Archive News

A two-drug combination destroys precancerous colon polyps with no effect on normal tissue, opening a new potential avenue for chemoprevention of colon cancer, according to a team of scientists at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and INCELL Corporation. The drug regimen, tested so far in mouse models and on human colon cancer tissue in the laboratory, appears to address a problem with chemopreventive drugs--they must be taken continuously long term to be effective, exposing patients to possible side effects, said senior author...

Scientists at the University of Hawaii have discovered the first-ever species of insect that are able to survive an entire life stage spent both above and below the water’s surface. In mountain streams across the islands of Hawaii, the researchers observed the larvae (caterpillars) of the moth genus Hyposmocoma feeding and breathing both underwater and away from streams on dry rocks. The scientists said that the caterpillars can breathe and feed indefinitely and equally well both above and below the water’s surface, and can mature either submer...

New results indicate that targeting a specific microRNA (miR-210) with a drug that could be used topically on the skin might offer new strategies for treating chronic wounds, which are sometimes fatal and cost the U.S. health-care system an estimated $25 billion annually. Ohio State University researchers have discovered, in a new animal study, that the presence of miR-210 in wounds with limited blood flow lowers the production of a protein (E2F3) that is needed to encourage skin cells to grow and close over the wound. In a parallel experiment ...

"Personalized Medicine 3.0--Targeting Cancer" is a one-day conference and networking opportunity for health and industry professionals, educators, and scientists. The conference will focus on cancer--using genomic information to characterize tumors precisely and ensure the use of the most effective treatment regimens for individual patients with the fewest side effects. The organizers note that personalized medicine is poised to transform healthcare over the next several decades, and that it offers both the possibility of improved health outcom...

In a mouse model, scientists have discovered that alpha-cells in the pancreas, which do not produce insulin, can convert into insulin-producing beta-cells, advancing the prospect of regenerating beta-cells as a cure for type 1 diabetes. The research team, led by senior author Dr. Pedro L. Herrera of the University of Geneva, demonstrated that beta-cells will spontaneously regenerate after near-total beta-cell destruction in mice and the majority of the regenerated beta-cells are derived from alpha-cells that had been reprogrammed, or converted,...