PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Finnish team of researchers finds a mutation in a tumor of the jaw

2014-04-24
(Press-News.org) A Finnish team of researchers was the first in the world to discover a gene mutation in ameloblastoma, which is a tumour of the jaw.

Ameloblastoma is an odontogenic tumour with a high tendency to recur after treatment. Ameloblastoma is most often found in the posterior of the lower jaw. Ameoloblastomas are treated by surgery, often resulting in tissue deficiencies in the jaws as well as loss of several teeth. A suitable drug therapy could reduce the need for surgery and the recurrence of ameloblastoma, but finding such a treatment requires a better understanding of the pathogenesis of the tumour.

Researchers have been searching for the mutation that causes ameloblastoma for decades, and this mutation has now been found in a patient living in the eastern part of Finland. The core of the team making the discovery comprises researchers of the University of Turku and the University of Eastern Finland. According to the leaders of the team, Professor of Medical Biochemistry Klaus Elenius of the University of Turku, and Professor of Oral Diagnostic Sciences Kristiina Heikinheimo of the University of Eastern Finland, the finding is a scientific breakthrough. The significance of the finding is further emphasised by the fact that it has direct implications for treatment, because a targeted drug for the mutation in question already exists. The findings were published in Journal of Pathology in March.

INFORMATION: For further information, please contact: Professor Klaus Elenius, klaele@utu.fi, tel. +35823337240

Professor Kristiina Heikinheimo, krihei@uef.fi, tel. +358505642669

Research article:

Kari J Kurppa, Javier Catón, Peter R Morgan, Ari Ristimäki, Blandine Ruhin, Jari Kellokoski Klaus Elenius and Kristiina Heikinheimo. High frequency of BRAF V600E mutations in ameloblastoma. J Pathol 2014; 232: 492–498.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Viral infections: Identifying the tell-tale patterns

2014-04-24
Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have identified the structural features that enable the innate immune system to discriminate between viral and endogenous RNAs in living cells. When viruses infect cells, they take control of cellular metabolism and hijack cellular resources for the production of viral proteins. This process is dependent on viral RNA molecules that are delivered directly to (in the case of RNA viruses) and/or newly synthesized in the host cell, and provide the blueprints for the fabrication of viral proteins by the cell's ...

How productive are the ore factories in the deep sea?

2014-04-24
About ten years after the first moon landing, scientists on earth made a discovery that proved that our home planet still holds a lot of surprises in store for us. Looking through the portholes of the submersible ALVIN near the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in 1979, American scientists saw for the first time chimneys, several meters tall, from which black water at about 300 degrees and saturated with minerals shot out. What we have found out since then: These "black smokers", also called hydrothermal vents, exist in all oceans. They occur along the boundaries of tectonic ...

HHS leaders call for expanded use of medications to combat opioid overdose epidemic

HHS leaders call for expanded use of medications to combat opioid overdose epidemic
2014-04-24
A national response to the epidemic of prescription opioid overdose deaths was outlined yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine by leaders of agencies in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The commentary calls upon health care providers to expand their use of medications to treat opioid addiction and reduce overdose deaths, and describes a number of misperceptions that have limited access to these potentially life-saving medications. The commentary also discusses how medications can be used in combination with behavior therapies to help drug users ...

Treatment for deadly yeast disease reduced to 3 days

2014-04-24
Initial treatment for a brain infection caused by fungus could now be treated in three days, rather than two weeks, due to study by University of Liverpool scientists. Cryptococcus – a form of yeast - infections are often fatal but are relatively neglected in medical research. They are found in many parts of the world, including Africa, Australasia and South East Asia and mainly affect people with weakened immune systems. This infection kills up to 700,000 people a year. The University research team has tested the effects of the most commonly used drug on Cryptococcus ...

Animals with bigger brains, broader diets have better self control

Animals with bigger brains, broader diets have better self control
2014-04-24
DURHAM, N.C. -- A new study representing the largest study of animal intelligence to-date finds that animals with bigger brains and broader diets have better self-control. Published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study is part of a long history of research aimed at understanding the animal mind. Specifically, why are some species able to do things like make and use tools, read social cues, or even understand basic math, and others aren't? Until now, most studies of animal intelligence have focused on only one or a few ...

