VCU Massey Cancer Center researchers identify a new class of anti-cancer drugs based on platinum

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey Cancer Center have created a new platinum-based, anti-cancer agent able to overcome acquired drug resistance by first modifying the way it is absorbed into cancer cells and then attacking the DNA of those cancer cells. more  

New treatment promising for ulcerative colitis sufferers

For people with the chronic disease ulcerative colitis, life can be limited to few social functions and trips away from home. more

Nurse delivers world's first baby from frozen donor egg

Wendy and Jared Kennedy found it hard to take their eyes off their new daughter, Avery Lee, born in the early morning hours of Dec. 31 at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center. Avery is special to them for many reasons--including the fact that the 8 pound, 2 ounce baby girl is the world's first baby born using a frozen donor egg. more  

New weapon in battle against osteoporosis

Medical researchers at the University of Bonn, working in collaboration with scientists from Israel, the USA and Britain, have identified a previously unknown regulatory mechanism in the process of bone loss. Their findings could open up new approaches to the treatment of osteoporosis. More than four million people, predominantly women, are estimated to suffer from this distressing illness in Germany alone. In recognition of the importance of her results, Dr. Meliha Karsak from the Bonn-based Life & Brain Center has recently been awarded the Osteology Prize of the German Society for Endocrinology, which entails a cash award of 8,000 euros. Her study will now be published in the renowned "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" (PNAS). more

Perinatal complications linked to eating disorders 

Certain complications during and immediately after birth are associated with the development of the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. more

Reduced brain volume may predict dementia in healthy elderly people  

Reduced volume, or atrophy, in parts of the brain known as the amygdala and hippocampus may predict which cognitively healthy elderly people will develop dementia over a six-year period, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. more

Parents' impressions of neighborhood safety linked to children's weight

Children who live in neighborhoods that their parents believe are unsafe are more likely to be overweight than those in neighborhoods perceived as safe, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. more