Body

AUGUSTA, Ga. – A compound isolated from a wild, poisonous mushroom growing in a Southwest China forest appears to help a cancer killing drug fulfill its promise, researchers report.

The compound, verticillin A, sensitizes cancer cells to TRAIL, a drug which induces cancer cells to self destruct, said Dr. Kebin Liu, cancer immunologist at the Georgia Health Sciences University Cancer Center and corresponding author of the study in the journal Cancer Research.

Forty-five per cent of cancer survivors in Northern Ireland suffer from physical and mental health problems years after their treatment has finished, according to new research from Macmillan Cancer Support and Queen's University Belfast.

The report, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland, also found cancer survivors and their carers are more likely to access health services than the general population.

Bypassing the occlusion

Mazzone has demonstrated that arteriogenesis (growth of pre-existing connections between distinct blood vessels into functional arteries) can be accelerated by blocking the function of the protein PhD2 in a particular class of white blood cells. This resulted in wider and functional vessels, which allows the blood to bypass the occlusion and thus offers better blood perfusion. The scientists want to investigate in further detail the therapeutic potential of blocking PhD2 for ischemic diseases.

A new method for quickly identifying individual viruses and recognising how they bind to host cells may become a vital tool in the early control of winter vomiting disease and other virus-based diseases. In the west, this means saving money and reducing stress on health-care systems. In developing countries, this means saving lives. The method has been jointly developed by researchers at Chalmers and the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- New research has found that if you want some of the many health benefits associated with eating broccoli or other cruciferous vegetables, you need to eat the real thing – a key phytochemical in these vegetables is poorly absorbed and of far less value if taken as a supplement.

The study, published by scientists in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, is one of the first of its type to determine whether some of the healthy compounds found in cruciferous vegetables can be just as easily obtained through supplements.

The answer is no.

October 11, 2011, Shenzhen, China -- BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, has developed the first exome sequencing platform for the monkey, based on next-generation sequencing technology and monkey exome capturing array (MECA). MECA is a proprietary exome capture array designed by BGI for capturing the entire monkey exome. The combination of this revolutionary array and BGI's high-throughput sequencing technology not only can simplify the workflow of exome sequencing experiments, but also improve cost-effectiveness and turnaround time.

Certain events in life that make such an impression that you'll always remember where you were and what you were doing at that very moment.On 11 September 2001, I was at a meeting dealing with cooperation between the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) and the World Meteorological Organization (-WMO) in Washington, DC, USA. Despite the disaster that struck while I was there, the meeting paved the way for successful cooperation between the two organizations, which has continued for over a decade.

Whistleblowing incidents can have a serious, long-term impact on people's emotional well-being and their colleagues and employers have a responsibility to provide them with the support they need, according to a study in the October issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

Australian researchers carried out in-depth interviews with whistleblowers and nurses who had been reported by whistleblowers.

Failure to thrive in childhood is often the result of an underlying organic disease. In the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108[38]: 642-9), Walter Nützenadel provides an overview of diagnoses and treatment options.

URBANA- A University of Illinois study that uses new technology to assess and compare the safety of radish, broccoli, and alfalfa sprouts concludes that the secret to keeping sprouts free of foodborne pathogens lies in industry's intense attention to cleanliness of seeds.

CHICAGO --- Researchers have turned off a life-threatening allergic response to peanuts by tricking the immune system into thinking the nut proteins aren't a threat to the body, according to a new preclinical study from Northwestern Medicine. The peanut tolerance was achieved by attaching peanut proteins onto blood cells and reintroducing them to the body -- an approach that ultimately may be able to target more than one food allergy at a time.

DURHAM, N.C. – After demonstrating that light accurately detected pre-cancerous cells in the lining of the esophagus, Duke University bioengineers turned their technology to the colon and have achieved similar results in a series of preliminary experiments.

This technology could be a non-invasive way for physicians to detect abnormal cells, or dysplasia, which have the potential of turning cancerous. These cells are in the epithelium, or lining, of various tissues, including the esophagus and colon.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---It's "Waterworld" snail style: Ocean-dwelling snails that spend most of their lives floating upside down, attached to rafts of mucus bubbles.

Scientists have known about the snails' peculiar lifestyle since the 1600s, but they've wondered how the rafting habit evolved. What, exactly, were the step-by-step adaptations along the way?

PASADENA, Calif. —Use of selected prescription medications, including antidepressants, antihistamines, bronchodilators, anticholinergics, sympathomimetics, and diuretics contribute to 10 percent of lower urinary tract symptoms among men according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Smoking could cause 18 million more cases of tuberculosis worldwide over the next 40 years and 40 million additional deaths.

That's the sobering scenario predicted by a new study led by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) if smoking continues at current rates.