Body

Treatment with high potency statins (especially atorvastatin and simvastatin) may increase the risk of developing diabetes, suggests a paper published today on bmj.com.

Statins are among the most widely prescribed medications for the prevention of cardiovascular events. Although tolerated well, an association with new-onset diabetes has recently been suggested. One trial suggested a 27% increased risk of diabetes with rosuvastatin whereas another suggested patients taking pravastatin benefitted from a 30% lower risk.

Breast cancer characterized as "triple negative" carries a poor prognosis, with limited treatment options. In some cases, chemotherapy doesn't kill the cancer cells the way it's supposed to. New research from Western University explains why some cancer cells don't respond to chemotherapy, and identifies a mechanism to rectify that.

CLEVELAND, Ohio (May 23, 2013)—Don't doubt it when a woman harried by hot flashes says she's having a hard time remembering things. A new study published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), helps confirm with objective tests that what these women say about their memory is true.

Approximately a year ago, the leading journal Science published an article about bexarotene as a potential Alzheimer's drug. A significant breakthrough and an important starting point for further Alzheimer's research. The research group of Bart De Strooper – Alzheimer's researcher at VIB and KU Leuven – in collaboration with the group of Rudi D'Hooge – KU Leuven – and scientists at Janssen Pharmaceutica, Beerse, also tested this candidate drug in various Alzheimer's animal test models. Their results were different, as were those of two American study groups.

University of Montreal researchers have discovered a novel molecular mechanism that can potentially slow the progression of some cancers and other diseases of abnormal growth. In the May 23 edition of the prestigious journal Cell, scientists from the University of Montreal explain how they found that the anti-cancer and anti-proliferative drug rapamycin slows down or prevents cells from dividing.

HOUSTON - Even while being dragged to its destruction inside a cell, a cancer-promoting growth factor receptor fires away, sending signals that thwart the development of tumor-suppressing microRNAs (miRNAs) before it's dissolved, researchers reported in an early online publication at Nature.

Under conditions of oxygen starvation often encountered by tumors, the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gums up the cell's miRNA-processing machinery, an international team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center discovered.

Scientists at Emory Vaccine Center have shown that an immune regulatory molecule called IL-21 is needed for long-lasting antibody responses in mice against viral infections.

The results are published in the Journal of Virology.

"Our findings highlight how IL-21 could be important in the development of antiviral vaccines," says research associate Ata Ur Rasheed Mohammed, PhD, the first author of the paper. The senior author is Rafi Ahmed, PhD, director of the Emory Vaccine Center and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers and physicians in the field could soon run on-the-spot tests for environmental toxins, medical diagnostics, food safety and more with their smartphones.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a cradle and app for the iPhone that uses the phone's built-in camera and processing power as a biosensor to detect toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses and other molecules.

Since the discovery of Prontosil in 1932, sulfonamide antibiotics have been used to combat a wide spectrum of bacterial infections, from acne to chlamydia and pneumonia. However, their side effects can include serious neurological problems like nausea, headache, dizziness, hallucinations and even psychosis. In a recent Science publication, EPFL researchers have shown for the first time how sulfonamides can interfere with a patient's nervous system.

Schal says that the pest-control arms race has mostly been about pests gaining resistance to the insecticides themselves. This paper, however, shows an arms race that includes behavioral resistance to certain types of food – in this case, glucose.

Nearly two-thirds of patients with high-risk neuroblastoma —a common tumor that forms in the nerve cells of children—cannot be cured using tumor-killing cancer drugs. A study published by Cell Press in the May 23 issue of Chemistry & Biology reveals a new genomic approach to screen for compounds that could inhibit tumor growth by causing cancer cells to differentiate, or convert from immature cells to more specialized cell types.

White tigers today are only seen in zoos, but they belong in nature, say researchers reporting new evidence about what makes those tigers white. Their spectacular white coats are produced by a single change in a known pigment gene, according to the study, appearing on May 23 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.

"The white tiger represents part of the natural genetic diversity of the tiger that is worth conserving, but is now seen only in captivity," says Shu-Jin Luo of China's Peking University.

Gaucher disease causes debilitating and sometimes fatal neurodegeneration in early childhood. Recent studies have uncovered a link between the mutations responsible for Gaucher disease and an increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease later in life. New research published online on May 23 in the Cell Press journal Cell Metabolism indicates that the neurodegeneration found in Gaucher disease stems from defects in processes that break down and remove unwanted material from cells.

Plants can't swat a bug or run away from one, but that doesn't mean that plants can't fight back. Plants have evolved unique and sophisticated immune systems to defend themselves against insects and pathogens. Plant hormones called jasmonates play an important role in this defense, but jasmonates have been found to also be important for plant growth. Now, researchers reporting in the May 23 issue of the Cell Press journal Molecular Cell have discovered a gene in the jasmonate pathway that controls plant defenses but does not play a detectable role in plant development.

LA JOLLA, CA – May 23, 2013 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have devised a powerful new technique for finding antibodies that have a desired biological effect. Antibodies, which can bind to billions of distinct targets, are already used in many of the world's best-selling medicines, diagnostics and laboratory reagents. The newly reported technique should greatly speed the process of discovering such products.