In pharmaceutical production, identifying enzyme catalysts that help improve the speed and efficiency of the process can be a major boon. Figuring out exactly why a particular enzyme works so well is an altogether different quest. (more…)
Since 1994 cancer doctors affiliated with the Alpert Medical School have had a place with funding, administrative, and collegial support to develop and test novel cancer treatments: The Brown University Oncology Research Group.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Too few cancer patients, especially those with pancreatic cancer, get to the point that Raymond Sabella reached in the spring of 2014. Ten months after he began his trek from the diagnosis of an inoperable tumor to experimental chemotherapy and then radiation, he reports feeling great. He’s gaining back some of the weight he lost, but not too much, and something else is back, too. (more…)
A biomedical engineer listens in on what proteins are saying.
As inventions go, Yale biomedical engineer Rong Fan’s entry into the innovation sweepstakes is not much to look at. Fan’s device, impressively named a single-cell, 45-plex protein secretion measurement platform, seems to be little more than a sandwich of two sheets of clear silicon rubber the thickness of window glass, each sheet a bit smaller than a credit card and bearing a smaller, darker rectangle divided into 14 vertical sections. It has no flashing lights, no intriguing noises, no moving parts, no signs of Applesque high design. Indeed, the object, displayed in Fan’s bustling laboratory on the first floor of the Daniel L. Malone Engineering Center, doesn’t appear to be doing anything at all. (more…)
HPV (human papillomavirus) infection is widely known to induce cancer. Many of the mutations that cause this virally-induced cancer are caused by a family of genes that normally combats viral infections, finds new UCL research. (more…)
Women who choose not to find out are more egalitarian, conscientious
COLUMBUS, Ohio – An expectant mother who chooses to find out her child’s sex before birth may be giving subtle clues about her views on proper gender roles, new research suggests.
The study found that women who choose not to learn their child’s sex may be more open to new experiences, and combine egalitarian views about the roles of men and women in society with conscientiousness. (more…)
Female hormone estriol reduces relapse rate by nearly 50 percent, UCLA neurologist reports
A study conducted by Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl, a UCLA neurologist, shows that combining estriol, a female hormone, with Copaxone, a medication currently used to treat multiple sclerosis, reduced the relapse rate of MS by nearly 50 percent with only one year of treatment. (more…)
University of Exeter scientists have helped develop an early-warning system to predict the risk of dengue fever outbreaks in Brazil during the forthcoming World Cup.
The study, developed by a team of European scientists, estimates the chances of outbreaks of the mosquito-borne infection disease in Brazil’s administrative areas – or microregions – during this summer’s festival of football. (more…)
Watching films with stressful scenes can trigger changes to the heart’s beating pattern, reports a new study published in the journal Circulation, Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology
Although the changes were small, and not likely to be risky for normal healthy individuals, the team from UCL, King’s College London and Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital found that watching an emotionally charged film clip caused a disturbance to the normal heartbeat and a significant increase in blood pressure. (more…)
