Scientists say they have transformed one type of cell into another in mice, a step toward the growing of replacement tissues to treat diseases.
The cell identity switch turned ordinary pancreas cells into the rarer type that churns out insulin, essential for preventing diabetes. The report was published online Wednesday by the journal Nature.
Health & Wellness
What does a company do when there's anecdotal evidence that two of its drugs are equally effective in treating a leading cause of blindness in the elderly, one costing patients $60 per treatment and the other $2,000?
In the case of Genentech Inc., nothing.
The company declined to seek federal approval for the cheaper drug, Avastin, to treat the wet form of age-related macular degeneration. Nor would it help finance -- or cooperate with -- a National Eye Institute study comparing the effectiveness and safety of Avastin, a cancer drug, and the more expensive eye drug, Lucentis.
In the case of Genentech Inc., nothing.
The company declined to seek federal approval for the cheaper drug, Avastin, to treat the wet form of age-related macular degeneration. Nor would it help finance -- or cooperate with -- a National Eye Institute study comparing the effectiveness and safety of Avastin, a cancer drug, and the more expensive eye drug, Lucentis.
Blows to the head from sports, falls, car accidents and war can cause damage inside the skull and a dizzying array of confusing symptoms that can be strangely invisible to the untrained eye.
So-called traumatic brain injury (TBI) is gaining increased attention lately, thanks to media coverage of the condition and its effects on veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In recent years, researchers have made significant progress toward identifying what is really going on inside the brain when serious injury occurs. The damage is often undetectable by standard CT scans and MRIs, but new imaging and biomarker tests as well as early-stage injection treatments could help TBI victims and hopefully lead to better public awareness about this surprisingly common disorder.
So-called traumatic brain injury (TBI) is gaining increased attention lately, thanks to media coverage of the condition and its effects on veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In recent years, researchers have made significant progress toward identifying what is really going on inside the brain when serious injury occurs. The damage is often undetectable by standard CT scans and MRIs, but new imaging and biomarker tests as well as early-stage injection treatments could help TBI victims and hopefully lead to better public awareness about this surprisingly common disorder.
Imagine I show you the word "love" and I ask you to classify it as positive or negative. You'll classify it far quicker as positive, if just beforehand I had showed you another positive word such as "honesty" - a phenomenon that's known as affective priming. Now James Blair and colleagues at the National Institute for Mental Health in America have shown that affective priming is greatly reduced in callous people who score high on psychopathy.
Annoying co-workers, deceitful colleagues and egocentric clients can make the job of the meeting professional a challenge. But nothing could be worse than dealing with a psychopath.
The word "psychopath" scares people. Psychopaths are the subjects of newspaper headlines and television crime shows - cold-blooded killers, pedophiles and ruthless con artists - people we hope to never meet in our own lives. Yet, research shows that about 1 percent of the world's population has psychopathic tendencies. The fact is that not all psychopaths are violent and dangerous; rather, the headlines that raise our awareness have skewed our understanding of who they are and what they're like. If one in 100 individuals you meet in any given day could have psychopathic tendencies, how can you tell if your colleague is a psychopath or just someone with a disagreeable personality? An important first step in defending yourself is to learn about and understand just what makes someone a psychopath.
The word "psychopath" scares people. Psychopaths are the subjects of newspaper headlines and television crime shows - cold-blooded killers, pedophiles and ruthless con artists - people we hope to never meet in our own lives. Yet, research shows that about 1 percent of the world's population has psychopathic tendencies. The fact is that not all psychopaths are violent and dangerous; rather, the headlines that raise our awareness have skewed our understanding of who they are and what they're like. If one in 100 individuals you meet in any given day could have psychopathic tendencies, how can you tell if your colleague is a psychopath or just someone with a disagreeable personality? An important first step in defending yourself is to learn about and understand just what makes someone a psychopath.
Two new studies show that migraine headaches are very common among U.S. military personnel, yet the condition is frequently underdiagnosed. The studies, appearing in Headache, the peer-reviewed journal of the American Headache Society, examine the incidence among soldiers within 10 days of returning from a 1-year combat tour in Iraq , as well as U.S. Army officer trainees.
The U.S. active-duty military population is composed chiefly of young adults, which is the age group at highest risk for migraine. However, the reported rates are higher than those of similar age and gender in the general U.S. population.
The findings show that 19 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq screened positive for migraine and an additional 17 percent screened positive for possible migraine. Soldiers with a positive migraine screen suffered a mean average of 3.1 headache days per month, headache durations of 5.2 hours and 2.4 impaired duty days per month due to headache. Soldiers with migraine contacted 3 months after returning from Iraq had a mean of 5.3 headache days per month.
