gene therapy - search results

Zhihui Wang1,2 and Vittorio Cristini1,2   outline how they have developed a model to help predict cancer treatment outcomes… The physical properties of a tumour’s microenvironment influence a drug’s ability to penetrate and kill tumour cells. Some of these properties can be potential obstructions to drug diffusion, increasing the tumour’s resistance...

Melinda Kelley from the National Institute on Aging in the US, speaks to Editor Laura Evans about raising awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and how funding for research is allocated to the National Institutes of Health… Alzheimer’s disease is a global health challenge. The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease,...

Intermediates between patients and therapists “Do you know what it’s like to hear voices, to have fear of death out of a sudden or to feel a deep inner emptiness?” – Doctors, therapists or nurses can rarely answer this question because they cannot fall back on the personal experience of...

Ramón Cacabelos, President, EuroEspes Biomedical Research Center says it is time to rethink the causes and treatments for Parkinson's disease... It is highly unlikely that James Parkinson (1755-1824), who first described the “paralysis agitans” in his ‘An Essay on the Shaking Palsy’ in 1817 (years later rebadged by Jean-Martin Charcot as Parkinson’s...

SIOPE – the European Society for Paediatric Oncology highlights the importance of strengthening collaborations to ensure childhood cancer survivors lead a healthy life… All childhood cancer survivors should be able to lead a normal life. In Europe however, in spite of the increase of the survival rates, many of them...

Cancer is a complex and heterogeneous disease. Despite all efforts to fight cancer, it continues to impact every segment of society. For example, many patients fail conventional cancer therapies, including chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery; and it is still difficult for physicians to predict a treatment outcome with certainty.

Professor Colin J Suckling, Research Professor of Chemistry at the Department of Pure & Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde looks at how the recent EU Referendum could impact his institution and research. Like many British academics, the result of the recent referendum on the UK’s place in Europe was a...

Prof. Dr. Albert Sundrum, Head of Department Animal Health and Animal Nutrition at the University of Kassel highlights progress made by the organic dairy sector… The organic dairy sector has been developing rapidly over the last decade. The existence of a premium price reflects (in part), the consumer expectation that...

Terra G. Arnason and Troy A.A. Harkness from the Departments of Medicine, and Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Saskatchewan detail current strategies to prevent or reverse multiple drug resistant malignancy… Multiple drug resistance (MDR) can be present from the outset (inherent) or develop (acquired) in response to...

One of the most important activities for HR is Who to put Where in what Role and with what Responsibilities.  And whether you are recruiting, appraising, shuffling or promoting, an insightful and powerful online tool that you might wish to call upon is Profiling.  But at this point, a...

Hande Ozdinler, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Northwestern University discusses ALS and outlines the strides made in this area... Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is one of the most complex diseases of the nervous system, and one that is very special for humankind.   There exists a long-term debate about what makes us...

Prof David Nutt, European Brain Council on the economic impact of poor brain health & how they are calling for new thinking towards how it is treated

Professor Wen Jiang, Dr Andrew Sanders and Dr Lin Ye from the Cardiff China Medical Research Collaborative, Cardiff University School of Medicine highlight the work being done to combat cancer and develop new treatments… Cancer presents a serious issue worldwide for healthcare systems and results in substantial morbidity and mortality for...

Yves Joanette from the Institute of Aging, and Cara Tannenbaum from the Institute of Gender and Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, detail why cognitive brain health it is so important as we age, specifically for women. Remaining cognitively healthy as we age is something we all desire....

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines child maltreatment as, “… the abuse and neglect that occurs to children under 18 years of age. It includes all types of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, negligence and commercial or other exploitation, which results in actual or potential harm to...

Paul Vincke, Managing Director of the European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption network highlights corruption in the healthcare sector, ranging from informal payments to industry kickbacks. In October 2013 the European Commission published a “Study on corruption in healthcare” (HOME/2011/ISEC/PR/047-A2). The study was developed by ECORYS, a Dutch consultancy and research company, in collaboration with...

Stuart J. Corr1,2,3, Steven Curley1,4, Zhihui Wang5,6, and Vittorio Cristini5,6 1Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA 2Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA 3Department of Bioengineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77004, USA 4Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Rice University,...

A view from one of the drug discovery teams at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland Earlier this year I completed a three-year term as a ‘Public Partner’ on the Scottish Medicines. Consortium (SMC), which is the body that advises the National Health Service in Scotland on the cost-effectiveness of medicines....

From informal payments to industry kickbacks… In October 2013 the European Commission has published a “Study on corruption in healthcare” (HOME/2011/ISEC/PR/047-A2). The study was developed by ECORYS , a Dutch consultancy and research company, in collaboration with EHFCN, the European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network. Aside from being the first ever on...

Nucleated blood platelets are produced by their bone marrow resident precursors, the megakaryocytes, in a unique process in mammalian physiology. Terminally differentiated, polyploid megakaryocytes are the largest cells in the bone marrow evolving from hematopoietic stem cells. Megakaryocytes are localised in close proximity to sinusoidal blood vessels and convert...