A research team has identified a new biological function for a soccer ball-shaped nanoparticle called a buckyball - the ability to block allergic response, setting the stage for the development of new therapies for allergy.Allergic disease is the sixth leading cause of chronic disease in the United States, and while various treatments have been developed to control allergy, no cure has been found. These findings advance the emerging field of medicine known as nanoimmunology. [click link for full article]

The study is being published the week of June 18, 2007 in an advanced online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Until this study, the significance of pleiotrophin (PTN) expression in breast cancer had not been clearly established. These new findings could lead to a better understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of breast cancer and focus attention on PTN and its signaling pathway as possible targets for new cancer therapies. [click link for full article]

Scientists have long thought that microtubules, part of the microscopic scaffolding that the cell uses to move things around in order to hold its shape and divide, originated from a tiny structure near the nucleus, called the centrosome.Now, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reveal a surprising new origin for these cellular “highways.” In the June issue of Developmental Cell, Irina Kaverina, Ph.D. [click link for full article]

With nearly $1 million in government funding, University of Rochester scientists are testing a new innovation in biotherapy by altering a common childhood respiratory virus, the adenovirus, to destroy cancer cells.Exploring the potential of biotherapy through oncolytic adenoviruses is a hot area in cancer research. [click link for full article]

While federal programs such as No Child Left Behind emphasize the importance of academic skills to school success and achievement, there is growing interest in how social skills develop and how they contribute to learning.Research presented at the 2007 meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development by a team of Michigan State University researchers indicate that a child’s social skills at age three could predict his or her future social and academic performance. [click link for full article]

Regardless of whether or not the mother has diabetes, if her blood sugar levels are high, the risk for her newborn’s health may also be higher, according to a study involving over 23,000 pregnant women in nine countries. The results of the study may lead to more monitoring during pregnancy, as well as more focused dietary advice. The findings of his research were presented at he [click link for full article]

New results from a substudy of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Estrogen-Alone Trial show that younger postmenopausal women who take estrogen-alone hormone therapy have significantly less buildup of calcium plaque in their arteries compared to their peers who did not take hormone therapy. Coronary artery calcium is considered a marker for future risk of coronary artery disease. [click link for full article]

A follow-up study to the federally funded Women’s Health Initiative should help allay one concern in a subset of women in their 50s who are considering taking estrogen to relieve hot flashes. The study shows that among women who have had hysterectomies, estrogen use was associated with a significantly reduced risk for one predictor of future heart attacks. [click link for full article]

Treating hepatitis B patients with the drug entecavir can cause those who are also infected with HIV to become resistant to two of the most important drugs in the anti-HIV arsenal, according to a new report in the New England Journal of Medicine. [click link for full article]

A West Kent psychiatrist is leading the formation of a new mental health service in Iraq with the help of non-government organisations and the support of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Dr Sabah Sadik returned to Baghdad in 2004 to become an advisor in mental health to the Iraqi Government at a time when the health service was close to disintegrating. But he told the meeting that progress so far had been mixed. . [click link for full article]