Professor Richard | SilverScorpio.Com

Bone Stem Cells can be used to mend damaged hips

March 20, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

London, Mar.20 (ANI): Bone stem cells could in future be used instead of bone from donors as part of an innovative new hip replacement treatment, according to scientists at the University of Southampton.

A team from the University’s School of Medicine believe that introducing a patient’s own skeletal stem cells into the hip joint during bone grafting would encourage more successful regrowth and repair.

The grafting technique is used to repair the thigh bone and joint during replacement (known as ”revision”) hip replacement therapy, a procedure in which surgeons introduce donor bone to the damaged area to provide support for the new hip stem.

In this collaborative study between the University of Southampton and The University of Nottingham, researchers will use adult stem cells from bone marrow in combination with an innovative impaction process and polymer scaffolds.

In a two-year study, funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), researchers aim to improve the outcomes of this high impact procedure.

“Surgeons currently use bone from donors during bone grafting, so introducing a patient’s own stem cells to create a living cell or material composite would be a totally new approach,” comments Professor Richard Oreffo, an expert in musculoskeletal science at the University of Southampton, who is leading the project.

“This is very much the beginning of a project to investigate the potential for this new technique, but our preliminary work suggests this may have significant therapeutic implications.”

When a hip joint is damaged, part of the thigh bone or femur, including the ball, can be removed and a new, artificial joint fixed to the remaining thigh bone. Revision hip replacement occurs when that artificial joint needs to be changed.

Professor Oreffo will introduce the stem cells to the hip joint using a scaffold, or support structure, which is designed to protect them, and a new impaction process. The polymer scaffolds will be developed by Professors Steve Howdle and Kevin Shakesheff, experts in chemistry and tissue engineering at the University of Nottingham.

Professor Howdle explains: “Building upon strong collaborations with tissue engineering experts, this new grant will allow researchers at Nottingham to take their materials nearer to the clinic.

“This could have great benefits for patients, and also offer a significant cost saving for healthcare authorities; but first we need to verify and build upon our preliminary data.”

“A major part of the work at Nottingham will involve scaling up the supercritical fluid processing apparatus to create larger and more uniform batches of polymer scaffolds for testing.”

Dr Chris Watkins, MRC’s Translation Theme Leader, says: “Resilience, repair and replacement is a priority research area in the MRC’s strategic plan, ‘Research Changes Lives’. This study highlights how a regenerative approach can offer real hope in addressing a significant problem for an ageing population.”

This funding will allow the groups to build on initial studies that show that degradable polymer scaffolds prepared using supercritical carbon dioxide technology can have a dramatic effect on surgical procedures, such as inserting a hip implant in revision hip surgery.

The provisional studies carried out in Southampton show that the polymers can aid bone formation through the creation of a living cell/material composite and aid attachment of the hip implant.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: adult stem cells, Bone Grafting, Bone marrow, collaborative study, femur, High-impact, hip replacement, Impaction, Medical Research Council, MRC, new approach, Polymer Scaffolds, professor richard, regrowth, scaffold, school of medicine, Support Structure, Therapeutic Implications, thigh bone, university of southampton

New stem cell op may prevent thousands from having hip replacements

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, August 31 (ANI): British surgeons at the Spire Hospital in Southampton are using a novel technique that uses stem cells to repair damaged bones.

Media reports on this procedure suggest that it may prevent thousands of people from needing to have an artificial hip fitted.

Mark Venables, 39, is one patient on whom doctors at the Spire Hospital conducted one of their first operations.

He suffers from a condition where bone in his hip died, weakening his joint and causing pain on movement.

The surgeons at the hospital used his own stem cells to rejuvenate the affected bone.

“I just want to get back to an active life,” Sky News quoted Venables as saying before the operation.

For the operation, the surgeons first purified stem cells from bone marrow that they had extracted from Venables’ pelvis.

The doctors then mixed them with cleaned, ground-up bone from another patient, who had had their own hip replaced.

After removing the dead tissue from the ball of his hip, the doctors filled the cavity with the mixture of stem cells and donated bone.

Surgeon Doug Dunlop said that the bone would have collapsed without the stem cell treatment, and that Venables would have then needed an artificial hip joint.

“If this new procedure works, he won’t need a hip replacement. It will fix his hip for life,” said Dunlop.

To date, six patients have been operated using the new procedure, and only one surgery has failed.

