommentsPresident Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed an effort to map the brain's activity in unprecedented detail, as a step toward finding better ways to treat such conditions as Alzheimer's, autism, stroke and traumatic brain injuries.
China Bird Virus Likely Silent Threat, Scientists Say
April 3, 2013 5:56 am | by GILLIAN WONG - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsScientists taking a first look at the genetics of the bird flu strain that recently killed two men in China said Wednesday that the virus could be harder to track than its better-known cousin H5N1 because it might be able to spread silently among poultry without notice.
Global Strategy Aims to Eradicate Polio by 2018
April 2, 2013 5:44 pm | by LAURAN NEERGAARD - AP Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsA new global plan aims to end most cases of polio by late next year, and essentially eradicate the paralyzing disease by 2018— if authorities can raise the $5.5 billion needed to do the work, health officials said.
Common Virus Model Used to ‘Fortify’ Adult Stem Cells
April 2, 2013 11:05 am | News | CommentsUsing the same strategy that a common virus employs to evade the human immune system, researchers have modified adult stem cells to increase their survival– with the goal of giving the cells time to exert their natural healing abilities.
Crucial DNA Replication Step Revealed
April 2, 2013 10:57 am | News | CommentsFor the first time, an elusive step in the process of human DNA replication has been demystified by scientists.
3D Scaffolds Help Mimic Tumor Growth, Drug Response
April 2, 2013 10:37 am | News | CommentsResearchers reported that three-dimensional scaffolds used to culture Ewing’s sarcoma cells were effective at mimicking the environment in which such tumors develop.
New Brain Cancer Treatment Uses Bone Marrow Cells
April 2, 2013 10:22 am | News | CommentsIn a first-of-its-kind experiment using microvesicles generated from mesenchymal bone marrow cells (MSCs) to treat cancer, neurological researchers have discovered a novel approach for treatment of tumors.
Research Deciphers HIV Attack Plan
April 2, 2013 9:58 am | News | CommentsA new study defines previously unknown properties of transmitted HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS.
Blood Clotting, Immune Response Linked
April 2, 2013 9:40 am | News | CommentsResearchers have found an unexpected link between a protein that triggers the formation of blood clots and other proteins that are essential for the body’s immune system.
How Cells Distinguish Friend from Foe
April 1, 2013 10:57 am | News | CommentsResearchers have shown how the innate immune system distinguishes between dangerous pathogens and friendly microbes.
Study Reveals Mutant Histone Mechanism in Brain Cancer
April 1, 2013 10:36 am | News | CommentsMost cancer treatments are blunt. In an attempt to eradicate tumors, oncologists often turn to radiation or chemotherapy, which can damage healthy tissue along with the cancerous growths. New research may bring scientists closer to designing cancer therapeutics that can target tumors with pinpoint accuracy.
Following the Body’s Own Prescription
April 1, 2013 10:22 am | by Cynthia Fox | Articles | CommentsAn intuitive approach, which co-opts the body’s own molecular machinery, has led to massive expansions of umbilical cord blood cells. It and other new approaches “will revolutionize all transplantation,” says University of Minnesota Blood and Marrow Transplantation Director John Wagner.
Code-reading Machinery Collisions Speed Gene Evolution
April 1, 2013 10:18 am | News | CommentsBacteria appear to speed up their evolution by positioning specific genes along the route of expected traffic jams in DNA encoding. Certain genes are in prime collision paths for the moving molecular machineries that read the DNA code, scientists explain.
ALS Discovery Holds Promise for New Treatments
April 1, 2013 10:03 am | News | CommentsScientists said they have evidence from animal studies that a type of central nervous system cell other than motor neurons plays a fundamental role in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal degenerative disease.
Questions in China on Deadly, Lesser-Known Bird Flu
April 1, 2013 7:34 am | by GILLIAN WONG - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsHealth officials say they still don't understand how a lesser-known bird flu virus was able to kill two men and seriously sicken a woman in China, but that it's unlikely that it can spread easily among humans. Two men in Shanghai became the first known human fatalities from the H7N9 bird flu after contracting it in February.
CDC: E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Frozen Foods
March 29, 2013 6:09 pm | by MIKE STOBBE - AP Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsHealth officials say at least 24 people have become sick from an outbreak of E. coli infections linked to frozen snack foods marketed to children. No one has died, but eight people, mostly kids or teens, were hospitalized.
Technique Detects ‘Sugar-coated’ Proteins in Blood
March 29, 2013 11:23 am | News | CommentsScientists have developed a new technique that could be used in blood tests to detect a range of age-related conditions such as diabetes, dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Cells, Cell Fragments Move in Opposite Directions
March 29, 2013 11:07 am | News | CommentsLike tiny, crawling compass needles, whole living cells and cell fragments orient and move in response to electric fields— but in opposite directions, scientists have found.
