A new genetic approach to treating sickle cell disease is showing promising results in mice, report researchers from Children's Hospital Boston. By inactivating a gene they previously discovered to be important in the laboratory, they were able to boost production of a healthy fetal form of hemoglobin in the mice, potentially compensating for the defective adult hemoglobin that causes red blood cells to "sickle" and obstruct blood flow.
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This release is available in http://chinese..org/zh/emb_releases/2009-12/jaaj-wwb120409.php">Chinese.
Although there is a concern regarding the safety of soy food consumption among breast cancer survivors, researchers have found that women in China who had breast cancer and a higher intake of soy food had an associated lower risk of death and breast cancer recurrence, according to a study in the December 9 issue of JAMA.
Approximately 20 percent of dialysis patients undergoing a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI; procedure such as angioplasty) are given an antithrombotic medication they should not receive, which may increase their risk for in-hospital bleeding, according to a study in the December 9 issue of JAMA.
Patients with a cluster headache, which is characterized by bouts of excruciating pain usually near the eye or temple, were more likely to report being pain-free within 15 minutes of treatment with high-flow oxygen than patients who received a placebo treatment, according to a study in the December 9 issue of JAMA.
The testing of DNA from a statewide blood screening program for newborns in Wisconsin was able to identify infants with T-cell lymphopenia, a blood disorder that affects the child's immune system, a disease in which early identification is important, according to a study in the December 9 issue of JAMA.
Cells from heart attack survivors' own bone marrow reduced the risk of death or another heart attack when they were infused into the affected artery after successful stent placement, according to research reported in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Heart Failure.
Benefits found early in the Reinfusion of Enriched Progenitor Cells And Infarct Remodeling in Acute Myocardial Infarction (REPAIR-AMI) trial could last for at least two years, researchers said.
CHICAGO – While supplements can help some people meet their nutrition needs, eating a wide variety of nutrient-rich foods is the best way for most people to obtain the nutrients they need to be healthy and reduce their risk of chronic disease, according to a newly updated position paper titled "Nutrient Supplementation" from the American Dietetic Association. This paper is an update of ADA's "Fortification and Nutritional Supplements" position paper, published in 2005.
Bioengineers from University of California, San Diego are developing new regenerative therapies for heart disease. The work could influence the way in which regenerative therapies for cardiovascular and other diseases are treated in the future.
The 2009 H1N1 influenza virus used a new strategy to cross from birds into humans, a warning that it has more than one trick up its sleeve to jump the species barrier and become virulent.
Blood vessel blockage, a common condition in old age or diabetes, leads to low blood flow and results in low oxygen, which can kill cells and tissues. Such blockages can require amputation resulting in loss of limbs. Now, using mice as their model, researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed therapies that increase blood flow, improve movement and decrease tissue death and the need for amputation. The findings, published online last week in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hold promise for developing clinical therapies.
HOUSTON-(Dec. 8, 2009)—The second phase of a clinical trial testing a new stem-cell-based therapy on injured heart muscle has been launched by researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. It is the only study site in the Texas Medical Center.
DURHAM, N.C. -- Humans have the same receptors for detecting odors related to sex as do other apes and primates. But each species uses them in different ways, stemming from the way the genes for these receptors have evolved over time, according to Duke University researchers.
Varying sensitivity to these sex-steroid odors may play a role in mate selection -- and perhaps prevent cross-species couplings, the researchers speculate.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida researchers have found a way to use just a fraction of the normal dosage of a highly toxic, debilitating chemotherapy drug to achieve even better results against colon cancer cells.
More research is needed before the therapy can be tested in patients, but the discovery in human colon cancer cell lines and mice with established human tumors suggests that the addition of a small molecule to the cancer drug Temozolomide disrupts repair mechanisms in a type of tumor cells that is highly resistant to treatment.
Scientists at Singapore's Institute of Microelectronics (IME) have developed a rapid and sensitive integrated system to test simultaneously for specific cardiac biomarkers in finger prick amount of blood.
Transplanting human stem cells from umbilical cords onto the abnormally thin, cloudy corneas of laboratory mice significantly improved corneal transparency and increased the thickness of the animals' corneal stroma, the transparent middle layer, according to research that will be presented at the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) 49th Annual Meeting, Dec. 5-9, 2009 in San Diego.