Body

San Diego, CA - Radiofrequncy-tonsillotomy, which enables surgeons to reduce the size of the tonsillar tissue instead of removing the tonsils entirely, seems to be an effective and safe method of treating children with symptoms of enlarged tonsils.

San Diego, CA – A combination of medications and a particular light therapy is effective at treating certain types of head and neck cancers in subtropical climates.

DURHAM, N.C. -- As scientists work toward making genetically altered bacteria create living "circuits" to produce a myriad of useful proteins and chemicals, they have logically assumed that the single-celled organisms would always respond to an external command in the same way.

Alas, some bacteria apparently have an individualistic streak that makes them zig when the others zag.

DURHAM, N.C. – Imagine a surgical patient on a blood-thinning drug who starts bleeding more than expected, and an antidote that works immediately – because the blood thinner and antidote were designed to work together. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have engineered a way to do this for an entire, versatile class of drugs called aptamers and published their findings in Nature Medicine.

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke University Medical Center and National Cancer Institute scientists have discovered that a novel genetic alteration – a second copy of an entire gene – is a cause of familial chordoma, an uncommon form of cancer arising in bones and frequently affecting the nervous system.

Inherited differences in gene copy number, known as copy number variation (CNV), have been implicated in some hereditary diseases but none of the previously discovered familial cancer genes has had CNV as the genetic change.

RICHMOND, Va. (Oct. 2, 2009) – Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified the role of a gene in regulating molecular signals involved with ovarian follicle development, which may one day help shed light on some of the causes of fertility issues in humans.

Millions of African families could be saved from destitution thanks to a much-needed vaccine that is being mass-produced in a drive to protect cattle against a deadly parasite.

East Coast fever is a tick-transmitted disease that kills one cow every 30 seconds – with one million a year dying of the disease.

Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have demonstrated that a protein called NEDD9 may be required for some of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer to grow. Their findings, based on the study of a mouse model of breast cancer, are presented in a recent issue of Cancer Research, available on-line now.

Results: Researchers from MIT and their collaborators have done the most detailed analysis ever of a layer of sediments deposited during and immediately after the asteroid impact 65 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs and 80 percent of Earth's marine life. They found that at least some forms of microscopic marine life — the so-called "primary producers," or photosynthetic organisms such as algae and cyanobacteria in the ocean — had recovered within about a century after the mass extinction.

Human activities have meant invasive species have been able to populate parts of the world to which they are not native and alter biodiversity there over thousands of years. Now, an international team of scientists has studied the impact of the black rat on bird populations on Mediterranean islands. Despite the rat's environmental impact, only the tiny European storm petrel has been affected over time by its enforced cohabitation with the rat.

The study

Over a period of two years, 30 scientist lead by Associate Professor Peter Krustrup, University of Copenhagen, have investigated physiological, sociological and psychological aspects of women's soccer in comparison to running. 100 untrained adult premenopausal women have participated in the study.

Scientists working at Queen Mary, University of London, have developed micrometer-sized capsules to safely deliver drugs inside living cells.

In the future, this technique could allow full courses of prescription drugs to be effectively 'shrink-wrapped' and buried under the skin or inside the body.

These "micro shuttles" can be loaded with a specific dose of medication and be opened remotely, releasing their contents.

Biopesticides containing a fungus that is pathogenic to mosquitoes may be an effective means of reducing malaria transmission, particularly if used in combination with insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs), according to a modelling study conducted by Dr. Penelope Hancock from Imperial College London. Results of the study show that incorporating this novel vector control technique into existing vector management programmes may substantially reduce malaria transmission rates and help manage insecticide resistance.

DURHAM, N.C., -- An international team of scientists has discovered a new way to classify stomach cancers, and researchers say it may be an important step toward designing more effective treatments and improving long-term survival.

Stomach (gastric) cancer is particularly prevalent in Asia and represents the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.

Strong links have been uncovered between stress and ischemic strokes. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Medicine have carried out the first study into the correlation between self-reported feelings of prolonged psychological stress and different stroke subtypes.