and alternatives to traditional combustible tobacco says Robin Mermelstein director of the UIC institute and principal investigator of the National Cancer Institute-funded study.
The project is supported by the National Cancer Institute one of the National institutes of health under award number P01ca098262.
#Zinc helps against infection by tapping brakes in immune responsenew research suggests that zinc helps control infections by gently tapping the brakes on the immune response in a way that prevents out-of-control inflammation that can be damaging and even deadly.
and animal studies that a protein lures zinc into key cells that are first-responders against infection.
The zinc then interacts with a process that is vital to the fight against infection and by doing
if there is not enough zinc available at the time of infection the consequences include excessive inflammation.
In this research zinc's activity was studied in the context of sepsis a devastating systemic response to infection that is a common cause of death in intensive care-unit unit patients.
But scientists say these findings might also help explain why taking zinc tablets at the start of a common cold appears to help stem the effects of the illness.
We do believe that to some extent these findings are going to be applicable to other important areas of disease beyond sepsis said Daren Knoell senior author of the study and a professor of pharmacy and internal medicine at Ohio State.
Without zinc on board to begin with it could increase vulnerability to infection. But our work is focused on
what happens once you get an infection --if you are deficient in zinc you are at a disadvantage
While this study and previous work linking zinc deficiency to inflammation might suggest that supplementation could help very sick ICU patients it's still too early to make that leap.
We predict that not everybody in the ICU with sepsis needs zinc but I anticipate that a proportion of them would Knoell said.
Usually if there is zinc deficiency we would expect to see other nutrient deficiencies too. Zinc deficiency affects about 2 billion people worldwide including an estimated 40 percent of the elderly in the United states--who are also among the most likely Americans to end up in an ICU.
The research is published in the journal Cell Reports. Knoell's lab previously showed that zinc-deficient mice developed overwhelming inflammation in response to sepsis compared to mice on a normal diet.
Zinc supplementation improved outcomes in the zinc-deficient mice. Until now the beneficial effects of zinc in combating infection have not been understood fully at the molecular level.
This is because zinc has numerous complex jobs in the body and interacts with thousands of proteins to sustain human life.
Of all the zinc contained in our bodies only about 10 percent of it is readily accessible to help fight off an infection said Knoell also an investigator in Ohio State's Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute.
We believe that our findings help to narrow an important gap that has existed in our understanding of how this relatively simple metal helps us defend ourselves from infection he said.
In experiments using human monocytes--cells involved in the first line of defense against an invading pathogen--the researchers examined
When a pathogen is recognized a series of molecules wake up from dormancy to create a process that activates the innate immune response.
A major part of this process involves the NF-Î B pathway named for a highly active protein that is known to play an important role in the immune response to infection.
not only attacks the pathogen but can also cause much more collateral damage. The researchers knew from previously published experiments that
When researchers allowed this protein to function unchecked in mice with zinc deficiency the animals developed excessive inflammation in response to sepsis--confirmation that IKKB was zinc's target to turn off the inflammatory pathway.
His lab is continuing to study the NF-Î B pathway inflammation and zinc deficiency in other disease processes.
whether zinc should be considered as an intervention for specific disorders. There might be therapeutic implications about giving supplemental zinc in a strategic manner to help improve some people with certain conditions.
#Scientists identify genetic mechanism that contributed to Irish Faminewhen a pathogen attacks a plant infection usually follows after the plant's immune system is compromised.
A team of researchers at the University of California Riverside focused on Phytophthora the pathogen that triggered The irish Famine of the 19th century
The Genus phytophthora contains many notorious pathogens of crops. Phytophthora pathogens cause worldwide losses of more than $6 billion each year on potato (Phytophthora infestans) and about $2 billion each year on soybean (Phytophthora sojae.
The researchers led by Wenbo Ma an associate professor of plant pathology and microbiology focused their attention on a class of essential virulence proteins produced by a broad range of pathogens including Phytophthora called effectors.
The effectors are delivered to and function only in the cells of the host plants the pathogens attack.
The researchers found that Phytophthora effectors blocked the RNA silencing pathways in their host plants (such as potato tomato
and soybean) resulting first in a suppression of host immunity and thereafter in an increase in the plants'susceptibility to disease.
