Body

Scientists have discovered a way of allowing healthy cells to take charge of cancerous cells and stop them developing into tumours in what could provide a new approach to treating early-stage cancers.

University of Manchester researchers found that a special type of the chemicals known as 'kinase inhibitors' opened up communication channels on the surface of cells that enabled healthy cells to 'talk' to the cancer cells.

Accumulating evidence suggests that connective tissue growth factor (CCN2) plays a central role in fibrotic conditions in many organ systems. Fibrosis is a scarring condition that is characterized by excessive collagen production that impedes normal cell function and can cause organ dysfunction and failure. A hallmark of fibrosing injury in the liver is the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) which become highly proliferative, synthesize increased levels of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β and CCN2, and produce excessive amounts of collagen.

Acute hepatocellular injury is a commonly encountered phenomenon in patients with cholelithiasis and concomitant common bile duct (CBD) stones. However, in clinical practice, it seemed to occur also in cholelithiasis patients without evidence of CBD stones. Its incidence and final outcome necessitated clarification.

In general, angiography and endoscopy are the most useful modalities for diagnosing and managing gastrointestinal bleeding. However, duodenal diverticular hemorrhage complicated by duodenal obstruction can happen after transcatheter arterial embolization by ischemic damage to the duodenum or fibrotic encasement of the duodenum. Complications of peridiverticular and retroperitoneal fibrosis around the resolving hematoma could happen after successful TAE; therefore, the resolving hematoma should be thoroughly observed.

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have discovered a potential new drug delivery system. The finding is a biological mechanism for delivery of nanoparticles into tissue. The results are published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This work is important because when giving a drug to a patient, it circulates in the blood stream, but often doesn't get into the tissue," said senior author Erkki Ruoslahti, of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research at UCSB. "This is especially true with tumors.

In a study published this week in the open-access medical journal, PLoS Medicine, Petteri Hovi and colleagues from the National Institute for Health and Welfare Helsinki, Finland evaluated skeletal health in 144 adults (ages ranging from 18 to 27 years) who were born preterm with very low birth weight. They show that as adults these individuals have significantly lower bone mineral density than do their term-born peers and suggest that this finding translates into increased risk for osteoporosis in adulthood for these individuals.

A study of 7,689 admissions from 178 adult intensive care units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has revealed the factors associated with a higher mortality rate in haematological malignancy. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care found that certain factors have a significant impact on the risk of death.

Elevated levels of GLI1 (glioma-associated oncogene homolog 1) protein in human breast cancer are associated with unfavorable prognosis and progressive stages of disease. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Cancer found increased expression of GLI1 in samples taken from more advanced and less survivable tumors.

Marketers have always known they must carefully choose where they place their ads, but a new study in Journal of Consumer Research shows that even the nearby content in a publication—its difficulty and design—affect consumers' perception and acceptance of the ad message. They also found that the ad's relationship to the editorial material affected consumer acceptance.

From running shoes to ceiling fans, consumers are becoming the designers of their own products. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research looks at the ways consumers compare their creations to those designed by professionals.

What types of messages are most persuasive? For example, would you be more likely to buy a TiVo if an ad described it as offering you freedom or if it explained how you could replay sports events? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says the key to an effective message is finding the fit between the consumers' goals and the level of abstraction.

Obese men are at increased risk for erectile dysfunction (ED), likely caused by atherosclerosis-related hypertension and cardiovascular disease, as well as hormonal changes associated with obesity, as described in an article published in Obesity and Weight Management (www.liebertpub.com/owm)

A new study by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) has found that the life-long effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy may occur by specific changes in DNA patterns. The study appears in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Proteins are essential for all biological activities and the health of the cell. Misfolded and damaged proteins spell trouble and are common to all human neurodegenerative diseases and many other age-associated diseases.

A new Northwestern University study reports that protein damage can be detected much earlier than we had thought, long before individuals exhibit symptoms. The study also suggests if we intervene early enough, the damage could be delayed. The results will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Even as low-carbohydrate and high-protein diets have proven successful at helping individuals rapidly lose weight, little is known about the diets' long-term effects on vascular health.