Antibody may reduce or eliminate tumors
San Diego State University researcher Roger Sabbadini has brought scientists one step closer to finding a cure for cancer with the creation of an antibody that hinders the growth of tumors by preventing blood vessel formation.
As published in the March 14 issue of Cancer Cell, a leading oncology journal, Sabbadini and his research team have created an antibody, Sphingomab, that can be used as a drug to reduce the size of tumors in experimental animal models of human cancer. The antibody works as a molecular sponge by soaking up sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a molecule that has been proven to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels. S1P has been identified as a mediator of tumor cell proliferation and protector of tumor cells from chemotherapy drugs. By neutralizing S1P, the Sphingomab antibody inhibits the new blood vessel formation that tumors require to thrive, a process called ‘tumor angiogenesis.’
Parents win high court battle to keep their baby alive
The parents of an 18-month-old boy with a terminal muscle-wasting disease, won a High Court legal battle to stop doctors turning off the ventilator keeping him alive.
The ruling comes despite the belief of doctors that his life is so intolerable that he should be allowed to die.
The boy was born with spinal muscular atrophy, an incurable and degenerative muscle wasting disease that eventually causes total paralysis.
Tobacco giants gain $4.1 billion from Hollywood films with smoking
The 390,000 new teen smokers recruited each year by U.S. movies are worth $4.1 billion in lifetime sales revenue to the tobacco industry, UCSF researchers report in the April 2006 issue of Pediatrics.
Combining health data with business figures from Philip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds, UCSF’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, supported by the National Cancer Institute, also calculates that Hollywood movies with smoking generate $894 million per year in lifetime tobacco profits. (Sales revenue and profits are net present value).
Regular exercise closes the fitness gap between young and old
According to new research the older we get the harder we have to work to keep fit.
Seniors it seems may have to work harder than young people to perform the same physical activity, but regular exercise may close that age gap.
Researchers found in a study comparing sedentary adults in their 60s and 70s with those in their 20s and 30s, that older men and women had to use much more oxygen to walk at the same speed as their younger counterparts.
US reports two more deaths after abortion pill
Two additional deaths have been reported after women took the abortion pill known as RU-486 or Mifeprex, U.S. regulators said on Friday.
The Food and Drug Administration said it has not been able to determine the cause of the newly reported deaths. Four previously reported fatalities were linked to a bacterial infection that developed after the women took the abortion pill, which is sold by privately held Danco Laboratories.
Serb kids from bird flu area hospitalized for checks
Three Serb children from a bird flu-affected area were taken to hospital after developing fever and flu-like symptoms, Serbia’s chief epidemiologist said on Friday.
A teenager put into isolation on Thursday after developing fever was also moved to hospital. All four come from a southwestern area close to the Bosnian border, where there was a suspected case of the deadly H5N1 strain in a cockerel.
“Three children were admitted to hospital today displaying symptoms of respiratory infection,” Predrag Kon told Reuters.
