Latest associate professor Stories
By: Erika Dunayer, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Liver cancer is the third leading cancer killer worldwide. Now, researchers are working to crack the code to see what is causing it. Studies show that loss of a small RNA molecule in liver cells might cause liver cancer and that restoring the molecule might slow tumor growth and offer a new way to treat the disease. "In previous studies the microRNA-122 was very high in a normal liver but in a tumor it went down...
Scientists have discovered the structure and operating procedures of a powerful anti-bacterial killing machine that could become an alternative to antibiotics. In research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, scientists from Monash University, The Rockefeller University and the University of Maryland detail how the bacteriophage lysin, PlyC, kills bacteria that cause infections from sore throats to pneumonia and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome....
MIAMI, July 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ADEC Inc. - Worried about your memory? Many patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and individuals concerned about developing memory loss feel they have limited options. While there is no 'magic pill' to cure or prevent AD, a new book outlines a cutting-edge approach to systematically address this disease. Besides eating properly and exercising, there are several useful strategies for managing AD, according to Richard S....
HOUSTON, May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As one of the country's leading medical centers for diagnosing and treating fetal anomalies, and one of the first centers to provide a full range of prenatal surgical options, Texas Children's Fetal Center at the Pavilion for Women is proud to announce the team's first two successful in-utero fetal interventions to treat Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). These are the only documented cases in the Southwestern United States...
A University of Adelaide study has identified the risk of major birth defects associated with different types of assisted reproductive technology. In the most comprehensive study of its kind in the world, researchers from the University's Robinson Institute have compared the risk of major birth defects for each of the reproductive therapies commonly available internationally, such as: IVF (in vitro fertilization), ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) and ovulation induction. They also...
New University of Otago research suggests that when non-religious people think about their own death they become more consciously skeptical about religion, but unconsciously grow more receptive to religious belief. The Department of Psychology research also found that when religious people think about death, their religious beliefs appear to strengthen at both conscious and unconscious levels. The researchers believe the findings help explain why religion is such a durable feature of human...
The characterisation of a rare immune cell’s involvement in antibody production and ability to ‘remember’ infectious agents could help to improve vaccination and lead to new treatments for immune disorders, say researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. The cells, called T follicular helper cells, represent less than half of one per cent of all immune cells, but play a critical role in antibody production and developing long-lasting immunity. However, the cells are also...
University of Chicago physicists have experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, that atoms chilled to temperatures near absolute zero may behave like seemingly unrelated natural systems of vastly different scales, offering potential insights into links between the atomic realm and deep questions of cosmology. This ultracold state, called “quantum criticality,” hints at similarities between such diverse phenomena as the gravitational dynamics of black holes or the exotic...
A study of cervical cancer incidence and mortality in North Carolina has revealed areas where rates are unusually high. The findings indicate that education, screening, and vaccination programs in those places could be particularly useful, according to public health researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who authored the report. “In general the rates of incidence and mortality in North Carolina are consistent with national averages,” said Jennifer S. Smith,...
By discovering how a blood clot-busting enzyme is switched on, researchers have unlocked a century-old atomic riddle that could lead to new treatments for clotting and bleeding disorders, and some cancers. Monash University researchers, led by Professor James Whisstock and Associate Professor Paul Coughlin, together with colleagues at the Australian Synchrotron have shown how the protein plasminogen is converted into plasmin, an enzyme that removes disease-causing clots and clears up...
