BreakThrough Digest Medical News

Recent Posts

• Drug shows promise for Huntington’s disease
• Enhancing arrest of cell growth to treat cancer in mice
• Marker of Ewing sarcoma: Potential new drug target?
• Caltech neuroscientists discover brain area responsible for fear of losing money
• Depressed people feel more gray than blue
• Study examines course and treatment of unexplained chest pain
• A potent suppressor of endometrial cancer is revealed
• Research reveals link between beer and bone health

Drug shows promise for Huntington’s disease

Contact: Mark Michaud
mark_michaud@urmc.rochester.edu
585-273-4790
University of Rochester Medical Center
An early stage clinical trial of the experimental drug dimebon (latrepirdine) in people with Huntington’s disease appears to be safe and may improve cognition. That is the conclusion of a study published today in the Archives of Neurology.

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Enhancing arrest of cell growth to treat cancer in mice

Contact: Karen Honey
press_releases@the-jci.org
215-573-1850
Journal of Clinical Investigation
A team of researchers, led by Pier Paolo Pandolfi, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, has identified a new type of cellular senescence (i.e., irreversible arrest of cell growth) and determined a way to enhance it to suppress prostate tumor development and growth in mice.

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Marker of Ewing sarcoma: Potential new drug target?

Contact: Karen Honey
press_releases@the-jci.org
215-573-1850
Journal of Clinical Investigation
Ewing sarcoma (EWS) is a bone tumor of unknown cellular origin that affects children and young adults. The protein CD99 is highly expressed in most cases of EWS, but its function in the disease is unknown. Now, Katia Scotlandi and colleagues, at SSN Emilia Romagna Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli IRCCS, Bologna, Italy, have identified a crucial role for CD99 in the development of EWS and suggest that targeting CD99 or its downstream molecular pathway may be a new therapeutic approach for EWS.

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Caltech neuroscientists discover brain area responsible for fear of losing money

Contact: Kathy Svitil
ksvitil@caltech.edu
626-395-8022
California Institute of Technology Read the story

Depressed people feel more gray than blue

Contact: Graeme Baldwin
graeme.baldwin@biomedcentral.com
44-203-192-2165
BioMed Central
People with anxiety and depression are most likely to use a shade of gray to represent their mental state. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Medical Research Methodology describe the development of a color chart, The Manchester Color Wheel, which can be used to study people’s preferred pigment in relation to their state of mind.

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Study examines course and treatment of unexplained chest pain

Contact: Julia Anna Glombiewski, Ph.D.
julia.glombiewski@staff.uni-marburg.de
JAMA and Archives Journals
Fewer than half of individuals who have “non-specific” chest pain (not explained by a well-known condition) experience relief from symptoms following standard medical care, according to a report in the February 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In addition, one-tenth of those with persistent chest pain undergo potentially unnecessary diagnostic testing.

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