Its effectors are the first example of proteins produced by eukaryotic pathogens--nucleated single -or multicellular organisms--that promote infection by suppressing the host RNA silencing process.
Our work shows that RNA silencing suppression is a common strategy used by a variety of pathogens--viruses bacteria
and Phytophthora--to cause disease and shows too that RNA silencing is an important battleground during infection by pathogens across kingdoms.
Study results appeared online Feb 3 in Nature Genetics. What is RNA silencing and what is its significance?
RNA is made from DNA. Many RNAS are used to make proteins. However these RNAS can be regulated by small RNA (snippets of RNA) that bind to them.
When RNA silencing is impaired by effectors the plant is more susceptible to disease. Basic RNA silencing processes are conserved in plant and mammalian systems.
The discovery by Ma's lab is the first to show that RNA silencing regulates plant defense against eukaryotic pathogens.
A similar motif is found in effectors of animal parasites such as the malaria pathogen Plasmodium suggesting an evolutionarily conserved means for delivering effectors that affect host immunity.
Next her lab will work on extensively screening other pathogens and identifying their effectors'direct targets
so that novel control strategies can be developed to manage the diseases the pathogens cause. Ma was joined in the study by UC Riverside's Yongli Qiao Lin Liu Cristina Flores James Wong Jinxia Shi Xianbing Wang Xigang Liu Qijun Xiang
and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical center and research director of its Sticht Center on Aging is the principal investigator in a National institutes of health-funded study into the effectiveness of insulin administered through the nose in treating individuals with mild cognitive impairment
or mild Alzheimer's dementia. But the $7. 9 million nationwide study involving 30 institutions--one of two projects selected by the NIH to be part of its National Alzheimer's Plan
which aims to find an effective way to prevent or treat the disease by 2025--won't be able to attain its goal without a sufficient number of subjects.
The role played by members of the public--both sick and healthy--is an often-underappreciated aspect of clinical research at academic medical centers
or a success. And we often learn as much from failures as successes. Most clinical trials require people who have the disease
#Breast milk reduces risk of sepsis and intensive care costs in very-low-birth-weight infantsfeeding human breast milk to very-low-birth-weight infants greatly reduces risk for sepsis
and significantly lowers associated neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) costs according to a study by Rush University Medical center researchers.
days of life decreased the odds of sepsis by almost 20 percent. A daily dose of 25 to 49.99 milliliters of human milk per kilogram cut NICU costs by more than $20000 while 50 milliliters per kilogram per day lowered NICU costs by nearly $32000.
The research which was led by Dr. Aloka L. Patel is the first report of an economic impact of an average daily dose of human milk for days 1 to 28 of life on risk of infection
Of 175 very-low-birth-weight infants 23 (13 percent) developed sepsis from gram-positive bacteria such as staphylococci Streptococcus and Enterococcus species and gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli
Late-onset sepsis commonly occurs in about 22 percent of very-low-birth-weight babies the United states
. In addition to predisposing these infants to other diseases and later neurodevelopmental disabilities sepsis significantly raises NICU costs due to increased use of ventilation and longer lengths of stay.
It also translates into higher societal and educational costs for neurologically affected survivors. The substantial NICU hospital cost savings associated with increased dosages of human milk are likely to offset the maternal and institutional costs of providing
and outline those associated with rubber biosynthesis rubber wood formation disease resistance and allergenicity. The rubber industry is affected by rubber blight--a fungal disease
--and natural rubber allergenicity a global medical concern for those repeatedly exposed to latex-containing products (e g. gloves).
This will lead to assistance in latex production wood development disease resistance and allergenicity. Story Source:
#No clear evidence more gluten in new wheat is responsible for increase in celiac diseaseno clear evidence exists to support the idea that celiac disease is increasing in prevalence
Donald D. Kasarda cites evidence that the incidence of celiac disease increased during the second half of the 20th century.
Some estimates indicate that the disease is four times more common today. Also known as gluten intolerance celiac disease occurs
when gluten a protein in wheat barley and rye damages the lining of the small intestine causing a variety of symptoms.
Nobody knows why the disease is increasing. One leading explanation suggests that it results from wheat breeding that led to production of wheat varieties containing higher levels of gluten.
