Showing posts with label Medical News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medical News. Show all posts

Thursday

Current US-Justiz: Moskau willigt in Agentenaustausch ein U.S. scientists discover powerful anti-HIV antibodies

Washington (dpa) - An American research team has discovered two human antibodies, the laboratory more than 90 percent of all HIV strains known to stop in. The proteins with the terms and VRC01 VRC02 neutralize HIV strains more so than any other known antibodies.

The scientists report to John Mascola of the U.S. health research institutions (NIH) "in the journal" Science. The researchers hope to understand the basis of antibody to AIDS infection might be even better and even develop a vaccine can.

"The discovery of this extremely broad neutralizing antibodies (...) is an exciting advance that will accelerate our efforts to develop a preventive HIV vaccine for worldwide use," said the director of the NIH Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID ) in Bethesda, Anthony S. Fauci.

So far, the search for an HIV vaccine, the main reason has been difficult because the AIDS virus is constantly changing. Therefore, there are numerous HIV variants worldwide. The newly discovered antibodies would "adhere to a virtually unchanging part of the virus, which explains why they" can neutralize an extraordinarily large number of HIV strains, said Mascola, deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the NIAID.

The researchers isolated the antibodies from the blood of an HIV-infected patients. For this they used a specially modified HIV protein. VRC01 VRC02 block and a docking of the virus, with which it attaches itself to the cell to infect it. Is this CD4-binding site occupied, this prevents the virus from docking to the cell.
yahoo news

info: this news is written originally in German. I just use Google translation to have it in English.

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Sunday

Curious What a Meniscus Is?

I am just curious what a Meniscus is. This is in relation to my post about Radiology Appointment of my husband next month. The reason why he needs an x-ray to his left knee is because of Meniscus. I finally found it now..For more info about it, just visit the URL below

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meniscus_(anatomy)

In anatomy, a meniscus (from Greek μηνίσκος meniskos, "crescent" is a crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure present in the knee, acromioclavicular, sternoclavicular, and temporomandibular joints[2] that, in contrast to articular disks, only partly divides a joint cavity.[3] A small meniscus also occurs in the radio-carpal joint.

It usually refers to either of two specific parts of cartilage of the knee: The lateral and medial menisci. Both are cartilaginous tissues that provide structural integrity to the knee when it undergoes tension and torsion. The menisci are also known as 'semi-lunar' cartilages - referring to their half-moon "C" shape - a term which has been largely dropped by the medical profession, but which led to the menisci being called knee 'cartilages' by the lay public.
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Tuesday

Expert: Kids more at risk from cell phones

This is quite a scary news especially for kids. Would you believe that a cellphone can cause brain cancer.?? I believed so. With the radioactive it brings when using it can cause side effects and even this horrifying brain cancer. Read the rest of the story for you to be aware of it!!

Personally I just use my cellphone during emergency. It is very expensive to use a cellphone especially to call somewhere in Europe. Take time to read the story please...have a grewt Tuesday!!

Expert: Kids more at risk from cell phones
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The risk of brain cancer for children who use cell phones is far greater than for adults, two researchers told the U.S. Congress.

Dr. Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, and Dr. David Carpenter, director of Institute for Health and the Environment at University of Albany testified on cell phones before the House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy.

Herberman used a model to show radiation from cell phones would penetrate far deeper into a 5-year-old's brain than an adult's, CNN reported.

However, Dr. Robert Hoover of the National Cancer Institute said the incidence of brain cancer in children has not increased significantly from the late 1980s to 2005, the period during which cell phones became popular.

Studies have indicated that long-term cell phone use may be associated with brain cancer, Herberman told the committee.

"I cannot tell this committee that cell phones are definitely dangerous," Herberman said. "But, I certainly cannot tell you that they are safe."

Studies show cell phone radio frequency energy does cause "biological effects" without heating tissue, although not all of those effects are harmful, Carpenter said.Digg!

