Body

Exercise regimens offer little benefit for 1 in 5 people with type 2 diabetes

Washington, DC--As many as one in five people with Type 2 diabetes do not see any improvement in blood sugar management when they engage in a supervised exercise regimen, according to a new scientific review published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Livermore scientists show salinity counts when it comes to sea level

LIVERMORE, California -- Using ocean observations and a large suite of climate models, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have found that long-term salinity changes have a stronger influence on regional sea level changes than previously thought.

Study: Volunteering can help save wildlife

BANGALORE, INDIA (November 20, 2014) - Participation of non-scientists as volunteers in conservation can play a significant role in saving wildlife, finds a new scientific research led by Duke University, USA, in collaboration with Wildlife Conservation Society and Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bengaluru.

11-country survey of older adults: Americans sicker but have quicker access to specialists

This new survey was released November 19 as a Web First by Health Affairs. The full text is available free until November 26.

International Survey Of Older Adults Finds Shortcomings In Access, Coordination, And Patient-Centered Care

By Robin Osborn, Donald Moulds, David Squires, Michelle M. Doty, and Chloe AndersonAll authors are affiliated with The Commonwealth Fund in New York.

The STING of radiation

November 20, 2014, Chicago, IL - A team of researchers led by Ludwig Chicago's Yang-Xin Fu and Ralph Weichselbaum has uncovered the primary signaling mechanisms and cellular interactions that drive immune responses against tumors treated with radiotherapy. Published in the current issue of Immunity, their study suggests novel strategies for boosting the effectiveness of radiotherapy, and for combining it with therapies that harness the immune system to treat cancer.

Antiangiogenic treatment improves survival in animal model of ovarian cancer

BOSTON -- Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most lethal cancer of the female reproductive organs, with more than 200,000 new cases and more than 125,000 deaths each year worldwide. Because symptoms tend to be vague, 80 percent of these cancers are not recognized until the disease has advanced and spread to other parts of the body. The standard treatment for advanced ovarian cancer includes high-dose chemotherapy, which often results in debilitating side effects and for which the five-year survival rate is only 35 percent.

Biomarker could provide early warning of kidney disease in cats

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Researchers from Oregon State University and other institutions have developed a new biomarker called "SDMA" that can provide earlier identification of chronic kidney disease in cats, which is one of the leading causes of their death.

A new test based on this biomarker, when commercialized, should help pet owners and their veterinarians watch for this problem through periodic checkups, and treat it with diet or other therapies to help add months or years to their pet's life.

Immune cells from the spleen found to control chronic high blood pressure

High blood pressure is a leading cause of death around the world, and its prevalence continues to rise. A study published by Cell Press on November 20th in the journal Immunity shows that a protein in the spleen called placental growth factor (PlGF) plays a critical role in activating a harmful immune response that leads to the onset of high blood pressure in mice. The findings pave the way for the development of more effective treatments for this common and deadly condition.

Researchers report way to target hard-to-hit site in disease pathway

CINCINNATI - Researchers have successfully targeted an important molecular pathway that fuels a variety of cancers and related developmental syndromes called "Rasopathies."

Reporting their results Nov. 20 in Chemistry & Biology, scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center say they identified a class of lead compounds that successfully recognize a key target in the Ras signaling pathway - opening the door to future development of therapies that could make treatments more effective with fewer side effects.

Signaling molecule crucial to stem cell reprogramming

While investigating a rare genetic disorder, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that a ubiquitous signaling molecule is crucial to cellular reprogramming, a finding with significant implications for stem cell-based regenerative medicine, wound repair therapies and potential cancer treatments.

The findings are published in the Nov. 20 online issue of Cell Reports.

Salk scientists unveil powerful method to speed cancer drug discovery

The Salk scientists then used ReBiL to study a promising target for cancer, the interaction between the proteins p53 and Mdm2. The function of p53 is affected in almost all cancers and, in many cancers, too much Mdm2 prevents p53 from functioning properly. Hence, a major goal of cancer scientists has been to develop drugs that prevent Mdm2 from binding to p53, and to thereby activate p53 to kill the tumor cell.

Largest-ever map of the human interactome predicts new cancer genes

Scientists have created the largest-scale map to date of direct interactions between proteins encoded by the human genome and newly predicted dozens of genes to be involved in cancer.

The new "human interactome" map describes about 14,000 direct interactions between proteins. The interactome is the network formed by proteins and other cellular components that 'stick together.' The new map is over four times larger than any previous map of its kind, containing more high-quality interactions than have come from all previous studies put together.

Penn researchers unwind the mysteries of the cellular clock

PHILADELPHIA - Human existence is basically circadian. Most of us wake in the morning, sleep in the evening, and eat in between. Body temperature, metabolism, and hormone levels all fluctuate throughout the day, and it is increasingly clear that disruption of those cycles can lead to metabolic disease.

The cellular origin of fibrosis

Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital have found the cellular origin of the tissue scarring caused by organ damage associated with diabetes, lung disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and other conditions. The buildup of scar tissue is known as fibrosis.

Fibrosis has a number of consequences, including inflammation, and reduced blood and oxygen delivery to the organ. In the long term, the scar tissue can lead to organ failure and eventually death. It is estimated that fibrosis contributes to 45 percent of all deaths in the developed world.

A CNIO team discovers that a derivative of vitamin B3 prevents liver cancer in mice

Liver cancer is one of the most frequent cancers in the world, and with the worst prognosis; according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2012, 745,000 deaths were registered worldwide due to this cause, a figure only surpassed by lung cancer. The most aggressive and frequent form of liver cancer is hepato-cellular carcinoma (HCC); little is known about it and there are relatively few treatment options.