Health and Medicine

Binghamton University researcher fractures myths around osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is not a disease, and neither weight-bearing exercise nor calcium supplements-not even a combination of the two-is capable of triggering the growth of new bone, says Kenneth McLeod, chair of the bioengineering department at Binghamton University and a leading researcher in the field of tissue development, healing and adaptation.

But don’t throw in the towel and plan your wardrobe and life a

In a recent study, giving iron supplements to anemic children when they have a cold or other upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) significantly improved their iron status without increasing stomach upset or other side effects, says a Penn State nutritionist.

Dr. Namanjeet Ahluwalia, associate professor of nutrition and principle investigator on the research team, says, “Because of conflicting results from previous studies, physicians preferred to be cautious and generally withhold iron

Technique used to shrink tumors, delay their growth

A team of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center scientists shrunk tumors or delayed their growth in animal studies by using radiation to enable a drug to “zero in” and block the tumor blood vessels.

The work, reported in the January issue of the journal Cancer Cell, is a model for what might be achieved in patients by using radiation to activate drug targets in tumors. “We can now use combinations of chemotherapy and radiation to

New pathway presents target for medication development

Brain molecules similar to the active compound in marijuana help to regulate alcohol consumption, according to new reports by scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Bethesda, Maryland, and a separate NIAAA-supported group at several New York state research institutions.

In studies conducted with a strain of mice known to have a high preference for alcohol, the scientists found great

Treatment with two medications that suppress the immune system, rituximab and cyclophosphamide, appears to have cured one woman of an otherwise untreatable case of the blood disease known as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). The findings support the theory that TTP is an autoimmune disease, and not only provide insight into diagnosis and treatment, but also reveal clues about blood clotting and autoimmune diseases in general.

“In this particular patient who did not respond to stand

atugen AG, a private company focused on the elucidation of disease pathways, today announced the identification of a novel cancer target that appears to play an important role in tumor growth and metastasis. atugen’s research group has demonstrated that inhibition of the novel target, Atu027, which has homology to protein kinases, results in blockage of tumor growth of human prostate carcinoma cells in orthotopic mouse models. atugen has demonstrated that human prostate tumor cells engineered to expr