Researchers at National Jewish Health are testing an investigational treatment to learn if poking holes in the lungs of emphysema patients can immediately help them breathe more easily. Destruction of lung tissue caused by emphysema can leave lungs stiff and overinflated with air that cannot escape. The holes, kept open by small stents inserted during a minimally invasive procedure, could relieve the hyperinflation of the lungs, allowing the healthy parts of the lungs to more easily inflate and take in air.
Body
HOUSTON -- (Oct. 23, 2008) -- A study seeking possible cancer genes elucidated the mutations and the genetic pathways activated in the most common form of lung cancer – lung adenocarcinoma – and could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment, said the director of the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center that played a major role in the project led by the National Human Genome Research Institute.
A multi-institution team, funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today reported results of the largest effort to date to chart the genetic changes involved in the most common form of lung cancer, lung adenocarcinoma. The findings should help pave the way for more individualized approaches for detecting and treating the nation's leading cause of cancer deaths.
Scientists today announced the results of the largest genomic study to date of lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer. Led by researchers from the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and other research institutions nationwide, the collaborative study unearthed a variety of genetic alterations in patient tumors and pinpointed 26 frequently altered genes — more than doubling the number already linked to the disease.
BOSTON--Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a previously undetected trigger point on a naturally occurring "death protein" that helps the body get rid of unwanted or diseased cells. They say it may be possible to exploit the newly found trigger as a target for designer drugs that would treat cancer by forcing malignant cells to commit suicide.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists have taken a critical step toward the development of new and more effective antibacterial drugs by identifying exactly how a specific antibiotic sets up a road block that halts bacterial growth.
The antibiotic, myxopyronin, is a natural substance that is made by bacteria to fend off other bacteria. Scientists already knew that this antibiotic inhibited the actions of an enzyme called RNA polymerase, which sets gene expression in motion and is essential to the life of any cell.
PASADENA, Calif.-- An international team of scientists has discovered microscopic, magnetic fossils resembling spears and spindles, unlike anything previously seen, among sediment layers deposited during an ancient global-warming event along the Atlantic coastal plain of the United States.
The researchers, led by geobiologists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and McGill University, describe the findings in a paper published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Children are exposed to a wide range of environmental threats that can affect their health and development early in life, throughout their youth and into adulthood. Writing in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Environmental Health scientists from the World Health Organization and Boston University suggest that it is time for both industrialized and developing countries to assess the environmental burden of childhood diseases with the aim of improving children's environments.
A missing piece of the puzzle of how neurons and muscle cells establish lifelong communication has been found by researchers who suspect this piece may be mutated and/or attacked in muscular dystrophy.
Agrin is a protein that motor neurons release to direct construction of the nerve-muscle contact or synapse. MuSK on the muscle cell surface initiates critical internal cell talk so synpases can form and receptors that enable specific commands will cluster at just the right spot.
Researchers at National Jewish Health are testing an investigational treatment to learn if poking holes in the lungs of emphysema patients can immediately help them breathe more easily. Destruction of lung tissue caused by emphysema can leave lungs stiff and overinflated with air that cannot escape. The holes, kept open by small stents inserted during a minimally invasive procedure, could relieve the hyperinflation of the lungs, allowing the healthy parts of the lungs to more easily inflate and take in air.
CHICAGO, IL, October 26 – New research continues to link tart cherries, one of today's hottest "Super Fruits," to lowering risk factors for heart disease. In addition to lowering cholesterol and reducing inflammation, the study being presented by University of Michigan researchers at next week's American Dietetic Association annual meeting, found that a cherry-enriched diet lowered body weight and fat – major risk factors for heart disease.
By manipulating the way tiny droplets of fluid dry, Cornell researchers have created an innovative way to make and pattern nanoscale wires and other devices that ordinarily can be made only with expensive lithographic tools. The process is guided by molds that "stamp" the desired structures.
Blocking the signals from a protein that activates cells in the immune system could help kill cells that cause a rare form of blood cancer, according to physicists and oncologists who combined computer modeling and molecular biology in their discovery.
Researchers say the breakthrough could provide more efficient ways of targeting diseases such as leukemia, and help in the potential development of vaccines for viruses that cause AIDS.
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' (CALS) Bioenergy Feedstock Project, now in its second year, is the only project of its kind devoted to exploring the many species of field grass that grow in the Northeast and their potential as sources for biofuels.