This may prove difficult given the risks of bias and ethical strictures of studying the use of an illegal substance he said.
and result in emphysema heart attack and now stroke he said. Co-authors are: Heidi Pridmore M d.;
and so are likely to be sensitive to modern agrochemical contamination of the environment. They may play an important role in organic rice farming.
Whilst we are not able to directly attribute nanoparticle ingestion to any particular disease or symptoms we know from the latest laboratory studies the potency some have in terms of infiltrating our cells and tissue and causing harm.
The fact that these potentially dangerous particles are being taken up by such a common crop suggests a need to review what materials are used in agriculture around the world.
#Exposure to pesticides in food, air and water increases risk of type 2 diabetes, study findsa study led by the University of Granada reveals that there is a direct relationship between the presence of Persistent Organic Pollutants
in the body and the development of type 2 diabetes regardless of the patient's age gender or body mass index.
A study conducted at the University of Granada has revealed that there is a direct relationship between exposure to pesticides (Persistent Organic Pollutants CPOS) in food air and water and prevalence of type 2 diabetes in adults regardless
and they might be one of the reasons why obese people are more likely to develop diabetes since the more fat the higher the COP concentrations in the body.
In a paper recently published in the journal Environmental Research researchers demonstrate that people with higher concentrations of DDE-the main metabolite in the pesticide DDT-are four times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than other people.
In addition the risk of type 2 diabetes is associated also with exposure to Î-HCH (beta-Hexachlorocyclohexane)
According to professor Arrebola the mechanism of action by which COPS increases the risk of diabetes is still unknown.
The prevalence of diabetes in the world has increased significantly in the last decades. It is estimated that by 2030 4. 4%of the world population have this metabolic disorder.
This will have a severe impact on public health programs since it is highly resource-consuming. The factors causing such increase in the prevalence of diabetes are not still clearly understood.
This research study was conducted by researchers at San Cecilio University Hospital Granada the University of Granada and the Andalusian School of Public health Santa ana hospital Motril and the Hospital del Mar d
According to the authors of the study we are an example of clinical research focused on common diseases with a high impact on health.
Jim Drouillard professor of animal sciences and industry developed a technique that enriches ground beef with omega-3 fatty acids--fatty acids that have been shown to reduce heart disease cholesterol and high blood pressure.
and other omega-3 rich grains have fewer respiratory diseases. The cattle also have higher fertility rates which helps offset infertility among dairy cattle.
and reduce diabetes in cattle. Research showed that omega-3 levels dramatically increased in the cattle as more flaxseed was introduced into their diet.
and infectious diseases accounted for the larger number of deaths during the hot months. Elephants are vulnerable to heat stress
Published February 1 in the journal Archives of Osteoporosis these findings suggest that not all dairy products are equally beneficial in promoting bone strength.
and sodium) and whether individual dairy foods have a significant impact in reducing fractures. IFAR researchers based their findings on data collected from a food frequency questionnaire completed by 3212 participants from the Framingham Offspring study.
Research like this supports the idea that proper nutrition can help combat osteoporosis and fractures.
Osteoporosis is considered a major public health threat for an estimated 44 million Americans or half of those aged 50 and older.#¢
#¢An estimated 10 million in the U s. already have the disease. Women are at higher risk than men.#¢
#¢Another 34 million Americans have low bone density putting them at increased risk for osteoporosis and fractures especially of the hip spine and wrist.
About one-quarter of those who suffer a hip fracture die within a year of the injury.#¢
#¢Osteoporosis-related fractures were estimated responsible for an $19 billion in health care costs in 2005 with that figure expected to increase to $25 billion by 2025.
M p h. This work was supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin diseases (AR#053205 and also AR/AG41398) and by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study (N01
The method promises to speed research into the underlying causes of disease by making single-molecule microscopy of practical use for more laboratories.
Determining how they interact is key to discovering cures for diseases. Simply put finding new therapies is akin to troubleshooting a broken mechanical assembly line
Rabies continues to kill many thousands of people throughout the developing world every year and can also affect international travelers said Leonard Both M. Sc. a researcher involved in the work from the Hotung Molecular Immunology Unit at St george's University of London in the United kingdom. An untreated rabies infection is nearly 100 percent fatal
and is seen usually as a death sentence. Producing an inexpensive antibody in transgenic plants opens the prospect of adequate rabies prevention for low-income families in developing countries.
