Body

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study identifies the molecular pathway that enables cancer cells to grow in areas of a tumor where oxygen levels are low, a condition called hypoxia.

The findings by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James), might offer a new strategy for inhibiting tumor growth by developing agents that reverse this hypoxia-related pathway.

BOSTON -- Patients with diabetes are at increased risk of microvascular complications, which develop when the body's small blood vessels become diseased. One of the most common problems results when wounds fail to heal properly, which can lead to ulcers, chronic infections, and in the most serious cases, limb amputations.

A new study suggests that shivering and bouts of moderate exercise are equally capable of stimulating the conversion of energy-storing 'white fat' into energy-burning 'brown fat'.

Around 50 g of white fat stores more than 300 kilocalories of energy. The same amount of brown fat could burn up to 300 kilocalories a day.

Endocrinologist Dr Paul Lee, from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research, recently undertook the study at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Washington*, funded as an NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow.

Boston, MA – According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. For patients whose breast cancers are hormone-dependent, current treatment focuses on using drugs that block estrogen (a type of hormone) from attaching to estrogen receptors on tumor cells to prevent the cells from growing and spreading.

Queen's University Belfast's world renowned cancer specialist, Professor Patrick Johnston, whose work has transformed cancer care in Northern Ireland, is now leading efforts to improve survival rates across Europe.

The state of Qatar occupies a small peninsula of 11,500 km2 within the Arabian Peninsula. Both Qatar's population and economy have increased rapidly during the last decades, thus putting a strong pressure on native species. The commitment of the Qatari government towards sustainable development has triggered a variety of studies of its dwindling biodiversity.

Designing nanomedicine to combat diseases is a hot area of scientific research, primarily for treating cancer, but very little is known in the context of atherosclerotic disease. Scientists have engineered a microchip coated with blood vessel cells to learn more about the conditions under which nanoparticles accumulate in the plaque-filled arteries of patients with atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of myocardial infarction and stroke.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) can spread the lethal and incurable citrus disease known as huanglongbing (HLB) or citrus greening that threatens the multi-billion dollar global citrus industry. In Southern California, large and widespread populations of ACP have been detected in several counties, having arrived, most likely, from Mexico where ACP is widely established.

Researchers at King's College London have discovered that sensitivity to pain could be altered by a person's lifestyle and environment throughout their lifetime. The study is the first to find that pain sensitivity, previously thought to be relatively inflexible, can change as a result of genes being switched on or off by lifestyle and environmental factors – a process called epigenetics, which chemically alters the expression of genes.

Bacterial urinary tract infections are a painful nuisance. A team of researchers led by scientists from the University of Bonn Medical Center has now decoded the way in which immune cells communicate with each other in defense against infections via the messenger tumor necrosis factor (TNF). The results are now being published in the renowned journal "Cell".

WASHINGTON (Feb. 4, 2014) – A new study by George Washington University (GW) researcher Michael Bukrinsky, M.D., Ph.D., shows similarities in the pathogenesis of prion disease — misfolded proteins that can lead to neurological diseases — and the HIV virus.

Philadelphia, Pa. (February 4, 2014) – Nearly one-third of US adolescents consume high-caffeine energy drinks or "shots," and these teens report higher rates of alcohol, cigarette, or drug use, reports a study in the January/February Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

CINCINNATI – Researchers used blood platelets and bone marrow cells to deliver potentially curative gene therapy to mouse models of the human genetic disorder Hurler syndrome – an often fatal condition that causes organ damage and other medical complications.

Scientists from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) report their unique strategy for treating the disease the week of Feb. 3-7 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

It is a big dream in science: To start from scratch with simple artificial microskopic building blocks and end up with something much more complex: living systemts, novel computers or every-day materials. For decades scientists have pursied the dream of creating artificial building blocks that can self-assemble in large numbers and reassemble to take on new tasks or to remedy defects. Now researchers from University of Southern Denmark have taken a step forward to make this dream come true.

Los Angeles, London (February 04, 2014). Smokers are increasingly turning to electronic cigarettes as a means to reduce the health impacts of their addiction. But legislators around the world are far from unified in their approaches to regulating e-cigarettes. Misguided legislation based on concerns that are not backed by sound data may have unintended consequences for public health, experts say. With smoking behind almost six million premature deaths each year, a lot is at stake in the current round of regulation changes.