Body

DETROIT – A once-daily medication option for treating the most common mouth infection in HIV/AIDS patients has shown to be just as effective and safe as taking an anti-fungal pill five times a day, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.

Researchers found that a small tablet applied daily that sticks to the gum and dissolves inside the mouth with few or no side effects is a novel, convenient option for treating an infection called oral candidiasis (OC), which occurs in about one third to one half of HIV patients and up to 90 percent of AIDS patients.

An article http://www.cmaj.ca/press/cmaj080612.pdf on the epidemiology, cause and risk factors of asthma is the first in a special report on asthma in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) designed for clinical practitioners. This review looks at risk factors for persistent asthma at different ages, including prenatal, infancy, childhood and adulthood.

Tampa, Fla. (September 14th, 2009) – In two separate studies, a major component in green tea, epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG), has been found to help prolong the preservation of both stored blood platelets and cryopreserved skin tissues.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A popular stomach-acid reducer used to prevent stress ulcers in critically ill patients needing breathing machine support increases the risk of those patients contracting pneumonia threefold, according to researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Hospital-acquired pneumonia is the leading cause of infection-related deaths in critically ill patients. It increases hospital stays by an average of seven to nine days, cost of care, and the risk of other complications.

PHILADELPHIA — In a one-two punch, a familiar diabetes drug reduced tumors faster and prolonged remission in mice longer than chemotherapy alone by targeting cancer stem cells, Harvard Medical School researchers reported in the September 14 online first edition of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

BOSTON, Mass. (September 14, 2009) -- In a one-two punch, a familiar diabetes drug reduced tumors faster and prolonged remission in mice longer than chemotherapy alone, apparently by targeting cancer stem cells, report Harvard Medical School researchers in the Sept. 14 advance online Cancer Research.

"We have found a compound selective for cancer stem cells," said senior author Kevin Struhl, the David Wesley Gaiser professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at HMS. "What's different is that ours is a first-line diabetes drug."

UCSF researchers have genetically encoded mouse cells to respond to light, creating cells that can be trained to follow a light beam or stop on command like microscopic robots.

This is the first time researchers have been able to import a light controlled "on-off switch" from plants into a mammalian cell to instantly control a variety of cell functions, the researchers said. As such, it offers both a powerful new tool in cancer and cardiovascular research, as well as the potential to ultimately control complex processes such as nerve growth.

An international team of researchers, including Monash University biochemists, has discovered evidence at the molecular level in support of one of the key tenets of Darwin's theory of evolution.

Monash University's Professor Trevor Lithgow said the breakthrough, funded by the Australian Research Council and published recently in the prestigious journal PNAS, provides a blueprint for a general understanding of the evolution of the "machinery" of our cells.

Li et al. explain how prolonged stress sparks the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to release its calcium stores, inducing cells to undergo apoptosis in several aging-related diseases.The study will appear in the September 21, 2009 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology (online September 14).

A network of proteins underlying the plasma membrane keeps epithelial cells in shape and maintains their orderly hexagonal packing in the mouse lens, say Nowak et al. The study will appear in the September 21, 2009 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology (online September 14).

Excessive physical strain in dementia care is not so much related to equipment or the resident's body weight as it is due to communication problems and misunderstandings. This is shown in a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Dementia not only affects the memory and other cognitive functions, but also motor skills such as the ability to walk.

Before entering the cleanroom, the researcher dons special protective clothing to avoid carrying germs or other impurities into the highly sensitive environment. But it's not only people who have to conform to the strict hygiene requirements. Every item of equipment in the room, from lithography units to swivel chairs, must also comply with international guidelines.

Boston, Mass. – With new prenatal tests for Down syndrome on the horizon promising to be safer, more accurate, and available to women earlier in pregnancy, the medical community must come together and engage in dialogue about the impact of existing and expected tests, argues a new leading article published Online First by Archives of Disease in Childhood.

UPTON, NY — How much difference can a tenth of a nanometer make? When it comes to figuring out how proteins work, an improvement in resolution of that miniscule amount can mean the difference between seeing where atoms are and understanding how they interact.

DURHAM, N.C. – The same properties of nanoparticles that make them so appealing to manufacturers may also have negative effects on the environment and human health.

However, little is known which particles may be harmful. Part of the problem is determining exactly what a nanoparticle is.