Professor Richard Oreffo, of Southampton University, is now hoping to improve the technique further by replacing the donated bone with an artificial material containing chemicals that help the stem cells grow.(ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: active life, ANI, August, ball, bone, Bone marrow, bones, cavity, cell, chemicals, condition, date, Dead Tissue, doctors, Doug Dunlop, hip, hip replacement, hip replacements, hospital, life, London, Mark Venables, Marrow, material, media, mixture, movement, New, NEWS, novel, Novel Technique, operation, pain, patient, Pelvis, procedure, professor richard, Professor Richard Oreffo, replacement, sky, sky news, southampton, southampton university, SPIRE, stem, Stem cell, stem cells, surgeon, surgery, technique, tissue, treatment, University, Venables

Scientists unravel genes linked to lung cancer in smokers

August 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 21 (ANI): British researchers claim to have unravelled the genetics underlying a smoker’s risk of developing lung cancer.

Study leader Professor Richard Houlston has identified three areas of DNA that are linked to lung cancer risk in smokers.

Two of them also influence the type of cancer, which develops.

The research team found specific differences associated with lung cancer risk on chromosomes 5, 6 and 15.

It showed that people with genetic changes on chromosome 5 were more likely to develop a type of cancer called adenocarcinoma.

The region highlighted on chromosome 6 appears to influence whether a patient developed adenocarcinoma or another type called squamous cell carcinoma.

And two independent sites on chromosome 15 were found to have a role in whether or not a smoker develops lung cancer.

The researchers suggest that current or former smokers who carry one copy of each of these genetic variants increase their risk of lung cancer by 28pct.

The risk increases to 80pct in smokers who carry two copies of these genetic variants.

“The next step is to dig deeper to pinpoint which gene, or genes in these regions, cause the increased risk of developing lung cancer and how they actually trigger this increase,” BBC News quoted Houlston as saying.

Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK who partly funded the research, said smoking was responsible for the vast majority of lung cancers.

“This research shows that inherited genetic variation accounts for some of this risk and the type of lung cancer that develops,” she said.

She added: “The best thing a smoker can do to reduce their risk of lung cancer, and a range of other life-threatening conditions, is to quit.”

The findings appear in Cancer Research journal. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: british researchers, cancer information, cancer research journal, Cancer research uk, carcinoma, chromosome 15, chromosome 6, chromosomes, Genetic changes, genetic variation, lung cancer, lung cancer risk, lung cancer study, lung cancers, professor richard, smokers, Squamous Cell Carcinoma, study leader, type of cancer, Type Of Lung Cancer

Novel targeted therapy shows promise to eliminate leukaemia stem cells

July 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 3 (ANI): A piece of research has shown that it is possible to eliminate stem cells related to human acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a notoriously treatment-resistant blood cancer, using a new targeted therapy.

Associate Professor Richard Lock, from the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia and the University of New South Wales, has revealed that the new therapeutic approach has been found to selectively attack human cancer cells grown in the lab as well as in animal models of leukaemia.

AML is a cancer of the white blood cells that has an extremely poor prognosis and does not respond well to conventional chemotherapy.

“The cellular and molecular basis for this dismal picture is unclear. However, previous research has suggested that leukaemia stem cells (LSCs) may lie at the heart of post-treatment relapse and chemoresistance,” says Lock.

LSCs are cells that can initiate AML and are critical for its long-term growth.

Lock and his colleagues exploited the fact that the molecule CD123 is expressed at very high levels on LSCs but not on normal blood cells.

The researchers created a therapeutic antibody that recognized and bound to CD123, hoping that the antibody would selectively interfere with AML-LSC survival.

When AML-LSCs from human patients were transplanted into mice treated with the antibody, called 7G3, cytokine signalling in the tumour cells was blocked.

The research team also observed that 7G3 impaired migration of the AML-LSCs to bone marrow, and activated the innate immune system of the host mouse to destroy the AML-LSCs.

They say that, overall, treatment with 7G3 substantially improved mouse survival when compared with control groups.

Lock and his colleagues are currently using a CD123-targeting antibody in phase 1 clinical trials of advanced AML. They say that there are no signs of treatment-related toxicity.

These results hold substantial promise for future cancer therapeutics.