The U.S. active-duty military population is composed chiefly of young adults, which is the age group at highest risk for migraine. However, the reported rates are higher than those of similar age and gender in the general U.S. population.
The findings show that 19 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq screened positive for migraine and an additional 17 percent screened positive for possible migraine. Soldiers with a positive migraine screen suffered a mean average of 3.1 headache days per month, headache durations of 5.2 hours and 2.4 impaired duty days per month due to headache. Soldiers with migraine contacted 3 months after returning from Iraq had a mean of 5.3 headache days per month.
Taking 1000mg of a specific olive leaf extract (EFLA®943) can lower cholesterol and lower blood pressure in patients with mild hypertension (high blood pressure). These findings came from a 'Twins' trial, in which different treatments were given to identical twins.
By doing this, researchers could increase the power of their data by eliminating some of the uncertainties caused by genetic variations between individual people.
Hypertension is one of the most common and important disease risk factors imposed by the modern lifestyle. Many people would therefore benefit from finding ways of reducing blood pressure. Experiments in rats had previously indicated that olive leaf extract could be one way of achieving this goal.
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| ©iStockphoto |
| A specific olive leaf extract can lower cholesterol and lower blood pressure in patients with mild hypertension (high blood pressure), a new study has found. |
By doing this, researchers could increase the power of their data by eliminating some of the uncertainties caused by genetic variations between individual people.
Hypertension is one of the most common and important disease risk factors imposed by the modern lifestyle. Many people would therefore benefit from finding ways of reducing blood pressure. Experiments in rats had previously indicated that olive leaf extract could be one way of achieving this goal.
Have you just fallen madly in love? Thus began the announcement I posted on a bulletin board for psychology students on the Stony Brook campus of the State University of New York. I had come to believe that romantic love is a universal human feeling, produced by specific chemicals and networks in the brain. But exactly which ones? Determined to shed some light on this magic, I launched a multipart project in 1996 to collect scientific data on the chemistry and brain circuitry of romantic love.
One third of the U.S. population will develop diverticulosis by age sixty. These are small pockets that can form in the colon and if infected, can lead to a more serious condition called diverticulitis.
Doctor Sapna Syngal, a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston says, "Diverticulitis is a real medical condition. It can be serious. It can lead to operations, surgery, colon perforations, even death in rare instances."
Doctor Syngal and her colleagues analyzed data from more than forty-seven thousand men. Data were compiled from questionnaires that monitored what the men ate and their medical condition every two years.
Researchers compared intake of popcorn, nuts and corn with the incidence of diverticulitis.
Doctor Syngal was surprised when the results showed, " there was no association with nut, popcorn or corn intake and the development of diverticulitis or diverticular bleeding."
Doctor Sapna Syngal, a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston says, "Diverticulitis is a real medical condition. It can be serious. It can lead to operations, surgery, colon perforations, even death in rare instances."
Doctor Syngal and her colleagues analyzed data from more than forty-seven thousand men. Data were compiled from questionnaires that monitored what the men ate and their medical condition every two years.
Researchers compared intake of popcorn, nuts and corn with the incidence of diverticulitis.
Doctor Syngal was surprised when the results showed, " there was no association with nut, popcorn or corn intake and the development of diverticulitis or diverticular bleeding."
A new study reveals part of the magic behind a diet rich in antioxidants, showing how artichokes, blueberries and pecans can hold at bay the leading cause of age-related blindness in developed countries.
Researchers at Brigham Young University and Weill Medical College of Cornell University discovered a link between two processes in the retina that, in combination, contribute to a disease called macular degeneration. They found antioxidants disrupt the link and extend the lifetime of irreplaceable photoreceptors and other retinal cells.
"The implication is that people at risk of macular degeneration could help prevent the disease by consuming antioxidants," said Heidi Vollmer-Snarr, a BYU chemist who earned a doctorate from Oxford and began work on this disease as a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia.
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| ©Brigham Young University |
Researchers at Brigham Young University and Weill Medical College of Cornell University discovered a link between two processes in the retina that, in combination, contribute to a disease called macular degeneration. They found antioxidants disrupt the link and extend the lifetime of irreplaceable photoreceptors and other retinal cells.
"The implication is that people at risk of macular degeneration could help prevent the disease by consuming antioxidants," said Heidi Vollmer-Snarr, a BYU chemist who earned a doctorate from Oxford and began work on this disease as a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia.
