WALTHAM, MA – April 1, 2011 – Avila Therapeutics™, Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel targeted covalent drugs, today announced the publication of a scientific review article in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery titled "The Resurgence of Covalent Drugs" (www.nature.com/reviews/drugdisc, Vol. 10, April 2011, Singh, J.). This article discusses the broad opportunities for covalent drugs and how structural bioinformatics coupled with structure-based drug design can enable the design of highly selective covalent drugs with unique therapeutic properties for treating ...

DARIEN, IL – A study in the April 1 issue of the journal SLEEP suggests that the risk of death is more than two times higher in older adults who have sleep apnea and report struggling with excessive daytime sleepiness. Results of adjusted proportional hazards modeling show that older adults with moderate to severe sleep apnea who reported struggling with excessive daytime sleepiness at baseline were more than twice as likely to die (hazard ratio = 2.28) as subjects who had neither problem. The risk of death was insignificant in older adults with only excessive daytime ...

PHILADELPHIA — Researchers have found that it may not be necessary to look for tumors directly in patients with prostate cancer — analyzing non-tumor tissue may be an effective option, according to study results published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. "A biopsy needle does not need to hit a tumor to detect the presence of tumor," said lead researcher Dan Mercola, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of California at Irvine. "It is reminiscent of the game Battleship; we can detect ...

SEATTLE – A landmark breast health care publication reveals a multitude of barriers that keep women of developing nations from being screened and treated for breast cancer – but offers tools to help countries improve their breast care programs. "Global Breast Health Care: Optimizing Delivery in Low- and Middle-Resource Countries," published as a supplement to the April 1 edition of The Breast, compiles three consensus statements and 11 research papers that were based on projects and proposals presented last June at the Breast Health Global Initiative Global Summit on ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---The first national study of the prevalence of multiple partner fertility shows that 28 percent of all U.S. women with two or more children have children by more than one man. The study will be presented April 1 in Washington, D.C., at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America. "I was surprised at the prevalence," said demographer Cassandra Dorius, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. "Multiple partner fertility is an important part of contemporary American family life, and a key component ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---World population will reach 7 billion this year, prompting new concerns about whether the world will soon face a major population crisis. "In spite of 50 years of the fastest population growth on record, the world did remarkably well in producing enough food and reducing poverty," said University of Michigan economist David Lam, in his presidential address at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America. Lam is a professor of economics and a research professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research. The talk is titled "How the World ...

Biological invasions get less prime-time coverage than natural disasters, but may be more economically damaging and warrant corresponding investments in preparedness and response planning, according to three biologists writing in the April issue of BioScience. Anthony Ricciardi of McGill University and his coauthors point out that species invasions are becoming more frequent worldwide, largely because of international trade. Although many alien species establish themselves in a new location without causing harm, the worst biological invasions may cause multiple extinctions ...

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease thought to be related to aberrant activation of the immune system in the intestine. Recent research has also suggested that regulated cell death (apoptosis) of the intestinal epithelial cells is a contributing factor to the pathogenesis. However, the molecular mechanisms that control the cellular response to inflammation are incompletely understood. In this paper, Lin Zhang, at the University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, found that in mice, a protein called PUMA (p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis) was responsible ...

Cells control which genes they express by multiple mechanisms, one of which is the direct modification of DNA with small molecules. Methylation of genes effectively silences them, and excess DNA methylation, particularly of genes that control the cell cycle, is known to promote cancer formation. However, it is unclear whether the enzymes that modify DNA in this way target specific genes or whether random modifications select cells for enhanced tumorigenic capactiy. In new research, Rudolf Jaenisch and colleagues, at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, ...

EDITOR'S PICK Cat's out of the bag: PUMA contributes to ulcerative colitis Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease thought to be related to aberrant activation of the immune system in the intestine. Recent research has also suggested that regulated cell death (apoptosis) of the intestinal epithelial cells is a contributing factor to the pathogenesis. However, the molecular mechanisms that control the cellular response to inflammation are incompletely understood. In this paper, Lin Zhang, at the University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, found that in ...

Bombardments of 'micro-meteorites' on Earth and Mars four billion years ago may have caused the planets' climates to cool dramatically, hampering their ability to support life, according to research published today in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Scientists from Imperial College London studied the effects of the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB), a period of time in the early Solar System when meteorite showers lasting around 100 million years barraged Earth and Mars. This bombardment discharged sulphur dioxide into the upper atmospheres of both planets and ...

