Popular Articles

Pain Medicine Experts Recommend Safe And Responsible Use Of Acetaminophen
In response to the advisory committee"s recommendations to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to put new restrictions on acetaminophen this week, physician leaders from the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), have released the following statement:

New Phase 3 Data Continue To Indicate That Wyeth's Investigational 13-valent Vaccine Has The Potential To Cover Against Pneumococcal Disease
New data from Phase 3 European clinical trials reinforce that Wyeth"s (NYSE: WYE) investigational pneumococcal vaccine, Prevenar 13 (Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine, 13-valent [Adsorbed]), has the potential to provide coverage against the 13 most prevalent serotypes associated with pneumococcal disease (PD), the leading cause of vaccine-preventable death in children younger than five worldwide.
News of the day
Type 1 Diabetes Cases In Children Under Five To Double By 2020
Cases of type 1 diabetes in children under five years across Europe will double by 2020 (from 2005 levels) if present trends continue. Numbers in children older than five will also increase substantially. The findings are discussed in an Article published Online First and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet, written by Dr Chris Patterson, Queen"s University, Belfast, UK, and Prof Gyula Soltç©sz, Pç©cs University, Pç©cs, Hungary, and colleagues.
Mental Health

New Piece Found In Colorectal Cancer Puzzle

Prostasin, a relatively unknown protease enzyme expressed in most epithelial cells, may play a role in the genesis of colorectal cancer. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Cancer have associated a reduction in the expression of inhibitors of the enzyme with malignant cellular behavior. Lotte Vogel, from the University of Copenhagen, worked with a team of Danish and Norwegian researchers to investigate levels of prostasin and its inhibitors in colorectal tissue samples from 222 patients and 23 controls. They found that the mRNA levels of the inhibitor of prostasin, PN-1, increased at both the transition between normal tissue and mild/moderate dysplasia and again at the transition between severe dysplasia and colorectal cancer. According to Vogel, "It has previously been shown that overexpression of prostasin in mammary and prostate cancer cells reduces the invasive properties of cancer cells and that high prostasin expression in gastric tumours is associated with longer survival. In what may be support for this trend, our data shows that elevated mRNA levels for prostasin"s inhibitor, PN-1, coincides with the acquisition of malignant properties in colorectal tissue". The enzymatic activity of prostasin is almost certainly influenced by levels of inhibitors other than PN1, and PN1 itself is known to inhibit many other enzymes. This complex web of interactions between relevant proteases and their inhibitors makes firm conclusions difficult to draw. As Vogel writes, "Future studies are required to clarify whether down-regulation of prostasin activity via up regulation of PN-1 is causing the malignant progression or if it is a consequence of it". Expression of prostasin and its inhibitors during colorectal cancer carcinogenesis Joanna Selzer-Plon, Jette Bornholdt, Stine Friis, Hanne C Bisgaard, Inger M. B. Lothe, Kjell M. Tveit, Elin H Kure, Ulla Vogel and Lotte K. Vogel BMC Cancer (in press) Article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central"s open access policy. Graeme Baldwin BioMed Central


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