It’s the pesticide on our dinner plates, a chemical so pervasive it’s in the air we breathe, our water, our soil, and even found increasingly in our own bodies. Known as Monsanto’s Roundup by consumers, and as glyphosate by scientists, the world’s most popular weed killer is used everywhere from backyard gardens to golf courses to millions […]
Green tea compound aids p53, ‘guardian of the genome’ and tumor suppressor
An antioxidant found in green tea may increase levels of p53, a natural anti-cancer protein, known as the “guardian of the genome” for its ability to repair DNA damage or destroy cancerous cells. Published today in Nature Communications, a study of the direct interaction between p53 and the green tea compound, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), points to […]
Biotin supplements caused misleading test results, almost led to unnecessary procedure
A new case report in the Journal of the Endocrine Society documents how a patient’s use of a common biotin supplement, also known as vitamin B7, caused her to have clinically misleading test results, which prompted numerous consultations and unnecessary radiographic and laboratory testing. The patient in the case report took a 5000 mcg dose of biotin […]
Pepper Component Hot Enough To Trigger Suicide In Prostate Cancer Cells
Capsaicin, the stuff that turns up the heat in jalapeños, not only causes the tongue to burn, it also drives prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, according to studies published in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research. According to a team of researchers from the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, […]
‘Dark Waters’ Movie | The Misery Of Science
DARK WATERS tells the shocking and heroic story of an attorney (Mark Ruffalo) who risks his career and family to uncover a dark secret hidden by one of the world’s largest corporations and to bring justice to a community dangerously exposed for decades to deadly chemicals. The Plot Robert Bilott is a corporate defense lawyer from Cincinnati, […]
How sweet it is: Artificial sweeteners in blood
A recent study by investigators at the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health measured how much artificial sweetener is absorbed into the blood stream by children and adults after drinking a can of diet soda. Results of this study are published in Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry. The team […]
Peaches inhibit breast cancer metastasis in mice
Lab tests at Texas A&M AgriLife Research have shown that treatments with peach extract inhibit breast cancer metastasis in mice. AgriLife Research scientists say that the mixture of phenolic compounds present in the peach extract are responsible for the inhibition of metastasis, according to the study, which was this month published in the Journal of Nutritional […]
Childhood cancer survivors who received chest irradiation at risk for pulmonary hypertension in middle age
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital investigators found evidence that chest irradiation may leave some adult survivors of childhood cancer in danger of developing pulmonary hypertension in middle age. Childhood cancer survivors treated with chest irradiation or certain chemotherapy drugs are known to be at risk for a variety of treatment-related heart problems. But the study […]
Low doses of radiation used in medical imaging lead to mutations in cell cultures
Common medical imaging procedures use low doses of radiation that are believed to be safe. A new study, however, finds that in human cell cultures, these doses create breaks that allow extra bits of DNA to integrate into the chromosome. Roland Kanaar and Alex Zelensky of Erasmus University Medical Center and Oncode Institute and colleagues […]
Fighting autoimmunity and cancer: The nutritional key
Scientists at the Department of Infection and Immunity of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) revealed a novel mechanism through which the immune system can control autoimmunity and cancer. In the special focus of the researchers were regulatory T cells — a specific type of white blood cells that in general act as a brake […]