To make this advance Both and colleagues humanized the sequences for the antibody so people could tolerate it.
Although treatable by antibodies if caught in time rabies is said bad news Gerald Weissmann M d. Editor-In-chief of The FASEB Journal.
and biological control of plagues as their larvae feed on other insects that are damaging to crops
By giving a more detailed description of how the disease moves across the landscape the study opens the door to management efforts that might bring the disease under control says David Crowder a WSU entomologist and the paper's lead author.
Last year the U s. Centers for Disease Control had the highest number of reported cases--5387 including 243 deaths--since 2003.
Roughly one in five infected people experience a fever headache body aches and in some cases a skin rash and swollen lymph glands.
One in 150 people can get a high fever headache neck stiffness disorientation and neurological problems.
Crowder working with fellow entomologist Jeb Owen other WSU colleagues and the State department of Health merged data from a variety of sources including West Nile infections in humans horses
The researchers found that habitats with high instances of the disease in horses and birds also have significantly more mosquitoes--as well as American robins
and house sparrows the two bird species implicated the most in the disease's transmission. These same habitats are also resulting in much higher rates of infection within mosquitoes themselves said Crowder.
We find that all three of these things--abundances of house sparrows and American robins abundance of mosquitoes and the actual prevalence of West Nile in mosquitoes--are increasing in landscapes with a higher proportion of land in orchard habitats.
Together the insects and birds become focal points for the disease. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Washington state University.
or delay the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The study published by Wiley in Annals of Neurology a journal of the American Neurological Association
According to the National Institutes of Neurological disorders and Stroke (NINDS) roughly 20000 to 30000 Americans have known ALS#lso as Lou gehrig s disease#nd another 5000 patients are diagnosed annually with the disease.
and waste away leading to paralysis.#oeals is a devastating degenerative disease that generally develops between the ages of 40 and 70
the National institutes of health (NIH)# ARP Diet and Health Study the Cancer Prevention Study II-Nutrition Cohort the Multiethnic Cohort the Health professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses Health Study
For instance the fibers can be wound to coat complex shapes. Because the fibers change color under strain the technology could lend itself to smart sports textiles that change color in areas of muscle tension
and doughnuts is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer and the effect appears to be slightly stronger with regard to more aggressive forms of the disease according to a study by investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research center.
Corresponding author Janet L. Stanford Ph d. and colleagues Marni Stott-Miller Ph d. a postdoctoral research fellow and Marian Neuhouser Ph d. all of the Hutchinson Center
While previous studies have suggested that eating foods made with high-heat cooking methods such as grilled meats may increase the risk of prostate cancer this is the first study to examine the addition of deep frying to the equation.
Eating more than once a week may raise risk Specifically Stanford co-director of the Hutchinson Center's Program in Prostate Cancer Research
and/or doughnuts at least once a week were increased at an risk of prostate cancer as compared to men who said they ate such foods less than once a month.
or more of these foods at least weekly had increased an risk of prostate cancer that ranged from 30 to 37 percent.
Weekly consumption of these foods was associated also with a slightly greater risk of more aggressive prostate cancer.
The researchers controlled for factors such as age race family history of prostate cancer body-mass index
when calculating the association between eating deep-fried foods and prostate cancer risk. The link between prostate cancer and select deep-fried foods appeared to be limited to the highest level of consumption--defined in our study as more than once a week--which suggests that regular consumption of deep-fried foods confers particular risk for developing prostate
cancer Stanford said. Deep frying may trigger formation of carcinogens in food Possible mechanisms behind the increased cancer risk Stanford hypothesizes include the fact that
when oil is heated to temperatures suitable for deep frying potentially carcinogenic compounds can form in the fried food.
They include acrylamide (found in carbohydrate-rich foods such as French fries) heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (chemicals formed
For the study Stanford and colleagues analyzed data from two prior population-based case-control studies involving a total of 1549 men diagnosed with prostate cancer and 1492 age-matched
and risk of prostate cancer Stanford said. However deep-fried foods have previously been linked to cancers of the breast lung pancreas head and neck and esophagus.