Study maps cerebral cortex neural fibers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (UPI) -- A U.S.-Swiss team of scientists say they've created the first complete high-resolution map of the neural fibers in the human brain's cerebral cortex.

The team said its findings identified a single network core, or hub, that might be key to the workings of both hemispheres of the brain.

Researchers from Indiana University, the University of Lausanne, Switzerland; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne; and the Harvard Medical School say their study marks a major step in understanding the most complicated and mysterious organ in the human body.

"This is one of the first steps necessary for building large-scale computational models of the human brain to help us understand processes that are difficult to observe, such as disease states and recovery processes to injuries," said Olaf Sporns, co-author of the study and a neuroscientist at Indiana University.

The findings are detailed in the journal PLoS Biology.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Monday

Submerged trees reduce global warming

COLUMBIA, Mo. (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've discovered submerged trees have the potential to be used as carbon credits since they can store carbon for thousands of years.

University of Missouri researchers discovered trees submerged in freshwater aquatic systems store carbon for significantly longer than trees that fall in a forest.
"If a tree is submerged in water, its carbon will be stored for an average of 2,000 years," said Associate Professor Richard Guyette, director of the university's Tree Ring Laboratory. "If a tree falls in a forest, that number is reduced to an average of 20 years, and in firewood, the carbon is only stored for one year."

The team studied trees in northern Missouri, an area with a high number of riparian forests -- forests with natural water flowing through them. They discovered submerged oak trees as old as 14,000 years, potentially some of the oldest in the world.

"Farmers can sell the carbon they have stored in their trees through a carbon credit stock market," Guyette said. "Companies that emit excess of carbon would be able to buy carbon credits to o offset their pollution."

The study was published in the journal Ecosystems.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Sunday

New brain injury therapy is created

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists say they have developed an injectable treatment for severe brain injuries that are due to blunt force trauma.

Purdue University researchers Andrew Koob and Richard Borgens said they discovered such an injury can be reduced by application of a simple polymer --polyethylene glycol, or PEG -- mixed in sterile water and injected into the blood stream.

Koob and Borgens performed experiments in rats that showed PEG was effective in limiting damage if administered within four hours after the head injury. However, if treatment was delayed for a further two hours, the beneficial effects were lost.

"These data suggest that PEG may be clinically useful to victims of traumatic brain injury if delivered as rapidly as possible after an injury," said Borgens. "Such a treatment could feasibly be carried out at the scene of an accident where PEG could be delivered as a component of IV fluids, thus reducing long term brain injury."

The study is reported in the Journal of Biological Engineering.

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Saturday

FDA orders boxed warning for Regranex

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the addition of a boxed warning for Regranex (becaplermin) because of an increased risk of cancer mortality.

The warning includes updated epidemiological data about the increased risk for diabetic patients who use three or more tubes of the topical cream that's indicated for the treatment of leg and foot ulcers that aren't healing.

The FDA said a retrospective study compared cancer incidence and cancer mortality among 1,622 patients exposed to Regranex with 2,809 otherwise similar patients who weren't exposed. The results were consistent with no overall increase in cancer incidence, but there was a five-fold increased risk of cancer mortality in the group exposed to three or more tubes of Regranex.

"In announcing this label change, FDA still cautions healthcare professionals to carefully weigh the risks and benefits of treating patients with Regranex," said Dr. Susan Walker, director of the FDA's Division of Dermatological and Dental Products. "Regranex is not recommended for patients with known malignancies."

Regranex is a medicine that is a recombinant form of human platelet-derived growth factor that is applied directly to diabetic foot and leg ulcers that aren't healing.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Monday

NRC updates guidance on thyroid treatment

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- U.S. nuclear regulators say doctors need to take extra care to make sure young children aren't exposed to radiation from thyroid cancer patients.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said patients given therapeutic doses of radioactive iodine-131 should avoid direct or indirect contact with infants and young children for a specific period of time following the therapy. The guidance also recommends that physicians should consider hospitalizing patients whose living conditions may result in the contamination of infants and young children, the agency said in a release.

