CHICAGO – From 1965 to 2007, the population prevalence of persons who smoked 20 or more cigarettes per day declined significantly, and there was also a decrease in the prevalence of smoking 10 or more cigarettes a day, with these declines greater in California than in the rest of the U.S., according to a study in the March 16 issue of JAMA.
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CHICAGO – Modifying a patient's dosage of the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel for 6 months depending on the patient's level of platelet reactivity did not result in combined lower rates of nonfatal heart attack, stent thrombosis (clot) and cardiovascular death in patients who had a procedure such as balloon angioplasty and received a drug-releasing coronary stent, according to a study in the March 16 issue of JAMA.
CHICAGO – An examination of data for more than 5 million Medicare beneficiaries finds that hospital regions that have a greater frequency of diagnoses have a lower case-fatality rate for chronic conditions such as coronary artery disease and kidney failure, according to a study in the March 16 issue of JAMA.
CHICAGO – Even though clinical practice guidelines for patients with chronic kidney disease recommend specific treatment target levels for serum phosphorus, parathyroid hormone, and calcium to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events, an analysis of data from previous studies did not find a strong association between these biomarkers and the risk of death and cardiovascular events, except for higher serum phosphorus levels, according to an article in the March 16 issue of JAMA.
BOSTON--Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists report they have shrunk or slowed the growth of notoriously resistant pancreatic tumors in mice, using a drug routinely prescribed for malaria and rheumatoid arthritis.
Misfold an origami swan and the worst that happens is you wind up with an ugly paper duckling. Misfold one of the vital proteins in your body – each of which must be folded in a particular way to perform its function – and the result can be a debilitating neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer's or Huntington's.
A new laser technique has demonstrated that it can measure the interactions between proteins tangled in a cell's membrane and a variety of other biological molecules. These extremely difficult measurements can aid the process of drug discovery.
Scientists estimate that about 30 percent of the 7,000 proteins in a human cell reside in the cell's membrane and that these membrane proteins initiate 60 to 70 percent of the signals that control the operation of the cell's molecular machinery. As a result, about half of the drugs currently on the market target membrane proteins.
Researchers have solved the three-dimensional structure of a key biological receptor. The finding has the potential to speed drug discovery in many areas, from arthritis to respiratory disorders to wound healing, because it enables chemists to better examine and design molecules for use in experimental drugs.
The researchers are from the National Institutes of Health, collaborating with labs at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California, San Diego. The finding is published in the March 10 edition of Science Express.
New Rochelle, NY, March 15, 2011—Since the first laparoscopic procedure was performed to remove a diseased kidney 20 years ago at Washington University in St. Louis, this breakthrough minimally invasive technique has become the standard of care for surgical nephrectomy. This remarkable achievement is celebrated with a series of cutting-edge articles in Journal of Endourology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com).
A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grass breeder has rediscovered a forage grass that seems just right for today's intensive rotational grazing.
A farmer's report of an unusual forage grass led Michael Casler, an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) geneticist at the agency's U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, Wis., to identify the grass as meadow fescue. Meadow fescue has been long forgotten, although it was popular after being introduced about 50 to 60 years before tall fescue.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists have shown that an experimental vaccine against the human norovirus – the bug behind about 90 percent of highly contagious nonbacterial illnesses that cause diarrhea and vomiting – can generate a strong immune response in mice without appearing to cause the animals any harm.
Using a novel viral vector-based method to grow and deliver the vaccine that has shown promise in other agents designed to fight such infections as HIV and hepatitis C, the researchers are the first to test this vaccine design method's effectiveness against the human norovirus.
New Haven, Conn. – A new Yale University study looks at why there is such a big difference in the mortality rates among patients treated for heart attacks in hospitals across the country. The study appears in the March issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Until now, little has been known about the factors that may influence this variation in death rates. The Yale team reviewed 11 hospitals through interviews and site visits. Those selected were among the best and worst performers, as rated by the federal agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid.
Leuven - Jean-Christophe Marine (VIB, K.U.Leuven) strongly argues against the use of Cop1-inhibitory drugs. The protein Cop1 has –for a long time - been seen as an attractive drug target for cancer. But Jean-Christophe Marine found out that Cop1 acts as a tumor suppressor, and thus inhibits tumor formation. His new data will have direct implications for the development of cancer drug targets.
Tumorigenesis: loss of control
MANHATTAN, KAN. -- It's a cloak that surpasses all others: a microscopic carbon cloak made of graphene that could change the way bacteria and other cells are imaged.
Vikas Berry, assistant professor of chemical engineering at Kansas State University, and his research team are wrapping bacteria with graphene to address current challenges with imaging bacteria under electron microscopes. Berry's method creates a carbon cloak that protects the bacteria, allowing them to be imaged at their natural size and increasing the image's resolution.
Insufficient cleaning could allow build-up of microbes on orthodontic retainers, researchers at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute have found. Dr Jonathan Pratten and colleagues looked at the types of microbes which live on retainers. This study, which found potentially pathogenic microbes growing on at least 50% of the retainers, is published today in the Society for Applied Microbiology's journal Letters in Applied Microbiology and could indicate a need for the development of improved cleaning products for orthodontic retainers.