Body

KANSAS CITY, MO—There's a new actor on the embryology stage: the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. Its career is being launched in part by Stowers Institute for Medical Research Associate Investigator Matt Gibson, Ph.D., who is giving it equal billing with what has been his laboratory's leading player, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

Lugano-CH, Brussels-BE, 2 May 2013 -- A study that aimed to understand how the cancer drug everolimus helps overcome the resistance breast cancers can develop to trastuzumab has left researchers contemplating a puzzle.

The study showed a statistically non-significant benefit in clinical response rates for some patients with early breast cancer when everolimus was added to treatment with trastuzumab. Yet the results suggest this benefit is achieved independently of the molecular pathways researchers expected would be involved.

Lugano-CH, Brussels-BE, 2 May 2013 -- A test that measures the expression levels of 58 genes in oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancers can effectively differentiate between patients who are at higher and lower risk for having their cancer recur elsewhere in the body more than five years after diagnosis, researchers report.

The new findings show that better individual risk prediction for women with these cancers is getting nearer, says study author Prof Michael Gnant from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

Lugano-CH, Brussels-BE, 2 May 2013 -- A new analysis has provided a comprehensive comparison of scores designed to predict which women with oestrogen-receptor positive breast cancer are at high risk of recurrence beyond five years after diagnosis, and may benefit from prolonged endocrine treatment.

The promising new findings will likely benefit the many women with oestrogen-receptor positive breast cancer whose cancer recurs more than five years after diagnosis, researchers told the 5th IMPAKT Breast Cancer Conference in Brussels, Belgium.

Lugano-CH, Brussels- BE, 2 May 2013 -- An important new study has revealed the clearest picture yet of precisely how much measurement variation influences gene expression profiles of breast cancer.

The results show, for the first time, which gene expression measurements may benefit from pooling of biopsies from a single tumour, researchers said at the 5th IMPAKT Breast Cancer Conference in Brussels, Belgium.

Lugano-CH, Brussels-BE, 2 May 2013 -- A study led by prominent breast cancer experts from Europe and the US has revealed a number of potentially important prospects for targeted therapies, and brings opportunities of truly personalised therapy for breast cancer a step closer, researchers said at the 5th IMPAKT Breast Cancer Conference in Brussels, Belgium.

The IMPAKT meeting presents cutting edge, 'translational' breast cancer research that is beginning to have an impact for patients.

Lugano-CH, Brussels-BE, 2 May 2013 -- Breast cancers contain many different cell types with different patterns of gene expression, but a new study provides reassurance that this variability should not be a barrier to using gene expression tests to help tailor cancer treatments to individual patients.

The findings were reported at the 5th IMPAKT Breast Cancer Conference in Brussels, Belgium. The IMPAKT meeting presents cutting edge, 'translational' breast cancer research that is beginning to have an impact for patients.

Berkeley — A new analysis of the contents of lipstick and lip gloss may cause you to pause before puckering.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health tested 32 different lipsticks and lip glosses commonly found in drugstores and department stores. They detected lead, cadmium, chromium, aluminum and five other metals, some of which were found at levels that could raise potential health concerns. Their findings will be published online Thursday, May 2, in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILL. (May 2, 2013) – Many of today's school teachers opt for dustless chalk to keep hands and classrooms clean. But according to a study published in the May issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), this choice in chalk may cause allergy and asthma symptoms in students that have a milk allergy.

Fears that legalising euthanasia for very sick newborns would prompt the start of a "slippery slope" and lead to abuse of the option have proved groundless, says the architect of a dedicated protocol used by doctors in The Netherlands, in a special issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics.

The Groningen Protocol, which was devised to help doctors curb the suffering of very sick newborns and identify the situations in which euthanasia might be appropriate, was introduced in 2005 in The Netherlands.

Patricia de Cocq is a keen horsewoman, but her interest in horses extends beyond her passion for riding: she is also a vet. Interested in the animals' welfare, de Cocq explains that many horses that are ridden experience back pain that is hard to treat. Which made her wonder: could riders modify their technique to reduce the load exerted on their horses' backs? Analysing the movements of riders on trotting horses, de Cocq discovered that 'rising trot' significantly reduces the load exerted on horses' backs.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A protein complex found in human breast milk can help reverse the antibiotic resistance of bacterial species that cause dangerous pneumonia and staph infections, according to new University at Buffalo research.

In petri dish and animal experiments, the protein complex — called Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made Lethal to Tumor Cells (HAMLET) — increased bacteria's sensitivity to multiple classes of antibiotics, such as penicillin and erythromycin.

If chronic stress is weighing down your problem-solving skills, self-affirmation may give your skills a boost, according to research published May 1 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by David Creswell and colleagues from Carnegie Mellon University.

An assortment of saber-toothed cats, hyenas, an extinct 'bear-dog', ancestors of the red panda and several other carnivores died under unusual circumstances in a Spanish cave near Madrid approximately 9-10 million years ago. It now appears that the animals may have entered the cave intentionally and been trapped there, according to research published May 1 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Soledad Domingo from the University of Michigan and colleagues from other institutions.

Hydrocarbon exploration and production continues to press into the most remote corners of the western Amazon, one of the most biologically and culturally diverse zones on Earth. A new best practice framework that combines technical engineering criteria with ecological and social concerns could reduce the negative environmental impacts of such development, according to research published May 1 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Matt Finer from the Center for International Environmental Law and colleagues from other institutions.