Bladder cancer represents a serious public health problem in many countries, especially in Spain, where 11,200 new cases are recorded every year, one of the highest rates in the world. The majority of these tumours have a good prognosis -- 70-80% five-year survival after diagnosis -- and they do not infiltrate the bladder muscle at the time of diagnosis -- in around 80% of cases. Despite this, many of the tumours recur, requiring periodic cytoscopic tumour surveillance. This type of follow-up affects patients' quality of life, at the same time as incurring significant ...

Overweight adolescents were twice as likely as their normal weight peers to later develop esophageal cancer in a recent study from Israel. The study, which is published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, also found that lower socioeconomic status as well as immigration from higher risk countries were important determinants of gastric cancer. Zohar Levi, MD, MHA, of the Rabin Medical Center in Israel, and his colleagues measured body mass index in one million Israeli adolescent males who underwent a general health examination ...

Researchers from UCL have found that children with irregular bedtimes are more likely to have behavioural difficulties. The study, which is published in the journal Pediatrics, found that irregular bedtimes could disrupt natural body rhythms and cause sleep deprivation, undermining brain maturation and the ability to regulate certain behaviours. Professor Yvonne Kelly (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health), said: "Not having fixed bedtimes, accompanied by a constant sense of flux, induces a state of body and mind akin to jet lag and this matters for healthy development ...

Children who undergo transplants of solid organs have a high risk of developing advanced kidney disease, according to a new national study. Among these children, the highest risk is in those receiving lung or intestinal transplants, followed by heart and then liver transplants. The researchers say their findings reinforce the importance of continued screening of kidney function in pediatric transplant recipients. "We found that the risk patterns for kidney disease are different among patients who receive solid-organ transplants as children, compared to adult transplant ...

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have succeeded in making flattened, football-shaped artificial particles that impersonate immune cells. These football-shaped particles seem to be better than the typical basketball-shaped particles at teaching immune cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells in mice. "The shape of the particles really seems to matter because the stretched, ellipsoidal particles we made performed much better than spherical ones in activating the immune system and reducing the animals' tumors," according to Jordan Green, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical ...

An important step in building ribosomes – the cell's protein factories – is like a strictly choreographed dance, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have discovered. To build these factories, other 'machines' inside the cell have to produce specific RNA molecules and fold them into the right shape, then combine the folded RNA with proteins to form a working ribosome. Like a budding origami artist pencilling in the folds, the cell uses tags called methyl groups to help mark where and how an RNA molecule should be folded. ...

This news release is available in Spanish. Madrid, Spain – 13 October 2013: Psychological interventions halve deaths and cardiovascular events in heart disease patients, according to research from Athens, Greece, presented at the Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2013. The Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2013 is the annual meeting of the Acute Cardiovascular Care Association (ACCA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). It takes place 12-14 October in Madrid, Spain. Dr Zoi Aggelopoulou, a nurse and one of the study authors, said: "The nurses on our coronary ...

This news release is available in Spanish. Madrid, Spain – 12 October 2013: System delay in treating patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) postpones their return to work and increases early retirement, according to research presented at the Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2013 by Kristina Laut, PhD student from Aarhus, Denmark. The Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2013 is the annual meeting of the Acute Cardiovascular Care Association (ACCA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and is held 12-14 October in Madrid, Spain. Ms Laut said: "System ...

Drug abuse and alcohol are some of the most frequent causes of liver damage, particularly in developed countries. Such kind of liver damage can cause irreversible liver failure and even cancer. Researchers from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have discovered an important new protective role of the Fra-1 protein, which neutralizes the damage caused by agents, such as the analgesic drug acetaminophen (Paracetamol). This is the first study to reveal a function of Fra-1 in protecting this important organ. The study is published today in the journal Hepatology. The ...

A simple change -- switching on captions -- can make a big difference when students watch educational videos, an SF State professor has discovered. Robert Keith Collins, an assistant professor of American Indian studies, found that students' test scores and comprehension improved dramatically when captions were used while watching videos. The tool is often utilized for students with learning disabilities, but Collins says his results show captions can be beneficial to all students. Collins developed the idea while he was a member of a faculty learning committee focused ...

American Chemical Society President Marinda Li Wu, Ph.D., said the budget impasse is effectively choking America's science innovation pipeline, strangling new discoveries, future economic growth and job creation. As a result of the shutdown, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will issue no new grants or cooperative agreements for innovative scientific research, and no continuing grant increments for existing projects will be provided, effectively suspending or completely halting critical research efforts. NSF recalled scientists from the U.S. Antarctic Research Stations ...

Development of a vaccine against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has taken a step forward with the Canadian discovery of how EBV infection evades detection by the immune system. EBV causes infectious mononucleosis and cancers such as Hodgkin's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which is the most common cancer in China, as well as opportunistic cancers in people with weakened immune systems. A member of the herpes virus family that remains in the body for life, the virus infects epithelial cells in the throat and immune cells called B cells. The researchers discovered ...

BOSTON—A protein that is increased by endurance exercise has been isolated and given to non-exercising mice, in which it turned on genes that promote brain health and encourage the growth of new nerves involved in learning and memory, report scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. The findings, reported in the journal Cell Metabolism, help explain the well-known capacity of endurance exercise to improve cognitive function, particularly in older people. If the protein can be made in a stable form and developed into a drug, it might lead ...

