University of Pittsburgh
Marijuana is not a “gateway” drug that predicts or eventually leads to substance abuse, suggests a 12-year University of Pittsburgh study.
Transplant researchers at the University of Pittsburgh's Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute have dramatically improved intestinal transplant graft survival, and reduced rejection and infection rates by successfully using a novel immunosuppression minimization protocol, thus improving patients' overall quality of life and avoiding the use of several anti-rejection drugs, which can cause serious infections and major complications. Because the intestine is especially prone to rejection and infection,
An antimicrobial agent found in many shampoos and hand lotions and widely used in industrial settings inhibits the development of particular neuron structures that are essential for transmitting signals between cells, according to a University of Pittsburgh study. Prolonged exposure to low levels of methylisothiazolinone (MIT) restricted growth of axons and dendrites of immature rat nerve cells in culture, apparently by disengaging the machinery of a key enzyme that is activated in response to cell-to-cell contact, and may have potentially damaging consequences to a developing nervous system, the researchers report.
Using newer cloning techniques, including the ''gentle squeeze'' method described by South Korean researchers who earlier this year reported creating the first cloned human embryonic stem cell line, University of Pittsburgh scientists have taken a significant step toward successful therapeutic cloning of nonhuman primate embryos.
The prevalence of childhood anxiety in individuals who later developed anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa shows it may be a vulnerability factor for these eating disorders, according to a study in the December issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. Eating disorders most often strike young women in their teens and 20s, but the discovery of anxiety disorders as a childhood prelude may give doctors the ability to get an early start on prevention and treatment, according to the authors.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, a team of scientists at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh have found differences in the activation and synchronization of brain networks between people with autism and those without it. These findings could yield strategies for treating autism, a mysterious brain disorder that impairs verbal and non-verbal communications and social interactions.
Emergency medicine researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have found that patients with similar traumatic brain injuries who receive an emergency breathing tube at the scene of an accident fare worse than those intubated after arrival to the hospital. The researchers also found that these patients' neurologic and functional outcome was nearly twice as bad.
Bubble-like nano-scale particles that are shed by dendritic cells may hold the key to achieving transplant tolerance -- the long-term acceptance of transplanted organs without the need for drugs, suggests a new study. Exosomes are no larger than 65-100 nanometers -- 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair -- yet each contains a potent reserve of major histocompatibility complex molecules. MHC molecules are gene products that cells use to determine self from nonself. Millions of exosomes scurry about within the bloodstream, and while their function has been somewhat of a mystery, researchers are beginning to surmise that they play an important role in immune regulation and response.
In the first study to directly compare the emergence of antibiotic resistance following topical treatment between two antibiotics routinely prescribed for a common vaginal infection, researchers from the Magee-Womens Research Institute have found antibiotic-resistant bacteria more likely to develop with the drug clindamycin than metronidazole.
In an animal model of Parkinson's, exercise prevents degeneration of nerve cells that are normally impaired or destroyed by the disease, according to University of Pittsburgh researchers. Based on their work, which was presented today at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, a small pilot study has been initiated in patients with Parkinson's to determine if regular exercise has an impact on the progression of their disease.
Results from a study evaluating intensity modulated radiation therapy for breast cancer indicate that IMRT results in a lower dose of radiation to healthy breast tissue when compared to standard radiation. ''More than 70 percent of breast cancer patients receive ionizing radiation therapy to treat their disease... While these high-energy beams are targeted to the tumor site as precisely as possible, they often inadvertently injure healthy breast tissue that surrounds the tumor site, limiting the doses of radiation that can be used to effectively destroy cancer cells. With this study, we sought to discover whether tightly focused radiation beams, such as those provided by IMRT, would make a difference in the amount of radiation received by the side of the breast opposite from the tumor site.''
The amount of smoke in just one or two puffs of a cigarette can cause breaks in DNA and defects to a cell's chromosomes, leading to irreversible changes in genetic information being passed to a newly divided cell, according to new research. Their findings are the first to show that cigarette smoke causes chromosome instability.
Chinese who are exposed to smoky coal emissions from cooking and heating their homes may carry genetic mutations that greatly increase their risk of developing lung cancer. "Lung cancer mortality rates in Xuan Wei are among the highest in China in both nonsmoking women and men who smoke, and are associated with exposure to indoor emissions from the burning of smoky coal," said the study's lead researcher. "To account for the high rates of disease within this region, we tested for mutations generally associated with lung cancer in people who had no evidence of disease. We found that a good number of these individuals had mutations that indicated they were at higher risk for developing lung cancer in the future."
Researchers have synthesized a simple molecule that not only produces perfectly uniform, self-assembled nanotubes but creates what they report as the first ''nanocarpet,'' whereby these nanotubes organize themselves into an expanse of upright clusters that when magnified a million times resemble the fibers of a shag rug. Moreover, unlike other nanotube structures, these tubes display sensitivity to different agents by changing color and can be trained to kill bacteria, such as E. coli, with just a jab to its cell membrane.
The Privacy Rule implemented as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 is constraining researchers in the United States and slowing the progress of a wide range of clinical studies and biomedical research. Unless fundamental rule changes are addressed, many studies may simply move offshore, warns one researcher. ''HIPAA has had substantial negative effects on our ability to recruit individuals to participate in research. The way that HIPAA has hurt research, I believe, is a classic example of the law of unintended consequences.''
