Life Sciences & Biotechnology Update articles from January 2000

Life Sciences & Biotechnology Update archives from January 2000

EFFECTS OF WORKPLACE HAZARDS ON FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH.
January 1, 2000... This (NIOSH) report addresses the effects of workplace hazards on female reproductive health. Many factors can affect a women's reproductive health and her ability to produce healthy children. We know that the health of an unborn child can...

METHODS FOR MONITORING PERINATAL OUTCOME.
January 1, 2000... This (Johns Hopkins University) report addresses the development of methods for perinatal outcome monitoring. Of the many purposes for surveillance, monitoring of perinatal events at the national level primarily encompass detecting epidemics,...

MEDICINES FOR PEOPLE WITH DIABETES.
January 1, 2000... This (National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse) report addresses medicines for people with diabetes. Its Table of Contents is as follows: Sulfonylureas; Biguanides; Alpha-glucosidase Inhibitors; Thiazolidinediones; Meglitinides; Insulins....

THE PHENOTYPIC-VARIABILITY IN NEUROFIBROMATOSIS TYPE 1 (NF1).
January 1, 2000... The clinical manifestations of NF1 are extremely variable. This project from Canada (University of British Columbia) characterizes the sources of phenotypic-variability in NF1, by using a combination of clinical, statistical, epidemiological,...

BEHAVIOR OF METASTATIC TUMOR CELLS IN SITU.
January 1, 2000... This (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) report concerns the behavior of metastatic tumor cells in situ. During metastasis from a primary tumor, cell motility is believed to be important for dissemination of tumor cells from the primary...

CASE VALIDATION STUDIES OF ILLNESS AMONG PERSIAN GULF WAR VETERANS.
January 1, 2000... This (University of Iowa) report details a population-based cross-sectional telephone survey of 4,886 military personnel, to compare the prevalence of self-reported symptoms and illnesses among military personnel either deployed, or eligible...

ANTIFUNGAL TARGET SITES IN THE STEROL PATHWAY TO YEAST CANDIDA AND SACCHAROMYCES.
January 1, 2000... Resistance to antifungal drugs is a major reason for the increase in fungal infections. Coupled with medical advances which allow access to pathogens and chemotherapies, and diseases which reduce the efficacy of the immune system, a future...

PANIC DISORDER, ANXIETY SENSITIVITY, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL VULNERABILITY.
January 1, 2000... To date, the primary research in the area of panic disorder and similar anxiety has been laboratory-based. A wealth of primary research in panic disorder, in particular, has been obtained from laboratory research using biological-challenge...

ANTI-BREAST-CANCER EFFECTS OF VITAMIN D3 ANALOGS, ALONE AND IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER AGENTS.
January 1, 2000... This (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center) work continues to pursue in vitro and in vivo studies of novel vitamin D3 analogs used alone and in combination against breast cancer. The 19-nor analogs are altered in an attempt to minimize hypercalcemic...

DEVELOPMENT OF PEA3 AS A POTENTIAL GENE THERAPY AGENT FOR BREAST CANCER.
January 1, 2000... This (Anderson Cancer Center) report concerns the development of PEA3 as a potential gene therapy agent for breast cancer. Overexpression and/or amplification of HER-2/neu has been implicated in the genesis of a number of human cancers,...

PGP CONCENTRATION OF CARCINOGENS IN BREAST EPITHELIA.
January 1, 2000... This (Medical University of South Carolina) report concerns Pgp concentration of carcinogens in breast epithelia. The central hypothesis is that breast ductule epithelial cells possess excretory transporters that could transport hydrophobic...

REGULATION OF EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR EXPRESSION IN HUMAN BREAST CANCER BY PML.
January 1, 2000... This (Cancer Institute of New Jersey) report addresses the regulation of epidermal growth factor by PML in human breast cancer. The effects of retinoic acid (RA) in breast cancer have been widely studied. Treatment with RA leads to either...

WNT-5A AND WNT-4 REGULATES CELL GROWTH IN C57MG MAMMARY EPITHELIAL CELLS.
January 1, 2000... The implications for determining whether wnt-5a and wnt-4 act as mediators of normal cell growth are relevant to the detection, diagnosis, and the treatment of breast cancer. That is, it is important ultimately to understand whether the...

BETA CATENIN-REGULATED GENES IN BREAST CANCER.
January 1, 2000... Mutations of the APC tumor-suppressor gene are linked to a number of hyperplastic events in humans and in mice, including breast cancer. Recent evidence indicates that the APC gene product may play an active role in the wnt-1 signaling...

PEROXISOMAL OXIDATION IN THE NORMAL AND TUMORAL HUMAN BREAST.
January 1, 2000... The peroxisomal enzyme catalase protects aerobic organisms from free-radical damage, by converting hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to molecular oxygen and water before it can decompose to form the highly reactive hydroxyl radical. In this manner...