“The recent characterization of defined populations of cancer stem cells in a range of human malignancies, as well as their relative resistance to conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy, supports the broad applicability of our approach and provides rationale for the progression of AML-LSC-targeted therapeutics from preclinical evaluation to clinical trials,” concludes Associate Professor Lock.

A research article on the study has been published in the journal Cell Stem Cell. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: Acute Myeloid Leukemia, aml, AML-LSC, AML-LSC-targeted, AML-LSCs, ANI, animal, animal models, antibody, applicability, approach, Article, associate, Australia, basis, blood, Blood Cancer, bone, cancer, cancer institute, Cancer Therapeutics, cell, characterization, chemoresistance, chemotherapy, children, control, control groups, cytokine, evaluation, fact, growth, heart, host, human cancer cells, human patients, innate immune system, institute, journal, July, lab, leukaemia, Leukemia, Leukemia Aml, LSCs, Marrow, migration, molecule, mouse, myeloid, New, New South Wales, novel, phase, Phase 1 Clinical Trials, picture, piece, poor prognosis, Professor Lock, professor richard, Professor Richard Lock, prognosis, progression, promise, radiotherapy, range, rationale, relapse, Research, resistance, south, stem, stem cells, study, Substantial Promise, survival, system, team, therapeutic approach, therapy, toxicity, treatment, tumour, tumour cells, University, University of New South Wales, wales, Washington, white blood cells

Plants can engage in self-recognition and warn of danger

June 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 21 (ANI): In a groundbreaking research, scientists have determined that plants engage in self-recognition and can communicate danger to their “clones” or genetically identical cuttings planted nearby.

The research was done by Professor Richard Karban of the Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, and fellow scientist Kaori Shiojiri of the Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Japan.

The researchers took the sagebrush plant as the test subject and found that it responded to cues of self and non-self without physical contact.

“The sagebrush communicated and cooperated with other branches of themselves to avoid being eaten by grasshoppers,” Karban said.

Although the research is in its early stages, the scientists suspect that the plants warn their own kind of impending danger by emitting volatile cues.

“This may involve secreting chemicals that deter herbivores or make the plant less profitable for herbivores to eat, said Karban.

What this research means is that plants are “capable of more sophisticated behavior than we imagined,” he added.

“Plants are capable of responding to complex cues that involve multiple stimuli,” Karban said.

“Plants not only respond to reliable cues in their environments but also produce cues that communicate with other plants and with other organisms, such as pollinators, seed disperses, herbivores and enemies of those herbivores,” he added.

In their UC Davis study, Karban and Shiojiri examined the relationships between the volatile profiles of clipped plants and herbivore damage

They found that plants within 60 centimeters of an experimentally clipped neighbor in the field experienced less leaf damage over the season, compared with plants near an unclipped neighbor.

Plants with root contact between neighbors, but not air contact, failed to show this response.

“We explored self-recognition in the context of plant resistance to herbivory,” said Karban.

“Previously we found that sagebrush became more resistant to herbivores after exposure to volatile cues from experimentally damaged neighbors,” he added.

According to the ecologists, “Naturally occurring herbivores caused similar responses as experimental clipping with scissors and active cues were released for up to three days following clipping. Choice and no-choice experiments indicated that herbivores responded to changes in plant characteristics and were not being repelled directly by airborne cues released by clipped individuals.”

In earlier research, Karban found that “volatile cues are required for communication among branches within an individual sagebrush plant.”

This observation suggests that communication between individuals may be a by-product of a volatile communication system that allows plants to integrate their own systemic physiological processes. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: centimeters, cues, Ecological Research, fellow scientist, grasshoppers, groundbreaking research, herbivores, impending danger, kyoto university japan, leaf damage, plant resistance, professor richard, research scientists, sagebrush, self recognition, shiojiri, sophisticated behavior, test subject, uc davis study, university of california davis

‘Bet dieting’ is the latest fad among Brits

May 24, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 24 (ANI): Brits are increasingly taking to a new method of loosing weight-bet dieting.

This is a trend wherein people join a website, and bet on their own successes in losing certain amounts of weight over definite periods of time.

All weight loss claims are verified by a referee.

Money is withdrawn from the accounts of those failing to meet their targets, and paid to the charities of their choices.

The scheme, which started in the US, presently has over 1,000 followers in the UK.

According to its founders, a particularly effective way to encourage people to lose weight is to get them to nominate a charity with whose views they disagree to receive money should they fail.