New ultrasound device may add in detecting risk for heart attack, stroke

New ultrasound device may add in detecting risk for heart attack, stroke
2014-04-24
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a new ultrasound device that could help identify arterial plaque that is at high risk of breaking off and causing heart attack or stroke. At issue is the plaque that builds up in arteries as we age. Some types of plaque are deemed "vulnerable," meaning that they are more likely to detach from the artery wall and cause heart attack or stroke. "Existing state-of-the-art technologies are capable of determining if plaque is present in the arteries, but can't ...

New study links inflammation in those with PTSD to changes in microRNA

2014-04-24
With a new generation of military veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has become a prominent concern in American medical institutions and the culture at-large. Estimates indicate that as many as 35 percent of personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD. New research from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine is shedding light on how PTSD is linked to other diseases in fundamental and surprising ways. The rise in PTSD has implications beyond the impact of the psychiatric disorder and its ...

Your T-shirt's ringing: Telecommunications in the spaser age

Your T-shirts ringing: Telecommunications in the spaser age
2014-04-24
A new version of "spaser" technology being investigated could mean that mobile phones become so small, efficient, and flexible they could be printed on clothing. A team of researchers from Monash University's Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering (ECSE) has modelled the world's first spaser (surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) to be made completely of carbon. A spaser is effectively a nanoscale laser or nanolaser. It emits a beam of light through the vibration of free electrons, rather than the space-consuming electromagnetic ...

Protecting olive oil from counterfeiters

2014-04-24
Just a few grams of the new substance are enough to tag the entire olive oil production of Italy. If counterfeiting were suspected, the particles added at the place of origin could be extracted from the oil and analysed, enabling a definitive identification of the producer. "The method is equivalent to a label that cannot be removed," says Robert Grass, lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at ETH Zurich. The worldwide need for anti-counterfeiting labels for food is substantial. In a joint operation in December 2013 and January 2014, Interpol ...

Breast cancer replicates brain development process

2014-04-24
New research led by a scientist at the University of York reveals that a process that forms a key element in the development of the nervous system may also play a pivotal role in the spread of breast cancer. A research team, led by Dr Will Brackenbury, a Medical Research Council Fellow in the Department of Biology at York, has studied how voltage-gated sodium channels assist in the metastasis of cancerous tumours. These channels are found in the membranes of excitable cells, such as neurons, where they are involved in transmission of electrical impulses. However, the ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

A 'Rosetta Stone' for molecular systems

What goes up must come down – scientists unearth “universal thermal performance curve” that shackles evolution

Physical activity increases total daily energy use, study shows

National study finds public Montessori programs strengthens early learning outcomes -- at sharply lower costs compared to traditional preschool

National poll: 1 in 10 young children play outdoors as little as once a week

How do people learn new facts?

Exploring how storytelling strategies shape memories

How people process mental images versus real-life visuals 

Blood test could help predict blood pressure after weight loss surgery in teens

Ultra-endurance athletes test the metabolic limits of the human body

Revealing the 'carbon hoofprint' of meat consumption for American cities

Like radar, a brain wave sweeps a cortical region to read out information held in working memory

Resistance to epilepsy treatments may wane over time

Precision reprogramming: How AI tricks cancer’s toughest cells

US physician Medicare program participation and exit, 2013-2023

A direct-to-patient digital health program for lung cancer screening

Belgian scientists discover how cells protect our skin from inflammatory disease – paving the way for new treatments

Effectiveness of colchicine for the treatment of long COVID

Distance to care and telehealth abortion demand after Dobbs

Epidural electrical stimulation for functional recovery in incomplete spinal cord injury

Transformative eye research expands donor pool for corneal transplant patients

Retinal implant restores central vision in patients with advanced AMD, study co-led by Pitt investigator shows

Eye prosthesis is the first to restore sight lost to macular degeneration

Pioneering eye device restores reading vision to blind eyes

Subretinal implant partially restores vision in AMD patients

3D printed antenna arrays developed for flexible wireless systems

When is the brain like a subway station? When it’s processing many words at once

Important phenomenon discovered in the Arctic – could boost marine life

New white paper urges policymakers to modernize practice laws to unlock AI’s full potential in healthcare

Unmasking the culprits of battery failure with a graphene mesosponge

[Press-News.org] Finnish team of researchers finds a mutation in a tumor of the jaw