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HealthWrap: Spit test for lung cancer
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070123-17403700-bc-healthwrap.xml
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070123-17403700-bc-healthwrap.xml
By LIDIA WASOWICZ<!-- BODY BEGIN -->
Researchers say they are developing a simple spit test to help diagnose early-stage lung cancer in current and former smokers.
Reporting in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, the scientists said the gene probe would use the hereditary material deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, coughed up with phlegm to detect the potentially fatal malignancy.
The team reported that its inexpensive test, which checks whether two tumor-suppressing genes are missing in sputum cells, identified 76 percent of stage I lung cancer patients, compared to 47 percent identified through current sputum "cytology" tests that seek changes in cell structure.
The next step is to expand the test to screen for up to eight genes, the scientists said. The trick is to find genes that specifically indicate cancer rather than cellular damage that occurs from smoking but does not necessarily portend malignancy, they said.
"There is an urgent need to develop reliable early diagnostic biomarkers for lung cancer that can be detected non-invasively, and these two genes look to be great candidate markers for such a test," said study investigator Dr. Feng Jiang, assistant professor of pathology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.
"We need to validate our findings, of course, but we have shown that the genetic aberrations seen in sputum reflect the same genetic aberrations found in lung tumors and that these molecular changes occur before any morphological changes can be seen in a cytology test."
The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute.
Lifestyle changes are at least as effective as drug treatments in reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a blood sugar disorder expected to double in worldwide incidence by 2030, researchers reported in the British Medical Journal.
In their review of studies involving more than 8,000 participants, investigators from the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Leicester in England found switching to a healthier diet and increasing exercise halved the odds of developing type 2 diabetes in patients who had impaired glucose tolerance.
While the changes made at least as much difference as did taking medicines prescribed against diabetes and obesity, they appeared to result in fewer side effects, the authors added. However, the changes must be permanent, they said.
The research was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council as part of their joint Public Health Initiative.
Culminating years of research on spinal-cord injuries, a team of investigators is developing a model for artificial limbs controlled by thoughts.
"We're at a junction now of developing a new approach for a brain-machine interface," said senior author Dr. Douglas Smith, professor of neurosurgery and director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia and senior author of the study published in the journal Neurosurgery.
"The nervous system will certainly rebel if you place hard or sharp electrodes into it to record signals," he added. "However, the nervous system can be tricked to accept an interface letting it do what it likes -- assimilating new nerve cells into its own network."
The next generation of prosthetics would utilize healthy nervous tissue to issue command signals to an artificial limb in patients who are missing a leg or arm or who have been paralyzed by a spinal-cord injury, researchers speculated.
The aim is to develop transplantable living nervous tissue already coupled to electrodes, Smith said. He envisions a non-electrode end of the lab-grown nervous tissue integrated with a patient's nerve, relaying the signals to and from the electrode side connected to an electronic device.
"Whether it is a prosthetic device or a disabled body function, the mind could regain control," Smith explained.
A study of genetically modified mice suggests keeping the mind active might forestall the onset of Alzheimer's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects more than 4.5 million U.S. adults.
Scientists from the University of California, Irvine, said they found short but repeated learning sessions appear to slow the development of two brain abnormalities that characterize the disease, expected to affect some 20 million Americans by 2050.
One is a process that causes the protein beta amyloid to clump in the brain and form plaques, which disrupt communication between cells and lead to Alzheimer's symptoms.
The other is the buildup of hyperphosphorylated-tau, a brain protein that can lead to the development of the signature tangles.
The results fall in line with previous findings that indicated the higher the education level of an individual, the less his chance of developing Alzheimer's, which is the third-leading cause of death, behind cancer and heart disease, the researchers said.
"This study shows learning can delay the progression of Alzheimer's neuropathology in mice genetically engineered to develop this insidious disorder, and learning also delays the cognitive decline," said Frank LaFerla, professor of neurobiology and behavior and coauthor of the study published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
"These remarkable findings suggest stimulating the mind with activities such as reading books or completing crossword puzzles may help delay and/or prevent Alzheimer's disease in senior citizens.''
The study was funded by the Alzheimer's Association and the National Institute of Health.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.