cell

Use of Cellular Phones associated with Increased risk of Brain Tumors

A recent article published by a team in Sweden suggests that there is an increased risk of brain cancer in the areas of highest exposure in patients using digital telephones (Case Control Study on Radiology work, Medical X-Ray Investigations, and Cellular Telephones as Risk Factors for Brain Tumors, Hardell, et al, May 4, 2000, www.medscape.com). Their analysis focused on the effect of d...

Blood Cells Capable of Regenerating Liver

Livers can be regenerated using stem cells from blood -- an important discovery that means patients may be able to grow their own liver transplants using bone marrow. This adds to a growing body of evidence that stem cells, known as "master cells" because they can produce a variety of different kinds of cells, might one day be manipulated to create custom-grown organ transplants....

White Cells Count Can Predict Heart Attack Death Risk

A simple blood test can give clue if the heart attack patients should get an immediate procedures to open clogged vessels and restore blood flow to their hearts. Cleveland Clinic cardiologist, Dr. Deepak Bhatt analyzed medical records of more than 12,000 heart disease patients and found that patients whose white blood cell count is in what is considered a "high normal range" have a mu...

Multi billion-dollar suit filed against cell phone firm for causing brain tumours

In the United States of America, a lawyer- Peter Angelos, who won millions of dollars as compensation from the tobacco industry in Maryland, has announced that he is dragging Vodafone to court in a billion dollar suit. He is claiming compensation to cell phone users who are said to have developed brain tumours after using the instruments made by Verizon wireless. This case has raised eyeb...

Stem cell research- now Nobel Laureates join the debate

Throwing their lot with the group of scientists asking for more funding into stem cell research, 80 Nobel prize winners are faxing a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush asking him not to block stem cell research in any way. The debate on stem cell research is reaching a feverish pitch with both sides slamming each other on the pros and cons of stem cell research. While those...

Action of nerve cells

For proper functioning of the brain in humans and animals, the nerve cells must communicate with the neurons by releasing chemicals called neurotransmitters. In a new study, biologists from Utah showed how a single protein plays an importnat role in preparing the nerve cells to send these chemical signals. The experimented animals were paralyzed- unable to move, eat or// eli...

Govt Keen To Propagate Stem Cell Research On Right Track

To avoid quackery in the field of stem cell therapy, and propagate the stem cell research on right track, the Government has decided to work on improving the protocols involved in this therapy. // The system would be developed under the leadership of director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), according to Union health secretary P K Hota. The...

Another Potential Of Stem Cells Discovered: Used For Growing Cartilage

In a breakthrough, scientists have successfully converted human embryonic stem cells into cartilage cells, raising hope that in future, replacement cartilage could be grown for transplantation for a number of injuries and medical // problems, including sports injuries, new cartilage for people having hip replacements, and even for cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. The research, to...

Telomerase Vital In Maintaining Ability of Stem Cell to Multiply

Carol Greider, Ph.D., director and professor of molecular biology and genetics in the Johns Hopkins Institute of Basic Biomedical Sciences and colleagues have found that the length of telomeres is important// in ensuring that stem cells are able to divide indefinitely. Telomeres are the ends of the chromosomes that protect genetic information while the chromosome is undergoing division....

Weizmann Institute of Science says Immune Cells Could Help Maintain Brain Function

New research from the Weizmann Institute of Science throws light on cells that could prevent deterioration of cognition in old age. These findings appear in the February issue of Nature Neuroscience. Professor Michal Schwartz of the Neurobiology Department at Weizmann led the study, //which might have important implication in delaying the onset of cognitive deterioration in the elderly....

Therapy for stopping the spread of cancer cells

An enzyme that affects the spread of cancer cells could provide a new target for therapy, say researchers in the US. Cancer cells spread through the body by hanging on to carbohydrate molecules on other, normal cells, and then letting go and moving on to the next cell. The composition of carbohydrates on the cells affects the balance between hanging on to neighbouring cells and letting go...

Stem cell transplantation of eye

In a significant breakthrough, a team of scientists have successfully transplanted cultured stem cells from the healthy eye to the diseased one, bringing light to the people who nearly lost their sight in accidents. Sustaining the current excitement about stem cells, in all 33 patients who suffered from conditions such as chemical burns, allergic reactions to drug and auto-immune diseases...

Anti-Cancer Drug Restores Normal Cell Growth

An experimental anti-cancer drug has shown effectiveness in treating a resistant type of lymphoma, according to a new report. Researchers say the drug probably acts on many types of cancer cells, so it may be useful for treating other types of cancer. Dr. Antonio Fojo of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues tested the drug, depsipeptide//, in patients with T...

