Failure in Biological News

Study explains potential failure of oral contraceptives with obese women

PORTLAND, Ore. Researchers have identified a potential biological mechanism that could explain why oral contraceptives may be less effective at preventing pregnancy in obese women, as some epidemiological studies have indicated. Although conventional oral contraceptives appear to eventually re...

Plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 -- a potential link between heart failure and diabetes

Researchers at the University of Vermont Cardiovascular Research Institute, Colchester, Vermont have found that increased expression in the heart of plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1) is profibrotic. The results, which appear in the March 2009 issue of Experimental Biology and Medici...

Moderate use averts failure of type 2 diabetes drugs in animal model

Drugs widely used to treat type 2 diabetes may be more likely to keep working if they are used in moderation, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found in a study using an animal model. The drugs, sulfonylureas, help type 2 diabetics make more insulin, impr...

Genetic variant mimics effect of heart failure medications

A genetic variation, found predominantly in African Americans, protects some people with heart failure, enabling them to live longer than expected. Thats the conclusion of a research team led by investigators at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and the Washing...

Certain diseases, birth defects may be linked to failure of protein recycling system

CINCINNATI - A group of signaling proteins known as Wnt - which help build the human bodys skin, bone, muscle and other tissues - depend on a complex delivery and recycling system to ensure their transport to tissue-building cell sites, according to a study at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical...

Penn-Wistar team gains insight into HIV vaccine failure

PHILADELPHIA (July 20, 2009) A team of researchers from The Wistar Institute and the University of Pennsylvania reports new evidence refuting a popular hypothesis about the highly publicized failure in 2007 of the Merck STEP HIV vaccine study that cast doubt on the feasibility of HIV-1 vaccines....

Eating fatty fish once a week reduces men's risk of heart failure

BOSTON Eating salmon or other fatty fish just once a week helped reduce men's risk of heart failure, adding to growing evidence that omega-3 fatty acids are of benefit to cardiac health. Led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and reported in today's on-line issue of t...

Children's National research links platelets to sepsis-related organ failure

WASHINGTON, DCScientists at Children's National Medical Center have identified a previously unknown contributor to organ failure in patients suffering from sepsis: platelets. The finding, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine , is the first time doctors...

Gene therapy reversed heart damage in heart failure

(PHILADELPHIA) Long-term gene therapy resulted in improved cardiac function and reversed deterioration of the heart in rats with heart failure, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University's Center for Translational Medicine. The study was published online i...

Oocyte-specific gene mutations cause premature ovarian failure

Mutations in a gene called FIGLA cause premature ovarian failure in at least a percentage of women who suffer from the disorder, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Shandong University in China in a report that appears online today in the American Journal of Human Genet...

Jefferson receives $11.6M NIH grant to study novel mechanisms of heart failure

(PHILADELPHIA) Scientists at Jefferson Medical College have received a five-year, $11.6 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study molecular mechanisms of cardiac injury that lead to heart failure and potential repair processes that occur in the adult failing heart. ...

Many African-Americans have a gene that prolongs life after heart failure

About 40 percent of African-Americans have a genetic variant that can protect them after heart failure and prolong their lives, according to research conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions. The genetic variant has an effect that resembl...

High blood pressure, low energy -- a recipe for heart failure

Aug. 10, 2007 -- Many people with long-standing high blood pressure develop heart failure. But some don't. Daniel P. Kelly, M.D., and colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and other institutions are trying to figure out what could explain that difference. Their late...

Gene therapy reverses genetic mutation responsible for heart failure in muscular dystrophy

University of Pittsburgh investigators have for the first time used gene therapy to successfully treat heart failure and other degenerative muscle problems in an animal model that is genetically susceptible to a human muscular dystrophy. Reporting in the Oct. 25 edition of the journal Circulation, ...