New research from the University of California, Davis, shows that the tiny proportion of a cell's DNA that is located outside the cell nucleus has a disproportionately large effect on a cell's metabolism. The work, with the model plant Arabidopsis, may have implications for future treatments for inherited diseases in humans. Plant and animal cells carry most of their genes on chromosomes in the nucleus, separated from the rest of the cell. However, they also contain a small number of genes in organelles that lie outside the nucleus. These are the mitochondria, which generate ...

Washington, DC (October 10, 2013) — Behavioral therapy provided chair-side to kidney failure patients while they're undergoing dialysis may help fight depression and improve patients' quality of life, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). Thanks to advances in medical technology, dialysis patients have the potential to live longer and healthier lives than ever before, but depression is a serious and prevalent problem among them. In addition to taking a toll on individuals' emotional health, depression ...

Unlike our bones, the cartilage inside our joints is not vascularized (i.e., it has no blood vessels). This is one reason why cartilage does not heal well after an injury. In athletes in particular, joint injuries often result in cartilage degeneration and arthritis. The process is chronic and irreversible, and to this day, no effective treatment exists. EPFL scientists Dominique Pioletti and Harm-Anton Klok have developed a hydrogel that promotes cartilage regeneration. In a joint, cartilage-producing cells only respond to treatment if they are mechanically stimulated ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Oct. 11, 2013) -- A thorough examination of tiny crystals of zircon, a mineral found in rhyolites, an igneous rock, from the Snake River Plain has solidified evidence for a new way of looking at the life cycle of super-volcanic eruptions in the long track of the Yellowstone hotspot, say University of Oregon scientists. The pattern emerging from new and previous research completed in the last five years under a National Science Foundation career award, said UO geologist Ilya N. Bindeman, is that another super-eruption from the still-alive Yellowstone volcanic ...

The way cells divide to form new cells — to support growth, to repair damaged tissues, or simply to maintain our healthy adult functioning — is controlled in previously unsuspected ways UC San Francisco researchers have discovered. The findings, they said, may lead to new ways to fight cancer. The steps leading a quiet cell to make and divvy up new parts to form daughter cells rely on some of the cell’s most complex molecular machines. Different machines play key roles at different stages of this cell cycle. Each of these cellular machines consists of many proteins ...

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (Oct. 11, 2013) – Chemists at Boston College have achieved a series of breakthroughs in their efforts to develop an economical means of harnessing artificial photosynthesis by narrowing the voltage gap between the two crucial processes of oxidation and reduction, according to their latest research, published this week in the journal Angewandte Chemie. The team reports it has come within two-tenths of the photovoltage required to mimic oxidation and reduction respectively using unique photoanodes and photocathodes the team developed using novel nanowire ...

One of the ways to achieve thermonuclear fusion is through a controlled reaction between two light variants of hydrogen, called deuterium and tritium. Mauro Temporal, from the École Normale Supérieure Cachan, in France, and colleagues have made theoretical calculations indicating how best to improve the ignition stage of fusion reaction. Their approach, described in a paper published in EPJ D, involves increasing the uniformity of irradiation using high-power laser beams on the external shell of a spherical capsule containing a mix of deuterium and tritium. Reaching ...

Polymers -- the essential component of plastics -- are found in countless commercial, medical, and industrial products. Polymers that are porous are called foam polymers and are especially useful because they combine light weight with rigid mechanical properties. Now a researcher at the University of Rochester has developed a process to grow highly customizable coatings of foam-like polymers. The process, developed by Mitchell Anthamatten, a chemical engineer at the University's Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Science, involves growing foam polymers directly from ...

Drug abuse and alcohol are some of the most frequent causes of liver damage, particularly in developed countries. Such kind of liver damage can cause irreversible liver failure and even cancer. Researchers from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have discovered an important new protective role of the Fra-1 protein, which neutralizes the damage caused by agents, such as the analgesic drug acetaminophen (Paracetamol). This is the first study to reveal a function of Fra-1 in protecting this important organ. The study is published today in the journal Hepatology. The ...

Badgers are ultimately responsible for roughly half of tuberculosis (TB) in cattle in areas with high TB prevalence, according to new estimates based on data from a previous badger culling trial. However, only around six per cent of infected cattle catch TB from badgers, with onward transmission between cattle herds accounting for the remainder, the study suggests. The findings are published in the journal PLOS Currents: Outbreaks. The role of badgers in spreading bovine TB has been debated intensely as part of discussions about whether badgers should be culled to control ...

Conventional chemotherapy could further extend life in some women with ovarian cancer when used in tandem with a new type of targeted treatment, a new international study shows. The research, published in the October issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research, provides important evidence that PARP inhibitor drugs and chemotherapy can both be effective in the same patients, helping women live longer than they would if treated with chemotherapy alone. The study, in women with mutations to BRCA genes – which increase the risk that ovarian cancer will relapse after treatment, ...

Stem cell therapy for heart disease is happening. Around the world, thousands of heart disease patients have been treated in clinical studies with some form of bone marrow cells or stem cells. But in many of those studies, the actual impact on heart function was modest or inconsistent. One reason is that most of the cells either don't stay in the heart or die soon after being introduced into the body. Cardiology researchers at Emory have a solution for this problem. The researchers package stem cells in a capsule made of alginate, a gel-like substance. Once packaged, ...