CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Bacillus anthracis bacteria have very efficient machinery for injecting toxic proteins into cells, leading to the potentially deadly infection known as anthrax. A team of MIT researchers has now hijacked that delivery system for a different purpose: administering cancer drugs. "Anthrax toxin is a professional at delivering large enzymes into cells," says Bradley Pentelute, the Pfizer-Laubauch Career Development Assistant Professor of Chemistry at MIT. "We wondered if we could render anthrax toxin nontoxic, and use it as a platform to deliver antibody ...

Geographers at the University of Southampton have developed a new way to measure the 'health' of poor regional communities. They aim to improve the wellbeing of people by guiding sustainable development practices to help avoid social and environmental collapse. The researchers have pioneered a methodology that examines the balance between factors such as; standards of living, natural resources, agriculture, industry and the economy. The results help identify critical limits, beyond which regions risk tipping into ecological and social downturn, or even collapse. The ...

Experts at LSTM have used a novel modelling approach to project the effects of new diagnostic methods and algorithms for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) recently endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), looking at the patient, health system and population perspective in Tanzania. In a paper published in the journal The Lancet Global Health, LSTM's Ivor Langley and Professor Bertie Squire worked with colleagues from the Institute of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine, National Taiwan University; National Tuberculosis and leprosy Programme, Tanzania; Department ...

High levels of calcium in blood, a condition known as hypercalcaemia, can be used by GPs as an early indication of certain types of cancer, according to a study by researchers from the universities of Bristol and Exeter. Hypercalcaemia is the most common metabolic disorder associated with cancer, occurring in 10 to 20 per cent of people with cancer. While its connection to cancer is well known, this study has, for the first time, shown that often it can predate the diagnosis of cancer in primary care. A simple blood test could identify those with hypercalcaemia, prompting ...

TORONTO, September 25, 2014 – Perfectionism is a bigger risk factor in suicide than we may think, says York University Psychology Professor Gordon Flett, calling for closer attention to its potential destructiveness, adding that clinical guidelines should include perfectionism as a separate factor for suicide risk assessment and intervention. "There is an urgent need for looking at perfectionism with a person-centred approach as an individual and societal risk factor, when formulating clinical guidelines for suicide risk assessment and intervention, as well as public ...

The traditional understanding in neuroscience is that tactile sensations from the skin are only assembled to form a complete experience in the cerebral cortex, the most advanced part of the brain. However, this is challenged by new research findings from Lund University in Sweden that suggest both that other levels in the brain play a greater role than previously thought, and that a larger proportion of the brain's different structures are involved in the perception of touch. "It was believed that a tactile sensation, such as touching a simple object, only activated a ...

DALLAS – Sept. 25, 2014 – Patients who lost more than 100 pounds and those who shed weight through bariatric surgery had the highest risk of complications from later surgical procedures to reshape their leaner bodies, a new study from UT Southwestern Medical Center shows. The study, published in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal, compared surgical complication outcomes for 450 patients who underwent body contouring, a type of surgery to remove excess sagging fat and skin to improve body shape. "This is one of the first large-scale studies comparing outcomes in patients ...

All bird migrations are fraught with danger – from the risk of not finding enough food, to facing stormy weather, and most importantly – trying not to be eaten along the way. Raptors such as peregrine falcons (see picture) are the main predators of migratory birds, and huge flocks of congregating shorebirds can be easy pickings. In a paper, just published in Animal Migration, an open access journal by De Gruyter Open, Dr. Sarah Jamieson and her colleagues provide new evidence that shorebird species can adopt substantially different ways of dealing with this predation pressure. It ...

This news release is available in German. The immune system functions as the body's police force, protecting it from intruders like bacteria and viruses. However, in order to ascertain what is happening in the cell it requires information on the foreign invaders. This task is assumed by so-called immunoproteasomes. These are cylindrical protein complexes that break down the protein structures of the intruders into fragments that can be used by the defense system. "In autoimmune disorders like rheumatism, type 1 diabetes or multiple sclerosis as well as severe ...

Scientists have developed an approach to creating treatments for osteoporosis and autoimmune diseases that may avoid the risk of infection and cancer posed by some current medications. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis redesigned a molecule that controls immune cell activity, changing the molecule's target and altering the effects of the signal it sends. Current treatments for bone loss and autoimmune disorders block these molecules and their signals indiscriminately, which over time increases the risk of infections and cancer. The ...

A Virginia Tech geobiologist with collaborators from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found evidence in the fossil record that complex multicellularity appeared in living things about 600 million years ago – nearly 60 million years before skeletal animals appeared during a huge growth spurt of new life on Earth known as the Cambrian Explosion. The discovery published online Wednesday in the journal Nature contradicts several longstanding interpretations of multicellular fossils from at least 600 million years ago. "This opens up a new door for us to shine some light ...

DENVER – The recent launch of two clinical trials offer innovative study designs for patients with lung cancer. These clinical trials are the direct result of a National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored workshop chaired by Drs. Fred R. Hirsch, Shakun Malik and Claudio Dansky- Ullman, that brought together the NCI Thoracic Malignancies Steering Committee, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), academicians, clinicians as well as industry and government stakeholders to discuss issues and challenges related to clinical trial design and biomarkers for lung cancer targeted-therapies. The ...