Hydroxyurea derivatives kill colon cancer cells

A new class of drugs based on a widely used anticancer drug, hydroxyurea, shows potent colon cancer-killing effects in the laboratory and in mice, according to researchers. The new compounds seem to be very interesting for the treatment of these tumors. // Previous drugs derived from hydroxyurea were extremely active in blocking the same cell targets as hydroxyurea, but had serious si...

Gene Therapy Destroys Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Pancreatic cancer is among the deadliest of cancers, affecting many people a year and having an extremely low survival rate. Pancreatic cancer is the most aggressive cancer and there are few palliative treatments. Using a new two-pronged attack, researchers were able to destroy deadly pancreatic cancer cells in the test tube and in lab animals. // The work was led by Dr. Paul B. Fishe...

New Drug PP188 Helps Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder that affects red blood cells. People with sickle cell disease have red blood cells that contain an abnormal type of hemoglobin. Sometimes these red blood cells become sickle-shaped and have difficulty passing through small blood vessels. When sickle-shaped cells clump together and obstruct blood vessels, the result is often pain severe en...

Creating brain cells from bone marrow

Researchers have recently found a way of creating brain cells out of bone marrow cells which opens up the possibility of grafts for Parkinson's disease. At the Peterson Medical College scientists grew stem cells from adult bone marrow in a finely-tuned cocktail of growth factors and other chemicals and found they could get them to convert into neurons. Normally such stem cells form mu...

A need for new stem cell lines

According to researchers, existing stem cell lines could accrue genetic abnormalities over time and new stem cell lines will likely be needed. Dr. Burt Vogels, chairman of a key stem cell research committee of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine said that every time a cell divide in a tissue culture it accumulates mutations. In aggregate those mutations may cause cer...

A Chinese herb kills cancer cells

A herb of Chinese origin which is basically used to treat malaria, kills cancer cells too using a similar mechanism. The drug artemisinin is extracted from the wormwood plant. Knowing that artemisinin works by interacting with high iron levels in malaria parasites, researcher Henryi of the University of Texas wondered if the same approach would work with cancer cells. For it's known that...

Stem cell research

A team of scientists, based in UK, have grown human nerve cells in the lab, in the first successful attempt to control the development of embryonic stem cells. Their work is a major step towards the production of replacement tissues for treating neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Researchers worldwide have been in heavy competition over the past few...

Immune cells halt round in space

An immune cell swallows a small capsule-shaped bacteria. The immune cells which help protect us from disease does not generally work the way they should in space travellers and it could be something to do with their shape. Researchers at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) have been studying how immune cells behave in microgravity as part of their research on the health effects of space on...

Zinc may enhance growth in Young sickle cell patients

Sickle cell disease, sometimes called sickle cell anemia, is a hereditary condition that causes red blood cells to become sickle-shaped, which makes it difficult// for the cells to pass through the bloodstream to deliver oxygen to the body's tissues. Young sickle cell patients who are having delays in their growth and maturation may benefit from supplemental zinc, a mineral essential for...

DNA helps in cellular function

Biological chemists at the University of north Carolina at Chapel Hill, state about the discovery of how living organisms convert genetic instructions into action. The UNC scientists have found a previously unknown chemical site on a key enzyme that regulates production of the genetic messenger known as RNA. When the chemical site is occupied, it markedly speeds up the// process...

A question on study of Adult Stem Cell

Two studies may form a tiresome feeling over visions of adult stem cells as a less honestly questionable but nearly equally versatile alternative to embryonic stem cells, whose ability to sprout different cell types has spawned debate between those who think such research destroys a life and those who say it has life-saving potential. The new findings challenge the notion adult stem cells...

Stem Cell Transplants May Be Effective For MS Patients

There’s a potential new treatment for people with severe cases of multiple sclerosis, according to a new research. The new treatment involves removing stem cells// from the patients’ blood, killing the cells that are working against the body’s immune system and then returning the healthy cells back to the body. The hope is that these stem cells will eventually reconstitute into healthy im...

Cell transplants used to fend off Parkinson's symptoms

Doctors report they have had long-term success implanting cells into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients by passing a needle through the skull. Dr. Ray Watts, professor of //neurology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, told that patients had improved motor function - movement of their arms and legs - by up to 60% using this procedure. Watts implanted retinal pigm...

FDA Approves Anti-Cancer Cell Drug - Zevalin

The government approved a long-awaited treatment for lymphoma - a drug that uses a novel approach to bring radiation directly to cancer cells. Idec Pharmaceuticals' Zevalin becomes the first radioimmunotherapy drug cleared to sell in the US. // It's a new approach, adding radiation to antibodies that search out a protein called CD20 found on lymphoma cells. The antibodies attach to th...

