LEBANON, N.H. -- Medical journal press releases are the most direct way that journals communicate with the news media about new research. According to a study in the British Medical Journal, press release quality appears to have an important effect on the quality of subsequent newspaper stories. With high quality press releases, key information –basic study facts, quantification of results, acknowledgment of limitations – is substantially more likely to appear in newspaper stories.
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A report from investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center has defined the role of a recently identified gene abnormality in a deadly form of lung cancer. Tumors driven by rearrangements in the ROS1 gene represent 1 to 2 percent of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC), the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. The researchers show that ROS1-driven tumors can be treated with crizotinib, which also inhibits the growth of tumors driven by an oncogene called ALK, and describe the remarkable response of one patient to crizotinib treatment.
Washington, DC -- Norovirus, a pathogen that often causes food poisoning and gastroenteritis, was responsible for 18.2 percent of all infection outbreaks and 65 percent of ward closures in U.S. hospitals during a two-year period, according to a new study published in the February issue of the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC), the official publication of APIC - the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
New York, NY -- Scientists from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) in Brussels identified a new target for cancer therapy, an enzyme which prevents the immune system from recognizing and destroying certain types of tumors. Called tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase or TDO, the enzyme works by depriving immune cells of tryptophan, an amino acid essential to their activity. TDO is produced by a significant number of human tumors. Scientists also show that blocking TDO activity with a novel TDO inhibitor promotes tumor rejection in mice.
Researchers from the U.K. determined that preoperative cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is a specific predictor of 90-day survival following liver transplantation. Study results available in the February issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, shows that the CPET measurement—the anaerobic threshold or fitness level—significantly predicts mortality in patients post-transplantation.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A mutant protein found in nearly all pancreatic cancers plays a role not only in the cancer's development but in its continued growth, according to a new study from University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers. The finding suggests a possible target for developing new ways to treat this deadly disease.
Researchers have known that mutations in the Kras gene are what cause pancreatic cancer to develop. These mutations are frequently seen in common precancerous lesions, suggesting it has an early role in pancreatic cancer.
Blood samples were collected from 2,000 women at 20 gestational weeks and from the umbilical cord of the infant at birth
Can pregnant women improve their progeny's intelligence by eating fish?
Today, about one in five children in the United States are obese. That means that in just one generation alone the number of obese kids in this country has quadrupled.
In response to recent actions of the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB), which recommended that two scientific journals withhold crucial details in upcoming reports about experiments with a novel strain of the bird flu virus, H5N1, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) will publish a special series of commentaries by prominent scientists, including the acting chair of the NSABB, weighing in on whether the recommendations were necessary and what role biosecurity considerations should play in the dissemination of research findings.
Individuals who drink diet soft drinks on a daily basis may be at increased risk of suffering vascular events such as stroke, heart attack, and vascular death. This is according to a new study by Hannah Gardener and her colleagues from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and at Columbia University Medical Center. However, in contrast, they found that regular soft drink consumption and a more moderate intake of diet soft drinks do not appear to be linked to a higher risk of vascular events.
Researchers at the University of Southampton, University of Oxford and Retroscreeen Virology Ltd have discovered a series of peptides, found on the internal structures of influenza viruses that could lead to the development of a universal vaccine for influenza, one that gives people immunity against all strains of the disease, including seasonal, avian, and swine flu.
Researchers at the RIKEN Omics Science Center (OSC) have developed a robotic workflow for sample preparation on the HeliScope single molecule sequencer which drastically reduces sample preparation time to from 42 days to only 8 days. The workflow uses Cap Analysis of Gene Expression (CAGE), a unique method developed at the OSC for determining transcriptional starting sites in the genome and their expression levels.
Scientists have shed new light on the way superbugs such as MRSA are able to become resistant to treatment with antibiotics.
Researchers have mapped the complex molecular structure of an enzyme found in many bacteria. These molecules – known as restriction enzymes – control the speed at which bacteria can acquire resistance to drugs and eventually become superbugs.
The study, carried out by an international team including scientists from the University of Edinburgh, focused on E. coli, but the results would apply to many other infectious bacteria.
New research published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) details a new antibody, called "OPN-305" that may significantly improve survival outcomes for those receiving donated kidneys and other organs. OPN-305 works by preventing inflammation triggered by oxygen deprivation in the donated organ, allowing for better recovery after transplantation. Specifically, it binds to sensors on transplant tissue, called "toll-like receptors" or "TLR-2," in the circulating blood and turns off signals that provoke inflammation.
Could some cases of asthma actually be caused by an allergic reaction to a common environmental bacteria? New research findings published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology (https://www.jleukbio.org) suggests that this idea may not be as far-fetched as it seems. In a research report appearing in the February 2012 print issue, researchers show a link between common environmental bacteria and airway inflammation.