Curing Death by Curing Aging Archives Page 76

Myelin Breakdown Implicated In Early Evolution Of Huntington's Disease (6/13/2007)

Last month, Dr. George Bartzokis, director of the UCLA Memory Disorders and Alzheimer's Disease Clinic, suggested in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia that the breakdown of a type of myelin that develops late in life promotes the buildup of toxic amyloid plaques long associated with Alzheimer's disease. Myelin is the "insulation" that wraps around nerve axons in the brain. ...> Full Article

Sun Exposure Early In Life Linked To Specific Skin Cancer Gene Mutation (6/12/2007)

Skin cancers often contain different gene mutations, but just how these mutations contribute to the cause of melanomas has been a mystery. ...> Full Article

Largest Ever Study Of Genetics Of Common Diseases (6/12/2007)

Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium and genetics of seven common diseases ...> Full Article

Researchers Find Potential New Target For Type 2 Diabetes (6/12/2007)

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered a potential new target for treating type 2 diabetes, according to a new study that appeared online in Nature. The target is a protein, along with its molecular partner, that regulates fat metabolism. ...> Full Article

Vitamin D Reduces The Risk For Colorectal, Breast And Prostate Cancers (6/12/2007)

The Canadian Cancer Society is recommending a specific amount of Vitamin D supplementation for Canadians to consider taking. This first-time recommendation is based on the growing body of evidence about the link between Vitamin D and reducing risk for colorectal, breast and prostate cancers. ...> Full Article

Talcum Powder Stunts Growth Of Lung Tumors (6/12/2007)

Talcum powder has been used for generations to soothe babies' diaper rash and freshen women's faces. But University of Florida researchers report the household product has an additional healing power: The ability to stunt cancer growth by cutting the flow of blood to metastatic lung tumors. ...> Full Article

Glowing Dye Improves Cancer Removal in Kidney (6/12/2007)

New Imaging Technique Holds Promise to Allow Cancer Surgeons to Save More of the Kidney ...> Full Article

Ten Symptoms Not to Ignore (6/11/2007)

Some reasons to seek immediate medical attention aren't obvious ...> Full Article

Benefits of Trastuzumab Are Lasting, Reducing Breast Cancer Deaths and Recurrence (6/11/2007)

An updated analysis of two large randomized clinical trials has found that breast cancer patients who received the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin) along with chemotherapy are living longer and with less risk of recurrent disease, compared to patients treated with chemotherapy alone. ...> Full Article

Vorinostat Shows Anti-Cancer Activity in Recurrent Gliomas (6/11/2007)

North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) researchers, based at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., report that a novel application of the drug vorinostat shows activity in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme. These findings were presented today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting by Eva Galanis, M.D., a Mayo Clinic oncologist and lead investigator of the study. ...> Full Article

Dna Damage To Stem Cells Is Central To Aging (6/11/2007)

DNA damage is a major mechanism behind the loss of adult stem cells over time, according to a Nature paper by Oxford University researchers and international colleagues. ...> Full Article

Gene Recipe For Common Diseases (6/11/2007)

Scientists have isolated at least 25 genes that cause seven of the most common hereditary diseases including diabetes and arthritis in the world's largest genetic study. ...> Full Article

Researchers Reveal Clues To New Genes Behind Rheumatoid Arthritis (6/10/2007)

Researchers at the University of Manchester have identified evidence of several new genes behind the chronic inflammatory disease rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which affects 387,000 people in the UK. ...> Full Article

Researchers Develop New Nanomaterials to Deliver Anticancer Drugs to Kill Cancer Cells (6/10/2007)

Researchers at UCLA have successfully manipulated nanomaterials to create a new drug-delivery system that promises to solve the challenge of the poor water solubility of today's most promising anticancer drugs and thereby increase their effectiveness. ...> Full Article

New Biotechnology Holds Promise For Enhancing Immune System (6/10/2007)

Researchers at Montana State University have identified a plant-derived compound with the potential to fend off a wide range of diseases by markedly boosting the immune system. ...> Full Article

Crammed With Charged DNA, Pressure Rises Inside Virus (6/10/2007)

It could be an artist's depiction of someone's stomach before and after a rather decadent meal. But it is a 3-D cryoelectron microscope reconstruction of the cross-section of a virus, before and after cramming itself full of its own DNA. ...> Full Article

Aging Of Fruit Fly Slowed With Single Protein Addition (6/10/2007)

In a triumph for pests, scientists have figured out how to make the fruit fly live longer. ...> Full Article

Gene Switched Off In Cancer Can Be Turned On (6/9/2007)

