Source physorg.com

Many medical conditions, such as cancer, diabetes and chronic pain, require medications that cannot be taken orally, but must be dosed intermittently, on an as-needed basis, over a long period of time. A few delivery techniques have been developed, using an implanted heat source, an implanted electronic chip or other stimuli as an "on-off" switch to release the drugs into the body. But thus far, none of these methods can reliably do all that's needed: repeatedly turn dosing on and off, deliver consistent doses and adjust doses according to the patient's need. But now, a research team led by Daniel Kohane of Children's Hospital Boston has devised a solution that combines magnetism with nanotechnology.

Source insciences.org

Cambridge, Mass. - October 30, 2009 - A new study from a researcher at Harvard University finds that gay men are most attracted to the most masculine-faced men, while straight men prefer the most feminine-faced women.

The findings suggest that regardless of sexual orientation, men’s brains are wired for attraction to sexually dimorphic faces—those with facial features that are most synonymous with their gender.

Source the-scientist.com Image: Immune cell memory (Image from the-scientist.com)

A type of antibody long thought to have a minor role in immune system memory may actually be a key player, new findings suggest. Researchers tracked the antibody's function by imaging the immune system's B cells in the act of responding to a pathogen and developing into memory B cells, which can recognize an infectious agent years after first encountering it, they report in a study published online yesterday (October 25) in Nature Immunology.

Source insciences.org Image: Albert M. Maguire, M.D; Katherine High, M.D.; and Jean Bennett, M.D., Ph.D., are co-authors of the study published in The Lancet. The gene therapy vector (shown) used in the study was manufactured at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. (Image from insciences.org)

PHILADELPHIA – Born with a retinal disease that made him legally blind, and would eventually leave him totally sightless, the nine-year-old boy used to sit in the back of the classroom, relying on the large print on an electronic screen and assisted by teacher aides. Now, after a single injection of genes that produce light-sensitive pigments in the back of his eye, he sits in front with classmates and participates in class without extra help. In the playground, he joins his classmates in playing his first game of softball.

Source insciences.org Image: LMU logo (Image from insciences.org)

Fragile X tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) is a recently recognized condition, which is actually one of the most prevalent heritable neurodegenerative diseases. It is assumed that the condition is caused by deficiency for the protein Pur-alpha, which is essential for normal neural function. Structural studies undertaken by a team under the leadership of Dr. Dierk Niessing of the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Gene Center at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich have now determined the three-dimensional structure of Pur-alpha, and gained insights into the molecular function of the protein. The findings provide a possible basis for the development of an effective therapy for the disease. (PNAS Early Edition, 21 October 2009)

Source insciences.org Image: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Image from Wikimedia Commons)

An international research team that includes The University of Western Australia has released details of a breakthrough which holds promise of a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), an incurable muscle-wasting disease.

Source the-scientist.com Image: Teeth and jaw of Afradapis (Image from the-scientist.com)

An analysis of 37 million year old primate fossils is fueling a debate over the existence of an evolutionary link between lemur-like and monkey-like primates -- a link that could more fully explain human evolution. The study, published in this week's issue of Nature, challenges the claim that Darwinius -- a rare, almost-complete skeleton whose unveiling caused a media firestorm last May -- is the possible stem species to today's anthropoid primates, which include monkeys, apes, and humans.

Source physorg.com

Underwater archaeologists surveying the worlds oldest submerged town have found ceramics dating back to the early Bronze Age. This suggests that Pavlopetri, off the southern Laconia coast of Greece, was occupied some 5000 years ago making the site even more important than first thought.

The Pavlopetri Underwater Archaeology Project, involving the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and The University of Nottingham, aims to establish when the site was occupied, what it was used for and through a systematic study of the geomorphology of the area, how the town became submerged.

Dr Jon Henderson, from the Department of Archaeology, takes up the story.

Source news.stanford.edu Image: Stanford graduate student Richard Gaster (left) and Shan Wang, professor of materials science and engineering and of electrical engineering. (Image from news.stanford.edu - L.A. Cicero)

Stanford Report, October 13, 2009

Improved magnetic-nano sensor chips are up to 1,000 times more sensitive than current methods of cancer detection – can scan any bodily fluid with high accuracy and search for up to 64 different cancer-associated proteins simultaneously.

BY LOUIS BERGERON

Searching for biomarkers that can warn of diseases such as cancer while they are still in their earliest stage is likely to become far easier thanks to an innovative biosensor chip developed by Stanford University researchers.