Transforming stem cells to lung cells

The functioning of stem cells has an outstanding nature. Initially, the mouse stem cells have been transformed into fully-functioning lung cells, promising repair of damaged lung tissue. The potential of stem cells - primitive cells that can be turned into more specialised cells - is now well established.// Researchers at the Imperial College Tissue Engineering and now report on the first...

Stem Cells Have Few Mutations

Researchers have found that embryonic stem cells develop a relatively small number of mutations which can be detected by screening. They felt that the mouse embryonic stem cells were actually more genetically stable than some adult cells. Jay A. Tischfield, a researcher at Rutgers University and a co-author of the study, everybody has assumed that the embryonic stem cell had a mutation ra...

Changing stem cells to liver cells

According to researchers, this new study shows, for the first time, that stem cells from humans, mice and rats can be turned into functioning liver cells. A team at the University of Texas have been able to treat adult bone marrow stem cells so that they become liver cells.// These cells look, stain and function like authentic liver cells. They produce albumin, the most abundant protein m...

Enzyme stimulates growth of adult stem cells

According to researchers at the University of Texas, an enzyme has been found, that instigates the growth and maturation of stem cells lurking in bone marrow, causing the stem cells to step up production and replace lost blood and immune system cells.// It is possible the enzyme may also spur the growth of stem cells elsewhere in the body. This information may help researchers determin...

Stem cell transplantation of eye

In a significant breakthrough, a team of scientists have successfully transplanted cultured stem cells from the healthy eye to the diseased one, bringing light to the people who nearly lost their sight in accidents.Sustaining the current excitement about stem cells, in all 33 patients who suffered from conditions such as chemical burns, allergic reactions// to drug and auto-immune disease...

Heart may pull Cells from Body to Self-repair

According to researchers, after analysis of cells in men with transplanted hearts from female donors, the proof is the piling up that the heart may be able toregenerate itself at least somewhat by recruiting cells from elsewhere in the body.// Traditionally, it was thought that once cells were damaged or dead, they could not be replaced or repaired by the heart. By looking at the Y chr...

Skin specialist advise on cellulite

Cellulite is the name commonly given to the dimpled, 'orange peel' skin on the thighs, buttocks, knees and lower abdomen. Massage, diet, exercise and creams may all have a beneficial effect on the appearance of cellulite - but there's no cure for the condition.// It's the body's natural way of storing fat in women and occurs even in very thin women. According to Dr Michael Goldman, a derm...

Cell transplants for stroke

According to new animal studies, the researchers have found that the bone marrow cell transplant improved functioning after stroke. Researchers in the US have been studying the ability of human bone marrow cells// - known as stromal cells - to restore function in brain-damaged rats. Animals were given injections of the cells, which came from healthy human volunteers. Compared to contr...

Useful drug for stem cell transplant problem

A new drug rescues patients suffering potentially fatal liver complications from cancer therapy. Generally high doses of chemotherapy are given before a stem cell transplant// such as a bone marrow transplant is used for cancer treatment. But chemotherapy causes five to 50 per cent of such patients to experience a potentially fatal complication called veno-occlusive disease (VOD), which d...

Stem cells aid to cure brain cancer

According to researchersthey studied on miceand found that the neural stem cells can track rogue brain cancer cells and eliminate them. Glioma is the most aggressive form of brain cancer. The tumour is often ill-defined, with malignant// cells making their way into healthy tissue, making the growth extremely difficult to removeResearchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Maxine Dunit...

Brain cells protected by new compounds

Pharmacists have made compounds that can terminate the natural death of brain cells and could treat an extent of neurodegenerative diseases. The protein p53 plays// an important role in getting damaged cells to kill themselves. Its known to be important in cancer - where defective p53 genes allow cancer cells to grow, instead of dying off. Now researchers at the National Institutes of Hea...

Bone marrow stem cells may help repair cardiac tissues

Two new studies, though small, have boosted confidence in a method used to repair cardiac tissues damaged by a heart attack. Researchers have found that stem cells derived from bone marrow which is much less controversial than embryo cells// helps patients who have had a heart attack and had undergone conventional bypass therapy. Doctors in eastern Germany found that when patients who...

Resistant tumors could be treated with the discovery of a new molecule within cancer cells

A new research study published in the journal, Cancer Cell reported that scientists have discovered why some tumors respond less well to drug treatment as compared to others. Researchers have found that high levels of a specific molecule within cancer cells seem to block the effect of drugs such as Taxol, which are used to treat a number of cancers in their later stages. In the study, the...