Tag Archives: technology

Gene variant may provide novel therapy for several cancer types

This landmark study is published in the June 6, 2013 issue of the journal Science. Ramon Parsons, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair of Oncological Sciences led the team that discovered a mutation in the tumor suppressor gene PTEN, which has subsequently been recognized as the second most common mutation in cancer, especially in breast, prostate, and brain cancers. PTEN encodes a 403 amino acid lipid phosphatase protein that is critical to cellular growth, proliferation, and survival…

The dirt on hotel rooms

We asked several industry insiders to help us peel back the covers on your home away from home. Here's how to make the most of any stay.  “Eco-Friendly” Actually Means “Dirty Sheets” Here's a travel tip you might not have heard: Bedspreads are often cleaned just once a month. But sheets can dodge detergent, too.  “Some hotels take a unique approach to the water-conservation trend,” the housekeeping director we interviewed said. “Unless they look soiled, sheets may not be changed.” The solution: Ask for fresh sheets.  “When I travel, I change my own sheets,” one hotel director said.  Know what else you should change while you're on the road? Your diet. (Find out how one Men's Health reader wedged tough workouts and smart dining into his busy schedule.) Your Bill is Bogus The average business traveler is overcharged $11.35 a night, according to an audit of hotel bills by Corporate Lodging Consultants, a firm that helps companies and governments trim travel costs. Beware of fees for fridges, or anything labeled “local.” The solution: Question every charge, especially at the end of the month, one hotel controller said.  “It's unbelievable what managers do to make budget.” Even worse than the managers are some of the offerings at the morning buffet. (Avoid these 8 killer breakfast foods.) Upgrades Can Come Cheap Here's a travel tip from insiders: Upgrade at check-in. Full occupancy is rare - the average is 63 percent, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, and suites are often vacant.  “A smart manager knows that the cost to clean a suite is roughly the same as for a regular room,” one manager said. The solution: Make the hotel more money. Offer 20 percent more than your current rate for the upgrade; you could be sleeping in a suite. (Just make sure you're sleeping in style with this well-traveled wardrobe.) Some Souvenirs Have Legs Hotels are a haven for bedbugs. Pest-control companies say hotels account for more than 37 percent of their bedbug business, according to Pest Control Technology magazine. The solution: Search for your hotel on bedbugregistry.com. Scan mattress and couch creases for the reddish brown bloodsuckers and their black droppings, Jason Rasgon, a public-health professor at Johns Hopkins, said. At home, dry your clothes on high for 45 minutes to kill stowaways. The Bathroom is Cleaner Than the TV Remote  Often, the worst germ incubators are the frequently touched surfaces: the thermostat dial, phone, and remote. Chuck Gerba, a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona, actually found more traces of fecal matter on these surfaces than in the bathroom. The solution: Use hand sanitizer, and wash your hands frequently. A recent study reported that cold germs linger for more than a day on surfaces.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/03/dirt-on-hotel-rooms/

New screening approach uncovers potential alternative drug therapies for neuroblastoma

"New treatment approaches are very much needed for children with high-risk childhood cancers; that is, those that are metastatic at diagnosis and likely to recur," says senior study author Kimberly Stegmaier of the Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center and the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. "By focusing on an alternative strategy to treating neuroblastoma tumors, we identified a compound class that in early testing in neuroblastoma cells in the laboratory shows promise for treating children with this disease." Beyond the standard approach of using drugs that kill tumor cells, another promising strategy is to identify compounds that promote differentiation, which causes tumor cells to stop dividing and growing. But the benefits of differentiation therapy had not been fully explored. …

Could eating less save your brain? Study shows reducing calorie intake delays nerve cell loss

Calorie restriction may not always be fun, but cutting back has benefits beyond even weight loss. Studies have shown that eating less can help slow aging, prolong life and even decrease the effects of diseases like Alzheimer’s in a variety of organisms. Based on this knowledge, a group of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) decided to dig further and ask: Could calorie restriction also delay nerve cell loss in the brain – and the changes in learning and memory that go along with it? “We reasoned – and other folks reasoned – that because cognitive decline and neurodegeneration are characteristics of the aging process, that calorie restriction might also work in the brain to slow neurodegeneration,” lead study author, Dr. Johannes Gräff from the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, told FoxNews.com. Gräff and his colleagues tested their theory using a group of mice engineered to experience rapid neurodegeneration. Researchers decreased half of the mice’s calorie intake by 30 percent and kept the remaining mice on a normal diet. After three months, researchers tested the learning and memory skills in each group of mice, expecting to see a decline in both cognitive areas. However, while the mice eating normally showed evidence of significant learning and memory deficits related to nerve cell loss, the calorie-restricted mice showed no defecits in their learning or memory skills. “That was one of the first experiments we did, and that was quite promising and cool that it worked,” Gräff said. In the next phase of the study, researchers took a more in-depth look at the brains of both groups of mice. “What we further did was to look through the brains to check the extent or amount of neurodegeneration, and what we found was that neurodegeneration had been slowed down by calorie restriction,” Gräff said. Researchers were curious if reduced neurodegeneration could still be achieved by utilizing proteins activated during calorie restriction – without actually restricting calories. Eventually, they targeted an enzyme called Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1). “This protein is one candidate that has been known to be more abundantly expressed as a result of calorie restriction in our tissues,” Gräff said. The scientists then gave a separate group of mice, also engineered to experience rapid neurodegeneration, a pharmacological dose of SIRT1, without restricting their calorie intake. These mice experienced the same effects as the calorie-restricted mice, showing slower rates of nerve cell loss and no learning or memory deficits after a three-month period. Graff noted that more research needed to be done in this area, and he hopes to further explore the relationship between calorie restriction, SIRT1 and neurodegeneration. “We have the choice – (to look into how) to reduce calorie intake in order to slow onset of neurodegeneration, or we look to this pharmacological activator (to do the same thing),” Gräff said. “Do you want to engage more into reducing caloric intake or revert to pharmacological means for the same effect?” This study is published in the May 22nd issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/22/could-eating-less-save-your-brain-study-shows-reducing-calorie-intake-delays/