It probably isn't surprising to read that pharmaceutical drugs don't always do what they're supposed to. Adverse side effects are a well-known phenomenon and something many of us will have experienced when taking medicines.
Sometimes, these side effects can be caused when a drug hits the wrong target, binding to the wrong protein. However, the difficulty of tracking this process means that little research has been carried out.
Studies show that men are not as environmentally friendly as women. Let's face it, not too many "man caves" feature solar panels, recycle bins or posters of electric cars. It's just not manly.
But could men be persuaded to go green? New research indicates the answer is yes -- and it's all about branding.
Alexandria, VA - Human evolution and paleoanthropology are tricky subjects, not just because of the rarity of these fossils, but also because human nature seems to be getting in the way of modern taxonomy. In a field that is generally governed by logical rules when it comes to identifying new fossils, scientists are noticed there are some peculiarities applied to our own genus, Homo.
A study led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators reveals how spontaneous changes in the molecular characteristics of tumors can lead to tumors with a mixed population of cells requiring treatment with several types of therapeutic drugs. In their report in the Sept. 1 issue of Nature, the research team describes finding a mixture of HER2-positive and HER2-negative circulating tumors cells (CTCs) in blood samples from patients who developed metastatic disease after originally being diagnosed with estrogen-receptor (ER)-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer.
Researchers caution that global warming signals are being masked by random weather variations and report that the human influence on snowfall levels will become detectable within the next few decades.
In a warmer world, scientists expect to see an increase in snowfall over the Antarctic because of higher levels of moisture in the air. This is expressed in global and regional climate models as an increase in surface mass balance (SMB) - a term that incorporates the loss of mass in the Antarctic ice sheet through sublimation and the gain in mass due to snowfall.
Nature abounds with examples of mutualistic relationships. Think of bees pollinating flowers whose nectar nourishes the bees, or clownfish that fight off predators of anemones that in turn provide habitats for the clownfish. Each species benefits the other, and together their chances of survival are better than if they lived apart.
Results of a study published in PLOS ONE show that asthma risk increased 17 times when children who had bronchiolitis in the first two years of life also had a common variation of the Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) gene. Similarly, children with this genetic variation were 12 times more likely to develop asthma after any lower respiratory tract infections requiring medical contact early in life (including those which were potentially less severe).
SEATTLE - Improved health conditions and life expectancy over the past 20 years in the Eastern Mediterranean Region are being subverted by wars and civil unrest, according to a new scientific study.
An atomic level analysis has revealed how two classes of calcium channel blockers, widely prescribed for heart disease patients, produce separate therapeutic effects through their actions at different sites on the calcium channel molecule.
Millions of Americans, and an even larger number of patients worldwide, take calcium channel blockers to control cardiovascular problems.
The use of belts, bedrails and other devices to prevent patients from hurting themselves has increasingly come under fire. Within a hospital setting, the use of such restraints may be reduced by ensuring that the nursing staff includes a sufficient number of registered nurses, says Vincent Staggs of Children's Mercy Hospital and the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the US. He led a study¹ which appears in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer.
By assigning a barcode to stem cells, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have made it possible to monitor large blood cell populations as well as individual blood cells, and study the changes over time. Among other things, they discovered that stem cells go through different stages where their ability to restore immune cells varies. The new findings provide important information for the research and treatment of leukaemia and autoimmune diseases.
AMHERST, Mass. - In the first global analysis of environmental risk from invasive alien species, researchers say one sixth of the world's lands are "highly vulnerable" to invasion, including "substantial areas in developing countries and biodiversity hotspots."
The study by biogeographer Bethany Bradley at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Regan Early at the University of Exeter, U.K., with others, appears in the current issue of Nature Communications.
A University of Central Florida cancer researcher has discovered a way to kill spreading breast cancer cells and her new technology has generated a licensing agreement that will accelerate the therapy's path to clinical trials.
Metastatic cancer cells that spread from the original tumor to the brain, lungs and bones are the leading cause of death for most cancer patients, said Annette Khaled, the researcher at the university's College of Medicine who made the discovery. Her work is featured in the September edition of Clinical Cancer Research.
The link between sleep problems and suicidal thoughts and behaviours is made starkly clear in new research from The University of Manchester, published in the BMJ Open.
In this study, conducted by researchers from the University's School of Health Sciences alongside the University of Oxford, 18 participants were interviewed about the role sleep problems have on suicidal tendencies.