Body

HOUSTON - New preclinical research shows that cannabinoid cell surface receptor CB1 plays a tumor-suppressing role in human colorectal cancer, scientists report in the Aug. 1 edition of the journal Cancer Research.

CB1 is well-established for relieving pain and nausea, elevating mood and stimulating appetite by serving as a docking station for the cannabinoid group of signaling molecules. It now may serve as a new path for cancer prevention or treatment.

Alexandria, VA – A new invited article in the August 2008 edition of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery calls on the U.S. medical community to develop a national consensus on ethical guidelines for physicians who care for patients, victims, and casualties of disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or terrorist attacks.

PHILADELPHIA – Researchers in Germany have discovered that methadone, an agent used to break addiction to opioid drugs, has surprising killing power against leukemia cells, including treatment resistant forms of the cancer.

Their laboratory study, published in the August 1 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, suggests that methadone holds promise as a new therapy for leukemia, especially in patients whose cancer no longer responds to chemotherapy and radiation.

PHILADELPHIA – Based on a pilot study in children with sarcoma, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) believe that immunotherapy could prove beneficial in treating high-risk forms of this cancer.

Judged by the astonishing increase in journal papers written by scientists in China, there can be little doubt that China is finding its place as one of the world's scientific power houses. Michael Banks, Physics World's News Editor, quantifies this surge in scientific output from China and asks whether quality matches quantity in August's Physics World.

Sleep-disordered breathing (also known as sleep apnea) is associated with an increased risk of death, according to new results from the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort, an 18-year observational study supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. Researchers found that adults (ages 30 to 60) with sleep-disordered breathing at the start of the study were two to three times more likely to die from any cause compared to those who did not have sleep-disordered breathing.

Two thirds of cancer patients receive little or no information about the survival benefits of having palliative chemotherapy before making a decision about treatment, according to a study published today on bmj.com.

Palliative chemotherapy for patients with advanced cancer has modest survival benefits and there is an expectation in the UK that such patients should be given accurate information so they can give informed consent before starting chemotherapy.

Recent changes to working regulations in the UK are seriously damaging the working life and education of junior doctors and patients are also suffering, warn senior doctors on BMJ.com today.

The British government must relax the regulations of the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) or it could spell disaster for medicine in the UK, say the authors.

Doctors who assist in torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment should face prosecution and licensing punishments, says an editorial on BMJ.com today.

Injuries caused by gun and knife crime are costing the National Health Service in excess of £3million a year, new research reveals.

The study, by the Trauma Audit Research Network (TARN) at The University of Manchester, looked at all penetrating trauma injuries that resulted in immediate admission to hospital for three or more days or death within 93 days.

SEATTLE—A Group Health study in the August 2 issue of The Lancet adds fuel to the growing controversy over how well the flu vaccine protects the elderly.

The study of more than 3,500 Group Health patients age 65 found no link between flu vaccination and risk of pneumonia during three flu seasons. "This suggests that the flu vaccine doesn't protect seniors as much as has been thought," said Michael L. Jackson, PhD, MPH, a postdoctoral fellow at the Group Health Center for Health Studies.

A multi-institutional team of scientists has used beamline 9.0.1 at the Advanced Light Source to perform high-resolution x-ray diffraction imaging of an aerogel for the first time, revealing its nanoscale three-dimensional bulk lattice structure down to features measured in nanometers, billionths of a meter.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., July 31, 2008 – A new material characterized at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory could open a pathway toward more efficient fuel cells.

The material, a super-lattice developed by researchers in Spain, improves ionic conductivity near room temperature by a factor of almost 100 million, representing "a colossal increase in ionic conduction properties," said Maria Varela of ORNL's Materials Science and Technology Division, who characterized the material's structure with senior researcher Stephen Pennycook.

CHAPEL HILL – A common vaginal infection may make women more susceptible to contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health researchers have found.

SANTA ROSA, Calif., July 30, 2008 – While summer is the time of year people like to spend most of their day outside, summer allergens keep many sinus sufferers from enjoying activities such as barbequing, hanging out at the pool and spending time in the park, to name a few.