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Scientists from A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) and the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, have discovered another signaling pathway for the activation and apoptosis, or programmed cell death, of dendritic cells[1] . This discovery was published in the advanced online publication of Nature on 15 Jun 2009.

Scientists from A*STAR's Institute of Materials Research andEngineering (IMRE), led by Professor Christian Joachim, have scored abreakthrough in nanotechnology by becoming the first in the world to invent amolecular gear of the size of 1.2nm whose rotation can be deliberatelycontrolled. This achievement marks a radical shift in the scientific progress ofmolecular machines and is published on 15 June 20092 in Nature Materials(*).

Jerusalem, June 14, 2009 – Research by a Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor has led to the development of a product that has been shown in clinical trials to be successful in halting the growth of various types of cancer cells.

The research, conducted by Prof. Avraham Hochberg of the Silberman Institute of Life Sciences at the university, has won for him first prize among faculty members for this year's Kaye Innovations Awards, which was presented on June 9 during the annual Hebrew University Board of Governors meeting.

St. Louis, MO, June 15, 2009 – Calcium and dairy products play major roles in health maintenance and the prevention of chronic disease. Because peak bone mass is not achieved until the third decade of life, it is particularly important for young adults to consume adequate amounts of calcium, protein and vitamin D found in dairy products to support health and prevent osteoporosis later in life.

A new prostate cancer risk assessment test, developed by a UCSF team, gives patients and their doctors a better way of gauging long-term risks and pinpointing high risk cases.

According to UCSF study findings, published this week, the test proved accurate in predicting bone metastasis, prostate cancer-specific mortality, and all-cause mortality when localized prostate cancer is first diagnosed. The test is known as the UCSF Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment, or CAPRA.

Liver cancer is one of the most fatal human malignancies and the third most frequent cause of tumor-related death, about half a million people globally each year. The current methods used to monitor such high-risk groups include ultrasound scans and a test for the presence of a single protein in the blood called alpha-fetoprotein. It is a good indicator of advanced liver cancer, but less able to detect early disease.

Although many prognostic factors predicting survival and cancer recurrence in patients undergoing surgery for colorectal liver metastases are already identified, the effects of newly introduced technologies and new drugs in the treatment of these patients are still poorly studied because of the presence of many involved factors.

It has been shown that constitutively activated STAT3 is detected in many HCC cell lines and tissues. This suggests that STAT3 is a promising molecular target for HCC gene therapy. RNA interference (RNAi) is a post-transcriptional gene-silencing mechanism, in which the homologous RNA sequences could be introduced into cells that inhibit the expression of a particular gene through the introduction of short interfering RNAs(siRNA). There were a large number of confirmed reports that RNAi targeting oncogene could successfully inhibit the growth of tumor cells in vitro and in vivo.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine in collaboration with lead investigators at the University of Kentucky have identified a new target for the diagnosis and treatment of age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in older Americans.

Alcohol is sometimes seen as part and parcel of college life, but there are programs that can significantly reduce students' risky drinking, according to a series of studies in a special college drinking supplement of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Programs that bring colleges and their surrounding neighborhoods together may help reduce off-campus drinking problems, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that an alcohol control program at Western Washington University that also involved the community -- including increased police patrols in neighborhoods subject to loud and sometimes dangerous college parties, combined with efforts to make off-campus students better neighborhood residents -- led to a decline in student heavy episodic drinking (also called "binge" drinking).

A novel bacterium that has been trapped more than three kilometres under glacial ice in Greenland for over 120 000 years, may hold clues as to what life forms might exist on other planets.

SALT LAKE CITY, June 14, 2009 -- It was long believed that conception does not involve a meeting of equals. The egg is a relatively large, impressive biological factory compared with the tiny sperm, which delivers to the egg one copy of the father's genes. However, a new study from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah reveals that the father's sperm delivers much more complex genetic material than previously thought. The findings could lead to a diagnostic test to help couples deal with infertility.

Aggressive, deadly and often misdiagnosed, inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most lethal form of primary breast cancer, often striking women in their prime and causing death within 18 to 24 months. Now, scientists from The Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center have identified a key gene—eIF4G1—that is overexpressed in the majority of cases of IBC, allowing cells to form highly mobile clusters that are responsible for the rapid metastasis that makes IBC such an effective killer.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine in collaboration with lead investigators at the University of Kentucky have identified a new target for the diagnosis and treatment of age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in older Americans.