Study lays groundwork for developing a new class of targeted therapies ...> Full Article

Loss of Stem Cells Correlates with Premature Aging in Animal Study (6/9/2007)

Researchers at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute of the University of Pennsylvania have found that deleting a gene important in embryo development leads to premature aging and loss of stem cell reservoirs in adult mice. This gene, ATR, is essential for the body's response to damaged DNA, and mutations in proteins in the DNA damage response underlie certain types of cancer and other disorders in humans. This work appears in the inaugural issue of Cell Stem Cell. ...> Full Article

How Sneaky HIV Escapes Cells (6/9/2007)

Like hobos on a train, HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, uses a pre-existing transport system to leave one infected cell and infect new ones, Hopkins scientists have discovered. Their findings, published in the June issue of Plos Biology, counter the prevailing belief that HIV and other retroviruses can only leave and enter cells by virus-specific mechanisms. ...> Full Article

Study Shows Combination Chemotherapy and VEGF Blocker Improves Progression-free Survival of Metastatic Melanoma Patients (6/9/2007)

Two chemotherapy drugs combined with an agent that prevents the growth of blood vessels significantly delayed the spread of tumors in patients with metastatic melanoma, according to study findings presented today at the 2007 American Association of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. ...> Full Article

Genetic Variations May Predispose Some Men To Suicidal Thoughts During Short-term Treatment For Depression (6/9/2007)

Genetic variations may help explain why some men with depression develop suicidal thoughts and behaviors after they begin taking antidepressant medications, while most do not, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. ...> Full Article

Circulating Tumor Cells Predict How Hormone-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients Fare (6/9/2007)

The number of tumor cells circulating in the bloodstream of patients with metastatic, hormone-resistant, prostate cancer can predict how they will do with chemotherapy, according to results of an international trial. The findings, if backed by larger studies, could have important implications for designing personalized treatments for this very dangerous type of prostate cancer, the researchers say. ...> Full Article

Research Shows Survival Benefit For Leukemia Patients Treated With Arsenic Trioxide (6/8/2007)

Through participation in a government-sponsored multi-year study, researchers at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Wake Forest University have helped confirm that arsenic trioxide - marketed as Trisenox® - significantly improves patient survival when coupled with standard chemotherapy treatment in newly diagnosed patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia, or APL. ...> Full Article

Brain-Boosting Pill Alleviates Post-Chemotherapy Fogginess (6/8/2007)

A drug described by some people as a "genius pill"for enhancing cognitive function provided relief to a small group of Rochester breast cancer survivors who were coping with a side effect known as "chemo-brain,"according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study. ...> Full Article

Diagnosing Skin Cancers with Light, Not Scalpels (6/8/2007)

Technique uses lasers that can pulse at thousand-trillionths-of-a-second rates ...> Full Article

Aging Stem Cells In Mice May Hold Answers To Disease Of The Aged (6/8/2007)

As stem cells in the blood grow older, genetic mutations accumulate that could be at the root of blood diseases that strike people as they age, according to work done in mice by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. ...> Full Article

Diet May Influence Survival After Treatment For Stage 3 Colon Cancer (6/8/2007)

Patients with stage III colon cancer who have undergone surgery and chemotherapy with the goal of cure may have a higher risk of relapsing and dying early if they follow a predominantly "Western" diet of red meat, fatty foods, refined grains, and desserts, according to research led by investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. The findings were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in Chicago this past weekend. ...> Full Article

Study Shows Big Power of Small RNAs, Not Just Proteins, in Halting Cancer (6/8/2007)

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) researchers led by Lin He, Xingyue He, and Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Investigator (HHMI) Greg Hannon have identified a family of micro RNAs (miRNAs) that enable a critical tumor suppressor network, called the p53 pathway, to fight cancer growth. "At CSHL, we are moving simultaneously on several fronts to understand the p53 pathway because damage to this pathway is something that almost all cancers have in common,"� said CSHL Cancer Center Deputy Director and HHMI Scott Lowe. ...> Full Article

Largest Synthetic Gene Ever Built Offers Insights Into Anti-Malarial Drug Resistance (6/7/2007)

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center say they are moving closer to understanding why the most lethal form of human malaria has become resistant to drug treatment in the past three decades. They have been able to artificially construct, and then express in yeast, a protozoan gene that contributes to such resistance. And it was no small feat. The gene they laboriously constructed over a two-year period is believed to be the largest 'synthetic' one ever built, and it successfully produces large quantities of the encoded protein, whose function can now be easily studied. ...> Full Article