“The anti-charity aspect is where we take your money and we send it to an organisation that you oppose should you fail,” the BBC quoted Jordan Goldberg, co-founder of the StickK bet dieting website, as saying.

“We chose some highly contentious issues, for instance global warming, abortion and gay marriage.

“The idea is you choose an organisation whose views are contrary to your own as an added incentive to stay motivated to succeed,” Goldberg added.

The scheme is receiving mixed reactions from people who have been bet dieting.

“I passed the first week, I lost my pound and half. I only lost a pound in the second week and so I failed, so I have given my 3.60 pounds to the charities,” said Robert Carter, an investment analyst from Dorset who has been bet dieting for over a month.

“I think I will lose the weight, it is certainly an incentive. I’m not sure I if have over-gambled, I might end up giving them #3.60 every week, and falling slightly behind.

“But I think it is certainly a good project,” he added.

Professor Richard Ashcroft, of the Centre for the Study of Incentives in Health, remained to be convinced by the long-term effect of the schemes.

“When somebody is in the middle of an incentive scheme they can be quite effective,” he said. .

“People can be quite good at their weight loss programmes, eating less or taking more exercise.

“The problem is once the incentive scheme has finished we don’t know if they carry on being successful after that – we don’t know if people manage to stay with the weight loss or exercise regime once the incentive is taken away,” he added. (ANI)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: abortion, analyst, ANI, aspect, bbc, bet, brits, centre, charities, charity, co-founder, contentious issues, dieting, dorset, effect, exercise, fad, followers, founders, gay marriage, global warming, Goldberg, half, Health, idea, incentive, Incentive Scheme, incentives, instance, investment, Investment Analyst, Jordan, Latest Fad, London, loss, marriage, May, may 24, method, middle, mixed reactions, MONEY, month, organisation, pound, problem, Professor Richard Ashcroft, professor richard, project, referee, regime, Richard Ashcroft, Robert Carter, scheme, somebody, StickK, study, time, trend, U.K, US, warming, way, website, week, weight

Political blogs considered more credible than newspapers

May 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 17 (ANI): People who regularly follow political blogs and regular news media tend to believe that the content on blogs is more accurate, according to a book by a Brigham Young University political scientist.

Professor Richard Davis’ ‘Typing Politics’, the new book published by Oxford University Press also showed that journalists tend to follow the liberal blogosphere more closely despite equal awareness of conservative blogs.

“Blog readers still get most of their news from regular news sources, but they are concerned that they are not getting the whole side of the story there. They suspect habitual bias in the traditional news content,” said Davis.

For his research, Davis studied daily blog readers from a nationally representative sample and found that just 3 percent got most of their news from blogs.

He discovered that a majority of readers still got their information from traditional news organizations, despite some bloggers’ predictions that they would entirely replace traditional media.

Instead. Davis said that blogs have become an echo chamber that extends the shelf life of news stories.

Professional journalists and political bloggers have different takes on accuracy in the world of political news-while the former pursue objectivity, the latter openly dole out their personal opinions.

Still, political bloggers have an edge with shared readers when it comes to the trust factor, what with 30 percent participants in the study thinking that blogs are more accurate.

Eight percent of readers said traditional media are more accurate, 40 percent said they’re about equal and 21 percent were not sure.

Davis also questioned over 200 journalists to learn how they use blog content in their coverage of political news.

And he found that a majority of journalists were aware of influential blogs on both sides of the political spectrum, such as Daily Kos and Talking Points on the left and Michelle Malkin and Instapundit on the right.

But, despite equal awareness, journalists spend more time reading posts in the liberal blogosphere.

“When journalists take story ideas from blogs, those ideas naturally will come from blogs they read. These reading patterns suggest journalists may be getting primarily one view of the blogosphere,” said Davis. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: bias, brigham young, brigham young university, daily kos, echo chamber, Instapundit, Michelle Malkin, News Content, News Media, news sources, news stories, objectivity, oxford university press, political bloggers, political blogs, Political News, political scientist, political spectrum, Professional Journalists, professor richard, representative sample, Righ, shelf life, talking points

Chemical cocktail ‘puts baby boys at cancer, infertility risk’

May 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 14 (ANI): Gender-bending chemicals found in many food, cosmetic and cleaning products put unborn baby boys at greater risk of developing cancer and infertility later in life, a leading scientist has warned.

