A study of 2,519 Kenyan men conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina revealed that infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV) was associated with a higher subsequent risk of infection with HIV, a precursor to AIDS.
The development of a probe to measure the body’s immune function could lead to more accurate, individualized doses for cancer patients prescribed nanoparticle-based drugs, according to research conducted at the University of North Carolina.
Women who are obese face an increased risk of developing an aggressive sub-type of breast cancer known as ‘basal-like’, according to research conducted at the University of North Carolina.
When celebrities battle cancer, their stories make headlines around the world. Whether announcing their prognosis, seeking treatment or losing their battle, celebrities faced with cancer have a profound impact on the public – one that leads to increased interest in cancer information and screening, according to research by the University of North Carolina.
Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) provides tremendous promise for cancer patients through its ability to destroy tumor cells while protecting surrounding healthy tissue. Yet research into its clinical use has been limited by the sheer size of the technology required to generate the beams. Until now, administering MRT required massive electron accelerators known as synchrotrons. But with a new microbeam emitter developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the technology has been scaled down, opening the doors for clinical research.
Only half of the men who receive a prostate cancer diagnosis in North Carolina consult with more than one type of physician before deciding on a course of treatment, according to research presented by University of North Carolina researchers at the 2013 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting on Sept. 24.
A new analysis of 585 large, randomized clinical trials registered with ClinicalTrials.gov finds that 29 percent have not been published in scientific journals. In addition, nearly 78 percent of the unpublished trials had no results available on the website, either.
Dendrites, parts of neurons, were once thought to be passive wiring in the brain. But now researchers at the University of North Carolina have shown that dendrites actively process information, multiplying the brain’s computing power. Published in the journal Nature, the finding could help researchers better understand neurological disorders.
UNC School of Medicine researchers describe a major reason why current medications only moderately alleviate symptoms for Fragile X syndrome patients, a third of whom are clinically diagnosed with autism.
Military veterans who report having common financial problems, such as bouncing a check or going over their credit limit, are four times more likely to become homeless in the next year than veterans without such problems.
Patients with bladder cancer are two times more likely to have complications after a radical cystectomy procedure if they have a biomarker for poor nutritional status before the operation, according to study findings presented last week at the 2013 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. Surgeons from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center identified a potentially modifiable risk factor for such postsurgical problems: a low preoperative level of albumin, a marker of the protein level in the blood.
A new study of women ages 50 and older examines the 12.2 percent who say they are satisfied with their body size to unlock the secrets of body satisfaction. This minority of midlife women who report being satisfied with their body size appears to exert considerable effort to achieve and maintain this satisfaction.
A laboratory testing kit that estimates the risk of breast cancer relapse in spite of anti-hormone treatment has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This technology is based on a gene signature known as “PAM50” originally discovered at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center by Chuck Perou, PhD, professor of genetics and pathology and UNC Lineberger member.
Researchers from UNC School of Medicine have pinpointed the precise cellular connections responsible for triggering binge eating. The finding, published in Science, lends insight into a cause for obesity and could lead to treatments for anorexia, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder – the most prevalent eating disorder in the U.S.
Radiation oncology physicians who encounter an unfamiliar case when cross covering for another physician experience higher levels of perceived workload and may perhaps also effects on performance, according to research conducted at the University of North Carolina.
Abiraterone acetate, a recently FDA-approved drug used to treat men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, significantly delays progression of pain and quality of life deterioration when taken in conjunction with prednisone.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received two separate grants from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) today as part of an on-going interagency partnership. UNC will house two of 14 Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS), which are receiving a total of up to $53 million for tobacco-related research in fiscal year 2013.
Now, research from UNC School of Medicine biochemist Charles Carter, PhD, appearing in the September 13 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, offers an intriguing new view on how life began.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine today published new findings in the hunt for a better treatment for macular degeneration. In studies using mice, a class of drugs known as MDM2 inhibitors proved highly effective at regressing the abnormal blood vessels responsible for the vision loss associated with the disease.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have identified a sensor pathway inside cells. These internal sensors are like motion detectors inside a house; they trigger an alarm that signals for help — a response from the immune system.
As the clinical use of genomic testing expands, the practical and ethical considerations of using the technology to screen newborns for genetic conditions will be the focus of a new study undertaken at the University of North Carolina.
A new study — the first to apply a new screening technique to human platelets — netted a potential drug target for preventing dangerous blood clots in high-risk people.
Adults age 45 and older who engaged in moderate physical activity up to two and a half hours a week did not increase their risk of developing knee osteoarthritis over a 6-year follow-up period, a new study finds.
Problems with a key group of enzymes called topoisomerases can have profound effects on the genetic machinery behind brain development and potentially lead to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to research announced today in the journal Nature. Scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have described a finding that represents a significant advance in the hunt for environmental factors behind autism and lends new insights into the disorder’s genetic causes.
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.
In a paper published in the Journal of Cell Biology, Sharon Campbell, PhD, professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics and member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Clare Waterman of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health showed that cell mobility occurs through the interactions between the protein vinculin and the cytoskeletal lattice formed by the protein actin. By physically binding to the actin that makes up the cytoskeleton, vinculin operates as a form of molecular clutch transferring force and controlling cell motion.
