الجمعة، 13 ديسمبر 2013

ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News

First in-human trial of endoxifen shows promise as breast cancer treatment

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 03:58 PM PST

A Phase I trial of endoxifen, an active metabolite of the cancer drug tamoxifen, indicates that the experimental drug is safe, with early evidence for anti-tumor activity, a study has found. The findings indicate that Z-endoxifen may provide a new and better treatment for some women with estrogen positive breast cancer and, in particular, for those women who do not respond to tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors.

From friend to foe: How benign bacteria evolve into virulent pathogens

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 03:58 PM PST

Bacteria can evolve rapidly to adapt to environmental change. When the "environment" is the immune response of an infected host, this evolution can turn harmless bacteria into life-threatening pathogens. A new study provides insight into how this happens.

Programming smart molecules: Machine-learning algorithms could make chemical reactions intelligent

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 01:03 PM PST

Computer scientists have shown that an important class of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms could be implemented using chemical reactions. In the long term, they say, such theoretical developments could open the door for "smart drugs" that can automatically detect, diagnose, and treat a variety of diseases using a cocktail of chemicals that can perform AI-type reasoning.

Medical mystery solved

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 01:03 PM PST

An international team has identified a new disease related to NKH, a finding that resolves previously baffling cases, including the death of a Colorado girl.

Childhood cancer survivors suffer long-term symptoms linked to poor quality of life

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 01:03 PM PST

Due to improved treatments and technologies, more children than ever are surviving cancer. Unfortunately, about 70 percent of these children experience late effects from their disease and treatment 30 years after their cancer diagnosis, which researchers say significantly impact their quality of life.

Scientists discover double meaning in genetic code

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:21 AM PST

Scientists have discovered a second code hiding within DNA. The second code contains information that changes how scientists read the instructions contained in DNA and interpret mutations to make sense of health and disease. Genomes use the genetic code to write two separate languages. One describes how proteins are made, and the other instructs the cell on how genes are controlled. One language is written on top of the other.

Diabetes drugs affect hearts of men, women differently

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:33 AM PST

Widely used treatments for type 2 diabetes have different effects on the hearts of men and women, even as the drugs control blood sugar equally well in both sexes, according to researchers. The investigators used PET scans to measure heart and whole-body metabolism in patients taking common diabetes drugs.

Partially blocking blood vessels' energy source may stop cancer growth, blindness, other conditions

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:33 AM PST

Inhibiting the formation of new blood vessels is a common strategy for treating a range of conditions such as cancer, inflammatory diseases, and age-related macular degeneration. Unfortunately, drug inefficiency, resistance, and relapse have limited the success of this approach. Now new research reveals that targeting the metabolism of blood vessels may be a way around these shortcomings.

Combining mutants results in 5-fold lifespan extension in C. elegans

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:33 AM PST

What are the limits to longevity? Scientists combined mutations in two pathways well-known for lifespan extension and report a synergistic five-fold lifespan extension in the nematode C. elegans. The worms lived to the human equivalent of 400 to 500 years. The research introduces the possibility of combination therapy for aging and could help explain why scientists are having a difficult time identifying single genes responsible for long lives in human centenarians.

First step of metastasis halted in mice with breast cancer

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:32 AM PST

Cell biologists have identified a unique class of breast cancer cells that lead the process of invasion into surrounding tissues. Because invasion is the first step in the deadly process of cancer metastasis, the researchers say they may have found a weak link in cancer's armor and a possible new target for therapy.

Salmonella jams signals from bacteria-fighting mast cells

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:32 AM PST

A protein in Salmonella inactivates mast cells -- critical players in the body's fight against bacteria and other pathogens -- rendering them unable to protect against bacterial spread in the body, according to researchers.

Asia Pacific must prepare for catastrophic increase in fragility fractures

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 07:01 AM PST

A new report shows that osteoporosis is a serious problem throughout the Asia Pacific, with the number of fracture sufferers to rise dramatically in the coming decades. The report provides new and updated information and data about the status and epidemiology of osteoporosis in the region.

New definition for old age

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 07:01 AM PST

Age is not just the number of years one has lived, argue population researchers. A new study provides a set of tools for measuring age in all its dimensions.

Open Access Article on Biological Effects of the Popular Artificial Sweetener Sucralose

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 06:59 AM PST

The artificial sweetener sucralose is a biologically active compound according to an extensive review.

Systems medicine paves way for improved treatment for leukemia patients

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 06:58 AM PST

A new individualized systems medicine strategy enables a selection of potentially effective cancer therapies for individual patients. These are promising results achieved by applying this strategy to chemoresistant adult acute myeloid leukemia patients.

Suicidality test being brought to market

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 06:58 AM PST

A new test should help doctors to decrease the risk of suicidality in patients treated with antidepressants who show certain gene markers. Researchers plan to launch the test immediately as a laboratory developed test. In addition, clinical studies in support of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration submission for market clearance, CE marking and reimbursement will be initiated.

Revolutionary method for gluing gels and biological tissues

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 06:56 AM PST

Researchers have discovered an efficient and easy-to-use method for bonding together gels and biological tissues. Medical researchers have succeeded in obtaining very strong adhesion between two gels by spreading on their surface a solution containing nanoparticles. Until now, there was no entirely satisfactory method of obtaining adhesion between two gels or two biological tissues.

