Body

An international clinical trial has found that treatment with a drug that suppresses the normal breakdown of bone can delay the development of bone metastases in men with prostate cancer. The study, receiving Online First publication in The Lancet, is the first to successfully reduce bone metastasis in such patients and supports the importance of targeting the bone microenvironment to prevent prostate tumor spread.

"Charles Darwin, observing orchids, recognized that the extraordinarily long nectar spur on the Angraecum must have evolved in concert with the equally long tongue of the moth that pollinated it, but the exact mechanism for this kind of adaptation has been a matter of speculation."

For more than 60 years, biologists have assumed that the length of columbine spurs was achieved primarily by cell proliferation. The new research reveals that proliferation plays almost no role at all in creating the vast diversity of Aquilegia species currently seen.

The brightest hues in nature are produced by tiny patterns in, say, feathers or scales rather than pigments. These so-called "structural colors" are widespread, giving opals their fire, people their blue eyes, and peacocks their brilliant feathers. Many animals use this type of color for communication, notably butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), which display the biggest range of structural colors and put them to uses from advertising their toxicity to choosing the best mates.

In sub-Saharan Africa, couples in long-term relationships where one partner is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative (HIV serodiscordant couples) could benefit from anti-AIDS drugs (antiretroviral therapy) given either as treatment or as a prevention measure (prophylaxis) to reduce the risk of HIV transmission. These findings, from a modelling study led by Timothy Hallett from Imperial College London and published in this week's PLoS Medicine, also show that this strategy could be cost-effective.

About 10% of breast cancers are due to mutations in genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2. However, the molecular mechanism by which alteration of these genes greatly increases the risk of cancer is not fully understood. In a new study, published Nov. 15 in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology, an international team led by Miquel Àngel Pujana, of Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), and Christopher Maxwell, now at the Child and Family Research Institute, has made an important step towards revealing the underlying pathways.

Alcohol consumption causes approximately four percent of all deaths worldwide and is responsible for roughly five percent of global diseases. A study of alcohol consumption in Tuscany, Italy has found that alcoholics have significantly higher rates of both general and cancer mortality when compared to the general population.

Results will be published in the February 2012 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

While researchers know that genetic factors play an important role in the development of alcohol dependence (AD), it is challenging to discover which particular genes may be involved. Prior evidence had established that the endogenous cannabinoid system is implicated in AD, with cannabinoid receptor 1 (CNR1) appearing to be the main candidate. New findings confirm the association between CNR1 and dependence on alcohol and other substances.

Patients who rely on recombinant, protein-based drugs must often endure frequent injections, often several times a week, or intravenous therapy. Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston demonstrate the possibility that blood vessels, made from genetically engineered cells, could secrete the drug on demand directly into the bloodstream. In the November 17 issue of the journal Blood, they provide proof-of-concept, reversing anemia in mice with engineered vessels secreting erythropoietin (EPO).

If Guinness World Records had a category for the largest human-designed protein, then a team of Vanderbilt chemists would have just claimed it.

They have designed and successfully synthesized a variant of a protein that nature uses to manufacture the essential amino acid histidine. It is more than twice the size of the previous record holder, a protein created by researchers at the University of Washington in 2003.

(ORLANDO) -- Just 30 percent the nation's state police agencies reported that they equip their vehicles with automated external defibrillators, and of those, nearly 60 percent of said only a minority of their fleet have the lifesaving devices on board, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented today at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions (Abstract #10721).

Whole-body-vibration, a popular exercise which uses a vibrating platform, is sometimes advertised as being able to boost bone density. However, a one-year-study on healthy postmenopausal women has shown that it has no such effect.

SAN FRANCISCO — Researchers have developed a new genetic screening tool that will aid in the investigation of possible treatments for patients with melanoma and the unique genetic mutations that may accompany the disease, according to data presented at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, held Nov. 12-16, 2011.

A study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute and their Zambian colleagues detected contrasting patterns of drug resistance in malaria-causing parasites taken from both humans and mosquitoes in rural Zambia. Parasites found in human blood samples showed a high prevalence for pyrimethamine-resistance, which was consistent with the class of drugs widely used to treat malaria in the region.

Cambridge, Mass. – November 15, 2011 – By nestling quantum dots in an insulating egg-crate structure, researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a robust new architecture for quantum-dot light-emitting devices (QD-LEDs).

Quantum dots are very tiny crystals that glow with bright, rich colors when stimulated by an electric current. QD-LEDs are expected to find applications in television and computer screens, general light sources, and lasers.

Tissue with wound-like conditions allows tumors to grow and spread. In mouse lung cancer cells, treatment with silibinin, a major component of milk thistle, removed the molecular billboards that signal these wound-like conditions and so stopped the spread of these lung cancers, according to a recent study published in the journal Molecular Carcinogenesis.

Though the natural extract has been used for more than 2,000 years, mostly to treat disorders of the liver and gallbladder, this is one of the first carefully controlled and reported studies to find benefit.