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How a Shape-shifting DNA-repair Machine Fights Cancer

By Guest PostMarch 2, 2014Scienceals beamline, berkeley lab, broken dna, cancer, cancer cells, dna repair functions, dna repair machine, fight, fix, john tainer, mre11 rad50, mutation, protein complex, shape shifting, sybils, tanya paull, university of texas

Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source reveals inner-workings of essential protein found throughout life.

Maybe you’ve seen the movies or played with toy Transformers, those shape-shifting machines that morph in response to whatever challenge they face. It turns out that DNA-repair machines in your cells use a similar approach to fight cancer and other diseases, according to research led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

As reported in a pair of new studies, the scientists gained new insights into how a protein complex called Mre11-Rad50 reshapes itself to take on different DNA-repair tasks. (more…)

Angelina Jolie Effect: Breast Cancer Awareness vs. Knowledge

By Guest PostDecember 28, 2013Healthamericans, angelina jolie effect, brca gene mutation, brca mutation, brca1, brca2, breast cancer awareness, breast cancer risk, cancer, dina borzekowski, family history, genes, genetics in medicine, harmful mutation, increased cancer, johns hopkins school, jolie story, knowledge, preventive double mastectomy, public health, rare health situation, university of maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Angelina Jolie heightened awareness about breast cancer when she announced in a New York Times op-ed that she had undergone a preventive double mastectomy. But a new study led by researchers in the University of Maryland School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health reveals that widespread awareness of Jolie’s story did not translate into increased understanding of breast cancer risk.

The survey of more than 2,500 Americans found that three out of four were aware of Jolie’s story, but fewer than 10 percent of those could correctly answer questions about the BRCA gene mutation that Jolie carries and the typical person’s risk of developing breast cancer. Though very rare, women with harmful mutations in either of two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, have a risk of breast cancer that is about five times the normal risk, and a risk of ovarian cancer that is about ten to thirty times normal. The study is published on December 19, 2013 in Genetics in Medicine. (more…)

IBM Research and Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology Convert Recycled Plastics into Disease Fighting Nanofibers

By Guest PostDecember 9, 2013Health, Technologyaids, almaden, antibiotic treatment, biocompatible materials, body, breakthrough with ibm, c albicans, cancer, disease fighting nanofibers, drug discovery, fungal blood infections, fungal membrane, hiv, hydrogen bonding process, ibm research, ibn, immune system, jackie y ying, james hedrick, medicine, mic, minimum inhibitory concentration, mrsa, nanotechnology convert, nature comm, organic catalytic process, pet bottles, polyethylene terephthalate, polymer like form, recycled plastics, targeted diseased sites, yi yan yang

Opens new applications for the nearly 5.5 billion pounds of PET bottles and jars available annually for recycling

SAN JOSE, Calif – 09 Dec 2013: Researchers from IBM and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology have made a nanomedicine breakthrough in which they converted common plastic materials like polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into non-toxic and biocompatible materials designed to specifically target and attack fungal infections. This research was published today in the peer-reviewed journal, Nature Comm. (more…)

UCLA scientist uncovers biological clock able to measure age of most human tissues

By Guest PostNovember 1, 2013Health, Scienceage, age predictive tool, biological clock, cancer, cancer in women, chronological age, dna methylation levels, embryonic stem cell, genome biology, hormones, human aging process, human tissues, saliva, stem cell research, steve horvath, telomeres, ucla scientist

Study finds women’s breast tissue ages faster than the rest of the body

Everyone grows older, but scientists don’t really understand why. Now a UCLA study has uncovered a biological clock embedded in our genomes that may shed light on why our bodies age and how we can slow the process.

Published in the Oct. 21 edition of the journal Genome Biology, the findings could offer valuable insights to benefit cancer and stem cell research. (more…)

Small bits of genetic material fight cancer’s spread

By Guest PostOctober 25, 2013Healthbone fracture, bone lesions, bone metastasis, brian ell, cancer, class of molecules, combat, david waning, disease, extreme pain, gene, genetic material, Germany, hamburg, indiana university, indianapolis, khalid mohammad, micrornas, nerve compression, pathological activity, predictors of metastasis, princeton university, therapeutic target, theresa guise, university cancer center, yibin kang

A class of molecules called microRNAs may offer cancer patients two ways to combat their disease.

Researchers at Princeton University have found that microRNAs — small bits of genetic material capable of repressing the expression of certain genes — may serve as both therapeutic targets and predictors of metastasis, or a cancer’s spread from its initial site to other parts of the body. The research was published in the journal Cancer Cell. (more…)

Circadian disruption and cancer

By Guest PostAugust 29, 2013Healthcancer, circadian disruption, environmental health sciences, molecular changes, sleep cycle, yale university, yong zhu

Yong Zhu, associate professor of environmental health sciences at the School of Public Health, investigates how the disruption in sleep cycles causes molecular changes that lead to cancer. *Source: Yale University

China’s chance to reinvent itself environmentally

By Guest PostJuly 22, 2013Environmentair pollution, cancer, China, chinese cities, environmental problem, environmental protection law, environmental well being, epl, gross domestic product, guizhen he, heart disease, jianguo jack liu, lei zhang, life expectancy, michigan state university, natural system, Netherlands, population, problem, rates of stroke, renmin university, wageningen university, yonglong lu

China’s 34-year-old Environmental Protection Law was created when it made sense for legislators in a developing country to trade environmental well-being for a boost to the gross domestic product.

Today, China wrestles with pollution that is leaving its citizens gasping for clean air, worried about water quality and concerned for the safety of the food grown there. In the current issue of Science, a team of researchers, including a Michigan State University sustainability expert, offers guidelines for revising the EPL to protect both humans and nature. (more…)

Sugar makes cancer light-up in MRI scanners

By Guest PostJuly 14, 2013Healthcabi, cancer, dose of radiation, glucocest, human cancer, image tumour, magnetic resonance imaging, mark lythgoe, mri, mri scanners, new technique, radioactive material, radiologist, scans of mice, simon walker samuel, standard radioactive techniques, sugar, ucl scientists, university college london, xavier golay

A new technique for detecting cancer by imaging the consumption of sugar with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been unveiled by UCL scientists. The breakthrough could provide a safer and simpler alternative to standard radioactive techniques and enable radiologists to image tumours in greater detail.

The new technique, called ‘glucose chemical exchange saturation transfer’ (glucoCEST), is based on the fact that tumours consume much more glucose (a type of sugar) than normal, healthy tissues in order to sustain their growth. (more…)

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