Life Sciences & Biotechnology Update articles from December 1998

Life Sciences & Biotechnology Update archives from December 1998

HIGH-RESOLUTION POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY (PET) MAMMOGRAM MODULES FOR EARLY DETECTION OF BREAST CANCER.
December 1, 1998... This (Brown University) report concerns the development of high-resolution PET mammogram modules for early detection of breast cancer. Because of the limitations of standard X-ray mammography for the early detection of breast cancer, in...

EXAMINATION OF ULTRASOUND-MEASURED TISSUE PERFUSION IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF BREAST CANCER.
December 1, 1998... This (University of Michigan) report examines the use of ultrasound-measured tissue perfusion in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Mammography has proven to be reliable as a screening tool for breast cancer; however, the specificity of...

NOVEL IN SITU METHOD TO VISUALIZE CLONALITY AS AN IMPROVED BREAST CANCER DETECTION METHOD.
December 1, 1998... This (Children's Hospital and Medical Center) report details the successful development of a sensitive clonality assay having capabilities beyond the in situ fluorescent assay originally proposed. The assay is based on a novel method, termed...

DETERMINANTS OF MAMMOGRAPHY SCREENING IN OLDER MEXICAN- AMERICAN WOMEN.
December 1, 1998... This (University of Texas) report examines the determinants of mammographic screening in older Mexican-American women, particularly the influence of strong family relationships on promoting screening behavior. The findings are used to suggest...

PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTION IN WOMEN FOLLOWING BREAST CANCER DIAGNOSIS.
December 1, 1998... This (University of Rochester) report concerns the effects of psychosocial intervention in women following diagnosis of breast cancer. The American Cancer Society has estimated that 180,000 women in the U.S. are newly diagnosed with breast...

FOLLOW-UP CARE FOR OLDER WOMEN HAVING BREAST CANCER.
December 1, 1998... Little is known about what constitutes appropriate care for older women with breast cancer. This (New England Medical Center Hospital) examines whether variations in care received by older women affect short-term psychosocial and clinical...

STUDY OF FATTY ACID SYNTHESIS INHIBITORS AS A MEANS TO TREAT BREAST CANCER.
December 1, 1998... This (Johns Hopkins University) report concerns the use of fatty acid synthesis inhibitors as a means to treat breast cancer in vivo. A nude mouse model of MDA-435 is validated, and the fatty acid synthesis inhibitor, C-75, is shown to...

LYMPHEDEMA FOLLOWING BREAST CANCER TREATMENT: INCIDENCE; TIME COURSE; ETIOLOGY.
December 1, 1998... Barring recurrence, lymphedema is the most dreaded sequelae of breast cancer treatment. Nevertheless, there have been no cohort studies or comprehensive studies of large numbers heretofore. This (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center)...

EXPLORATION OF LINKAGES AMONG ORGANOCHLORINE ISOMERS, PROMUTAGENIC DNA LESIONS, AND BREAST CANCER.
December 1, 1998... This (University of North Carolina) report hypothesizes that organochlorine xenobiotics may promote or modulate the formation of DNA-adducts that influence initial stages of carcinogenesis. The work links three distinct observations regarding...

EVALUATION OF GENE THERAPY APPROACHES FOR THE PREVENTION OF BREAST CANCER.
December 1, 1998... In order to determine the feasibility of using gene therapy for breast cancer prevention in the rat, this (University of Wisconsin) research infuses lacZ recombinant adenoviral and retroviral vectors into the mammary glands of rats, in situ....

GENES DETERMINE TAXOL SENSITIVITY IN THE CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF BREAST CANCER.
December 1, 1998... Taxol is a new potent chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer; however, many tumors show partial or complete resistance to taxol therapy. The biological mechanisms modulating taxol response in human cells are...

THE ROLE OF BONE SIALOPROTEINS IN BREAST CANCER OSSEOUS METASTASIS.
December 1, 1998... The ability of certain human breast cancer cells (HBC) to metastasize to bone may be related to cellular expression of the small acidic sialoproteins: osteoprotein (OPN); and bone sialoprotein (BSP). Expression of these proteins may promote...

MECHANISM OF SYNERGY OF c-Src WITH EGFR IN BREAST TUMORIGENESIS.
December 1, 1998... C-Src and the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), both of which have been implicated in the genesis and progression of a number of human tumors, act synergistically in tumorigenesis. To gain further insights into the mechanism of c-Src...

INVOLVEMENT OF ACTIVATED CATECHOL ESTROGENS IN BREAST TISSUE WITH INITIATION OF BREAST CANCER.
December 1, 1998... This (University of Nebraska) report concerns the involvement of activated catechol estrogens in breast tissue with the initiation of breast cancer. Determination of the levels of catechol estrogens (CE) in breast tissue constitutes important...

PATHOGENIC NEISSERIA AND THE CLINICAL ASPECTS OF GONOCOCCAL AND MENINGOCOCCAL INFECTIONS.
December 1, 1998... This (University of Maryland) document contains the proceedings of the 10th International Pathogenic Neisseria Conference (1996, Baltimore, MD). This major international conference was attended by 400 scientists and public health officials...

PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS FOR CHLAMYDIA TRACHOMATIS INFECTIONS IN MILITARY WOMEN, AND COST BENEFITS ANALYSIS OF EARLY DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT.
December 1, 1998... This ongoing (Johns Hopkins University) study used urine LCR to determine the prevalence of, and risk factors for, chlamydial infections among military females. Three different populations are screened: recruits who are beginning military...

DEVELOPMENT OF BRUCELLOSIS ANTIGENS AND THEIR EXPRESSION IN A VACCINE.
December 1, 1998... This (Virginia Polytechnic Institute) project intends to identify Brucella antigens which are likely to stimulate Th1 responses (with production of lNF-gamma) with lymphocytes from vaccinated mice and, therefore, are likely to have a role in...

DESIGN AND TESTING OF A COMPUTATIONAL MODEL OF REAL EMERGING DISEASES/VIRUSES.
December 1, 1998... This (Naval Research Laboratory) report concerns the design and testing of a computational model of emerging viruses that simulates the evolution of real biological viruses. Knowledge of viral molecular replication mechanisms is used to...

POSSIBILITY OF A NOVEL DNA-BASED VACCINE METHODOLOGY FOR AIDS.
December 1, 1998... This (Auragen Inc.) report concerns the possibility of inducing an immune response to a protein expressed in vivo directly from an introduced gene. The use of DNA as an immunogen represents an attractive alternative to classic vaccination....

DEVELOPMENT OF REAL-TIME 3-D ULTRASONIC IMAGING SYSTEMS FOR PHYSIOLOGICAL MONITORING.
December 1, 1998... This (Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories) report documents the third year of a four-year project to develop a field prototype 3-D ultrasonic imaging system. It reports on the development of a third generation sequential B scan 3-D...

IMPACT HEAD INJURY.
December 1, 1998... This translation from France (Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development) concerns the tolerance, responses, mechanisms, treatments, and countermeasures of impact head injury. It contains the proceedings of a conference, including...

STRESS FRACTURES: PROCOLLAGEN GENE MUTATIONS AS A PREDISPOSING FACTOR.
December 1, 1998... Abstract stress fractures (SFs) affect a substantial portion of military recruits. This translation from Israel (Sheba Medical Center) investigates the hypothesis that germline mutations in the procollagen genes, or specific allelic patterns...

USING POST-POLIO SYNDROME AS A MODEL FOR MUSCLE-OVERUSE INJURY.
December 1, 1998... Musculoskeletal injuries are common among military recruits, with incidence rates of 20%-90% being reported. Of these, as many as 87% are due to overuse. This (Albert Einstein Medical Center) project aims to: (1) predict an individuals'...

ALERTNESS, PERFORMANCE, AND RHYTHMS IN SLEEP-DEPRIVED WOMEN AS AFFECTED BY CAFFEINE INGESTION, LIGHTING, ORAL CONTRACEPTIVE, AND MENSTRUAL PHASE.
December 1, 1998... This (Bowling Green State University) report looks at the effects of oral contraceptives, menstrual phase, caffeine, and light, on the alertness and performance of sleep-deprived women. The effects of caffeine ingestion and exposure to bright...

MAINTAINING ALERTNESS DURING SLEEP DEPRIVATION: A SUBJECT'S EVALUATION VERSUS AN OBJECTIVE EEG MEASUREMENT.
December 1, 1998... To determine the extent of agreement between subjective measures of mood/sleepiness and an objective electroencephalographic (EEG)-based measure of sleepiness/alertness, this (Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory) report concerns 18 subjects...

CELL MIGRATION DURING ORGANISM DEVELOPMENT.
December 1, 1998... This (University of California) report concerns the control of cell migration during organism development. Numerous metazoan cell types migrate extensively from their sites of birth, to adopt positions critical for normal development. For...

STUDY OF MEDICAL DECISION-MAKING UNDER RESUSCITATION AND REAL-LIFE STRESSFUL SITUATIONS.
December 1, 1998... Decision-making in real-life stressful environments is difficult to investigate, yet critical to many military and civil operations. Using trauma patient resuscitation and anesthesia as a research vehicle, this (University of Maryland) work...

EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF OXIDATIVE STRESS ON CELLULAR ANTI-OXIDANT MECHANISMS: SUPPRESSION OF LYMPHOCYTE SIGNAL-TRANSDUCTION BY OXYGEN INTERMEDIATES.
December 1, 1998... This (New York University Medical Center) report compares the effects of different types of oxidative stress (OS) on cellular anti-oxidant mechanisms. Human blood lymphocytes are subjected to: acute exposure to H2O2; chronic exposure to H2O2;...

PREDICTION OF BREAST-FEEDING ATTRITION FOR FIRST-TIME BREAST-FEEDING MOTHERS.
December 1, 1998... This (Air Force Institute of Technology) study tests the reliability and predictive validity of the "Breastfeeding Attrition Prediction Tool" (BAPT) when administered to first-time breast-feeding mothers, to identify the optimal time for its...