Body

Kyoto, Japan -- As if borrowing from a scene in a science fiction movie, researchers at Kyoto University have successfully developed a kind of tractor beam that can be used to manipulate the network of the molecules. In a paper soon to be published in Physical Review Letters, the team has demonstrated a technique using terahertz pulses that could have broad applications in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

UC Davis researchers have found a new pathway for repairing DNA damaged by oxygen radicals. The results are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This new inducible pathway gives cells greater capacity to repair oxidative damage," said Peter Beal, professor of chemistry at UC Davis and senior author of the paper.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Younger adult cancer patients have the most difficulty coping with the pain and emotional issues of cancer, in spite of their potentially better survival odds, according to a University of Michigan Health System study.

(GLASGOW, 9 November 2010) – Results from a European Observational Study, which included 1,294 antiretroviral (ARV)-experienced patients presented today at the Tenth International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV10), demonstrated a low rate of discontinuation and sustained virologic suppression with REYATAZ® (atazanavir)/ritonavir-based regimens over a follow-up period of up to five years.1

Washington, DC -- A new study suggests joint complaints attributed to aromatase inhibitors (AI), popular breast cancer drugs, are not associated with inflammatory arthritis or autoimmune disease. Because of that, researchers say women who were primarily concerned about the threat of arthritis should be encouraged to continue taking the medication. The findings of the study will be presented Tuesday, Nov. 9 at the 74th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in Atlanta, Georgia

Hamilton, ON (November 7, 2010) – In an important breakthrough, scientists at McMaster University have discovered how to make human blood from adult human skin.

The discovery, published in Nature today, could mean that in the foreseeable future people needing blood for surgery, cancer treatment or treatment of other blood conditions like anemia will be able to have blood created from a patch of their own skin to provide transfusions. Clinical trials could begin as soon as 2012.

With the demand for organically produced food increasing, and therefore the marketing and business opportunities for exaggerated benefits, scientists are reporting new evidence that organically grown onions, carrots, and potatoes generally do not have higher levels of healthful antioxidants and related substances than vegetables grown with traditional fertilizers and pesticides. Their study appears the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

OAK BROOK, Ill. – By combining optical and x-ray imaging, radiologists may be better able to distinguish cancer from benign lesions in the breast, according to a new study published in the online edition and January issue of Radiology.

Researchers at Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston helped develop a combined optical/x-ray imaging system capable of obtaining both structural and functional information of the breast.

There's good news for the multi-billion dollar anti-smoking industry. With funding being thrown into question due to data that shows only 10% of smokers get lunger cancer and 50% of lung cancer patients never smoked at all, results of a pilot study presented at the Ninth Annual AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, held Nov. 7-10, 2010, in Philadelphia says lung tumors in those who smoke and those who never smoked have different DNA alterations in the tumor genomes.

Philadelphia – November 8, 2010 – New research shows a gene-based test for lung cancer risk assessment motivates smokers to quit or cut down, according to results of a clinical study presented today at the American Association of Cancer Research's Ninth Annual Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.

PHILADELPHIA — Increased phytoestrogens commonly found in dietary soy may modify the risk of some types of breast cancer, according to findings presented at the Ninth Annual AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, held Nov. 7-10, 2010.

"This study was unique in that we looked at specific subtypes of breast cancer, and found a suggestion that menopausal status may play a role in risk," said Anne Weaver, a graduate student at the University at Buffalo and research apprentice at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

PHILADELPHIA — Being a current smoker or having a history of smoking significantly increased the risk of breast cancer progression and overall death among a group of multiethnic women with breast cancer, according to the results of a large prospective cohort study.

PHILADELPHIA — Obesity was not associated with breast cancer risk in Mexican-American women, even when measured at numerous ages throughout a woman's lifetime, according to data presented at the Ninth Annual AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, held here Nov. 7-10, 2010.

However, data did show that weight gain during adulthood seemed to reduce breast cancer risk, regardless of menopausal status.

Potential gender differences in clinical management are under-researched. A systematic analysis of the incorporation of sex and gender into research design, published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, has found that, although there has been a progressive improvement since the 90s, there exists a striking under-representation of research about gender differences in patient management.

In a comparison of treatments for maintaining remission of a certain type of vasculitis (inflammation of blood vessels), the immunosuppressant mycophenolate mofetil, regarded as an alternative to the drug often used to prevent relapse, azathioprine, was less effective, according to a study that will appear in the December 1 print edition of JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the American College of Rheumatology annual scientific meeting.