With hopes fading for development of a “magic bullet” to knock out cancer — a single medicine targeted to the individual genetics of each patient — researchers are increasingly looking toward cocktails of medication that attack different vulnerabilities in a tumor. A new class of potent tumor-blocking drugs, called ‘Met inhibitors,’ are emerging as likely staple ingredients of those cancer-fighting cocktails of the future.
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Environmental monitoring of institutional water systems can help to predict the risk of hospital-acquired Legionella pneumonia, better known as Legionnaires’ disease. The 20-hospital study also calls for reconsideration of the current national infection-control policy to include routine testing of hospital water systems for Legionella, the bacterial group associated with Legionnaires’.
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Researchers are developing technology for keeping liver cells alive and functioning normally inside bioartificial liver-assist devices. Such devices enable people who are suffering from acute liver failure to survive while their own liver cells regenerate, or until they receive a liver transplant. The person’s blood or plasma circulates through the device. Inside, living cells — usually pig or human liver cells — perform normal liver functions.
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A novel cell culture model consisting of an aggregate of brain tumor cells growing on normal thin slices of brain tissue has been developed to investigate tumor properties and therapy. The tumor cells showed a similar invasion pattern to that seen when growing in patients. When nanoparticles made from a new type of polymer were added to the co-culture, the nanoparticles were taken up more by the tumor cells than the normal brain cells.
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Chemists are developing ways to bind up iron in the brain to combat the neurological devastation of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. The key is to weed out potentially destructive forms of iron that generate harmful free radicals while leaving benign forms of iron alone to carry out vital functions in the body.
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Surgeons specializing in laparoscopic procedures have successfully removed a patient’s kidney by performing a unique nephrectomy entirely through the belly button.
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Researchers have found new evidence that soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup may contribute to the development of diabetes, particularly in children. Drinks containing the syrup had high levels of reactive compounds that have been shown by others to have the potential to trigger cell and tissue damage that could cause the diabetes, a growing epidemic.
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Europe’s flagship ground-based astronomical facility, the ESO VLT, has been equipped with a new ‘eye’ to study the Universe. Working in the near-infrared, the new instrument — dubbed HAWK-I — covers about 1/10th the area of the full moon in a single exposure. It is uniquely suited to the discovery and study of faint objects, such as distant galaxies or small stars and planets.
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The space-borne infrared observatory AKARI, observed asteroid Itokawa last month with its Infrared Camera. The data will be used to refine estimates of sizes of potentially hazardous asteroids in the future. Asteroid size is one of the most sought-after pieces of information.
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With unprecedented sensitivity, Carnegie Mellon University’s Mark Bier has characterized large viral particles and bulky von Willebrand factors using a novel mass spectrometer. These exciting results may lead to new biological discoveries and represent a step closer to rapid disease diagnosis using mass spectrometry.
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