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&news...

NEWTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Novelos Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCBB: NVLT), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapeutics to treat cancer and hepatitis, today announced that the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), in collaboration with Novelos, was awarded a $950,371 competitive grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study two Novelos compounds – NOV-002 and NOV-205 – for the mitigation and treatment of radiation-induced pulmonary injury. This 17-month grant will fund the assessment of both drug candidates in animal models designed to reflect pulmonary injury resulting from, for example, a terrorist incident involving a radiation-dispersal device (“dirty bomb”) or nuclear device or in a radiation accident such as at Chernobyl.

Source: ChronicPainConnection.com

The highly respected ME/CFS researcher Dr. Kenny De Meirleir and his research team announced that they have uncovered a major cause of this mysterious illness as well as a diagnostic test for it.

Source: Scienceblog.com

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Findings from the Cardiovascular Health Study-Cognition Substudy suggest that angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors that cross the blood-brain barrier reduce the risk of incident dementia. Conversely, non-centrally active ACE inhibitors appear to increase the risk, relative to other antihypertensive drugs, investigators report in the Archives of Internal Medicine for July 13.

According to lead author Dr. Kaycee M. Sink from Wake Forest University Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and her associates, previous research comparing neuroprotective properties of different antihypertensives has yielded conflicting results.

This video describes a publication which used the experimental allergic encephalomyelitis model of multiple sclerosis to test immunological effects of lithium. The authors demonstrated profound inhibition of disease, as well as stimulation of antiinflammatory cytokines. It seemed like the anti-inflammatory effects of lithium were associated with the inhibition of the enzyme GSK-3.

Other treatments for multiple sclerosis that are experimental include fat stem cells, erythropoietin, and bone marrow stem cells.

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In a prospective, randomized trial, a single daily tablet containing efavirenz, emtricitabine, and tenofovir (Atripla; Bristol Myers Squibb & Gilead Sciences LLC) maintained viral suppression in HIV-1 infected patients as well as the standard multiple-pill regimen.

Source: Insciences.com

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a novel protein that can protect brain cells by interrupting a naturally occurring “stress cascade” resulting in cell death.

Reporting in the July 16 issue of the journal Neuron, the scientists say drugs mimicking the protein, nicknamed GOSPEL, have the potential to protect brain cells against a range of neurodegenerative conditions, including stroke and Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases.

Mammalian intestinal epithelium is one of the most swiftly self-renewing tissues in the body, turning over completely every 3 to 5 days. Because of the absence of reliable stem cell markers, however, researchers have argued for decades about the identity and location of the stem cells that fuel this growth capacity.

In the intestinal epithelium, cells proliferate in glandular pockets termed the crypts of Lieberkühn. In the 1970s, two competing theories emerged for where in the crypt these all-important, self-renewing cells abide. The predominant idea, put forth by Chris Potten at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research in Manchester, United Kingdom, and a cofounder of Epistem, an epithelial stem cell company, placed the stem cells in a location about halfway up the crypt (termed position +4).¹ Lesser known work from the McGill University lab of Charles Philippe Leblond, who died in 2007, proposed that crypt base columnar (CBC) cells, at the very base of the crypt, were the intestinal stem cells.²

Source: The-Scientist.com

Two researchers conducting animal studies on immunosuppression lied about experimental methodologies and falsified data in 16 papers and several grants produced over the past 8 years, according to the Office of Research Integrity (ORI).

The scientists, Judith Thomas and Juan Contreras, formerly at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), falsely reported that they performed double kidney removals on several rhesus macaques in experiments designed to test the effectiveness of two immune suppressing drugs -- Immunotoxin FN18-CRM9 and 15-deoxyspergualin (15-DSG) -- in preventing rejection of the a single transplanted kidney.

News segment highlighting cell regeneration and the future of growing organs from the body's own cells.

Imagine re-growing a severed fingertip, or creating an organ in the lab that can be transplanted into a patient without risk of rejection. It sounds like science fiction, but it's not. It's the burgeoning field of regenerative medicine, in which scientists are learning to harness the body's own power to regenerate itself, with astonishing results.

Question: What are the Pros and Cons of Medical Marijuana?

The debate over medical marijuana is festering and coming to a head. Fourteen U.S. states have active medical marijuana laws but the federal government still classifies it as a Class I controlled substance, which is illegal to possess. With strong supporters on each side of the debate and a new administration, the arguments for and against the legalization or marijuana are hot topics.