Body

A team of researchers from USC and NYU has developed and patented a small molecule that interferes with cancer progression with minimal side effects.

The molecule prevents two critical proteins from interacting by mimicking the surface topography of one protein – like wearing a mask – which tricks the other protein into binding with it. This stops a so-called "transcription factor" that controls the transcription of genetic information. That transcription factor is what would have created an aberrant gene expression, contributing to the cancer growth.

HEIDELBERG, 13 May 2014 – More than 60 years ago Otto Warburg recognized that cancer cells differ from normal cells in the metabolic pathway they use for the oxidation of sugar. Rather than the typical series of oxidative steps that take place in the citric acid cycle, cancer cells metabolize sugar via the glycolytic pathway irrespective of whether oxygen is present or not.

Ambitious mitigation efforts, however, could decrease the pollution by 50 percent. The analysis is the very first to quantify this.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY – Infertility is generally thought of as a woman's problem. In fact, more than 3 million men across America also experience it. Today, researchers from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) describe a key event during sperm development that is essential for male fertility. A team led by CSHL Professor Alea Mills explains how a protein controls DNA packaging to protect a man's genetic information.

A shared population of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria circulates both in humans and companion animals, according to a study published this week in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that people living with depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions are twice as likely to have tried e-cigarettes and three times as likely to be current users of the controversial battery-powered nicotine-delivery devices, as people without mental health disorders.

They are also more susceptible to trying e-cigarettes in the future in the belief that doing so will help them quit, the scientists said. The FDA has not approved e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid.

Researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have discovered that by targeting a particular receptor, chemotherapy-resistant cancer cells can be killed in an acute form of childhood leukemia, offering the potential for a future treatment for patients who would otherwise experience relapse of their disease.

Treating older men with early-stage prostate cancer who also have other serious underlying health problems with aggressive therapies such as surgery or radiation therapy does not help them live longer and, in fact, can be detrimental, according to a study by UCLA researchers.

AURORA, Colo. (May 12, 2014) – Being released from prison or jail is a difficult time for the millions of Americans returning to their communities from correctional facilities. Add to the list of challenges a high risk of winding up in the emergency department or the hospital. That's according to a new study from the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

The study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, provides support for efforts to improve access to insurance and readily available health care for this vulnerable group.

Elderly men with high blood pressure can lower their risk of death with even moderate levels of fitness, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Hypertension.

"This level of fitness is achievable by most elderly individuals engaging in a brisk walk of 20 to 40 minutes, most days of the week," said Charles Faselis, M.D., lead author of the study and chief and professor of medicine at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Bottom Line: Underage college students are likely to drive after using marijuana or drinking alcohol, and they also are likely to ride as passengers in the car of a driver who has used marijuana or been drinking.

Author: Jennifer M. Whitehill, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and colleagues.

Bottom Line: A low rate of adverse events (AEs) was associated with male circumcision (MC) when the procedure was performed during the first year of life, but the risk was 10 to 20 times higher when boys were circumcised after infancy.

Author: Charbel El Bcheraoui, Ph.D., of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues.

Bottom Line: A substantial number of Medicare beneficiaries receive low-value medical services that provide little or no benefit to patients, such as some cancer screenings, imaging, cardiovascular, diagnostic and preoperative testing, and this may reflect a broader overuse of services while accounting for a modest proportion of overall spending.

Author: Aaron L. Schwartz, B.A., Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues.

A study of Italians who consume a diet rich in resveratrol — the compound found in red wine, dark chocolate and berries — finds they live no longer than and are just as likely to develop cardiovascular disease or cancer as those who eat or drink smaller amounts of the antioxidant.

Bottom Line: The antioxidant resveratrol found in red wine, chocolate and grapes was not associated with longevity or the incidence of cardiovascular disease, cancer and inflammation.

Author: Richard D. Semba, M.D., M.P.H., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md., and colleagues.