According to Professor Richard Sharpe, of the Medical Research Council, the hormone-disrupting chemicals are “feminising” boys in the womb.

While explaining the harmful effects, the expert linked the chemicals to raising rates of birth defects and testicular cancer and falling sperm counts.

Sharpe, one of Britain’s leading reproductive biologists, added that the chemicals block the action of the male sex hormone testosterone, or mimic the female sex hormone oestrogen, reports The BBC.

Chemicals in consumer products and food that have been reported to disrupt the sex hormones include:

Phthalates: Found in vinyl flooring, plastics, soaps, toothpaste

Pesticides: Including pyrethroids, linuron, vinclozolin and fenitrothion

The report by Sharpe was commissioned by the CHEM Trust, a charity which works to protect humans and wildlife from harmful chemicals.

Sharpe said: “Because it is the summation of effect of hormone-disrupting chemicals that is critical, and the number of such chemicals that humans are exposed to is considerable, this provides the strongest possible incentive to minimise human exposure to all relevant hormone disruptors, especially women planning pregnancy, as it is obvious that the higher the exposure the greater the risk.” (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: baby boys, chemical cocktail, Cleaning Products, female sex, harmful chemicals, hormone oestrogen, hormone testosterone, human exposure, infertility risk, male sex hormone, Medical Research Council, professor richard, reproductive biologists, richard sharpe, sex hormones, sperm counts, testicular cancer, unborn baby, vinclozolin, vinyl flooring

Genetic mutation ‘triggers most melanoma’

April 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, April 7 (ANI): A team of British scientists has identified a genetic mutation that may trigger up to 70 percent of cases of the most deadly form of skin cancer – melanoma.

Previous studies have shown that the BRAF gene was often damaged or mutated in melanomas – but it is not known whether this was a cause or result of the cancer.

The Institute of Cancer Research study shows that acquiring the mutation can be the first in a cascade of genetic changes leading to melanoma.

It confirms that BRAF is a driving force behind the disease and could be the trigger that causes melanoma.

“We know that excessive sun exposure is the main cause of skin cancer, but not much is known about the genetics behind it,” the BBC quoted lead author Professor Richard Marais, as saying.

“Our study shows that the genetic damage of BRAF is the first step in skin cancer development. Understanding this process will help us develop more effective treatments for the disease,” Marais added.

Over-exposure to sunlight causes at least two thirds of all malignant melanomas. This excessive exposure damages DNA and causes genetic mutations.

The study features in the journal Cancer Cell. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: ''cause, ANI, April, author, bbc, BRAF, British scientists, cancer, cancer cell, cancer development, cancer research, cascade, Cause Of Skin Cancer, cell, damage, Development, disease, dna, Dna Mutations, excessive exposure, Excessive Sun Exposure, exposure, force, form, gene, genetic, Genetic changes, genetic damage, genetic mutation, Genetic Mutations, institute, journal, journal cancer, Malignant Melanomas, melanoma, mutation, Over-exposure, percent, process, professor richard, Professor Richard Marais, Research, skin, skin cancer, Skin Melanoma, step, study, study features, Sun, sun exposure, sunlight, team, trigger, understanding, Washington

World War disease’s bug may adversely affect poultry, diabetics

March 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 30 (ANI): The bacterium responsible for gas gangrene, the notorious infectious disease of two world wars, can also cause necrotic enteritis in intensively raised chickens.

The frequently fatal disease has significant financial implications for the poultry industry.

Professor Richard Titball of the University of Exeter highlighted the finding while addressing the Society of General Microbiology Meeting at the International Centre, Harrogate.

Intensive study of Clostridium perfringens during World War 2 showed that the bacterium produces a potent toxin.

Recently, researchers used modern molecular genetic approaches and the work provided an insight into the role of this toxin in disease.

The toxin produced by C. perfringens works in three ways- by promoting a reduction in blood supply to infected tissues; by increasing inflammation; and by having a toxic effect on the heart.

“Gas gangrene is not just a historical curiosity”, said Professor Titball,

He added: “In the past it has been a major cause of death and disability in servicemen injured on the battlefield, although it is rarely a problem now because of the prompt treatment that casualties receive. However it does occasionally occur in the civilian population with diabetes patients, with the elderly being most at risk.

