Curing Death by Curing Disease, Cancer & Aging

Early artificial pancreas trials show benefits for kids, teenagers with diabetes overnight (2/9/2010)

In a landmark study in children and teenagers with type 1 diabetes, JDRF-funded researchers at the University of Cambridge showed that using a first-generation artificial pancreas system overnight can lower the risk of low blood sugar emergencies while sleeping, and at the same time improve diabetes control. ...> Full Article

Scientists find ideal target for malaria therapy (2/8/2010)

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a protein made by the malaria parasite that is essential to its ability to take over human red blood cells. ...> Full Article

Tumor suppressor p53 prevents cancer progression in cells with missegregated chromosomes (2/7/2010)

Cells missegregate a chromosome approximately once every hundred divisions. But don't be too alarmed: new research in the Journal of Cell Biology shows that the tumor suppressor p53 limits the growth of cells with incorrect numbers of chromosomes and prevents their progression toward cancer. The study appears online Feb. 1. ...> Full Article

Study offers evidence that spongiform brain diseases are caused by aberrant protein (2/6/2010)

Scientists have determined how a normal protein can be converted into a prion, an infectious agent that causes fatal brain diseases in humans and mammals. The finding, in mice, is expected to advance the understanding of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs, a family of neurodegenerative diseases that include Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, kuru and fatal familial insomnia in humans, scrapie in sheep, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle, also known as "mad cow disease." ...> Full Article

Breakthrough heart scanner will allow earlier diagnosis (2/5/2010)

An innovative cardiac scanner will dramatically improve the process of diagnosing heart conditions. The portable magnetometer is being developed at the University of Leeds, with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council playing a key role. ...> Full Article

Low production of serotonin in the brainstem a likely cause for SIDS (2/4/2010)

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have linked sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) with low production of serotonin in the brainstem, based on a comparison of brainstem samples from infants dying of SIDS compared to brainstems of infants dying from other, known causes. ...> Full Article

Loss of gene function makes prostate cancer cells more aggressive (2/3/2010)

Prostate cancer cells are more likely to spread to other parts of the body if a specific gene quits functioning normally, according to new data from researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. ...> Full Article

Cancer researchers perform complete genomic sequencing of brain cancer cell line (2/3/2010)

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have performed the first complete genomic sequencing of a brain cancer cell line, a discovery that may lead to personalized treatments based on the unique biological signature of an individual's cancer and a finding that may unveil new molecular targets for which more effective and less toxic drugs can be developed. ...> Full Article

Vitamin D supplements could fight Crohn's disease (2/2/2010)

A new study has found that Vitamin D, readily available in supplements or cod liver oil, can counter the effects of Crohn's disease. John White, an endocrinologist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, led a team of scientists from McGill University and the Universite de Montreal who present their findings about the inflammatory bowel disease in the latest Journal of Biological Chemistry. ...> Full Article

Secrets of immunologic memory (2/1/2010)

Investigators at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have discovered a new way the cell surface protein, CD44, helps specific T helper cells develop immunologic memory. ...> Full Article

Disarming specialized stem cells might combat deadly ovarian cancer (1/31/2010)

Eliminating cancer stem cells (CSCs) within a tumor could hold the key to successful treatments for ovarian cancer, which has been notoriously difficult to detect and treat, according to new findings published this week in the journal Oncogene by Yale School of Medicine researchers. ...> Full Article

Human growth hormone: Not a life extender after all? (1/30/2010)

People profoundly deficient in human growth hormone (HGH) due to a genetic mutation appear to live just as long as people who make normal amounts of the hormone, a new study shows. The findings suggest that HGH may not be the "fountain of youth" that some researchers have suggested. ...> Full Article

Study links reduced fertility to flame retardant exposure (1/29/2010)

A new UC Berkeley study finds that women with higher blood levels of PBDEs, a common type of flame retardant, took longer to get pregnant. The flame retardants are used in foam furniture, electronics, fabrics, carpets, plastics and other common items in the home. ...> Full Article

Rejuvenating the old immune system (1/28/2010)

Thanks to the progress in health care and improved living conditions, we live longer. The price we pay: Our immune system loses functionality with advance age and the susceptibility to infections increases. The members of the research group "Infection immunology" at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Braunschweig, Germany, are investigating this aspect of aging using a mouse model that mimics the susceptibility to infection observed in elderly humans. ...> Full Article

Engineering a new way to study hepatitis C (1/27/2010)

Researchers at MIT and Rockefeller University have successfully grown hepatitis C virus in otherwise healthy liver cells in the laboratory, an advance that could allow scientists to develop and test new treatments for the disease. ...> Full Article