Dr. David Gilley’s laboratory at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis and Dr. Connie Eaves’ laboratory at the BC Cancer Agency’s Terry Fox Laboratory in Vancouver, Canada, collaborated to determine how telomeres are regulated in different types of normal breast cells. …
For decades, health officials have battled malaria with insecticides, bed nets and drugs. Now, scientists say there might be a potent new tool to fight the deadly mosquito-borne disease: the stench of human feet. In a laboratory study, researchers found that mosquitoes infected with the tropical disease were more attracted to human odors from a dirty sock than those that didn't carry malaria. Insects carrying malaria parasites were three times more likely to be drawn to the stinky stockings. The new finding may help create traps that target only malaria-carrying mosquitoes, researchers say. “Smelly feet have a use after all,” said Dr. James Logan, who headed the research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “Every time we identify a new part of how the malaria mosquito interacts with us, we're one step closer to controlling it better.” The sock findings were published last month in the journal, PLoS One. Malaria is estimated to kill more than 600,000 people every year, mostly children in Africa. Experts have long known that mosquitoes are drawn to human odors, but it was unclear if being infected with malaria made them even more attracted to us. Infected mosquitoes are believed to make up about 1 percent of the mosquito population. Using traps that only target malaria mosquitoes could result in fewer mosquitoes becoming resistant to the insecticides used to kill them. And it would likely be difficult for the insects to evade traps based on their sense of smell, scientists say. “The only way mosquitoes could (develop resistance) is if they were less attracted to human odors,” said Andrew Read, a professor of biology and entomology at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not part of Logan's research. “And if they did that and started feeding on something else - like cows - that would be fine.” Read said the same strategy might also work to target insects that carry other diseases such as dengue and Japanese encephalitis. In a related study, Logan and colleagues also sealed human volunteers into a foil bag to collect their body odor as they grew hot and sweaty. The odors were then piped into a tube next door, alongside another tube untainted by human odor. Afterwards, mosquitoes were released and had the option of flying into either tube. The insects buzzed in droves into the smelly tube. Logan said the next step is to identify the chemicals in human foot odor so that it can be made synthetically for mosquito traps. But given mosquitoes' highly developed sense of smell, getting that formula right will be challenging. Some smelly cheeses have the same odor as feet, Logan noted. “But mosquitoes aren't attracted to cheese because they've evolved to know the difference,” he said. “You have to get the mixture, ratios and concentrations of those chemicals exactly right otherwise the mosquito won't think it's a human.” Scientists said it's crucial to understand the subtleties of mosquito behavior. Other studies have shown mosquitoes don't become attracted to humans for about two weeks - the time it takes for the malaria parasites to become infectious for humans. “At the moment, we only have these glimpses of how parasites are manipulating the mosquitoes,” said George Christophides, chair of infectious disease and immunity at Imperial College London. “We need to exploit that information to help us control malaria.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/04/stench-human-feet-may-lead-to-better-malaria-traps/
Breast cancer is less likely to recur if women previously treated for the disease take the drug tamoxifen for 10 years, instead of the recommended five years, according to a British study. The study was a component of a larger international trial, for which similar results were announced last year. “I think it's huge because it's the second trial to show a benefit for 10 years versus five years,” said Dr. Sandra Swain, medical director of the Cancer Institute at Washington Hospital Center and president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, or ASCO. “It is important not only in the U.S., but for the world. It is a very inexpensive drug.” Tamoxifen, available as a low-cost generic, has long been used for younger, premenopausal, women with early-stage breast cancer that responds to estrogen. Most start taking the estrogen-blocking drug immediately after completing their initial surgery or chemotherapy. Around 70 percent of breast cancers are estrogen-receptor positive, meaning they are fueled by the hormone. ASCO guidelines now call for women at increased risk of breast cancer to take tamoxifen for five years. For postmenopausal women, the guidelines say raloxifene, an estrogen receptor modulator sold by Eli Lilly under the brand name Evista, may also be considered. The latest findings, presented at the annual ASCO meeting in Chicago this weekend, found that side effects increased with longer tamoxifen use, but concluded that overall benefits outweigh those risks. Researchers estimated that, compared with taking no tamoxifen, 10 years of the drug reduces breast cancer death rates by a third in the first 10 years and by half after that. “Until now, there have been doubts whether continuing tamoxifen beyond five years is worthwhile,” said lead study author Richard Gray, professor of medical statistics at the University of Oxford. Between 1991 and 2005, 6,953 women in the United Kingdom who had been taking tamoxifen for five years were randomly assigned to continue treatment or to stop immediately. Breast cancer recurred in 16.7 percent of the 10-year group, compared with 19.3 percent in the five-year group. Longer treatment also reduced the risk of dying from breast cancer. The women who continued tamoxifen treatment had a 25 percent lower recurrence rate and a 23 percent lower breast cancer mortality rate than the women who had been allocated to stop after only five years. The results were called “practice changing for premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer,” by Dr. Sylvia Adams, associate professor New York University School of Medicine. In the United States, postmenopausal women at high risk of breast cancer are usually offered drugs in a newer class known as aromatase inhibitors, such as Arimidex, sold by AstraZeneca. “For premenopausal women the standard of care will likely include 10 years of tamoxifen,” Dr. Adams said. “For women who enter menopause during that period, AIs are still an option. Tamoxifen will also be an option.” Rare but serious side effects of tamoxifen include increased risk of endometrial cancer (cancer of the lining of the uterus), blood clots and stroke. The British researchers said they observed no excess incidence of stroke with 10 years of tamoxifen therapy, although the endometrial cancer risk was higher. They estimated that for every endometrial cancer death that occurs as a side effect of long-term tamoxifen, 30 deaths from breast cancer would be prevented.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/03/longer-tamoxifen-use-reduces-breast-cancer-recurrence/
The findings are published online in the journal Cell Metabolism. …
Losing weight may ease psoriasis and improve quality of life for some overweight people with the chronic skin disease, new research from Denmark suggests. But the trial may have been too small to fully flesh out that link, and researchers said future studies will have to follow larger groups of patients for more time to make definitive conclusions. “The results, I would say, are promising,” said Dr. Joel Gelfand, a dermatologist from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. “It's still excellent advice to patients who are overweight with psoriasis to lose weight.” According to the National Institutes of Health, more than three percent of U.S. adults have psoriasis, which is characterized by itchy, painful plaques on the skin. Over the years, researchers have learned that obese people are more likely to develop psoriasis than their thinner peers and tend to have more severe disease. That could be due to more body-wide inflammation among people carrying around extra fat. “It's more than one thing that causes it, but obesity is probably one of the factors that can bring on psoriasis,” Gelfand, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health. Genetics also plays a role. Conversely, Gelfand said there's been some suggestion that losing weight may ease psoriasis symptoms, based on reports of people who had bariatric surgery and saw their skin condition improve. For the new study, researchers led by Dr. Peter Jensen from Copenhagen University Hospital Gentofte wanted to shed more light on how weight loss influences psoriasis. They randomly assigned 30 overweight and obese people with psoriasis to go on a 4-month weight-loss diet of 800 to 1,200 calories per day and another 30 to stick to typical nutrition guidelines. By the end of the study, participants in the diet group had lost an average of 35 pounds, on average, compared to just one pound in the non-diet group. Dieters had a borderline larger improvement in their psoriasis severity and the amount of their body covered by psoriasis plaques. They started the study with an average severity score of 4.8, on a scale of 0 to 72. By 4 months, that had fallen to 2.5. Non-dieters saw only a slight drop in their psoriasis cover and severity, from 5.5 to 5.2. People in the weight-loss group also reported greater improvements in their quality of life during the study period, Jensen and his colleagues wrote Wednesday in JAMA Dermatology. The diet was tied to some mild side effects, including headaches and dizziness. One patient complained of being hungry throughout the study, the researchers reported, and another “consumed large amounts of sugar-free licorice, resulting in hypokalemia (low potassium) that normalized after he was instructed to stop eating licorice.” Gelfand said that because patients started out with mild to moderate psoriasis, they didn't have much room to improve when they lost weight. That, combined with the small group size, limits some of the conclusions that can be taken from the study. “The next step would be to do a much larger study in patients who have more severe psoriasis,” Gelfand said. In the meantime, he said weight loss can have other benefits for heavy people with psoriasis, such as improving how they respond to some medications and lowering their risk of heart disease.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/31/could-shedding-extra-pounds-improve-psoriasis/
The E7 protein is produced early in the lifecycle of the human papillomavirus (HPV) and blocks the body’s natural defences against the uncontrolled division of cells that can lead to cancer. Researchers at the University of Leeds’ School of Molecular and Cellular Biology have synthesised a molecule, called an RNA aptamer, that latches onto the carcinogenic protein and targets it for destruction, significantly reducing its presence in cells in the laboratory derived from cervical cancers…
Chances are you or someone you know has had a kidney stone at some point in their life; they are very common, affecting approximately one in ten people throughout their lifetime.  The risk of kidney stones is higher in the United States than the rest of the world and this number has only been increasing over the past two to three decades.  Despite the high incidence in the U.S., however, this is a condition that affects people worldwide and has done so for millennia; bladder and kidney stones have even been found in Egyptian mummies. Kidney stones are small, hard deposits, typically composed of mineral and acid salts, that form inside your kidneys.  As one might expect, because urine is a vehicle for waste excretion, it is comprised of numerous chemicals and wastes (including calcium, oxalate, urate, cysteine, xanthine and phosphate).  When the urine is too concentrated, that is too little liquid and too much waste, crystals will begin to form.  Over time, these crystals can join together and form a larger stone-like solid.   There is no single cause for kidney stones and often, the cause is unknown.  There are, however, different types of kidney stones, which can help pinpoint the origin.  