DETROIT – Physicians at Henry Ford Hospital have found that infection with the hepatitis C virus increases the risk for developing kidney cancer.
Using administrative data from more than 67,000 Henry Ford Health System patients, physicians found that over the period 1997-2008, 0.6% (17/3057) patients with hepatitis C infection developed kidney cancer whereas only 0.3% (17/64006) patients without the disease developed kidney cancer.
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researchers have identified a major indicator of two deadly diseases of the heart and blood vessels: heart failure and aortic aneurysm. The absence of the Kruppel-like Factor 15 (KLF15), when combined with stress, leads to both heart failure and aortic aneurysms. The genetic factor, KLF15, protects the heart and aorta's ability to maintain structural and functional integrity.
(Boston) – Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) in collaboration with investigators at the University of Utah, have discovered a new approach for identifying smokers at the highest risk for developing lung cancer. The findings, which appear in the April 7th issue of Science Translational Medicine, will allow the researchers to use a genomic approach to prevent lung cancer in these individuals and to personalize cancer chemoprophylaxis and therapy.
Studying patients with kidney cancer, a team of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has identified a pair of proteins excreted in the urine that could lead to earlier and more accurate diagnosis of the disease.
The research, published online in the May issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, is the first to identify proteins secreted in urine that appear to accurately reveal the presence of about 90 percent of all kidney cancers.
MADISON — The vivid colors and designs animals use to interact with their environments have awed and inspired since before people learned to draw on the cave wall.
ASHEVILLE, NC – A leading bat expert with the USDA Forest Service's Southern Research Station today identified nine bat species in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee that she believes are most threatened by white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungus that kills bats and appears to be rapidly spreading south from the northeastern United States. Station Research Ecologist Susan Loeb, Ph.D. says WNS has been confirmed in Tennessee, and she says it is just a matter of time before the fungus is detected in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Cancer cells grow so fast that they can outstrip their blood supply, leaving them short of oxygen. The cells then produce energy in a way that needs less oxygen but more sugar.
Researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute have designed an experimental drug that chokes off that sugar supply, causing the cells to self destruct.
WINNIPEG, MB -- APRIL 2010 -- New research is shedding light on the preferred habitat of the northern squid, Gonatus fabricii - a key but often overlooked species in Arctic marine food webs.
Joshua Reece became interested in moray eels in 2005 when he was applying to the PhD program at the University of Hawai'i. Instead of taking him on a campus tour, his host, Brian Bowen, PhD, a biologist at the university, took him on a dive. Along the southwest coast of Oahu, Reece looked under a rock ledge and was startled to see five different species of moray eels looking back. When he later captured the eels, he found the same fish species in all of their bellies.
When it comes to attracting a mate, flowers and sweets often do the trick—even for one of the world's smallest birds—the purple throated carib, a hummingbird species native to the mountainous islands of the Eastern Caribbean. Scientists recently discovered that it is in the best interest of male purple-throated caribs to defend and maintain a territory with a high density of nectar-producing flowers. Why? Because it is the quality of this territory—rather than flashy plumage or elaborate courtship displays—that attracts the most females.
WINNIPEG, MB -- APRIL 2010 -- Improvements in aerial survey methods have led to increased estimates of narwhal populations in the eastern Arctic, according to a paper published Arctic, the journal of the University of Calgary's Arctic Institute of North America.
Scientists are reporting evidence that certain ingredients in shampoo, detergents and other household cleaning agents may be a source of precursor materials for formation of a suspected cancer-causing contaminant in water supplies that receive water from sewage treatment plants. The study sheds new light on possible environmental sources of this poorly understood water contaminant, called NDMA, which is of ongoing concern to health officials. Their study is in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.
Scientists are reporting that particle size affects the toxicity of zinc oxide, a material widely used in sunscreens. Particles smaller than 100 nanometers are slightly more toxic to colon cells than conventional zinc oxide. Solid zinc oxide was more toxic than equivalent amounts of soluble zinc, and direct particle to cell contact was required to cause cell death. Their study is in ACS' Chemical Research in Toxicology, a monthly journal.
New research uncovers two genetic regions that influence birth weight. One of the regions is also associated with type 2 diabetes, which helps to explain why small babies have higher rates of diabetes in later life.
A large international team of researchers, including scientists from several UK and international centres, has discovered two gene regions that affect a baby's size at birth. The research, published in Nature Genetics, is the first robust evidence that a well-known link between lower birth weight and susceptibility to type 2 diabetes has a genetic component.
If you consider yourself to be too short or too tall, things are looking up, or down, depending on your vertical disposition. New research published online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) explains how we grow, how our bodies maintain correct proportions, and offers insight into what goes wrong with growth disorders and unregulated cell growth in cancer.