Body

Ann Arbor, Mich. – University of Michigan scientists have developed a combination drug that promises a safer, more precise way for medics and fellow soldiers in battle situations to give a fallen soldier both morphine and a drug that limits morphine's dangerous side effects.

They use nanotechnology to devise ultra-small polymer particles capable of carrying the drugs into the body. The development of the combination drug makes possible a precise feedback system that can safely regulate release of the drugs aboard the nanoparticles.

Irvine, Calif. – UC Irvine researchers have created a new approach that vastly improves the targeting of chemotherapeutic drugs to specific cells and organs.

Kenneth Longmuir, associate professor of physiology & biophysics, and Richard Robertson, professor of anatomy & neurobiology, used liposomes, small spheres (less-than 100 nanometer in diameter) of naturally-occurring lipid molecules, as "packages" for the cancer chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin, and a small peptide molecule to "address" the package to the targeted tissue.

EAST LANSING, Mich. - It's been cultivated for at least 7,000 years and spread from South America to grow on every continent except Antarctica. Now the humble potato has had its genome sequenced.

"The potato is the most important vegetable worldwide," said Robin Buell, an MSU associate professor of plant biology. She was part of the consortium that released the first draft sequence of the potato genome. "This first draft that is being released will help breeders improve yield, quality, disease resistance and nutritional value."

• Despite the decline of heart disease mortality registered in the past 30 years, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the N.1 killer in Europe and in the World [1].
• In the EU, experts reveal that striking disparities still exist between countries not only in terms of CVD incidence, but also with regard to national prevention policies. In view of this, there is a clear case for EU to step up action to tackle heart disease and stroke.

A team from the National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA) has developed a new method for identifying the flammability of plant species by using a device that measures how construction materials react to fire. The technique, which is being presented this week at the Fifth Spanish Forestry Congress, can be used to improve fire risk maps.

Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London have made an important discovery in understanding what causes arteries to clog up.

They have discovered that an enzyme called matrix metalloproteinase-8 plays a crucial role in raising blood pressure and causing abnormal build-up of cells in the arteries – both of which increase the risk of heart disease.

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the UK. The scientists say that their research could lead to new drugs for treating high blood pressure and preventing heart disease.

ROCHESTER, Minn. - Results of a Mayo Clinic survey published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that while physicians are open to being involved in health care reform discussions, some opposition may exist.

The results appear in the Sept. 14, 2009, edition of the New England Journal of Medicine and are the result of a national survey of nearly 1,000 U.S. physicians conducted by Mayo Clinic.

Researchers are delving into abnormal gene function in mitochondria, structures within cells that power our lives. Mitochondria are the place where energy is generated from the most basic molecules of food. Because this function is essential to life, defects in mitochondria may affect a wide range of organ systems in humans and animals.

Some names of mitochondrial disorders are Leigh's disease, MELAS syndrome and complex I deficiency. These are often severe and progressive conditions that attack brain, muscles and numerous other parts of the body.

Many of us learn a foreign language when we are young, but in some cases, exposure to that language is brief and we never get to hear or practice it subsequently. Our subjective impression is often that the neglected language completely fades away from our memory. But does "use it or lose it" apply to foreign languages? Although it may seem we have absolutely no memory of the neglected language, new research suggests this "forgotten" language may be more deeply engraved in our minds than we realize.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have identified a genetic mutation that accounts for a perplexing condition found in people with an inherited immunodeficiency. The disorder, called combined immunodeficiency, is characterized by a constellation of severe health problems, including persistent bacterial and viral skin infections, severe eczema, acute allergies and asthma, and cancer.

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are environmental organisms found in both water and soil that can cause severe pulmonary (lung) disease in humans. Pulmonary NTM is on the rise in the United States, according to a large study of people hospitalized with the condition.

Scientists label cells with coloured or glowing chemicals to observe how basic cellular activities differ between healthy and cancerous cells. Existing techniques for labelling cells are either too slow or too toxic to perform on live cells. Now, a study reviewed by Philip Dawson, a member of Faculty of 1000 Biology and leading authority in chemistry and cell biology, describes a novel labelling technique that uses a chemical reaction to make live cancer cells light up quickly and safely.

HOUSTON - Huachansu, a Chinese medicine that comes from the dried venom secreted by the skin glands of toads, has tolerable toxicity levels, even at doses eight times those normally administered, and may slow disease progression in some cancer patients, say researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

In an encouraging development, an investigational vaccine regimen has been shown to be well-tolerated and to have a modest effect in preventing HIV infection in a clinical trial involving more than 16,000 adult participants in Thailand. Following a final analysis of the trial data, the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, the trial sponsor, announced today that the prime-boost investigational vaccine regimen was safe and 31 percent effective in preventing HIV infection.

Humanity needs to act now to avoid threats to human well-being caused by irreversible damage to the Earth, its climate, species and life-supporting systems.

Scientists say it has become essential to define what levels of such human-caused change are 'safe' and which are 'unsafe', and to stay within these boundaries.

The call comes from 28 of the world's most eminent environmental scientists, published today in the world's leading science journal, Nature.