Blood can transmit Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 06:56 AM PST

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare but fatal disease in humans. For the first time, the presence of infectivity in the blood of patients affected by sporadic and the new variant of CJD has been established by scientists. Complementary investigations are underway, but the available results support the contention that CJD might be transmitted by blood transfusion and/or the use of blood derived products.

New study shows link between perfluorinated compounds, diabetes

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 06:56 AM PST

Perfluorinated compounds are environmental toxins that are found in fire extinguishing foam and water-repellent textiles, among other items. In a new study, a research team has seen links between high levels of perfluorinated compounds in the blood and diabetes. The research group has previously shown associations between high levels of environmental toxins, such as PCB, pesticides, and phthalates and diabetes.

Muting the Mozart effect

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 03:53 PM PST

Though it has been embraced by everyone from advocates for arts education to parents hoping to encourage their kids to stick with piano lessons, two new studies show no effect of music training on the cognitive abilities of young children.

Report urges new innovation to address global traffic deaths

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 03:52 PM PST

New report has been developed to address global traffic deaths, and urges new innovation to address the problem.

Sleep-deprived mice show connection with diabetes, age

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 03:52 PM PST

For the first time, researchers describe the effect of sleep deprivation on the unfolded protein response in peripheral tissue. Stress in pancreatic cells due to sleep deprivation may contribute to the loss or dysfunction of cells important to maintaining proper blood sugar levels, and that these functions may be exacerbated by normal aging. The combined effect of aging and sleep deprivation resulted in a loss of control of blood sugar, somewhat like pre-diabetes in mice.

Course offers students opportunity to be leaders of social change

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:24 AM PST

In a new paper, an author describes a unique undergraduate honors elective in social entrepreneurship, which connects the nursing profession to its roots of social innovation and action for change.

One protein, two personalities: Team identifies new mechanism of cancer spread

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:19 AM PST

A new finding has identified key steps that trigger the disintegration of cellular regulation that leads to cancer. The discovery -- that a protein called Exo70 has a split personality, with one form keeping cells under tight control and another contributing to the ability of tumors to invade distant parts of the body -- points to new possibilities for diagnosing cancer metastasis.

Picturing pain could help unlock its mysteries, improve treatments

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:17 AM PST

Understanding the science behind pain, from a simple "ouch" to the chronic and excruciating, has been an elusive goal for centuries. But now, researchers are reporting a promising step toward studying pain in action. In a study published, scientists describe the development of a new technique, which they tested in rats, that could result in better ways to relieve pain and monitor healing.

Groundbreaking discovery in deadly childhood cancer

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:16 AM PST

A new study by Canadian researchers may pave the way for more effective treatment of an aggressive and deadly type of brain tumor, known as ETMR/ETANTR. The tumor, which is seen only in children under four, is almost always fatal, despite aggressive treatment. The study proposes a new model for how this brain tumor develops and suggests possible targets to investigate for novel therapies.

Choreographed stages of Salmonella infection revealed by scientists

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:16 AM PST

Scientists have used a new method to map the response of every salmonella gene to conditions in the human body, providing new insight into how the bacteria triggers infection.

Staph can lurk deep within nose, study finds

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:16 AM PST

Scientists have revealed that formerly overlooked sites deep inside the nose may be reservoirs for Staphylococcus aureus, a major bacterial cause of disease.

Tumor-suppressing genes could play important role in obesity, diabetes, cancer

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:12 AM PST

The function of two tumor-suppressing genes could play a vital role in helping to control obesity and other diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Herceptin plus taxol highly effective in low-risk breast cancer

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:12 AM PST

A remarkable 98.7 percent of certain lower-risk breast cancer patients were cancer free for at least three years after taking a combination of the drugs Herceptin and Taxol, a study has found.

Geme mutation potential target for diagnosis, treatment of insulinoma

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 07:46 AM PST

Chinese researchers have identified the recurrent T372R mutation in the transcription factor YY1 (Yin Yang 1) are related with insulinoma oncogenesis, implicating a potential marker for the diagnosis and treatment of functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs).

Dementia risk greatest for older Native-Americans, African-Americans with diabetes

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 07:42 AM PST

In the first study to look at racial and ethnic differences in dementia risk among older adults with Type 2 diabetes, researchers found that dementia was much higher among Native-Americans and African-Americans and lowest among Asian-Americans.

Personal care products possible sources of potentially harmful parabens for babies

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 07:42 AM PST

Through lotions, shampoos and other personal care products, infants and toddlers are likely becoming exposed to potentially harmful substances, called parabens, at an even higher level than adult women in the US, researchers have reported. Their findings on parabens have been linked to reproductive and other health issues.

Cancer 'avalanche effect' refuted

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 07:41 AM PST

First, the number of chromosomes in a cell changes, then an avalanche of further mutations occur that transform the cell into a cancer cell, according to a well-known - but untested - theory. A research group in Sweden has now shown that the theory is not correct and constitutes a dead end for research.

High levels of immune cells in breast tumors may help ID patients who benefit from trastuzumab

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 06:38 AM PST

Women with HER2-positive breast cancer who had the highest levels of immune cells in their tumors gained the most benefit from presurgery treatment with chemotherapy and trastuzumab, according to results of a study.

Researchers to present results from breast cancer trials

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 06:38 AM PST

Results from the initial analysis of event-free and overall survival for patients enrolled in the randomized, phase III Neoadjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimization (NeoALTTO) trial are to be presented this week.
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