Life Sciences and Chemistry

Research in monkeys found that low-dose estrogen therapy significantly reduced the progression of fatty buildup in the arteries leading to the heart, according to research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, reported today at the annual meeting of the North American Menopause Society in Washington, D.C.

“We’ve shown that you can get the same reduction in coronary artery atherosclerosis with standard-dose or low-dose estrogen,” said Thomas B. Clarkson, D.V.M., o

A team led by Mayo Clinic researchers has determined that over-reactive immune responses to airborne fungi could cause the stuffy noses and airway inflammation among sufferers of chronic rhinosinusitis. These findings could one day lead to a new, longer-lasting treatment.

“It’s time to recognize there is a greater sensitivity to airborne fungi in some patients, and therefore we need to remove or reduce the fungal exposure,” says lead investigator Hirohito Kita, M.D.

Drug may help prevent learning, memory deficits caused by treatment for brain tumors

Patients who undergo radiation for treatment of brain tumors may survive their cancer only to have lasting memory and learning deficiencies, the impact of which can be particularly devastating for children. Now, researchers at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center have discovered that lithium, a drug commonly used to treat bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses, can protect the brain cells inv

Chemists at Emory University have made an important advance in harnessing the ability of bacteria to make new molecules, and their discovery could eventually lead to the creation of naturally decaffeinated coffee plants. The research, by Emory chemist Justin Gallivan and graduate student Shawn Desai, is scheduled to appear in the Oct. 27 edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Bacteria are terrific chemists, but they normally synthesize only molecules they need

Conventional wisdom holds that cancer cells contain so many mutations that there’s no way to return them to the straight and narrow path of their normal neighbors. This has led to cancer treatments that focus on destroying or removing the cancerous cells.

But new research by Dean Felsher, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (oncology) and of pathology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, suggests that cancer cells can be reformed. His work, published in the Oc

Aston University in Birmingham, UK has just signed a long-term agreement with pharmaceutical manufacturing giant, Mayne Pharma Plc , to run the first dedicated medical manufacturing clean room in the region.

The room will be used to produce specialist cancer and other drugs and make them available across the Midlands. This will address the particular need in the region for aseptic facilities to support the preparation of pharmaceuticals with a short shelf life – particularly in