news from the lab

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 16.05
Article in 'Science' says returning genetic incidental findings without patient consent violates basic rights
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (05/16/2013) —Informed consent is the backbone of patient care. Genetic testing has long required patient consent and patients have had a "right not to know" the results.

Chemistry - Medicine/Pharmacology - 15.05
Jekyll into Hyde: Breathing auto emissions turns HDL cholesterol from ’good’ to ’bad’
Academic researchers have found that breathing motor vehicle emissions triggers a change in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, altering its cardiovascular protective qualities so that it actually contributes to clogged arteries.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 14.05
Engineered biomaterial could improve success of medical implants
Posted under: Engineering , Health and Medicine , News Releases , Research , Science , Technology - It's a familiar scenario - a patient receives a medical implant and days later, the body attacks the artificial valve or device, causing complications to an already compromised system.

Environmental Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 14.05
Racial minorities live on the front lines of heat risk, study finds
Some racial groups are more likely to bear the brunt of extreme heat waves because of where they live, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. - The findings, published today (Tuesday, May 14) in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives , highlight racial disparities at a time when the frequency and intensity of extreme heat waves is expected to increase with climate change.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 13.05
Penn Medicine Researchers Identify Four New Genetic Risk Factors for Testicular Cancer
A new study looking at the genomes of more than 13,000 men identified four new genetic variants associated with an increased risk of testicular cancer, the most commonly diagnosed type in young men today.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 12.05
Non-inherited mutations account for many heart defects, Yale researchers find
New mutations that are absent in parents but appear in their offspring account for at least 10% of severe congenital heart disease, reveals a massive genomics study led by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Social Sciences - 9.05
Children of addicted parents more likely to be depressed as adults
Children of parents who were addicted to drugs or alcohol are more likely to be depressed in adulthood, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers. - “These findings underscore the intergenerational consequences of drug and alcohol addiction and reinforce the need to develop interventions that support healthy childhood development,” said the study's lead author, Esme Fuller-Thomson , professor and Sandra Rotman Endowed Chair in the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 9.05
Helping the youngest stroke sufferers get a leg up
UAlberta researchers receive more than $1M for provincewide physiotherapy study after small pilot shows improved leg mobility. - Toddlers who suffered a stroke as babies are learning how to walk thanks to research being conducted at the University of Alberta.

Medicine/Pharmacology - 8.05
Mobile app developed at UCLA helps women choose birth control method
A new, free iPad application developed at UCLA helps women navigate through the sometimes confusing process of selecting a birth control method using medically accurate information. The easy-to-use app highlights the most effective types of birth control and reveals potential side effects and risks associated with each option.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 7.05
Possible trigger for spread of head and neck cancer cells
Very little has been known about the epigenetic events — developmental and environmental factors affecting genes — that occur prior to the invasive growth of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas and their spread to other parts of the body, or metastasis.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 3.05
Study Maps Cancer's Metabolic Paths and Potential for Drugs to Starve Tumors
“Global mapping of cancer gene expression changes to the human metabolic network; increased enzymatic expression across tumors is shown in red and decreased in blue,” said Dr. Vitkup (who provided the image).

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 2.05
Berkeley Lab Discoveries Open New Hope for MMP Cancer Therapies
New evidence supports earlier findings that cancer therapy drugs based on a family of enzymes called metalloproteinases (MMPs) failed in clinical trials because they were aimed at the wrong target. Berkeley Lab researchers who previously demonstrated that MMP14 interacts with a partner to promote mammary invasion and - under abnormal conditions – tumors through a mechanism distinct from catalytic activity, have now shown that MMP3 can also promote tumors but via interaction with a different partner.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 2.05
Scientists make strides toward restoring bighorn sheep in the American West
Penn State postdoctoral fellow Raina Plowright and Princeton professor Andrew Dobson study the impacts of pneumonia on bighorn sheep. - UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - As pneumonia continues to limit recovery of the once nearly extinct bighorn sheep population in the western United States, a research team including scientists from Penn State's Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has made key discoveries that lead to a better understanding of the disease and how it might be more effectively controlled.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 1.05
Brain scans reveal which alcoholics at greatest risk of relapse
Even the most experienced counselors have difficultly spotting a recovering alcoholic in danger of relapse. Brain imaging scans might do a better job, new Yale research suggests. - Alcoholics with abnormal activity in areas of the brain that control emotions and desires are eight times more likely to relapse and drink heavily than alcoholics with more normal patterns of activity or healthy individuals, according to the study published May 1 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Chemistry - 1.05
Penn Vet Working Dog Center Collaborating on Ovarian Cancer Detection Study
In a unique, interdisciplinary collaboration, the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine's Working Dog Center, The School of Arts and Science's Department of Physics and Astronomy, Penn Medicine's Division of Gynecologic Oncology and the Monell Chemical Senses Center have joined together to study ovarian cancer detection by dogs and e-sensors.