Two common dietary molecules found in legumes and bran could protect DNA from the harmful effects of radiation, researchers from the University of Maryland report. Inositol and inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) protected both human skin cells and a skin cancer-prone mouse from exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation, the damaging radiation found in sunlight, the team reported today at the American Association for Cancer Research Centennial Conference on Translational Cancer Medicine.
According to the researchers, inositol and IP6 could decrease the severity of side effects from radiation therapy, saving healthy cells while simultaneously increasing the potency of the treatment against cancer cells. Both molecules are potent antioxidants, the Maryland researchers say, capable of preventing reactive molecules from injuring DNA and turning cells cancerous.
"Both of these potent antioxidants have been shown to have broad-spectrum anti-tumor capabilities, and now our studies confirm the degree to which these molecules protect against the DNA-damaging effects of ionizing radiation," said Abulkalam M. Shamsuddin, M.D., professor of pathology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "Radiation damage is radiation damage, regardless of the source, so there could also be a protective role for IP6 in any form of radiation exposure, whether it is from a therapeutic dose or from solar, cosmic or nuclear sources."
Curcumin, the yellowish component of turmeric that gives curry its flavor, has long been noted for its potential anti-cancer properties. Researchers from Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, report on an apparent improvement upon nature: two molecular analogues of curcumin that demonstrate even greater tumor suppressive properties. The team presented their findings from the first test of these molecules in a mouse model of colorectal cancer today at the American Association for Cancer Research Centennial Conference on Translational Cancer Medicine.
According to Tohoku University researcher Hiroyuki Shibata, M.D., curcumin is one of the most widely studied plant-based chemicals with anti-cancer properties. Research has associated curcumin with several distinct actions, including the suppression of genes that promote cell growth (for example, the destruction of the pro-cancerous protein â catenin), and induction of programmed cell death (apoptosis) in colorectal cancer.
The effects are all too familiar: a fancy dinner, some fine wine and then, a few hours later, a racing heart and a pounding headache. But a device developed by University of California, Berkeley, researchers could help avoid the dreaded "red wine headache."
Colleen Kimmett
The TyeeTue, 30 Oct 2007 00:40 UTC
Parents, be warned: It takes only a single visit to McDonald's for your child to get hooked on the greasy stuff for life.
Okay, so that's an exaggeration. But the three-year-old son of Angela Verbrugge still remembers his one and only meal under the golden arches. Which has Verbrugge worried.
And Kyla Epstein swears if her young son Max ever wants to eat there, he'll be doing it on his own dime.
A toddler born with eight limbs and believed by some to be the reincarnation of the multi-limbed Hindu goddess Vishnu, is set to undergo a 40-hour operation to remove half of her limbs.
Lakshmi Tatma was born joined to a 'parasitic twin' and will go under the knife at the hands of 30 surgeons to remove two of her useless arms and legs.
WASHINGTON - Bayer AG halted worldwide sales Monday of its anti-bleeding drug Trasylol at the request of U.S. and foreign health officials pending further analysis of a Canadian study that suggests it's linked to a 50 percent higher risk of death than the other drugs in the clinical trial.
Elena Neil's oldest daughter already showed symptoms of autism by the time Neil learned that Pennsylvania allowed parents to claim a religious exemption from mandatory vaccinations of their children.
Fever and rashes afflicted Gina, now 9, each time she received a vaccination, her mother said. But when Gina became reclusive and introverted after five vaccinations in one day when she was about 15 months old, Neil wondered if those treatments were causing her daughter's health problems.
Several years of naturopathic treatments have rid Gina of her neurological disorder symptoms, her mother said. Yet she is allergic to penicillin, peanuts, wheat and gluten and has asthma. Neil said she believes the vaccinations caused those maladies.
"People look at me like I'm crazy because I've never had Olivia vaccinated," Neil, 40, of Bethel Park said about her second daughter, who is 5. "But she's had nothing of what Gina has."
[Rachel's introduction: Evidence is piling up to show that many chemicals can cause serious illnesses, which then can be passed on to our children and grandchildren.]
New evidence is flooding in to suggest that many industrial chemicals are more dangerous than previously understood. During the 1990s, it came as a surprise that many industrial chemicals can interfere with the hormone systems of many species, including humans. Hormones are chemicals that circulate in the blood stream at very low levels (parts per billion, and in some cases parts per trillion), acting like switches, turning on and off bodily processes. From the moment of conception throughout the remainder of life, our growth, development and even many kinds of behavior are controlled by hormones.
It sounds like something out of a science fiction novel - people being programmed to develop obesity or diabetes 20 or 30 years before they are born, when they exist as a mere dot in their grandmother's womb.
When we think about inheritance, what usually comes to mind is the way our DNA carries information, with parents' genes affecting things like their children's eye colour, height, and intelligence.
