Fighting cancer with sticky nanoparticles
Sticky nanoparticles that deliver drugs precisely to their targets — and then stay there — could play a crucial role in fighting ovarian and uterine cancers. (more…)
Tag Archives: drugs
Quiet ‘epidemic’ of drugs, alcohol and suicide has killed half a million middle-aged white Americans
Despite advances in health care and quality of life, white middle-aged Americans have seen overall mortality rates increase over the past 15 years, representing an overlooked “epidemic” with deaths comparable to the number of Americans who have died of AIDS, according to new Princeton University research. (more…)
Data on today’s youth reveal childhood clues for later risk of STDs
Here’s yet another reason to focus on kids’ early years. Children who grow up in well-managed households, enjoy school, and have friends who stay out of trouble report fewer sexually transmitted diseases in young adulthood, according to a new analysis.
The findings, from University of Washington longitudinal surveys of nearly 2,000 participants, suggest that efforts to curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases should begin years before most people start having sex. (more…)
New Technique Targets Specific Areas of Cancer Cells with Different Drugs
Researchers have developed a technique for creating nanoparticles that carry two different cancer-killing drugs into the body and deliver those drugs to separate parts of the cancer cell where they will be most effective. The technique was developed by researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“In testing on laboratory mice, our technique resulted in significant improvement in breast cancer tumor reduction as compared to conventional treatment techniques,” says Dr. Zhen Gu, senior author of a paper on the research and an assistant professor in the joint biomedical engineering program at NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill. (more…)
Giving refuge, advancing research
Yale Stress Center head promotes healing of the body, mind, and brain
Rajita Sinha, Ph.D., says that the emotional expressiveness of the Indian classical dance studies of her youth laid the foundation for a lifelong interest in the brain-body tango that regulates mood and behavior. As an undergraduate in her native Delhi, she studied biopsychology, conducting research on the effects of marijuana and working at a counseling center. For her graduate work at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, she studied how emotion is manifested physiologically, a thread that she has carried through her subsequent work on the brain-altering effects of drugs and alcohol.
Throughout, Sinha has observed and studied how people cope with stress and with wanting—“The abundance of choices available in the world, and easy access to commodities, including drugs, challenges the body’s motivational systems in novel ways,” she says. (more…)
Genomic Detectives Crack the Case of the Missing Heritability
Despite years of research, the genetic factors behind many human diseases and characteristics remain unknown. The inability to find the complete genetic causes of family traits such as height or the risk of type 2 diabetes has been called the “missing heritability” problem.
A new study by Princeton University researchers, however, suggests that missing heritability may not be missing after all — at least not in yeast cells, which the researchers used as a model for studying the problem. Published in the journal Nature, the results suggest that heritability in humans may be hidden due only to the limitations of modern research tools, but could be discovered if scientists know where (and how) to look. (more…)
Electrically Spun Fabric Offers Dual Defense Against Pregnancy, HIV
The only way to protect against HIV and unintended pregnancy today is the condom. It’s an effective technology, but not appropriate or popular in all situations.
A University of Washington team has developed a versatile platform to simultaneously offer contraception and prevent HIV. Electrically spun cloth with nanometer-sized fibers can dissolve to release drugs, providing a platform for cheap, discrete and reversible protection. (more…)
A Woman’s Journey
You know, I never thought I wanted kids. My little brother is seven years younger than I am. My mother worked full-time and my father was mostly absent, so the child-rearing duties frequently fell to me. I was also the oldest of the cousins, who, since their parents didn’t have money for childcare, also ended up in my lap. Oh, I’m not saying I was left alone with them at the tender age of eight or so. My grandmother watched us all, taking us from house to house as she worked as a maid.
So, my grandmother worked, and I watched the kids during the summer and after school. (more…)