Body

ANAHEIM, CA – The human species is dependent for its survival on the billions of microorganisms that inhabit multiple environmental niches within and on the human body. While microbes are commonly associated with diseases and infections, they are also vital in essential, beneficial roles such as digestion, where they help synthesize vitamins and ferment complex indigestible carbohydrates.

Two independent groups of researchers have identified distinct roles for two proteins in a family of proteins known as PLA2s as crucial for sperm function and fertility in mice. These data identify proteins that could underlie causes of infertility and provide potential targets for the development of new contraceptive agents and new approaches to treating infertility. In addition, these data provide a caution to those developing drugs that target members of this closely related group of proteins to treat hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) and inflammation.

CHAPEL HILL – Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have identified a molecular marker of pancreatic cancer that may help spot the disease at its earliest stages, when it can be treated more successfully with surgery.

In a finding published April 26, 2010, in the online journal PLoS One, the researchers showed that a specific form of a protein called palladin is produced in large amounts in the "tumor nest," the cells that surround a pancreatic tumor.

PHILADELPHIA (April 26, 2010)—Ovarian cancer kills nearly 15,000 women in the United States each year, and fewer than half of the women diagnosed with the disease survive five years. A screening test that detects ovarian cancer early, when it is still treatable, would likely reduce the high mortality, yet scientists have not known where the tumors originate or what they look like. Now, researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center think they have answered both questions.

April 26, 2010 ─ (BRONX, NY) ─ Tiny, melanin-covered nanoparticles may protect bone marrow from the harmful effects of radiation therapy, according to scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University who successfully tested the strategy in mouse models. Infusing these particles into human patients may hold promise in the future. The research is described in the current issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics.

A review and analysis of previously published studies finds that patients, research participants and journal readers believe financial relationships between medicine and industry should be disclosed, in part because those financial ties may influence research and clinical care, according to a report in the April 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Four unhealthy behaviors—smoking, lack of physical activity, poor diet and alcohol consumption—appear to be associated with a substantially increased risk of death when combined, according to a report in the April 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Nurses who are interrupted while administering medication appear to have an increased risk of making medication errors, according to a report in the April 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

HACKENSACK, N.J. (April 26, 2010, 4 p.m. EDT) —Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) – a group of serious blood cancers – are nearly five times more common in seniors than previously thought, according to a new study by researchers from the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center. The study also showed for the first time that MDS patients are at much higher risk for heart attack, diabetes and other serious complications than other seniors, and that their health care costs are far higher. The study is published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis can be caused by genetic "nonsense mutations" that disrupt the way human cells make proteins. David Bedwell, Ph.D., a professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Microbiology, says scientists are now closer to producing drugs that will fix this disruption and drastically improve treatment of genetic disease.

A team of scientists in Spain and the UK have identified the final piece in the jigsaw of how phytate is produced in plants.

Published today by PNAS, the breakthrough discovery by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) in Madrid and the University of East Anglia (UEA) has implications for agribusiness, the environment and human health.

STANFORD, Calif. — In what could be a shot in the arm for adoptive immunotherapy, new Stanford University research shows promise in enhancing and controlling the growth of T cells in living mice and in human cell cultures, potentially overcoming one of the therapy's drawbacks.

Rice is generally thought to be a healthy addition to the diet because it is a source of fiber. However, not all rice is equally nutritious, and brown rice might have an advantage over white rice by offering protection from high blood pressure and atherosclerosis ("hardening of the arteries"), say researchers at the Cardiovascular Research Center and Department of Physiology at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Working with mice, a team of researchers has pinpointed the location of bone generating stem cells in the spine, at the ends of shins, and in other bones. The team also has identified factors that control the stem cells' growth. The research was conducted at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Levels of a key type of immune cell are higher in head and neck cancer patients whose tumors are linked to the human papillomavirus, or HPV, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The finding suggests a way to predict which tumors are most likely to respond to chemotherapy and radiation and allow doctors to choose the best treatment option up front.