Body

Researchers have identified a gene that drives the development of tumours in over one per cent of all cancer patients. This is the first time that the gene CUX1 has been broadly linked to cancer development.

The team discovered that, when CUX1 is deactivated, a biological pathway is activated that increases tumour growth. Drugs that inhibit the biological pathway are currently being used in the clinic and are in development thus highlighting a potential new targeted therapy for patients with this type of cancer-causing mutation.

SEATTLE – An international team of scientists led by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center cancer proteomics expert Amanda Paulovich, M.D., has demonstrated the feasibility of large-scale, standardized protein measurements, which are necessary for validation of disease biomarkers and drug targets.

The study, to be published Dec. 8 online in the journal Nature Methods, shows that the scientists' targeted protein-detection approach has the potential to systematically and reliably measure the entire human repertoire of proteins, known as the proteome.

In our youth we are strong and healthy and then we weaken and die - that's probably how most would describe what ageing is all about. But, in nature, the phenomenon of ageing shows an unexpected diversity of patterns and is altogether rather strange, conclude researchers from The University of Southern Denmark.

Not all species weaken and become more likely to die as they age. Some species get stronger and less likely to die with age, while others are not affected by age at all. Increasing weakness with age is not a law of nature.

Scientists in Lyon, a French city famed for its cuisine, have discovered a quick-cook recipe for copious volumes of hydrogen (H2).

The breakthrough suggests a better way of producing the hydrogen that propels rockets and energizes battery-like fuel cells. In a few decades, it could even help the world meet key energy needs — without carbon emissions contributing to the greenhouse effect and climate change.

(NEW ORLEANS, December 8, 2013) – New research presented today during the 55th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans uncovers several important insights into the pathophysiology of sickle cell disease and thalassemia that may soon translate into the development of better, more targeted treatments for hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide.

Hematology researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have manipulated key biological events in adult blood cells to produce a form of hemoglobin normally absent after the newborn period. Because this fetal hemoglobin is unaffected by the genetic defect in sickle cell disease (SCD), the cell culture findings may open the door to a new therapy for the debilitating blood disorder.

Exposing bed bug-infested clothing or other small items to freezing temperatures may be a viable control option for people at risk of bed bug infestations. However, a new study has found that bed bugs may be less susceptible to freezing temperatures than previously reported.

In an article in the Journal of Economic Entomology called "Cold Tolerance of Bed Bugs and Practical Recommendations for Control," the authors describe how exposing bed bugs to freezing temperatures affects them, and they provide practical recommendations for management of potentially infested items.

Some babies diagnosed with and treated for a bone marrow failure disorder, called Diamond Blackfan Anemia, may actually be affected by a very rare anemia syndrome that has a different disease course and treatment, say scientists from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

Genetic analysis of DNA from 175 patients believed to have Diamond Blackfan Anemia, identified eight that showed hallmarks of Pearson Marrow Pancreas syndrome, according to research presented at the 55th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

ATLANTA — Knowledge about the efficacy of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in preventing cervical cancer was lacking in the majority of survey respondents for whom the information would be relevant, according to results presented here at the Sixth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, held Dec. 6-9.

A team of scientists at Johns Hopkins and in Texas has identified a handful of genetic mutations in black Americans, in addition to some chemical alterations affecting gene activity, which may help explain why the death rate among African-Americans from the most common form of head and neck cancer continues to hover some 18 percent higher above the death rate of whites with the same cancer.

Nearly 90 percent of children and adults with a highly aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) showed no evidence of cancer after receiving a novel, personalized cell therapy that reprograms a patient's immune system. In pilot studies of bioengineered T cells that attack leukemia, 24 of 27 patients (89%) experienced complete responses within 28 days after treatment. In all, 27 patients received the treatment--22 children treated at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and five adults treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

NEW ORLEANS – Three and a half years after beginning a clinical trial which demonstrated the first successful and sustained use of genetically engineered T cells to fight leukemia, a research team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia will today announce the latest results of studies involving both adults and children with advanced blood cancers that have failed to respond to standard therapies.

An international project has developed a free and open public resource that will bring much-needed transparency to the murky and contentious world of gene patenting.

In a paper from Cambia and Queensland University of Technology (QUT) published in this week's Nature Biotechnology journal, researchers revealed that overworked patent offices are struggling to keep up with the rapid explosion in information and technology that genetic sequences represent.

MADISON - With evidence growing that meditation can have beneficial health effects, scientists have sought to understand how these practices physically affect the body.

A new study by researchers in Wisconsin, Spain, and France reports the first evidence of specific molecular changes in the body following a period of mindfulness meditation.

Decreased diversity in the microbial community found in the human gut is associated with colorectal cancer, according to a new study published December 6 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Previous studies suggest a role for the gut microbiota in colorectal cancer (CRC), but comprehensive epidemiological studies comparing samples from case and control subjects that also consider potential confounders and adjust for multiple comparisons inherently involved in microbiome analysis have not been reported.