Women with ovarian cancer that has recurred after chemotherapy have survived for longer after treatment with a biological therapy called cediranib, according to new results to be presented today (Monday) at the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1]. Cediranib, which is taken in pill form, is an inhibitor of a cell signalling process involved in formation of tumour blood vessels, essential for tumour growth, and it is the first oral inhibitor of its kind to show an improvement in the time before patients' disease progresses and in overall survival. The drug is a ...

Many of the elite sportsmen and women who competed at the London 2012 Olympic Games had poor levels of oral health similar to those experienced by the most disadvantaged populations. 18 per cent of athletes surveyed said their oral health was having a negative impact on their performance. The research, which was led by Professor Ian Needleman at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute, is published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The researchers recruited 302 athletes to take part in the study at the Dental Clinic in the London 2012 athletes' village. The athletes ...

This news release is available in German. The harnessing of quantum phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, holds great promise for constructing future supercomputers using quantum technology. One huge advantage of such quantum computers is that they are capable of performing a variety of tasks much quicker than their conventional counterparts. The use of quantum computers for these purposes raises a significant challenge: how can one verify the results provided by a quantum computer? It is only recently that theoretical developments have provided methods ...

A zygote is the first cell of a new individual that comes about as the result of the fusion of an ovule with a spermatozoid. The DNA of the zygote holds all the information required to generate an adult organism. However, in the first stages of life, during the so-called embryogenesis, the genome of this zygote is repressed and does not exert any activity. In the fly Drosophila melanogaster, the genomes of the zygote are repressed until the thirteenth division, after which the embryo starts to express its own genes. Headed by Ferran Azorín, also CSIC Research professor, ...

A proposal for a new financing model to tackle the major disparities that exist in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and outcome of cancer in countries worldwide has been presented at the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECCO 2013). While much progress has been made against cancer over the last century, a new report brings together evidence that not every patient benefits from it, nor even has the opportunity to benefit. The economics of cancer are daunting and the current model of financing is broken, said Professor Peter Boyle, President of the International Prevention ...

New Rochelle, NY, September 30, 2013—Divorced men have higher rates of mortality, substance abuse, depression, and lack of social support, according to a new article in Journal of Men's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article provides assessment and treatment recommendations for care providers and is available free on the Journal of Men's Health website at http://www.liebertpub.com/jmh. Authors Daniel S. Felix, PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, W. David Robinson, PhD, Utah State University, Logan, and Kimberly J. Jarzynka, ...

Danish and Australian biologists have developed a technique to determine if seagrass contain sulfur. If the seagrass contains sulfur, it is an indication that the seabed is stressed and that the water environment is threatened. The technique will help biologists all over the world in their effort to save the world's seagrass meadows. Seagrass meadows, such as eelgrass or Halophila, grow along most of the world's coasts where they provide important habitats for a wide variety of life forms. However in many places seagrass meadows have been lost or seriously diminished ...

A new study by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers led by Christian Weber sheds light on the role of the adhesion molecule JAM-A in the recruitment of immune cells to the inner layer of arteries – which promotes the development of atherosclerosis. Multiphoton microscopy makes it possible to image the vessel wall (blue: collagen) and inner lining of an artery that has been subjected to atherosclerosis-promoting conditions. Staining for endothelial cells (red) and JAM-A (green) reveals the localization of JAM-A at the cell junctions and the first ...

Boosting testosterone can promote generosity, but only when there is no threat of competition, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings show that testosterone is implicated in behaviors that help to foster and maintain social relationships, indicating that its effects are more nuanced than previously thought. "Testosterone may mediate competitive and potentially antisocial behavior when social challenges or threats need to be confronted and handled," explains lead researcher Maarten ...

Chestnut Hill, MA (September 30, 2013) - It's a long held belief that parental and administrative support helps breed academic success; now there's data to back that up. A new study released today by the IEA and the TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center at Boston College examines what makes up "cultural educational excellence" while quantifying the strengths of best practices at school, and at home. "The data supports many long held beliefs about good ways of raising your children and preparing them for school," says Dr. Michael Martin of Boston College, co-executive ...

NASA's Terra satellite passed over Typhoon Wutip on its approach to a landfall in Vietnam and a visible image revealed its 10-mile-wide eye, and large extent. Wutip was making landfall near Dong Hoi Vietnam around 0900 UTC/5 a.m. EDT. On Sept. 30 at 03:35 UTC/Sept. 29 at 11:35 p.m. EDT, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite took a visible image of Typhoon Wutip, clearly showing its eye. At that time, Wutip was still approaching landfall in Vietnam and the heaviest rainfall and strongest thunderstorms ...

ITHACA, N.Y. -- A cheap and simple process using natural fibers embedded with nanoparticles can almost completely rid water of harmful textile dyes in minutes, report Cornell University and Colombian researchers who worked with native Colombian plant fibers. Dyes, such as indigo blue used to color blue jeans, threaten waterways near textile plants in South America, India and China. Such dyes are toxic, and they discolor the water, thereby reducing light to the water plants, which limits photosynthesis and lowers the oxygen in the water. The study, published in the August ...

Bethesda, MD—A group of really brainy scientists have moved closer to growing "therapeutic" brain cells in the laboratory that can be re-integrated back into patients' brains to treat a wide range of neurological conditions. According to new research published online in The FASEB Journal, brain cells from a small biopsy can be used to grow large numbers of new personalized cells that are not only "healthy," but also possess powerful attributes to preserve and protect the brain from future injury, toxins and diseases. Scientists are hopeful that ultimately these cells could ...

