Medical News

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“Biofuel” is a global buzzword, with cars and trucks powered by fuel made from corn, switchgrass and waste cooking oil, envisioned as a way to stretch out supplies of crude oil and cope with global warming. A symposium being held here today at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society considers: What are the health and environmental effects of alternative fuels, and how do they compare with conventional fuels?

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With the “Valley of Death” looming as an increasingly serious obstacle to introducing better ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases, a noted scientist today described a new approach for moving promising drug compounds out of laboratories and into the hands of patients and physicians. He spoke at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, being held here this week.

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In an advance in determining the role of environmental agents in causing cancer, scientists described discovery of a long-sought way to use biopsy samples from cancer patients to check on human exposure to substances that damage the genetic material DNA in ways that can cause cancer. Their report on the method, which taps into a treasure trove of information left by biopsy patients, was part of the 246th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

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An ingredient in a medicinal tea brewed from tree bark by tribal healers on the South Pacific island of Samoa — studied by scientists over the last 25 years — is showing significant promise as a drug lead in the long-sought goal of eliminating the AIDS virus from its sanctuaries in the body and thus eradicating the disease, a scientist said here today.

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Electronic sutures that monitor surgical incisions for healing and infection. Electronic films that cling to the heart, monitoring the heartbeat and alerting the patient and cardiologist when medical attention is needed. Flexible plastic electronic appliques that stick to the skin like temporary tattoos and monitor hydration in athletes. Those and other futuristic advances are on the agenda here today at a symposium during the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

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How will emerging 21st century toxicity testing technologies impact agricultural products?  How do they fit in the life cycle of discovery, regulatory registration and product defense or product stewardship? What’s the outlook for improved, science-informed hazard prediction and risk assessment? Those and other topics are on the agenda here today at a symposium during the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

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Millions of people who are obese and smoke tobacco may face additional health problems — including their responses to common prescription medicines — that extend beyond the well-known links with cancer, heart attacks and stroke, according to a report presented here today at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. The risks may extend to non-smokers who inhale smoke from cigarettes smouldering nearby.

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How many breakthrough new drugs never reach patients because tests in clinical trials suggested a high risk of liver damage when the drug actually was quite safe? That question underpins major international research efforts to modernize tests for drug-induced liver injury, mentioned here today at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

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A revolutionary new solar energy technology that turns water into steam without boiling the entire container of water has become the basis for new devices to sanitize medical and dental instruments and human waste in developing countries, scientists said here today. Prototypes of the devices, which need no electricity or fuel, were the topic of one of the keynote addresses at the opening of the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

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The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the four institutions awarded transition-to-scale grants (up to $2 million for four years) for the development of a low-cost paper-based urine test for early diagnosis of preeclampsia to reduce preeclampsia-related morbidity and mortality in resource-limited areas. This project is a multidisciplinary team effort led by Irina Buhimschi, MD, director of the Center for Perinatal Research at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s and a professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

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Vanderbilt has added genetic screening for the drug tacrolimus to its personalize medicine pharmacogenomics program PREDICT. The new drug screening protocol was added following data that shows a single genetic variation largely impacts different dose requirements for patients.

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CA-125, the protein long-recognized for predicting ovarian cancer recurrence, now shows promise as a screening tool for early-stage disease by evaluating its change over time , according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

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Readmission rates of adult patients to the same hospital within 30 days are an area of national focus and a potential indicator of clinical failure and unnecessary expenditures. 

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While it’s rare for a parent to fabricate an illness in their child, a McMaster University researcher says physicians and other health professionals need to be on the alert for this form of child abuse.

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The same protein tells beta cells in the pancreas to stop making insulin and then to self-destruct as diabetes worsens, according to a University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) study published online today in the journal Nature Medicine.

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A new genome-wide association study (GWAS) estimates the number of different places in the human genome that are involved in schizophrenia. In particular, the study identifies 22 locations, including 13 that are newly discovered, that are believed to play a role in causing schizophrenia.

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Stem cell scientists at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have discovered the gene GATA3 has a role in how blood stem cells renew themselves, a finding that advances the quest to expand these cells in the lab for clinical use in bone marrow transplantation, a procedure that saves thousands of lives every year.

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Of the over 1,900 errors already reported in the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis (CF), it is unclear how many of them actually contribute to the inherited disease. Now a team of researchers reports significant headway in figuring out which mutations are benign and which are deleterious, accounting for 95 percent of the variations found in patients with CF.

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Scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy have discovered a new role for nitric oxide, a gas molecule crucial for cellular signaling and health.

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The University of Utah on Friday, Aug. 23, 2013, broke ground on the $36.4 million Ray and Tye Noorda Oral Health Education Building, which when completed in December 2014 will house the University’s new School of Dentistry.

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The American Thoracic Society welcomes today’s release by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of a proposed lower standard for crystalline silica exposure.

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A $1.3 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke could help Houston Methodist scientists better understand how the body's own immune system drives multiple sclerosis.

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A new study has revealed marked differences in the genomic terrain of the two most common types of cervical cancer, suggesting that patients might benefit from therapies geared to each type’s molecular idiosyncrasies.

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Researchers at the University of Adelaide have discovered that the way the gut "tastes" sweet food may be defective in sufferers of type 2 diabetes, leading to problems with glucose uptake.

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A drug used to treat blood cancers may also stop the spread of invasive breast cancer, researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida have discovered.

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Mayo Clinic in Arizona, with one of the most active bone marrow transplant programs in United States, will open its own stem cell laboratory in summer 2014. The laboratory will be initially dedicated to storing and processing stem cells used for bone marrow transplants at Mayo Clinic Hospital and Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

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Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a way that corrupted, disease-causing proteins spread in the brain, potentially contributing to Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other brain-damaging disorders.

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• Variants in the gene that encodes ABIN1—which is involved in the control of inflammation—are linked with an increased risk for kidney complications in patients with lupus. • The finding may point to improved treatments for kidney complications in patients with the disease.