Newly Discovered Role for Heart Response Enzyme May Yield Better Heart Failure Therapy

Duke University Medical Center researchers have identified a new protein that plays a critical role in enabling the heart to respond to such external stimuli as exercise or stress, as well as in the progressive loss of heart function that is heart failure, the researchers said. Their findings, th...

Chemical 'band-aid' prevents heart failure in mice with muscular dystrophy

A common chemical used in the manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries can repair damage to cardiac muscle cell membranes and prevent heart failure in mice with the genetic mutation that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy, according to scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School. T...

Implanted Devices Detect High-Risk Heart Failure Patients

Implanted devices intended to optimize the cardiac function of patients with heart failure have provided new insights into which patients might be at higher risk of dying suddenly from their disease, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center. Besides maintaining optimal electrica...

NIH stimulus funding supports Emory biomedical scientists

...nt Adam Houck is working with Emory nursing professor Sandra Dunbar. Their project tests whether involving family members in the care of elderly heart failure patients can help them stick to their diets and medication plans. Emory undergraduate Garron Deshazer is working with Emory cardiologist John Oshi...

First human gets new antibody aimed at hepatitis C virus

...CV because the virus remains in the patient's bloodstream during surgery. The powerful antiviral drugs now used to attack HCV prior to end-stage liver failure are not routinely used during surgery due to the patients' weakened condition and because of the strong medication that must be used to prevent the bo...

Lead-based consumer paint remains a global public health threat

...ates since 1978, University of Cincinnati (UC) environmental health researchers say in major countries from three continents there is still widespread failure to acknowledge its danger and companies continue to sell consumer paints that contain dangerous levels of lead. In a new study, Scott Clark, PhD, ...

Aware, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2009 Financial Results

...ited to: market acceptance of our biometric technologies and products; changes in contracting practices of government or law enforcement agencies; the failure of the biometrics market to experience continued growth; announcements or introductions of new technologies or products by our competitors; failures o...

Fujitsu Expands Support for Ethernet Networks With New Additions to XG Switch Product Line

...imize speed and performance in their storage environments." The Fujitsu XG Switches offer excellent throughput, low latency, and extremely low failure rates in a compact form factor, creating an ideal environment for Enterprise deployment. Adding the 1GbE/10GbE Switches to the company portfolio will ...

UTMB study identifies women at risk of gaining excessive weight with injectable birth control

...rican women use DMPA, including approximately 400,000 teens. DMPA is relatively inexpensive compared with some other forms of birth control, has a low failure rate and doesn't need to be administered daily, which contributes to the contraceptive's popularity. This study builds upon UTMB research released...

PRS And EmSense Partner To Integrate Bio-Sensory Measures In Packaging Research Studies

...TM) EEG unit to link package viewing patterns with measures of cognition and emotion - and to identify the specific design elements driving the recent failure of Tropicana's new packaging. These new insights, which help uncover the linkage between visibility, cognition, emotion and purchase, will now be ava...

Iron and biological production in the high-latitude North Atlantic

...rth Atlantic is a seasonal HNLC region, whereas classic, HNLC regions such as the Southern Ocean remain in this condition throughout the year." The failure of the phytoplankton community to exploit residual nitrate remaining in the summer reduces the effectiveness of the biological carbon pump. "This is i...

Clinical trial shows quadriplegics can operate powered wheelchair with tongue drive system

...ied advantages the Tongue Drive system has over the tongue-touch keypad. "The Tongue Drive system seems to be much more supportable if there were a failure of some component within the system. With the old tongue-touch keypad, if the system went down then the user lost all of the functions of the wheelcha...

Chromosomal problems affect nearly all human embryos

... problems with conception, particularly for advanced maternal age, repeated failure of implantation, repeated miscarriages, or severe male fertility problems. ...evalent chromosomal instability in all early human IVF embryos explains the failure of PGS to improve the live birth rate per embryo transferred. "I think t...