Because deep-fried foods are eaten primarily outside the home it is possible that the link between these foods
and prostate cancer risk may be a sign of high consumption of fast foods in general the authors wrote citing the dramatic increase in fast-food restaurants and fast-food consumption in the U s. in the past several decades.
The project was supported by the National Cancer Institute and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research center. Story Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
and might even prevent cancer. But for the first time scientists have exposed extracts from numerous berries high in those pigments to human saliva to see just what kinds of health-promoting substances are likely to survive
Scientists say that these early findings will contribute to the further development of confectionaries gums and other delivery devices for the prevention and possibly the treatment of conditions such as periodontal disease and oral cancers.
Black raspberries in particular have been shown in numerous previous studies to have chemopreventive effects on tumors in the mouth esophagus and colon mostly in animal studies.
Increased intake of fruits and vegetables is associated with decreased risk of some chronic diseases. An understanding of the metabolism of these compounds and the relative activities of the compounds in the consumed fruit and their metabolic products is needed to make scientifically sound dietary recommendations
The extent of the pigment degradation in saliva was primarily a function of the chemical structure of a given anthocyanin said Failla also an investigator in Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center and Food Innovation Center.
#Genome sequence of 90 chickpea lines decodedin a scientific breakthrough that promises improved grain yields and quality greater drought tolerance and disease resistance and enhanced genetic diversity
and low diversity genome regions that may be used in the development of superior varieties with enhanced drought tolerance and disease resistance.
and bacterial contamination of these popular items made from the uncooked dried penis of a bull or steer.
All 26 treats were tested for bacterial contaminants. One (4 percent) of the sticks was contaminated with Clostridium difficile;
whether the calorie content and contamination rate found in this study is representative of all bully sticks or other types of pet treats according to the authors.
and cause heart disease while those rich in omega-3 and other polyunsaturated fatty acids may reduce the risk of heart disease studies have shown.
and juice processors address the threat posed by Huanglongbing (HLB) a disease that is costing the citrus industry millions of dollars each year.
In another study they investigated how HLB infection affects juice quality in the same three varieties of orange with respect to cultivar maturity and processing methods.
The program was probably not very effective at controlling mosquito-borne disease Coverdale says but it did put a lot of people to work
Killian and fellow scientists from Rice and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center co-founded Nano3d Biosciences in 2009 after creating a technology that uses magnetism to levitate
and vegetable intake and risk of overall breast cancer but vegetable consumption is associated with a lower risk of estrogen receptor-negative (ER-)breast cancer according to a study published January 24 in the Journal of the National Cancer
The intake of fruits and vegetables has been hypothesized to lower breast cancer risk however the existing evidence is inconclusive.
There are many subtypes of breast cancer including ER -and ER positive (ER+)tumors and each may have distinct etiologies.
Since ER-tumors which have lower survival rates and are less dependent on estrogen levels than ER+tumors account for only 15-20%of breast cancers large pooled analyses are needed to determine the suspected link to lower ER-breast cancer risk and the consumption of fruits and vegetables.
In order to determine if there is a link between the lowered risk of ER-breast cancers and the intake of fruits and vegetables Seungyoun Jung Sc.
D. formerly from the Department of Nutrition Harvard School of Public health and currently at the Channing Division of Network Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital and colleagues analyzed data from 20 cohort studies of women
who were followed for a maximum of 11-20 years. They investigated the association of high compared to low intake of fruit
and vegetables and risk of developing breast cancer in each study and then combined the study-specific estimates to generate summary estimates for all studies combined.
and vegetable intake was linked statistically significantly to a lower risk of ER-breast cancer but not with risk of overall breast cancer or risk of ER+breast tumors.
These findings support the value of examining etiologic factors in relation to breast cancer characterized by hormone receptor status in large pooled analyses
because modest associations with less common breast cancer subtypes may have been missed in smaller studies the authors write.
In an accompanying editorial Cynthia A. Thomson Ph d. and Patricia A. Thompson Ph d. both of the University of Arizona Cancer Center write that the findings of the study support the emphasis on greater intake for vegetables
(and to a lesser extent fruit) to lower the risk of ER-breast cancer. However they also write that interpretation of these findings may also be challenged by the known effects of other potential confounders including the aggregation of health behaviors.
The above story is provided based on materials by Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length h
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