Contact: Stephanie Desmon sdesmon1@jhmi.edu 410-955-8665 Johns Hopkins Medicine Johns Hopkins researchers find, in mice, that common preservative may thwart pain and damage of peripheral neuropathy Working with cells in test tubes and in mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a chemical commonly used as a dog food preservative may prevent the kind of…
Contact: Stephanie Desmon sdesmon1@jhmi.edu 410-955-8665 Johns Hopkins Medicine Johns Hopkins researchers suggest neural stem cells may regenerate after anti-cancer treatment Scientists have long believed that healthy brain cells, once damaged by radiation designed to kill brain tumors, cannot regenerate. But new Johns Hopkins research in mice suggests that neural stem cells, the body’s source of…
Contact: Michael C. Purdy purdym@wustl.edu 314-286-0122 Washington University School of Medicine Cancer cells’ appetite for sugar may have serious consequences for immune cell function, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have learned. The scientists found that when they kept sugar away from critical immune cells called T cells, the cells no…
Contact: Lorinda Klein lorindaann.klein@nyumc.org 212-404-3533 NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine Data from nearly 3,000 children shows dietary exposure to certain plastics may play a hidden role in epidemic increases in childhood hypertension NEW YORK, May 22, 2013. Plastic additives known as phthalates (pronounced THAL-ates) are odorless, colorless and just…
Contact: Karen Richardson krchrdsn@wakehealth.edu 336-716-4453 Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Researchers are first to use common virus to ‘fortify’ adult stem cells Potential uses of engineered cells include organ transplant and brain injury WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – April 1, 2013 – Using the same strategy that a common virus employs to evade the human immune system,…
March 7, 2013 By Julia Evangelou Strait Joshua L. Hood, MD, PhD Nanoparticles (purple) carrying melittin (green) fuse with HIV (small circles with spiked outer ring), destroying the virus’s protective envelope. Molecular bumpers (small red ovals) prevent the nanoparticles from harming the body’s normal cells, which are much larger in size. Article Body 2010…
UT MD Anderson scientists find common vaccine ingredient diverts T cells from tumors HOUSTON – Cancer vaccines that attempt to stimulate an immune system assault fail because the killer T cells aimed at tumors instead find the vaccination site a more inviting target, scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report…
February 12, 2013 By Julia Evangelou Strait Chang Yang, MD, PhD Investigational cancer drugs, IAP antagonists, may increase the risk of tumors spreading to bone. Tumors often cause bone loss, but IAP antagonist treatment accelerates the problem. Cancer drugs should kill tumors, not encourage their spread. But new evidence suggests that an otherwise promising…
Contact: Mount Sinai Press Office newsmedia@mssm.edu 212-241-9200 The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine Discovery provides new targets for antiviral drugs and vaccine designs Scientists have discovered that that the flu virus can essentially tell time, thereby giving scientists the ability to reset the virus’ clock and combat it in more effective…
Contact: Nick Miller nicholas.miller@cchmc.org 513-803-6035 Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Contact: Jason Bardi jason.bardi@ucsf.edu 415-502-4608 University of California, San Francisco CINCINNATI – New research in Nature concludes the eye – which depends on light to see – also needs light to develop normally during pregnancy. Scientists say the unexpected finding offers a new basic understanding…
Contact: Teresa Herbert teresa_herbert@dfci.harvard.edu 617-632-4090 Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Perceived reduction in penis size linked to regrets of treatment choice BOSTON – A small percentage of men in a prostate cancer study complained that their penis seemed shorter following treatment, with some saying that it interfered with intimate relationships and caused them to regret the type…
Contact: Kim Irwin kirwin@mednet.ucla.edu 310-206-2805 University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences Natural compound blocks hepatitis C infection Finding may lead to a new treatment Researchers have identified two cellular proteins that are important factors in hepatitis C virus infection, a finding that may result in the approval of new and less toxic treatments…
2009 study posted for filing Contact: Shannon Koontz shkoontz@wfubmc.edu 336-716-2415 Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A popular stomach-acid reducer used to prevent stress ulcers in critically ill patients needing breathing machine support increases the risk of those patients contracting pneumonia threefold, according to researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Hospital-acquired…
Finding may lead to a new treatment Researchers have identified two cellular proteins that are important factors in hepatitis C virus infection, a finding that may result in the approval of new and less toxic treatments for the disease, which can lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis. An estimated 270 to 300 million people worldwide…
Contact: Kim Irwin kirwin@mednet.ucla.edu310-206-2805 University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences Pancreatic cancers use the sugar fructose, very common in the Western diet, to activate a key cellular pathway that drives cell division, helping the cancer to grow more quickly, a study by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has found. Although it’s…
