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MU Researchers Find Unique Protein Organization in Arteries Associated with Cardiovascular Disease

By Guest PostJanuary 13, 2012Health, Science3 d microscopic imaging technology, amount of protein, artery, artery functions, blood vessels, cardiovascular disease, cause of death, circulatory complications, diabetes, disorders, elastin, elastin production, factor, gerald meininger, high blood pressure, human arteries, michael hill, minute structural elements, molecular biologists, stiffening, stiffening process, tissue replacement proces, united states, university of missouri

*Knowledge could assist in tissue replacements, treatments for high blood pressure and diabetes*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Human arteries – some smaller than a strand of hair – stiffen as a person ages. This stiffening is a factor in cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, because it contributes to the circulatory complications in disorders such as high blood pressure and diabetes. University of Missouri researchers have now used advanced 3-D microscopic imaging technology to identify and monitor the proteins involved in this stiffening process. These findings could eventually help researchers and physicians understand and treat complications associated with cardiovascular disease. (more…)

Guidelines Stress Caution When Combining Anti-Epileptic, HIV Drugs

By Guest PostJanuary 7, 2012Healthaeds, aids drugs, aids medication, american academy of neurology, anti hiv drugs, antiretrovirals, arvs, carbamazepine, cerebral malaria, drug interactions, drug resistant hiv, epilepsia, epilepsy, gretchen birbeck, guidelines, hiv, medical guideline, michigan state university, mood disorders, nation, neurological ailments, phenobarbital, phenytoin, seizure drugs, strain, sub sahara africa, toxic, world health organization, zambia

EAST LANSING, Mich. — New guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology will help physicians better choose seizure drugs for people on HIV/AIDS medication, avoiding deadly drug interactions and preventing critical anti-HIV drugs from becoming less effective, possibly leading to a more virulent strain of the disease.

Michigan State University’s Gretchen Birbeck – who spends several months each year in the sub-Sahara African nation of Zambia researching epilepsy, HIV /AIDS and cerebral malaria – is the lead author of the medical guideline, which was co-developed with the World Health Organization through the International League Against Epilepsy. (more…)

MU Researcher’s Photoacoustic Device Finds Cancer Cells Before They Become Tumors

By Guest PostJanuary 6, 2012Healthaggressive cancer, cancer detection, early detection, melanoma, melanoma cancer detection, photoacoustic device, skin cancer

*Commercial production will allow scientists, academia opportunity for use in cancer studies*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Early detection of melanoma, the most aggressive skin cancer, is critical because melanoma will spread rapidly throughout the body. Now, University of Missouri researchers are one step closer to melanoma cancer detection at the cellular level, long before tumors have a chance to form. Commercial production of a device that measures melanoma using photoacoustics, or laser-induced ultrasound, will soon be available to scientists and academia for cancer studies. The commercial device also will be tested in clinical trials to provide the data required to obtain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for early diagnosis of metastatic melanoma and other cancers. (more…)

Ovarian Cancer Study Proves Drug Delays Disease Progression

By Guest PostJanuary 3, 2012Healthamerican study, amit oza, avastin, bevacizumab, blood vessels, brain, breast, canada, canadian cancer society, caz zyvatkauskas, colorectal, disease, drug, kidney, lung, oncologist, ovarian cancer, starving the cancer, timothy perren, tumours, university of toronto, women

*U of T, U.K. study focused on Avastin*

Treating ovarian cancer with the drug bevacizumab (“Avastin”) delays the disease and may also improve survival, according to an international clinical trial co-led by Drs. Amit Oza of the University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) and Timothy Perren of St James’s Institute of Oncology, Leeds, U.K.

The findings, published on Dec. 28 in the New England Journal of Medicine, report that the drug halted the cancer’s return for two months overall. However, for women with the highest risk disease, the delay was five to six months and in this group, the findings also indicate a strong trend to improved overall survival, which is being analysed until 2013. (more…)

People Don’t Just Think with Their Guts; Logic Plays a Role Too

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2012Healthgut feeling, intuitive sense, logic, reasoning, understanding logic

For decades, science has suggested that when people make decisions, they tend to ignore logic and go with the gut. But Wim De Neys, a psychological scientist at the University of Toulouse in France, has a new suggestion: Maybe thinking about logic is also intuitive. He writes about this idea in the January issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. (more…)

Andrew Artenstein: Essential Enzymes Key to Disease, Maybe Treatments

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2012Healthalzheimer, andrew artenstein, anthrax, athlerosclerosis, bacteria and viruses, biodefense, body, cancer, chemical reactions, david orenstein, disease, ebola, enzymes, essential proteins, Europe, flu, iaips, infectious diseases, inter alpha inhibitor proteins, measles, microscopic level, molecules, natural human proteins, outbreak of h1n1, pathways, pcs, proprotein convertases, proteins, sars, steven opal, therapies, viruses

*Proprotein convertases are enzymes that activate many essential proteins, but they are also implicated in many processes that cause disease. In a research review in the New England Journal of Medicine, Andrew Artenstein and Steven Opal argue that proprotein convertases are potentially rich targets for developing therapies.*

Most people have never heard of proprotein convertases, but the enzymes activate many proteins that are essential for life. Unfortunately, their fundamental role puts them in the middle of many processes that cause disease – not just cancer or athlerosclerosis, but both of those and Alzheimer’s and anthrax and the flu and an amazing variety of other maladies.

In a research review article appearing Dec. 29 in the New England Journal of Medicine, Andrew Artenstein, physician-in-chief in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Hospital, and Steven Opal, chief of infectious diseases at Memorial Hospital, argue that proprotein convertases (PCs) are potentially rich targets for developing therapies. Artenstein, who with Opal is on the faculty of the Warren Alpert School of Medicine, explained PCs to David Orenstein. (more…)

Breast Cancer Survivors Benefit From Practicing Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, MU Researchers Find

By Guest PostDecember 31, 2011Healthamerican cancer society, breast cancer, health challenges, jane armer, lifestyles and belief, mbsr, meditation, meditation technique, mindfulness, mindfulness based stress reduction, physical awareness, positive effects, post diagnosis, survivors, university of missouri, women, yaowarat matchim, yoga

*Survivors’ psychological and physiological health improved after training*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Women recently diagnosed with breast cancer have higher survival rates than those diagnosed in previous decades, according to the American Cancer Society. However, survivors continue to face health challenges after their treatments end. Previous research reports as many as 50 percent of breast cancer survivors are depressed. Now, University of Missouri researchers in the Sinclair School of Nursing say a meditation technique can help breast cancer survivors improve their emotional and physical well-being. (more…)

“Painless” Plasma Brush is Becoming Reality in Dentistry, MU Engineers Say

By Guest PostDecember 28, 2011Healthcavity filling, dental instrument, dentists, filling material, painless plasma brush, plasma brush

*Hi-tech dental instrument uses “cool flame” for sturdier and longer-lasting fillings*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri engineers and their research collaborators at Nanova, Inc. are one step closer to a painless way to replace fillings. After favorable results in the lab, human clinical trials are underway on the “plasma brush.” (more…)

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