An intravenous “blood thinner” widely used in patients with acute coronary syndromes and during coronary artery stent placement appears to be safe in patients with sickle cell disease and may have beneficial anti-inflammatory effects, a small study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine has found.
Through the generous philanthropic support of the Littlefield 2000 Trust, the American Association for Cancer Research is pleased to announce four recipients of the 2007 Jeannik M. Littlefield-AACR Grants for Metastatic Colon Cancer Research, totaling $2.7 million. Now in its second year, this competitive grant program supports the cutting-edge research of top scientists from around the world, working to accelerate the discovery and development of new treatments for metastatic colon cancer.
Accentia Biopharmaceuticals announces that it met with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September_26, 2007 for a scheduled pre-Investigational New Drug (pre-IND) meeting on Revimmune™. The FDA has indicated its support for Accentia to submit an IND for a pivotal Phase 3 randomized controlled, multi-center clinical trial of Revimmune, the company’s potential therapeutic for refractory, relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
High blood levels of C-reactive protein, a substance linked to inflammation, appear to be associated with an increased risk for age-related macular degeneration, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Long denigrated as vestigial or useless, the appendix now appears to have a reason to be – as a “safe house” for the beneficial bacteria living in the human gut.
Scientists have identified and described stem cells specific to several tissues and organs of the body — key master cells that give rise to the specialized cell types characteristic of that organ. But to date, it hasn’t been possible to pinpoint functioning stem cells in the stomach, either in laboratory animals or people.
Researchers in the United States and Sweden have identified a genetic region associated with increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic and debilitating inflammatory disease of the joints that affects an estimated 2.1 million Americans.
Many Americans are familiar with the E. coli bacterium. Tales of tainted spinach and recalled hamburger sending hundreds of people to the hospital are becoming an all-too-common occurrence. In 2006, three people died and hundreds more were sickened across the country after eating E. coli-contaminated spinach.
Some 20 to 40 percent of extremely premature infants suffer abnormal lung development leading to bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a chronic lung disease that can cause long-term breathing problems. Little is known about how to predict whether a premature infant will develop BPD in the weeks after birth, much less how to prevent or treat it. Now, gene-chip studies of these tiny babies’ umbilical cords provide unexpected, much-needed leads into predicting and treating this debilitating condition.
Researchers here have linked an increase in two immune system proteins essential for inflammation to a latent viral infection and proposed a chain of events that might accelerate cardiovascular disease. The same process may be involved in a host of other ailments plaguing the elderly.