YOUNG WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER: PSYCHOSOCIAL FAMILY INTERVENTION.
January 1, 2000... This (University of Pittsburgh) report addresses family intervention for young women having breast cancer. Breast cancer in young women with spouses and children increases the risk of psychological morbidity, not only for the patient but also...

NOTCH4 LIGANDS IN MAMMARY GLAND DEVELOPMENT AND TUMORIGENESIS.
January 1, 2000... To identify and characterize Notch4 ligand, this (Columbia University) research program has obtained several candidate genes, and is in the process of testing these genes for their ability to interact with, and activate, Notch4 receptors. The...

NOVEL VITAMIN D ANALOG THERAPY TARGETS BREAST CARCINOMA CELLS.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... This (University of Illinois) research shows that 1-alpha (OH)D5, a novel vitamin D analog, has both cell-differentiating and growth-inhibitory effects in selected human breast carcinoma cell lines. The work observes enhanced expression of...

CONTRIBUTION OF INCIDENCE, TREATMENT, AND SURVIVAL RATE, TO THE ELEVATED MORTALITY FROM BREAST CANCER IN OLDER WOMEN.
January 1, 2000... This (University of Texas) study examines the relative contributions of incidence, treatment, and survival, to the elevated mortality from breast cancer in older women in the U.S. Algorithms to determine incident breast cancer, treatment,...

INTEGRIN REGULATION OF BREAST CARCINOMA PROGRESSION.
January 1, 2000... This (Beth Israel Hospital) report details progress in determining the contribution of the alpha-6 integrin receptors to breast carcinoma progression. Previous work established that the alpha-6-Beta-1 receptor contributes to the growth and...

TOMOSYNTHESIS BREAST IMAGING FOR EARLY DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BREAST CANCER.
January 1, 2000... This (Massachusetts General Hospital) report concerns tomosynthesis, a method of obtaining tomographic images of the breast. The work has developed a method for breast tomosynthesis using a full-field digital mammography system. Algorithms are...

IDENTIFICATION OF THE COMPONENTS OF THE PATHWAY OF CELL DEATH.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Thus (University of Michigan Hospitals) report addresses the identification of the components of the cell-death pathway. Transformed cells retain part or all their apoptotic machinery; therefore, understanding the molecular details of this...

EMBRYOGENESIS AND EVOLUTION: GENETIC REGULATORY NETWORKS.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... This (Marine Biological Laboratory) report introduces a series of papers that were originally presented at a workshop titled Genetic Regulatory Network in Embryogenesis and Evaluation. The contents include: evolution of cleavage programs in...

USING 2-D ULTRASOUND PROBES FOR 3-D MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Three dimensional (3-D) medical diagnostic imaging appears to be one of the major technical advancements of this decade. It is being pursued vigorously by the industry and is technologically feasible. However, cost versus performance issues...

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE INTEGRATED VIRUS DETECTION SYSTEM (IVDS) USING MS-2 BACTERIOPHAGE.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... This (Edgewood Chemical Biological Center) report addresses the characterization of the Integrated Virus Detection System (IVDS) using MS-2 bacteriophage. The detection and analysis of viruses have been goals of science for more than 70...

MARIJUANA, ALCOHOL, AND ACTUAL DRIVING PERFORMANCE.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... The purpose of this study is to empirically determine the separate and combined effects of Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and alcohol on actual driving performance. This is the first study ever in which the drugs' combined effects are...

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL TRENDS INVOLVING DRUG ABUSE.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... This (National Institute on Drug Abuse) report addresses epidemiological trends in drug abuse. The Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG) is a network composed of researchers from 21 major metropolitan areas of the U. S. and selected...

GUIDANCE ON DESIGNING AND USING HEALTH-INFORMATION SYSTEMS.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... This (RAND Corp.) volume provides practical guidance on using information systems effectively to answer questions posed by a variety of stakeholders in the U.S. health-care system, including consumers, purchasers, providers, and health system...

AN ADVANCED TELEMEDICINE DEVELOPMENT.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... This brief (Los Alamos National Laboratory) report develops a Java-based electronic medical-record system that can handle multimedia data and work over a wide-area network based on open standards, and that can utilize an existing database back...

MANAGEMENT OF THE RISKS OF USING FDA-APPROVED MEDICAL PRODUCTS.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... This (FDA) report addresses the management of the risks of using FDA-approved medical products. As one of her first initiatives after being sworn in as FDA Commissioner, Dr. Jane Henney established a task force to evaluate the system for...

CAUSES AND PREVENTION OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... This (Department of Agriculture) report contains the proceedings of a symposium on the causes and prevention of childhood obesity (1998, Washington, DC). Childhood obesity is likely to persist into adult life, and puts individuals at risk for...