New cancer drug target involving lipid chemical messengers

Medicine & Technology Sep 19, 2014

PHILADELPHIA — More than half of human cancers have abnormally upregulated chemical signals related to lipid metabolism, yet how these signals are controlled during tumor formation is not fully understood.

Humanity Hasn’t Peaked—Earth Can Expect A Few Billion More Guests

Sep 19, 2014

Well politicians and the rest of the masses may be surprised, because it appears the largely infallible statisticians have revealed a chink in their armor: the world population estimates. With the possibilities of famine and disease, aside from the random acts of mankind, human population estimates are values calculated with a menagerie of variables. But with the ever-changing landscape of the planet Earth, and the growing populations of nearly every nation, it turns out that the Earth can expect a few billion more guests before humanity comes to its peak.

A Pontiff For the Health of the Planet

Sep 19, 2014

With the annual ministerial meeting of the United Nations General Assembly merely days away, eyes and ears around the world are looking for answers about issues related to the global climate crisis and the sustainability of our existence. And while we typically find a separation between the ministerial powers of faith and those of government, it appears the environmental movement may have allies in high places; perhaps as high as the heavens.

Pass the Cereal—Milky Way May Become Galaxy-Sized Snack

Sep 19, 2014

It’s been well-documented that massive galaxies often turn to extremes when star production ceases in their bounds of space. Turning their sights on consumption versus production, these super galaxies begin chowing down on nearby galaxies instead, pulling their growing solar systems into their own gravitational pull for themselves.

Exercise Boosts Tumor-fighting Ability of Chemotherapy, Penn Team Finds

Sep 19, 2014

Study after study has proven it true: exercise is good for you. But new research from University of Pennsylvania scientists suggests that exercise may have an added benefit for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Research milestone in CCHF virus could help identify new treatments

Sep 19, 2014

New research into the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), a tick-borne virus which causes a severe hemorrhagic disease in humans similar to that caused by Ebolavirus, has identified new cellular factors essential for CCHFV infection. This discovery has the potential to lead to novel targets for therapeutic interventions against the pathogen.

Sensing Neuronal Activity With Light

Sep 19, 2014

For years, neuroscientists have been trying to develop tools that would allow them to clearly view the brain's circuitry in action—from the first moment a neuron fires to the resulting behavior in a whole organism. To get this complete picture, neuroscientists are working to develop a range of new tools to study the brain. Researchers at Caltech have developed one such tool that provides a new way of mapping neural networks in a living organism. - See more at: http://www.caltech.edu/content/sensing-neuronal-activity-light#sthash.VE4xLVwO.dpuf

New insights on an ancient plague could improve treatments for infections

Sep 19, 2014

DURHAM, N.C. – Dangerous new pathogens such as the Ebola virus invoke scary scenarios of deadly epidemics, but even ancient scourges such as the bubonic plague are still providing researchers with new insights on how the body responds to infections.

A New Way to Prevent the Spread of Devastating Diseases

Sep 19, 2014

For decades, researchers have tried to develop broadly effective vaccines to prevent the spread of illnesses such as HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. While limited progress has been made along these lines, there are still no licensed vaccinations available that can protect most people from these devastating diseases. - See more at: http://www.caltech.edu/content/new-way-prevent-spread-devastating-diseases#sthash.VsDN2DWt.dpuf

Decision-support program helps keep seniors out of the emergency room

Sep 19, 2014

New Rochelle, NY, September 18, 2014–An Emergency Room Decision-Support (ERDS) program can significantly reduce ER visits and hospital admissions among older adults on Medicare. This could have important economic implications, helping to reduce the nearly 33% of avoidable ER visits that contribute to about $18 billion in unnecessary healthcare costs each year. Details of a successful ERDS program that had a positive return on investment are published in an article in Population Health Management, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Population Health Management website until October 18, 2014.

Living in a disadvantaged neighborhood worsens musculoskeletal pain outcomes after trauma

Sep 19, 2014

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Individuals living in disadvantaged neighborhoods have worse musculoskeletal pain outcomes over time after stressful events such as motor vehicle collision than individuals from higher socioeconomic status neighborhoods, even after accounting for individual characteristics such as age, sex, income, education, and employment status.

The viability of premature babies is minimal at 22 weeks' gestation

Sep 19, 2014

Gestational age is not the only factor that influences survival

Experts issue plea for better research and education for advanced breast cancer

Sep 19, 2014

Breast cancer experts around the world have issued a plea to researchers, academics, drug companies, funders and advocates to carry out high quality research and clinical trials for advanced breast cancer, a disease which is almost always fatal and for which there are many unanswered questions.

Vitamin E, selenium supplements unlikely to effect age-related cataracts in men

Sep 19, 2014

Taking daily supplements of selenium and/or vitamin E appears to have no significant effect on the development of age-related cataracts in men, writes Author William G. Christen, Sc.D., of Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues.

The war on leukemia: How the battle for cell production could be decisive

Sep 19, 2014

A key step in understanding the nature of the fight for superiority between mutated genes and normal genes could lead to new therapies to combat leukaemia, say researchers from the University of Birmingham and Newcastle University.