Calcium stones (in the form of calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate), for example, are the most common form of kidney stone.  Oxalate is a naturally occurring substance in food, so anything that increases levels of this compound, can increase the risk of a kidney stone.  Uric acid stones often form in people who do not consume enough fluids, eat high protein diets or have gout.  Struvite stones often form as the result of a kidney infection.   Treatment for kidney stones primarily depends on the size of the stone.  If it is smaller than four millimeters in diameter, you have a good chance of passing it spontaneously. Consuming two to three quarts of water a day and using a pain reliever can help pass these small stones.  Larger stones may require invasive treatment including: surgery, using a scope passed through the urethra or shock-wave lithotripsy, where high-energy sound waves break up the stone in to more easily passable stones. Risk factors for developing kidney stones include: being over age 40, being male, ingesting too little water, too much/little exercise, obesity, weight loss surgery, digestive diseases, and consuming a diet high in salt, protein or sugar, especially fructose.  Having a family history of kidney stones can also increase your risk of developing them; furthermore, if you have already experienced kidney stones, you are at an increased risk of developing more.   Prevention of kidney stones can be as simple as a few dietary changes.  Consuming more water during the day is one of the easiest measures you can take.  Doctors recommend excreting about 2.6 quarts of urine every day.  Depending on the severity of your kidney stones, you may want to measure and monitor your urine excretion.  Consume fewer oxalate-rich foods, especially if you tend to form calcium oxalate stones.  Such foods include chocolate, soy products, okra, beets, sweet potatoes, tea and nuts.  Consume foods low in salt and animal protein.  Speak with your doctor about your calcium intake via food and supplements before making any changes here.  Furthermore, speak with your doctor about the possibility of prescription drugs to help with your kidney stones.  Dr. David B. Samadi is the Vice Chairman of the Department of Urology and Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He is a board-certified urologist, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of urological disease, with a focus on robotic prostate cancer treatments. To learn more please visit his websites RoboticOncology.com and SMART-surgery.com. Find Dr. Samadi on Facebook.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/29/kidney-stones-symptoms-and-treatment/
Diet soda may be a popular drink alternative for those looking to cut back on calories, but heavy consumption of these beverages could wreak havoc on a person’s teeth. According to a new study published in the journal General Dentistry, constant exposure to the citric and phosphoric acid in soda – without proper dental hygiene – can be just as damaging to teeth as methamphetamine or crack cocaine, Health Day news reported. “You look at it side-to-side with 'meth mouth' or 'coke mouth,' it is startling to see the intensity and extent of damage more or less the same,” Dr. Mohamed Bassiouny, a professor of restorative dentistry at the Temple University School of Dentistry in Philadelphia, told Health Day News. According to Bassiouny, methamphetamine and crack cocaine are highly acidic, just like diet soda. The study referenced a woman in her 30s who drank 2 liters of diet soda every day for three to five years.   When her teeth were compared to a 29-year-old methamphetamine addict and a 51-year-old crack cocaine user, the levels of tooth rot and decay were very similar.  The woman also admitted she had not seen a dentist in many years. Bassiouny said her teeth had been destroyed by erosion, becoming soft and discolored.  She ultimately had to have all of her teeth removed and replaced with dentures. “None of the teeth affected by erosion were salvageable,” Bassiouny said. Both the meth addict and crack cocaine users had to have all of their teeth removed as well.  According to Health Day News, these drugs also reduce the amount of saliva in the mouth, making it difficult for the acids to wash away. While the results may seem staggering, representatives for the American Beverage Association argue that it’s unlikely soda was the single culprit for the woman’s tooth decay. “The woman referenced in this article did not receive dental health services for more than 20 years -- two-thirds of her life,” the American Beverage Association said in a statement. “To single out diet soda consumption as the unique factor in her tooth decay and erosion -- and to compare it to that from illicit drug use -- is irresponsible.” Click for more from Health Day News.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/29/diet-soda-just-as-harmful-to-teeth-as-meth-and-crack-cocaine-study-claims/
GATA-3’s role in CD4 T-cells has been widely studied, but its role in CD8+ cells has received much less attention. "We want to know what the basic function of GATA-3 in regulating cell biology is, although it has been shown that GATA-3 is important for the function of CD4+ T cell type to clear extracellular parasites," said Yisong Wan, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at the UNC School of Medicine and member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The research, published online May 26 by Nature Immunology, shows that GATA-3 is required for the maintenance and function of CD8+ T-cells, a T-cell type mediating the immune response to clear pathogens, eradicate tumors and promote inflammation. …
Spherical nanoparticles labeled with red or green dye shift their shapes and accumulatte into netlike structures when they encounter a protease secreted by some kinds of cancerous tumors (Click on image for larger view). Targeting treatments specifically to cancerous or other diseased cells depends on some means of accumulating high levels of a drug or other therapeutic agent at the specific site and keeping it there. Most efforts so far depend on matching a piece of the drug-delivering molecule to specific receptors on the surface of the target cell. …