The most common procedure for clearing blocked kidney arteries can also release thousands of tiny particles into the bloodstream that can impair kidney function, according to researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues.
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Women with at least three sites of cellular atypia in breast tissue are nearly eight times more likely than average women to develop breast cancer, according to findings of a Mayo Clinic Cancer Center-led study of women with atypical hyperplasia. The findings are published in the July 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Variations in the WFS1 gene, known to affect both the survival and function of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, can be linked to type 2 diabetes susceptibility, according to a new study from Cambridge.
The study has two major implications – it identifies a new risk factor in a disease reaching epidemic levels worldwide while also showing that variations in a gene – and not only mutations – can lead to type 2 diabetes.
Bats are one of the zoological groups attracting most interest around the world in terms of studying the epidemiology of rabies.
However, the dynamics of the viral infection in these organisms remains poorly understood. A team from the UB and the Institut Pasteur in Paris has just reported the first epidemiological, ecological and virological study with previously unpublished data on the transmission and development of rabies in these mammals.
A vital molecule for resistance to food allergy has been identified and offers a potential target for therapy.
There is currently no way to treat food allergy and the only way for sufferers to manage the problem is to avoid certain foods and make sure they have injectable adrenaline at hand.
In May, Nobel Laureate James D. Watson, the scientist who co-discovered the structure of DNA, became the first person to receive his own complete personal genome -- all three billion base pairs of his DNA code sequenced. The cost was $1 million, and the process took two months.
A factor in immune cells regulates human semen and seems to determine whether a man will be fertile, according to a new study.
Yousef Al-Abed, PhD, and his colleagues at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have isolated an immune substance called macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in semen samples from infertile and reproductively healthy men. MIF is key to helping sperm mature, which is necessary for its union with an egg. The finding could lead to a diagnostic test to determine fertility status.
The Genographic Project is studying the genetic signatures of ancient human migrations and creating an open-source research database. It allows members of the public to participate in a real-time anthropological genetics study by submitting personal samples for analysis and donating the genetic results to the database.
In the first scientific publication from the project they report on genotyping human mitochondrial DNA during the first 18 months of the project.
The drug most commonly used to arrest preterm labor, magnesium sulfate, is more likely than another common treatment to cause mild to serious side effects in pregnant women, according to a study from researchers at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and Stanford University School of Medicine. Their findings suggest that, since the effectiveness of the two drugs appears similar, physicians should consider side effects more strongly when choosing which drug to prescribe.
The so-called Ret Chip, the world's first genetic chip to be produced for diagnosing hereditary diseases of the retina in a genetic examination, will become available in mid-July. The chip is the largest to be used to date for the diagnosis of human hereditary disorders. It was developed by a team of scientists headed by Professor Bernhard Weber at the Institute for Human Genetics at the University Hospital Regensburg.
Researchers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (NKI-AVL) have made the discovery that tuberculosis and leprosy bacteria follow a different path into the host cell than that which for forty years scientists had always maintained.
The insight has huge implications for an understanding of these diseases and for more effective medicines to combat TB, leprosy and even cervical cancer.
It's long been known that a woman's chance of getting breast cancer is related to family medical history.
It turns out that surviving it may also be inherited. Research published in the online journal Breast Cancer Research suggests that if a woman succumbs to breast cancer her daughters or sisters are over 60 percent more likely to die within five years if they develop the disease.
A research team including University of Central Florida Microbiology Professor Keith Ireton is using the bacterial pathogen Listeria Monocytogenes to understand the mechanisms of cell growth and cancer development.
In research published this month in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the team found that a Listeria protein called InlB induces internalization and degradation of a human receptor known as Met. Met has been implicated in the development of some cancers.
Tiny plastic fibers could be the key to some diverse technologies in the future -- including self-cleaning surfaces, transparent electronics, and biomedical tools that manipulate strands of DNA.
Ohio State University researchers describe how they created surfaces that, seen with the eye, look as flat and transparent as a sheet of glass. But seen up close, the surfaces are actually carpeted with tiny fibers.
“There is an enormous amount of interest in using meditation as a form of therapy to cope with a variety of modern-day health problems, especially hypertension, stress and chronic pain, but the majority of evidence that seems to support this notion is anecdotal, or it comes from poor quality studies,” say Maria Ospina and Kenneth Bond, researchers at the University of Alberta/Capital Health Evidence-based Practice Center in Edmonton, Canada.