An anti-inflammatory treatment, studied in the labs of regenerative medicine specialists and trauma surgeons, may prevent what's become one of the war-defining injuries for today's troops. Those burned by high-velocity explosive devices are at-risk for heterotopic ossification (HO), in which bone develops in places it shouldn't be, outside the skeleton, in joints, muscles and tendons. The painful condition can make it difficult to move and function and commonly affects patients who suffer burns, automobile accidents, orthopedic surgery and blast injuries and other combat ...

ANN ARBOR—In a step that could lead to longer battery life in smartphones and lower power consumption for large-screen televisions, researchers at the University of Michigan have extended the lifetime of blue organic light emitting diodes by a factor of 10. Blue OLEDs are one of a trio of colors used in OLED displays such as smartphone screens and high-end TVs. The improvement means that the efficiencies of blue OLEDs in these devices could jump from about 5 percent to 20 percent or better in the near future. OLEDs are the latest and greatest in television technology, ...

Land-ice decay at the end of the last five ice-ages caused global sea-levels to rise at rates of up to 5.5 metres per century, according to a new study. An international team of researchers developed a 500,000-year record of sea-level variability, to provide the first account of how quickly sea-level changed during the last five ice-age cycles. The results, published in the latest issue of Nature Communications, also found that more than 100 smaller events of sea-level rise took place in between the five major events. Dr Katharine Grant, from the Australian National ...

Immune cells may be responsible for drug resistance in melanoma patients, according to research published in Cancer Discovery. Cancer Research UK scientists at The University of Manchester found that chemical signals produced by a type of immune cell, called macrophages, also act as a survival signal for melanoma cells. When the researchers blocked the macrophages' ability to make this signal - called TNF alpha - melanoma tumours were much smaller and easier to treat. When melanoma patients are given chemotherapy or radiotherapy it causes inflammation, increasing ...

People with lower incomes attempting to quit smoking are 36% more likely to succeed if they use a new interactive website called 'StopAdvisor' than if they use a static information website, finds a randomised controlled trial led by UCL researchers. The trial was funded by the National Prevention Research Initiative, a consortium of 16 UK health research funders. A total of 4,613 smokers took part in the study, of whom 2,142 were classified into a 'lower income' group who had never worked, were long term unemployed or from routine or manual occupations (lower socioeconomic ...

Overall weight gain during adulthood is known to be a risk factor for breast cancer, but a thickening waist seems to be particularly harmful, indicating the importance of staving off a midriff bulge, the research shows. The researchers base their findings on almost 93,000 women taking part in the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) in England. The women were all aged over 50, had gone through the menopause, and had no known breast cancer when they entered the study between 2005 and 2010. At enrolment they provided detailed information on height ...

People working for more than 55 hours per week doing manual work or other low socioeconomic status jobs have a 30% greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to the largest study in this field so far, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Mika Kivimäki, Professor of Epidemiology at University College London, UK, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual-level data examining the effects of long working hours on type 2 diabetes up to 30 April 2014. Analysis of data from 4 published ...

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. While many lines of evidence suggest that stroke risk is heritable, only a small number of genes associated with stroke have been identified. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation identifies two genes that underlie cerebral small-vessel disease (CSVD), a risk factor for stroke. Ordan Lehmann and colleagues at the University of Alberta analyzed genome-wide association data from individuals that received brain MRI scans as part of the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) ...

Within the first 5 years after the birth of a child, women are at an increased risk of developing metastatic breast cancer. Women diagnosed with postpartum breast cancer have a decreased disease free survival time compared to women that have never given birth. The aggressive tendency of postpartum breast cancer suggests that the post-birth breast environment promotes tumor metastasis. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggests that dying tumor cells in postpartum breast tissue promote metastatic disease. Rachel Cook and colleagues at Vanderbilt University ...

MINNEAPOLIS – New research suggests that people without dementia who begin reporting memory issues may be more likely to develop dementia later, even if they have no clinical signs of the disease. The study is published in the September 24, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "What's notable about our study is the time it took for this transition to dementia or clinical impairment to occur—about 12 years for dementia and nine years for clinical impairment—after the memory complaints began," said study author Richard ...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 24, 2014) -- New research by scientists at the University of Kentucky's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging suggests that people who notice their memory is slipping may be on to something. The research, led by Richard Kryscio, PhD, Chairman of the Department of of Biostatistics and Associate Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center at the University of Kentucky, appears to confirm that self-reported memory complaints are strong predictors of clinical memory impairment later in life. Kryscio and his group asked 531 people with an average age of 73 ...

Bottom Line: A treatment designed to help older individuals deal with complicated grief (CG) after the loss of a loved one appeared to be more effective than using a treatment designed for depression. Authors: M. Katherine Shear, M.D., of the Columbia University School of Social Work, New York, and colleagues. Background: About 9 percent of bereaved older women experience CG, a serious and debilitating mental health problem associated with functional impairment and increased suicidality. The symptoms can include prolonged grief, frequent thoughts and memories of the ...

Two different family-based therapies are both effective at combating anorexia nervosa in teenagers, according to the largest study ever to compare two such treatments for the life-threatening eating disorder. The findings, from a multisite study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, add to a growing body of evidence supporting the value of parents' involvement in anorexia treatment. The results, which will be published Sept. 24 in JAMA Psychiatry, follow prior Stanford research that found a family-based approach was twice as effective as ...