“In the future, the incidence of gangrene infection may rise in line with the increase in this age group in the general population. It is essential to understand how the toxin works to prevent future disease not only in diabetes sufferers but also in intensively reared animals”.(ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: ''cause, age, ANI, bacterium, battlefield, being, blood, blood supply, bug, centre, civilian population, clostridium, Clostridium Perfringens, curiosity, death, diabetes, diabetes patients, Diabetes Sufferers, disability, disease, effect, exeter, Financial Implications, future, gangrene, Gas, Gas Gangrene, general, general microbiology, group, Harrogate, heart, incidence, increase, industry, infection, inflammation, insight, intensive, Intensive Study, international, line, mar, microbiology, microbiology meeting, Molecular Genetic Approaches, Necrotic Enteritis, population, Potent Toxin, poultry, Poultry Industry, problem, professor richard, Professor Richard Titball, Professor Titball, reduction, risk, role, servicemen, society, study, supply, Toxic Effect, toxin, treatment, University, university of exeter, war, War Disease, Washington, ways, work, world, World War 2

1,48,498 Singh’s and Patel’s currently live in the UK!

March 24, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Mar.24 (ANI): While Smith and Jones remain Britain’s most popular surnames, new research has found that there are 1,48,498 residents in the country who carry the surname Patel or Singh, suggesting that Asian names are rapidly catching up. he study claims that a century of immigration has seen the nation’s dictionary of names drastically altered.

The Chinese name Zhang was found to be the fastest growing name, having risen by 4,718 per cent in popularity in just 13 years.

People named Singh and Patel were also found to be at a record high, with 95,203 and 53,295 of them respectively currently living in Britain, reports The Telegraph.

The study was carried out partly by Experian, the credit agency, which used its database to find out which names were found most frequently in different parts of the country.

Despite a more mobile population in recent decades, the researchers found that many of the more traditional British surnames were still found clustered in specific parts of the country.

Professor Richard Webber, from King’s College London, who led the research, said: “Surnames are useful indicators of people’s origins.

The results of the research can be found at the new website, www.mapyourname.com, which lets people trace where their surnames originate from. (ANI)

Filed Under: Entertainment News Tagged With: 13 years, asian names, british surnames, chinese name, college london, decades, dictionary of names, immigration, King S College, mobile population, origins, people, popularity, professor richard, richard webber, s college, surname, Telegraph, uk london, Webber College, website www

Biological pathway behind children’s brain tumour identified

March 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, March 19 (ANI): Scientists at The University of Nottingham have found that a biological pathway plays a role in the development of a type of brain tumour that predominantly occurs in children, and presently has a very poor prognosis.

Working on behalf of the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG), the researchers have found that the WNT biological pathway is “activated” in over one-third of the cases of central nervous system primitive neuroectodermal tumours (CNS PNET).

The researchers say that their study also highlighted a link between WNT pathway activation and patient survival, for those having a CNS PNET tumour that was activated survived for longer than those without pathway activation.he researchers admit the fact that the reason for the link between WNT pathway activation and better patient prognosis is as yet unclear, but believe that it could be that these tumours represent a less aggressive subset or that pathway activation itself actually harms the tumour.

According to them, the pathway could represent an important new target for the treatment of more effective drugs, with fewer side effects.

“The principal aim of our research is to reduce the morbidity and mortality of children with central nervous system tumours through improved understanding of tumour biology. Following on from this, we need to translate this knowledge into effective new treatments for brain tumours through the development and assessment of accurately targeted treatments that will cause fewer side effects than conventional chemotherapy or radiotherapy and be more effective,” said senior author Professor Richard Grundy, from the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre.

“The ultimate aim is to develop ‘drugs’ that target just the abnormal genes in cancer cells, rather than the current norm which involves the indiscriminate destruction of dividing cells which might be healthy or malignant. Overall, this is an important finding in a poorly understood, poor prognosis disease, which we hope, in time, will lead to the development of new treatments for CNS PNETs.

“We hope our findings will lead to a more detailed understanding of CNS PNETS, which is crucial if we are to ensure each child receives the most appropriate treatment for their disease and that we reduce the number of children in which their cancer recurs,” he added.