NRC regulations allow physicians to release patients treated with radioactive material if the total radiation dose to any other person exposed to the patient is not likely to exceed 500 millirem. The agency, however, said there has been concern in recent years that saliva from a patient in the first few days following treatment may result in significant radiation doses to the child's thyroid.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Tuesday

Change needed in end-of-life dementia care

MILTON KEYNES, England (UPI) -- British researchers say many improvements are needed in the care provided to people in the final stages of dementia.

Open University Professor Jan Draper and Clinical Nurse Specialist Deborah Birch reached that conclusion after reviewing 29 published studies conducted in nine nations during the past 10 years.

"We must act now to stop people with dementia from suffering from protracted, potentially uncomfortable and undignified deaths" said Draper. "Our review has reinforced the importance of providing appropriate palliative care to individuals suffering from end-stage dementia and clearly identified some of the barriers to extending such provision."

The recommendations include: communicating the diagnosis of dementia in a sensitive way; acknowledging the potential influence on treatment decisions on the beliefs and values of members of the healthcare team; and reconsidering aggressive medical treatments that have limited benefits and might cause further discomfort to dying patients.

The review appears in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Wednesday

Method found to make tumors easier to kill

ST. LOUIS (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists have found a vulnerability they say can be used to make cancer cells easier to heat and radiate and, therefore, easier to destroy. Washington University School of Medicine radiation oncology researchers found tumors have a built-in mechanism that protects them from hyperthermia, or heat, and most likely decreases the benefit of hyperthermia and radiation as a combined therapy.

The scientists found if they interfered with that protection, tumor cells grown in culture could be made more sensitive to hyperthermia-enhanced radiation therapy, a mainstay of cancer treatment. "Past research has shown that hyperthermia is one of the most potent ways to increase cell-killing by radiation," said senior author Associate Professor Tej Pandita.

"But now we've found that heat also enhances the activity of an enzyme called telomerase in cancer cells. Telomerase helps protect the cells from stress-induced damage and allows some of them to survive.

"We used compounds that inhibit telomerase and showed that cancer cells then become easier to destroy with hyperthermia and radiation used in combination," he added. The findings are reported in the journal Cancer Research.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Tuesday

Caution urged for kids' anti-obesity drugs

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists are urging caution in giving children anti-obesity drugs, saying the medications might interfere with neural development.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory say the new class of drugs -- such as rimonabant (trade name Acomplia) -- work by blocking the same receptor cells in the brain that bind to compounds found in marijuana.

Known collectively as cannabinoids, the compounds are also produced naturally by the body. The scientists said they found blocking cannabinoid receptors in laboratory mice suppressed the adaptive rewiring of the brain that is an essential task of maturation. "Our finding of a profound disruption of cortical plasticity in juvenile mice suggests caution is advised in the use of such compounds in children," said Professor Mark Bear, lead author of the study.

The work is reported in the journal Neuron.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Robots may someday operate without doctors

DURHAM, N.C. (UPI) -- U.S. engineers say the world is moving closer to the day when robots will perform surgery with minimal or no guidance from a doctor. Duke University researchers say their feasibility studies may represent the first concrete steps toward achieving such a space age vision of the future.

For their experiments, the engineers used a rudimentary tabletop robot whose "eyes" used a 3-D ultrasound technology. An artificial intelligence program served as the robot's "brain," taking real-time 3-D information, processing it and giving the robot commands to perform. "In a number of tasks, the computer was able to direct the robot's actions," said Stephen Smith, director of the university's Ultrasound Transducer Group.

"We believe this is the first proof-of-concept for this approach. "Given that we achieved these early results with a rudimentary robot and a basic artificial intelligence program, the technology will advance to the point where robots -- without the guidance of the doctor -- can someday operate on people.