Leading dentists in Smyrna, Dr. James C. Pitts and Dr. Joseph M. Pitts, are pleased to introduce patients to a new avenue for communication and education through the launch of the practice's innovative website. The new informative website was created in order to enhance patient awareness of dental health care. The new website for this dentist in Smyrna offers a wide array of valuable tools and information that patients can use to better inform themselves of various dental health care topics. Patients can visit this Smyrna dentist's website via the Internet at any moment ...

Focusing on interdisciplinary research is now leading to breakthroughs in bio nanotechnology research. A new method for drug development has become a reality. Four years ago, the biologist Karen Martinez almost didn't believe in the research project herself when she started with her team working on it, but now it has been proven. Together with colleagues at the Nano-Science Center, her team has been able to combine nanoscale materials and technologies that are traditionally used for electronic devices with individual living cells. The researchers have shown that cells ...

Study shows, for the first time, the successful reprogramming of diseased human hepatocytes into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC).1 Results also found differentiation into mature hepatocytes was more efficient than that with fibroblast-derived iPSCs. The generation of diseased hepatocyte-derived human iPSC lines provides a good basis for the study of liver disease pathogenesis. Such technology could give a potentially unlimited reservoir of cells for the treatment of human liver diseases: generating genetically corrected liver cells via auto-transplantation of ...

Skilled West Orange dentist, Dr. Paul Feldman, allows patients to submit reviews of himself, his practice and his staff. The reviews are easily accessible via the practice's website and allow patients to view how other patients' experiences were. Patients can visit the website for this West Orange, NJ dentist to read reviews from previous patients who have received treatment from Dr. Feldman. "It is important that I know what my patients concerns are and what I am doing correctly. I value their opinion and the patient review section allows me to find out what they think, ...

This study establishes a unique system to perform in vivo RNAi screens for genetically dissecting the cellular signalling networks that regulate hepatocyte proliferation during chronic liver damage.1 Functional in vivo validation studies show that stable knockdown of the candidate gene by different shRNAs can significantly increase the repopulation efficiency of mouse hepatocytes and also increase the regenerative capacity of chronically damaged mouse livers. Such detailed understanding of the signalling pathways involved in hepatocyte proliferation control holds the ...

Berlin, Germany, 01 April 2011: Findings from two new studies presented today at the International Liver CongressTM confirm that there are options for clinicians to expand the pool of liver grafts for use in patients with liver disease. A UK retrospective study analysed liver transplant donation after cardiac death (DCD) between May 2001 and October 2010.1 186 DCD allografts were used for transplantation and included 19 paediatric recipients. Overall the study found positive outcomes of transplant, with an overall patient survival of 89.9%, 85.6% and 83.6% at one, three ...

Drs. Yung and Jelinek, experienced Warrenton dentists, are pleased to announce the addition of a smile gallery to their innovative website. Patients can now access pictures of previous patient's before and after treatment photos for a look at Drs. Yung and Jelinek's expertise and skillful cosmetic work. When accesses the online smile gallery, patients have the option to view before-and-after photos of procedures such as: anterior crowns, bleaching, crowns, crown replacement, implants and bridges, implants and crowns, orthodontics, and porcelain veneers. "We want our ...

Berlin, Germany, Friday 01 April 2011: Early data from phase I trials of an HCV vaccine presented today at the International Liver CongressTM show encouraging results, with high immunogenicity and good safety profile.1,2 In the first study1, a therapeutic T-cell vaccine, based on novel adenoviral vectors was used on a small population of treatment naive patients with chronic genotype 1 HCV infection. Intra-muscular vaccination was administered 2 or 14 weeks into a 48-week course of treatment with Peg-IFNa2a/ribavirin. 50% of vaccinated patients had CD4+ and CD8+ HCV specific ...

Berlin, Germany, Friday 1st April 2011: Highly anticipated data from a number of clinical trials presented for the first time at the International Liver CongressTM confirmed that a range of new proteases inhibitors will help treat patients who have previously failed therapy for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.1,2,3,4,5 The treatments have been tested for efficacy and safety in combination with PegIFN-alpha and ribavirin in patients that have previously failed treatment (either non-responder or relapse). Following different treatment and dosing, all of the trials ...

A new study presented today at the International Liver CongressTM shows a novel pathway where activated natural killer (NK) cells expressing death ligands may excessively down-modulate the antiviral immune response in chronic HBV patients.1 Blocking the TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) pathway partially reconstitutes HBV-specific T cells, suggesting that these cells are vulnerable to NK cell-mediated apoptosis through this death ligand pathway. NK cells are one of the main effectors of the innate immune response that plays a key role in containing intracellular ...

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