A research article on the study has been published in the British Journal of Cancer. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: abnormal genes, brain tumour, brain tumours., cancer cells, central nervous system, chemotherapy, conventional chemotherapy, indiscriminate destruction, morbidity and mortality, pathway, patient prognosis, patient survival, pnet, poor prognosis, principal aim, professor richard, radiotherapy, richard grundy, target, university of nottingham

Frog’s immune system is key in fight against killer virus

March 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, March 1 (ANI): Scientists have discovered how changes to a frog’s immune system may be the key to beating a viral infection which is devastating frog populations across the UK.

Communities of common frogs (Rana temporaria) are being struck down by a foreign virus which is estimated to be killing tens of thousands of frogs in the UK each year.

When it strikes garden ponds, the surrounding lawn becomes strewn with dead frogs, some with skin ulcers so severe they reduce limbs to stumps, others with internal bleeding.

The virus, called Ranavirus, has invaded the home counties around London, and is now spreading north and west.

Now, Dr Amber Teacher has described how the frogs’ immune system has responded to the virus.

Working with her fellow scientists at Queen Mary, University of London and experts at the Institute of Zoology, she studied ponds where Ranavirus deaths are occurring year after year, and consistently found changes to a gene called the MHC, which codes for a major part of the frog’s immune system.

“It seems, as Darwin would have predicted, that the plucky surviving frogs have passed on to their descendants an immune system which is better tuned to the new threat,” said Dr Teacher.

Teacher also found that the frogs’ immune systems are simpler than many other animals, including humans, who have several MHC genes doing a similar job.

“This discovery has helped identify the point in our evolutionary history when this multiplication of genes occurred. With luck, even the frog’s simpler system will be sufficient to win their battle,” she said.

According to Teacher’s colleague Professor Richard Nichols, from Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences,”From a scientific point of view, we could learn as much about the fight against viruses, whether the frogs succumb or they don’t; but from a personal point of view, I hope these changes are the first signs that the frogs getting the upper hand over the virus.” (ANI)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: chemical sciences, dead frogs, evolutionary history, fellow scientists, first signs, frog populations, garden ponds, home counties, mhc genes, new threat, personal point, professor richard, queen mary university, queen mary university of london, rana temporaria, richard nichols, skin ulcers, teacher teacher, uk communities, viral infection

Gorillas are naturally equipped with sign language

February 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Feb 10 (ANI): Gorillas don’t ape each other, they’re born with an international sign language of gestures that they use to communicate, says a new study from University of St Andrews.

From beating their chests to putting objects on their heads, shaking their arms and even bouncing on all fours, the animals use more than 100 gestures to communicate with each other.

They vary from a fairly simple rocking movement to a complex sounding signal dubbed by the scientists as “disco arms shake”.

According to the researchers, these apes use more around 102 gestures.

Professor Richard Byrne, a psychiatrist involved in the research, said it was hard to figure out the meaning of the gestures.

“We don’t really know what the animals are thinking. Often they have more than one meaning, depending on the context,” the Scotsman quoted him as saying.

The study showed that the gorillas did not learn gestures from each other, as had been expected, but carried them out instinctively.

“Everyone had assumed different groups of gorillas had been learning different gestures,” he said.

“But that’s not what we found. As we went to more sites, the more we found the same gestures being used.

“They seem to be naturally equipped with a pretty elaborate system of communication,” he added.

The study found that ape gestures were carried out with close attention to the potential audience like silent ones were only given when other apes could see them.

Some gestures, such as “disco arms shake” were only ever seen being directed towards a human

Byrne believes that the findings may explain how human language evolved.

“There has always been speculation that the origins of human language might lie in gesture, an idea supported by the close proximity of the brain areas involved in language and gesture,” he said.

“Many researchers have therefore studied the gestural communication of the great apes for clues to the evolutionary origins of human gesture,” he added.

Several studies have shown great apes are capable of mimicking gestures. However, the scientists found that copies of human actions were actually gestures they were already able to do themselves.

“They matched the demonstrated actions pretty well, but not exactly,” said Prof Byrne.

“So we think that, just as in the case of communicative gestures, the fact that apes have a huge repertoire of actions can explain how they imitate human demonstrations and why their copies are usually inexact: they are ‘re-using’ actions from their own repertoire, not learning new ones,” he added. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: all fours, brain areas, chests, close proximity, evolutionary origins, gestural communication, gestures, gorillas, great apes, human gesture, human language, international sign language, language and gesture, london feb, professor richard, psychiatrist, richard byrne, scotsman, speculation, University of St. Andrews