Since 2011, the University of North Carolina has partnered with the government of Malawi to establish a pathology laboratory in the nation’s capital, building on an existing decades-long collaboration. The laboratory has provided an invaluable service to patients and has also built capacity at a national teaching hospital, according to an analysis of the first 20 months of operation published (date) online by PLOS ONE.
Knowing what type of lung cancer a patient has is critical to determine which drug will work best and which therapies are safest in the era of personalized medicine. Key to making that judgment is an adequate tumor specimen for the pathologist to determine the tumor’s histology, a molecular description of a tumor based on the appearance of cells under a microscope. But not all specimens are perfect, and are sometimes so complex that a definitive diagnosis presents a challenge.
National quality assessment programs usually measure and reward practices based on improving clinical processes such as re-hospitalization or infection rates. While this type of information is important and useful to clinicians, it doesn’t always take into account what is most important to the patient and families of the patient receiving care, such as the management of long-term symptoms or ability to conduct daily activities.
A five-year, $8 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will improve maternal and infant health in Malawi by strengthening the President’s Maternal Health and Safe Motherhood Initiative.
The study used data from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study (CBCS) Phase III, a program of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Scientists found that among White women, household size and losing a job due to one's diagnosis were reasons for delay in treatment, while among African-American women, the type of treatment received influenced delay. Both African-American and white women experienced delay if they underwent immediate breast reconstruction following mastectomy. African-American women were more likely than white women to experience delay associated with this procedure (92.5 percent versus 60.6 percent).
New evidence by a University of North Carolina-led team shows that MerTK macrophage action in the microenvironment that surrounds cancer cells blunts the immune response, allowing the tumor cell to grow and metastasize.
For patients facing treatment for cancer, it is essential to understand how their symptoms will be affected. Symptoms like pain, fatigue, or nausea can result from the cancer, or from treatment side effects. The best way to collect this information is from patients themselves in research studies. But almost no drug labels in the U.S. include this information. As a result, incomplete information is available to patients and clinicians to help with treatment decisions.
It’s a GEMM of a system. Genetically engineered mouse models that is. Using them allows scientists to study cancer in a way that more naturally mimics how human tumors exist within the complex environment of the body.
On Monday, June 24, 2013, the UNC Center for Heart and Vascular Care became the first in North Carolina to successfully close a left atrial appendage, which is a part of the heart where blood clots and strokes come from, using the Lariat® procedure.
Humans and their pet dogs are close, so close that they both develop a type of cancer called diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. In humans it’s the most common lymphoma subtype while in dogs, it’s one of the most common cancers in veterinary oncology.
Better treatments for people suffering from compromised intestinal immunity may emerge from a small-animal model of human intestinal immune development.
While aspirin has been shown to be effective in preventing heart attacks in men, it also increases the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and possibly stroke, even at low doses. As such, national guidelines suggest that aspirin be used for prevention only in men at higher risk for cardiovascular events, so that the benefits of aspirin are greater than its adverse effects.
Cancer patients, physicians and insurers want to be sure that whatever therapy is recommended and provided to patients is based on evidence, preferably results from randomized clinical trials. But are there enough clinical trials data to provide this level of confidence?
Cervical cancer kills an estimated 275,000 women each year, and most of these deaths could be prevented with prophylactic HPV vaccination, routine cervical cancer screening and continuity to treatment. At the Women Deliver Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, delegates and experts from around the world announced a global call to action to combat this preventable disease through collaboration with and information sharing by the world’s governments and health agencies on May 27, 2013.
While the mutated KRAS oncogene is associated with many cancers, it has not yet been successfully targeted by a therapeutic agent. Scientists are trying to find another way to target the gene by blocking signals from another protein downstream.
The protein GATA-3 plays an important role in mammalian immune response, but its overall function in cell development and cancer formation is not well understood. In an effort to further define the importance of GATA-3, researchers at the University of North Carolina have traced how the protein performs important functions in CD8+T-cell type of the immune system.
University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers uncover surprising insights about how nerve cells rewire themselves, shedding light on a process linked with neurodegenerative diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders like schizophrenia and autism.
Intensity-modulated radiation therapy has become the most commonly used type of radiation in prostate cancer, but research from the University of North Carolina suggests that the therapy may not be more effective than older, less expensive forms of radiation therapy in patients who have had a prostatectomy.
The University of North Carolina Health Care System and the UNC School of Medicine (UNC) seek a communications professional with an aptitude for writing for electronic media, photography, video production, and graphic design to serve as Multimedia Specialist.
The University of North Carolina Health Care System and the UNC School of Medicine (UNC) seeks a communications professional with an aptitude for understanding and communicating complex scientific material to serve as Science Communications Manager.
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute awards UNC School of Medicine researchers more than $2 million to study glucose monitoring in non-insulin treated patients living with type 2 diabetes.
A new study led by UNC School of Medicine researchers is the first to identify a genetic risk factor for persistent pain after traumatic events such as motor vehicle collision and sexual assault. The study also contributes further evidence that persistent pain after stressful events has a specific biological basis.
Breast cancer brain metastases present a challenge to clinicians because there are few systemic therapies capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier to control the disease. An international team, led by scientists at the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, reports pre-clinical research showing improved efficacy of a PEGylated liposomal (encapsulated) anti-cancer agent compared with a non-liposomal formulation of the same drug in an intracranial model of breast cancer. The study results were published online in the May 1, 2013 issue of PLOS ONE.
Self-collection of samples for HPV testing shows promise in detection of cervical cancer in Kenya.
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