Health

Cancer :: Blocking cancer-causing gene improves radiation effectiveness – Jefferson researchers

Inhibiting a particular cancer-causing gene can enhance the cell-killing effects of radiation, a team of radiation oncologists and cancer biologists has found. Using a combination of zebrafish and antisense technology, they’ve shown that the drug flavopiridol works by blocking the activity of a gene, cyclin D1, which is overexpressed in about half of all breast cancers. Similar techniques in the future, the scientists say, may enable researchers to better gauge the effects of drugs.

Health :: Researchers find a reaction to spinal cord injury that speeds recovery

Neuroscientists had long believed that the only way to repair a spinal cord injury was to grow new neural connections, but researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found that, especially in young rats, powerful cells near the injury site also work overtime to restrict nerve damage and restore movement and sensation.

Prostate Cancer :: ‘Muscle’ protein drives prostate cancer

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have for the first time implicated the muscle protein myosin VI in the development of prostate cancer and its spread.

Psychology :: Social exclusion changes brain function and can lead to poor decision-making

In new research, reported in the current online issue of the journal Social Neuroscience, researchers from the University of Georgia and San Diego State University report for the first time that social exclusion actually causes changes in a person’s brain function and can lead to poor decision-making and a diminished learning ability.

Health :: Jefferson researchers find nanoparticle shows promise in reducing radiation side effects

With the help of tiny, transparent zebrafish embryos, researchers are hoping to prove that a microscopic nanoparticle can be part of a “new class of radioprotective agents” that help protect normal tissue from radiation damage just as well as standard drugs. They’ve shown that the nanoparticle, DF-1 — a soccer ball-shaped, hollow, carbon-based structure known as a fullerene — is as good as two antioxidant drugs and FDA-approved Amifostine in fending off radiation damage from normal tissue.

Gene :: Gene linked with mental illness shapes brain region

A gene variant associated with mental illness goes hand-in-hand with enlargement of a brain region that handles negative emotions, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System have found.

Stem Cell :: Plan to create human-cow embryos

Scientists from King’s submitted a licence application yesterday (6 November) to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to allow them to fuse human cells with animal eggs. If granted, the licence will boost research into some of the most debilitating and untreatable neurological diseases.