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POPSWorld First: Brain Tissues from Stem Cells
continues: "In regenerative therapy, only a limited number of diseases can be cured with simple cell transplants. Transplanting tissues could raise hopes for greater functional recovery," the institute said in a statement. "Cultivated tissues are still insufficient and too small to be used to treat stroke patients. But study of in-vitro cultivation of more mature cortex tissues, such as those with six zones like in the adult human brain, will be stepped up," it said. The tissues could also serve as "a mini organ" for use in studying the cause of the Alzheimer's disease and developing vaccines, it said. Embryonic stem cells are harvested by destroying a viable embryo, a process that some people find unacceptable. Riken said cortex tissues were also obtained from "induced pluripotent stem cells," which are similar to embryonic stem cells but artificially induced, typically from adult cells such as skin cells. The research was led by Yoshiki Sasai at Riken Centre for Devel
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POPSJust What the Doctor Ordered: A Massage "When you're ill, you don't necessarily get the kind of human contact we do in our daily lives," says end-of-life-care physician Dr. Jean Kutner, who was the lead author of the study. "Most of the touch you receive is related to procedures, such as getting chemo or having blood drawn."
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POPSBreast Cancer Cells Recycle To Escape Death By Hormonal Therapy "She'll now look for ways to block macroautophagy in an animal model, including using chloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria. "We know patients can take it with few side effects," she says. If it works in animals, the drug, in combination with an antiestrogen, could move relatively quickly into human testing."
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POPSAnother Blow For Cancer Vaccines An independent committee stops a study of Cell Genesys' GVAX because more patients died with the therapy than without. Cell Genesys shares drop below $1. This is yet another blow to a field that has been beset by trouble. Still in the game: the controversial Dendreon, with another ongoing study in prostate cancer, and GlaxoSmithKline, which has a huge cancer immunotherapy effort.
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POPSScientists identify childhood cancer gene They are beginning to find genes that are believed to be involved in a number of types of cancer. The study of these genes may not only tell us how they work, but why they are there, and how they are related to some essential, and regular metabolic functions, what exactly can turn a regular/benign cell cancerous, so potential sufferers can be Identified early.
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POPSDrug tries to offset 10,000 years of evolution Gene therapies, expected some time between 2015 and 2020, promise to correct this genetic problem caused by nature, but many obese people do not want to wait. They are hoping that Nastech’s new nasal spray can provide a solution now. Within 20 to 35 minutes after taking a whiff, this new drug moves quickly through the nasal lining and into the bloodstream, sending a message to the brain that our tummy is full. So far the drug has had no negative side effects. PYY is undergoing clinical trials now, and is expected to be in drug stores by 2009 or 2010. Obesity is the 2nd leading cause of preventable death in America, so this drug offers a great chance for more people to improve their health and get ready to enjoy our “magical future”.
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POPSCan Recycling Be Used To Treat Cancer? The researchers discovered a compound, STF-62247, that was selectively toxic to RCCs deficient in VHL whereas cells with normal VHL were not affected. Treatment of RCC cells lacking functional VHL induced autophagy, a cellular recycling process that cells normally use to conserve resources during times of stress. "Increasing evidence implicates a role for autophagy in cancer, but it is not well understood how cellular and environmental cues drive autophagic cells down survival or death pathways," explains Dr. Giaccia. The researchers demonstrated that STF-62247 enhanced autophagy in VHL-deficient cells while inhibition of the autophagy pathway significantly increased the survival of VHL-deficient cells treated with STF-62247. "We have found a small molecule that selectively induces cell death in VHL-deficient cells, such as those that are found in kidney cancer. This represents a paradigm shift for targeted therapy," concludes Dr. Giaccia.
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POPSparents right in medication? it is hard to decide if it is right to let the parents decide! I think if my child was definately going to die, I would agree with these parents!
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