Social Sciences
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Studies done with laboratory rats suggest that supplementation of their diet with lipoic acid had a significant effect in lowering triglycerides, which along with cholesterol levels and blood pressure are one of the key risk factors in cardiovascular disease.
In the lab animals, supplements of lipoic acid lowered triglyceride levels up to 60 percent. If the effect were the same in humans – which is not yet clear – that would be a greater impact than found with other dietary supplements, and similar to the effects of some prescription drugs.
The results were just published in…
Two-year-olds with autism lack an important building block of social interaction that prompts newborn babies to pay attention to other people. Instead, these children pay attention to physical relationships between movement and sound and miss critical social information. Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine report their results in the March 29 online issue of Nature.
"Human infants are born in a fragile state. They are entirely dependent on their caregivers for survival, and so it makes sense that infants would possess very early-emerging predispositions to seek their caregivers, to…
Santiago de Compostela, Spain – March 30, 2009 – A study published in a special issue of Photochemistry and Photobiology examines the emerging practice of drug delivery systems which use the application of light to activate medications in the body.
The process uses biocompatible materials that are sensitive to certain physiological variables or external physicochemical stimuli. Changes in external or internal body conditions can be used to achieve control of the delivery. There are drug delivery systems that can respond to small changes in light, temperature, pH or the concentration of…
Hannover, Germany - March 30, 2009 – A new studying appearing in Congenital Heart Disease compares the careers and long-term occupational successes of men and women who underwent surgery for congenital heart disease to those of the general population. The project has produced evidence that shows how medicine may provide preconditions for individuals with congenital defects to live a successful life.
In recent decades, survival rates and the life expectancy of patients with congenital heart disease have improved. Medical care is no longer focused solely on chances of survival, but on patients…
MADISON — For people with the genetic condition known as phenylketonuria (PKU), diet is a constant struggle. They can eat virtually no protein, and instead get their daily dose of this key macronutrient by drinking a bitter-tasting formula of amino acids. Yet drink it they must; deviating from this strict dietary regimen puts them at risk of developing permanent neurological damage.
In the near future, fortunately, a better option may become available.
In April, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers will publish the second of two key papers showing that a unique protein…
In a genetic engineering breakthrough that could help everyone from bed-ridden patients to elite athletes, a team of American researchers—including 2007 Nobel Prize winner Mario R. Capecchi—have created a "switch" that allows mutations or light signals to be turned on in muscle stem cells to monitor muscle regeneration in a living mammal. For humans, this work could lead to a genetic switch, or drug, that allows people to grow new muscle cells to replace those that are damaged, worn out, or not working for other reasons (e.g., muscular dystrophy). In addition, this same discovery also gives…
Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignancies in the world with a high incidence and death rate. TNM staging system is used worldwide to predict prognosis and direct therapeutic decisions of patients with GC. However, the prognoses of patients with stage 2 and 3 GC are more heterogeneous and less predictable by staging criteria. Therefore, finding molecular markers that are able to predict the potential of tumor recurrence and prognosis of patients is extremely important for appropriate individualized therapy. Phosphatase regenerating liver 3 (PRL-3), a member of phosphotase of…
SANTA CRUZ, CA--A Cancer Genomics Browser developed by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, provides a new way to visualize and analyze data from studies aimed at improving cancer treatment by unraveling the complex genetic roots of the disease.
The browser consists of a suite of web-based tools designed to help researchers find patterns in the huge amounts of clinical and genomic data being gathered in large-scale cancer studies. Medical researchers hope to identify genetic signatures and other "biomarkers" in cancer cells that can be used to predict how individual…
Both cancer cells and the chemicals used to make bombs can foil detection because they appear in trace amounts too small for conventional detection techniques. Tel Aviv University has developed the ultimate solution: a molecule that can magnify weak traces of "hidden" molecules into something we can detect and see.
Using molecular techniques in nanotechnology, Prof. Doron Shabat of TAU's Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Chemistry has engineered new molecules that have the power to identify targets -- such as biomarkers in cancer, materials in explosives, or pollutants in water --even…
Understanding the tens of thousands of proteins that compose the human proteome has emerged as a key challenge of this century, and research efforts to date have already enabled major advances in drug discovery and understanding basic biology. But many potential avenues have been blocked by lack of information about how the majority of these proteins function.
The bulk of these so far enigmatic proteins may now be open to study, thanks to research by a team at The Scripps Research Institute and its Molecular Screening Center.
The scientists have developed the first widely applicable high-…