Body

Scientists have found a new possible explanation for why people who eat more fruit and vegetables may gain protection against the spread of cancers.

They have shown that a fragment released from pectin, found in all fruits and vegetables, binds to and is believed to inhibit galectin 3 (Gal3), a protein that plays a role in all stages of cancer progression.

This release is also available in French.

Researchers at McGill University, King's College London and GlaxoSmithKline Inc. have identified two genetic variants in caucasians that together produce an astounding sevenfold increase the risk of male pattern baldness. Their results will be published Oct. 12 in the journal Nature Genetics.

This week Nature Nanotechnology journal (October 12th) reveals how scientists from the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) at UCL are using a novel nanomechanical approach to investigate the workings of vancomycin, one of the few antibiotics that can be used to combat increasingly resistant infections such as MRSA. The researchers, led by Dr Rachel McKendry and Professor Gabriel Aeppli, developed ultra-sensitive probes capable of providing new insight into how antibiotics work, paving the way for the development of more effective new drugs.

Humans have a built-in weapon against HIV, but until recently no one knew how to unlock its potential.

A study published online by the journal Nature reveals the atomic structure of this weapon – an enzyme known as APOBEC-3G – and suggests new directions for drug development.

APOBEC-3G is present in every human cell. It is capable of stopping HIV at the first step of replication, when the retrovirus transcribes its RNA into viral DNA.

The 1918 flu pandemic killed more than 40 million people worldwide and affected persons of all age groups. While it is difficult to predict when the next influenza pandemic will occur or how severe it will be, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed models to help organizations like the American Red Cross and Georgia Department of Education prepare emergency response plans.

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 12, 2008 – Research results highlighting three new devices used to reduce blockages in peripheral and coronary arteries and to provide cardiac support will be presented at the 20th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF).

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 12, 2008 – Results of five research studies and a clinical registry first-report presentation scheduled for the 20th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), suggest that triple antiplatelet therapy for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents achieves greater platelet inhibition than conventional dual antiplatelet therapy.

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 12, 2008 – Research results indicate that optical coherence tomography (OCT), a newly evolving imaging method, may be the best tool available to detect vulnerable plaque in coronary arteries. The findings will be presented at the 20th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF).

12 October 2008 – An online survey for World Arthritis Day (WAD), completed by over 3,600* respondents revealed that access to psychological support and self-management courses could help people with arthritis/rheumatism cope more effectively with their condition and achieve better quality of life. Healthcare professionals, people with rheumatic disease and their carers, who responded to the survey, highlight the importance of integrating psychological support into the standard treatment regime.

BOSTON, MA, October 11, 2008 – MedImmune announced today it will present four abstracts at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2008 National Conference & Exhibition that add to the company's growing body of research into the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a leading cause of viral respiratory infection among preterm infants.

Presidential candidates use them to persuade voters, drug companies use them to sell their products, and the media spin them in all kinds of ways, but nobody - candidates, reporters, let alone health consumers - understands them.

Researchers have identified stem cells with the capacity to build fat, according to a report in the October 17th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication. Although they have yet to show that the cells can renew themselves, transplants of the progenitor cells isolated from the fat tissue of normal mice can restore normal fat tissue in animals that are otherwise lacking it.

The findings may yield insight into the causes of obesity, a condition characterized by an increase in both the size and number of fat cells.

AMES, Iowa –Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory are part of collaborative team that's used a brand new instrument at the DOE's Spallation Neutron Source to probe iron-arsenic compounds, the "hottest" new find in the race to explain and develop superconducting materials. Rob McQueeney, an Ames Laboratory physicist, was part of that team whose findings, published in the Oct. 10 issue (101) of Physical Review Letters, mark the first research produced with the aid of the new tool.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- In a groundbreaking study led by an eminent molecular biologist at Florida State University, researchers have discovered that as embryonic stem cells turn into different cell types, there are dramatic corresponding changes to the order in which DNA is replicated and reorganized.

LIVERMORE, Calif. – A team led by Livermore scientists has helped reconcile the differences between simulated and observed temperature trends in the tropics.