Tropical Depression 11 formed in the central Atlantic Ocean and NASA's TRMM satellite passed overhead and gathered information and identified a "hot tower" that indicated it would strengthen. The depression became Tropical Storm Jerry on Sept. 30 at 10:30 a.m. EDT. The eleventh Atlantic tropical depression formed around 11 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 28, about 960 miles/1,540 km east-northeast of the Leeward Islands and was moving north at 9 mph. When NASA's TRMM or Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite flew over Tropical Depression 11 on Sept. 30 at 09:28 ...

Geologists and geophysicists of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), discovered traces of large ice sheets from the Pleistocene on a seamount off the north-eastern coast of Russia. These marks confirm for the first time that within the past 800,000 years in the course of ice ages, ice sheets more than a kilometre thick also formed in the Arctic Ocean. The climate history for this part of the Arctic now needs to be rewritten, report the AWI scientists jointly with their South Korean colleagues in the title story of the current ...

More Hispanic Texans die from cancer than any other cause, according to a new report by the Comparative Effectiveness Research on Cancer in Texas research group. The report documents cancer as the leading cause of death among Hispanic Texans under the age of 76. Only three percent of Hispanic Texans are older than 75. Texas's Hispanic population has more than doubled since 1990. Texans of Hispanic ethnicity now comprise 38 percent of the state's population. The findings are published in a September 2013 special issue of the Texas Public Health Journal, available online ...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2013 – A string of fiber-optic sensors running along a 36-km stretch of high-speed commuter railroad lines connecting Hong Kong to mainland China has taken more than 10 million measurements over the past few years in a demonstration that the system can help safeguard commuter trains and freight cars against accidents. Attuned to the contact between trains and tracks, the sensors can detect potential problems like excessive vibrations, mechanical defects or speed and temperature anomalies. The system is wired to warn train operators immediately of such ...

New Rochelle, NY, September 30, 2013—Many factors can affect blood sugar control at high altitudes, and people considering a mountain journey need to understand the potential risks of the environmental extremes, extensive exercise, and dietary changes they may experience. Insulin needs may increase or decrease and individuals with poorly controlled diabetes are especially at risk for hypothermia, frostbite, and dehydration, for example. These and other dangers are described by two doctors who have diabetes and are avid mountaineers in an article published in High Altitude ...

HOUSTON -- In the first study of its kind, Rice University scientists have used synthetic biology to study how a popular soil amendment called "biochar" can interfere with the chemical signals that some microbes use to communicate. The class of compounds studied includes those used by some plant pathogens to coordinate their attacks. Biochar is charcoal that is produced -- typically from waste wood, manure or leaves -- for use as a soil additive. Studies have found biochar can improve both the nutrient- and water-holding properties of soil, but its popularity in recent ...

Tropical Depression Sepat formed in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and NASA's Aqua satellite captured infrared data on the storm, revealing some strong thunderstorms. Tropical Depression Sepat, the twenty-first tropical depression in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, formed on Sept. 30. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Sepat on Sept. 30 at 03:23 UTC/Sept. 29 at 11:23 p.m. EDT. As Aqua passed overhead, that Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument that flies aboard Aqua looked at the storm in infrared light. The AIRS data showed some cold cloud tops of thunderstorms ...

Similar to using Python or Java to write code for a computer, chemists soon could be able to use a structured set of instructions to "program" how DNA molecules interact in a test tube or cell. A team led by the University of Washington has developed a programming language for chemistry that it hopes will streamline efforts to design a network that can guide the behavior of chemical-reaction mixtures in the same way that embedded electronic controllers guide cars, robots and other devices. In medicine, such networks could serve as "smart" drug deliverers or disease detectors ...

(TORONTO, Canada; Sept. 30, 2013) – Canada should begin screening 'Baby Boomers' for the hepatitis C virus infection, since this age group is likely the largest group to have the illness, and most don't know they have it, say a group of liver specialists in the Toronto Western Hospital Francis Family Liver Clinic. Unlike many other chronic viral infections, early treatment makes hepatitis C curable. In an article entitled, A Canadian Screening Program for hepatitis C – is Now the Time? published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) Sept. 30, 2013, by Drs. ...

TORONTO, Sept. 30, 2013—More than half the people in Ontario who reported they had major depression did not use physician-based mental health services in the following year, a new study has found. "It's concerning to us that many Ontarians with mental health needs are not accessing clinician-based care," said Katherine Smith, the lead author and epidemiologist in the Centre for Research on Inner City Health of St. Michael's Hospital. "Some people may seek non-medical types of support or care, such as clergy, alternative medicine, psychologists or social workers. But ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- UC Davis Health System researchers have identified for the first time a biological pathway that is activated when blood sugar levels are abnormally high and causes irregular heartbeats, a condition known as cardiac arrhythmia that is linked with heart failure and sudden cardiac death. Reported online today in the journal "Nature," the discovery helps explain why diabetes is a significant independent risk factor for heart disease. "The novel molecular understanding we have uncovered paves the way for new therapeutic strategies that protect the ...

The twenty-first and twenty-second tropical depressions of the northwestern Pacific Ocean formed on Sept. 30 and while one is headed to the northeast, the other is headed to the northwest. Tropical Depression 21W also known as Sepat is forecast to turn to the northeast and parallel the coast of eastern Japan, while staying far off-shore. Tropical Depression 22W, however, is taking a different route and heading to the northwest. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite gathered infrared data on Sept. 30 at 04:59 UTC/12:59 ...