Body | Page 4308 | Science Codex

Flower power can still calm the masses

Feeling stressed? Try chamomile! This 'traditional' remedy has been around for years, but how much truth is there behind this old wives' tale?

In an evaluation for Faculty of 1000, Michael Van Ameringen and Beth Patterson draw attention to the first randomized controlled trial of chamomile for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

The study, recently published in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, reports that "chamomile extract therapy was found to be efficacious for mild-moderate GAD".

Researchers map all the fragile sites of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae's genome

Montréal, February 8, 2010-– The research group of Dr. François Robert, a researcher at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), in collaboration with the team of Dr. Daniel Durocher (Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute and University of Toronto) accomplished a technical breakthrough: they mapped all the fragile sites of a living organism, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The method used by the researchers can be applied to humans. This study has been published online today in the scientific journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.

Mescal worm test shows DNA leaks into preservative liquids

Guelph, Ontario--Just because you don't swallow the worm at the bottom of a bottle of mescal doesn't mean you have avoided the essential worminess of the potent Mexican liquor, according to scientists from the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) at the University of Guelph.

They have discovered that the liquid itself contains the DNA of the agave butterfly caterpillar – the famously tasty mescal "worm".

Soft drinks may increase risk of pancreatic cancer

MINNEAPOLIS/ST.PAUL (February 8, 2010)-— Consuming two or more soft drinks per week increased the risk of developing pancreatic cancer by nearly two-fold compared with individuals who did not consume soft drinks, according to a report in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Although relatively rare, pancreatic cancer remains one of the most deadly; only 5 percent of people who are diagnosed survive five years later.

Cerebral palsy on the rise in US and premature births get the blame, says study

Cerebral palsy (CP) has increased in infants born prematurely in the US, according to data presented by researchers from Loyola University Health System (LUHS). These findings were reported at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in Chicago. They also were published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

BDNF gene implicated in premenstrual dysphoric disorder

Scientists have identified a gene they say is a strong candidate for involvement in premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and other maladies associated with the natural flux in hormones during the menstrual cycle. In a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Rockefeller University researchers detail experiments in mice showing that a common human variant of the gene increases anxiety, dampens curiosity and tweaks the effects of estrogen on the brain, impairing memory.

Low forms of cyclin E reduce breast cancer drug's effectiveness

HOUSTON - Overexpression of low-molecular-weight (LMW-E) forms of the protein cyclin E renders the aromatase inhibitor letrozole ineffective among women with estrogen-receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancers, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in Clinical Cancer Research.

Racial disparities persist in the diagnosis of advanced breast cancer and colon cancer in the U.S.

SEATTLE –- The incidence of advanced breast cancer diagnosis among black women remained 30 percent to 90 percent higher compared to white women between 1992 and 2004, according to new findings by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. In addition, the disparity in the incidence of advance colorectal cancer actually widened over this time period as rates fell among whites but increased slightly among blacks.

The findings are published online in the inaugural issue of Springer's journal Hormones and Cancer, a publication of the Endocrine Society.

Scripps research team reveals how an old drug could have a new use for treating river blindness

LA JOLLA, CA--Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a potential new use for the drug closantel, currently the standard treatment for sheep and cattle infected with liver fluke. The new research suggests that the drug may be useful in combating river blindness, a tropical disease that is the world's second leading infectious cause of blindness for humans.

The study is scheduled for publication in an advance, online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) during the week of February 8, 2010.

UAB research warns of risks of low potassium in heart failure patients with chronic kidney disease

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-– New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) says low potassium levels produce an increased risk of death or hospitalization in patients with heart failure and chronic kidney disease (CKD).

In findings reported in January in Circulation: Heart Failure, a journal of the American Heart Association, the researchers say that even a mild decrease in serum potassium level increased the risk of death in this patient group.

UB geographers help map devastation in Haiti

BUFFALO, N.Y.-- In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, University at Buffalo geography students are participating in a global effort to enhance the international response and recovery effort by helping to assess damage, using images hosted by Google Earth and the Virtual Disaster Viewer, which shares imagery of disasters from various sources.

Researchers reveal 3-D structure of bullet-shaped virus with potential to fight cancer, HIV

Vesicular stomatitis virus, or VSV, has long been a model system for studying and understanding the life cycle of negative-strand RNA viruses, which include viruses that cause influenza, measles and rabies.

More importantly, research has shown that VSV has the potential to be genetically modified to serve as an anti-cancer agent, exercising high selectivity in killing cancer cells while sparing healthy cells, and as a potent vaccine against HIV.

New magnetic tuning method enhances data storage

Researchers in Chicago and London have developed a method for controlling the properties of magnets that could be used to improve the storage capacity of next-generation computer hard drives.

Magnets that can readily switch their polarity are widely used in the computer industry for data storage, but they present an engineering challenge: A magnet's polarity must be easily switched when writing data to memory, but be difficult to switch when storing or reading it.

Using nitroglycerin to treat prostate cancer shows potential to halt disease, Queen's research

KINGSTON, ON -- Treatment of prostate cancer using a very low dose of nitroglycerin may slow and even halt the progression of the disease without the severe side effects of current treatments, Queen's University researchers have discovered

The findings are the result of the first-ever clinical trial using nitroglycerin to treat prostate cancer.

The 24-month, Phase II study targeted 29 men with increasing levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) following prostate surgery or radiation. PSA levels are a key predictor of cancer progression.

New approach to treating breast and prostate cancers

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- In a new approach to developing treatments for breast cancer, prostate cancer and enlarged hearts, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine researchers are zeroing in on a workhorse protein called RSK.