Will IVF work for a particular patient? The answer may be found in her blood

... Amsterdam, The Netherlands: For the first time, researchers have been able to identify genetic predictors of the potential success or failure of IVF treatment in blood. Dr. Cathy Allen, from the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland, told the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Hum...

Female human embryos adjust the balance of X chromosomes before implantation

...ery different from other placental mammals, suggesting that it has remained basically unchanged throughout evolution," said Ms van den Berg. "Early failure to perform correct XCI is likely to lead to the demise of the embryo. A recent publication showed that the sex ratio of children born after blastocyst...

DuoCort: New chronotherapy for adrenal insufficiency

... cortisol profile after single-dose administration that mimics the natural secretion pattern of cortisol. The new DuoCort therapy showed no absorption failure allowing it to be safely used in patients with adrenal insufficiency. Data from a subsequent phase II/III trial in patients with primary adrenal insuf...

Study on keeping nuclear bombs from US ports shows misplaced fear over cargo scanning cost

...icials who require them. When it comes to protecting the nation's ports, the authors warn, the challenge of comprehensive inspection and the cost of failure are both great. "Unlike a long range missile, the millions of shipping containers that are used to transport goods in ocean-going vessels provide te...

Stress puts double whammy on reproductive system, fertility

...y. Even the stress of infertility treatments can block their effectiveness, as evidenced by many anecdotes about couples conceiving children after the failure of assisted reproduction. Animal breeding also is affected by stress. Zoos, in particular, have difficulty getting some animals to reproduce in cap...

American Chemical Society weekly presspac -- June 10, 2009

...ought diagnostic and screening tests that literally sniff out chronic renal failure (CRF) in its earliest and most treatable stages. Their report is in the cur...s progression. ARTICLE #2 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "Sniffing Chronic Renal failure in Rat Model by an Array of Random Networks of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotub...

Promising device snags young inventors coveted spot at IShow

... like a standard bathroom scale connected to a bicycle-like handlebar, it is actually a heavy-duty piece of technology meant to offer congestive heart failure patients both peace of mind and significant health-care costs savings. "Nithan and Steve are developing a technology that is very useful medically...

Hypertension among lower-status employees lingers well into retirement

...istently too high. This condition can eventually damage cells of the arteries' inner lining, leading to angina, heart attack, stroke, aneurysm, kidney failure and other serious health problems. "People's occupations during their working years can clearly be a risk for hypertension after they retire," said...

Study finds colorectal cancer rates increasing worldwide

...e points toward a failed early detection and prevention strategy as well as failure to address lifestyle and dietary challenges of urbanization that affect mos...e points toward a failed early detection and prevention strategy as well as failure to address lifestyle and dietary challenges of urbanization that affect mos...

Enzyme involved in inflammatory bowel disease discovered at Penn State College of Medicine

...College of Medicine in New York and with W. Brian Reeves, M.D., at Penn State Hershey to demonstrate that meprin influences the outcome of acute renal failure in mice. The Penn State researchers used a mouse model of IBD, replicating inflammation in the intestine like that in human ulcerative colitis. Mic...

Liver disease 'shrunk' by blood-pressure drug

... A blood-pressure medicine has been shown to reverse the effects of early-stage liver failure in some patients. Newcastle University researchers analysed a small clinical trial of losartan, a drug normally prescribed for hypertension, on 14 ...

Combined stem cell-gene therapy approach cures human genetic disease in vitro

.... The resulting FA-iPS cells were indistinguishable from human embryonic stem cells and iPS cells generated from healthy donors. Since bone marrow failure as a result of the progressive decline in the numbers of functional hematopoietic stem cells is the most prominent feature of Fanconi anemia, the rese...

Adult bone marrow stem cells injected into skeletal muscle can repair heart tissue

...ovel non-invasive mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapeutic regimen for heart failure based on an intramuscular delivery route," said Techung Lee, Ph.D., UB asso...ment for cell growth. "For these reasons, and because patients with heart failure are not good surgical risks, it made sense to explore a non-invasive cell d...