" The research appears online in the journal IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control. A second study, published in the April issue of the journal Ultrasonic Imaging, demonstrated the robot could successfully perform a simulated needle biopsy.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Sunday

Step taken in fighting staph infections

IOWA CITY, Iowa (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have succeeded in killing established biofilms of Staphylococcus aureus by using one of the bacteria's own regulatory systems. Although the discovery isn't ready for clinical application, University of Iowa researchers said their findings offer insight into a dispersal mechanism for staph biofilms and might help identify therapeutic targets.

Biofilms are communities of bacteria that grow on moist surfaces, including heart valves, bone and medical implants, the scientists said. Highly resistant to antibiotic therapy, biofilm infections represent a tough and dangerous medical problem.

"We have shown that activating the cells' communication system, also known as quorum sensing, in established biofilms causes the biofilms to disperse rapidly," said Assistant Professor Alexander Horswill.

"This is the first report of an existing dispersal pathway in Staph aureus. If we can tap into this mechanism, then that might lead to better treatments." The findings were published in the April 25 issue of the journal PL0S Pathogens.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Friday

Lungs are illuminated for better diagnoses

SHEFFIELD, England (UPI) -- British medical scientists say they have created a technology that illuminates a person's lungs to help determine if they are correctly functioning.

The University of Sheffield researchers said their technology could result in earlier diagnosis of emphysema and smoking related damage, as well as other lung conditions and diseases.

The technique involves a person inhaling small amounts of harmless hyperpolarized noble gases (Helium-3 and Xenon-129), which are then imaged inside a MRI scanner. The gases are hyperpolarized using high power lasers by a process called optical pumping.

The high resolution images of the air spaces that are produced offer additional functional information that is currently not available with traditional X-rays and other types of scans, the researchers said.

The technology can also be used to help detect the early stages of lung obstruction in children with cystic fibrosis, something which a traditional X-ray would miss, they said.

The scientists said they are now considering using the technology to assess inhaled therapies for asthma patients and help plan radiotherapy treatment in patients with lung cancer.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Study finds new aspect of sickle cell

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have found sickle cell patients' blood contains clumps, or aggregates, of red and white blood cells that might contribute to the disease.

It's been long known that patients with sickle cell disease have malformed, "sickle-shaped" red blood cells that can cause sudden painful episodes when they block small blood vessels.

Now, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown blood from sickle cell patients also contains clumps of red and white blood cells.

The scientists said their finding marks the first time aggregates made up of red blood cells and white blood cells have been found in whole blood from sickle cell patients. The study also shows how the red and white blood cells adhere to one another.

"If the blockages are caused by these chunks of aggregates that are circulating in the blood, and we know how the aggregates are sticking together, we potentially could design drugs to disrupt the aggregates so that they pass through the blood vessel more freely," Assistant Professor Julia Brittain said.

The study was published on-line April 18 in the British Journal of Hematology.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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Monday

Cancer scientists study the adenovirus

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have clarified a complex series of biochemical steps involved in abnormal cell proliferation that can lead to cancer.

The Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.) Laboratory researchers said they used the adenovirus -- a DNA tumor virus that causes the common cold, but whose genome contains known oncogenes, said William Tansey, who led the study with Professors Scott Lowe and Gregory Hannon.

The team focused on an adenoviral oncogene called E1A, and a protein that it codes for with the same name. Since a DNA virus is little more than a tiny segment of DNA enclosed within a protein shell, the researchers said it must find a way to enter the nucleus of a living cell and hijack the cell's reproductive machinery in order to reproduce.

"It's not adenovirus itself, but the things it does when it enters a cell, that really interest us, Tansey said.

Understanding how a tumor virus like adenovirus promotes cancer can reveal "the most vulnerable pathways and nodes that are linked to tumorigenesis," Hannon added.

The research appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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