In the stock market the company Onyx Pharmaceuticals stocks had a sharp vertical increase of 58%. Its stocks increase because they have made a break through in the battle against terminal cancers. They created a virus that kills tumors that are extremely resistant to chemotherapy or radiation. The virus does its job by replicating itself then terminating P53-deficient cells. The virus are called Onyx-015, which had clinical trials on cancers in the heads and neck.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/19/business/shares-of-onyx-up-on-report-of-cancer-breakthrough.html?scp=5&sq=radiation%20break%20through&st=cse

ADHD is Genetic?

Have severe problems focusing? Distracted by the littlest things? Inattentive? Well, it turns out it may be in your genes (if you have ADHD, that is). Scientists have found that there is a large link between an anomaly in the chromosome 1p36 and Attention Hyperactivity Disorder. After studying 1094 white families, the study concluded that the chromosome difference was present in many of the families, around 55 or 5.1%. With such significant experimental results, it is possible the chromosome is linked to the development of ADHD.

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0006322308003375

Stem Cell Ear Therapy

Deafness is the the loss of hair cells, which are the sensory receptors.
Some researchers have has isolated human auditory stem cells, wick other kind of cells can come from, from the inner ear.
They dissected cochlear cells from 9-11 week-old human fetuses. They continued division for the first 7 to 8 months and had up to 30 population doublings.
Gene expression analysis showed that all the cell lines lead to the development of the inner ear and found embryonic stem cells, from which all tissues and organs develop.

In the future studies will aim to improve the differentiation system.

"There are currently no treatments to restore permanent hearing loss so this has the potential to make a difference to millions of deaf people."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lifestyle/Stem-cell-therapy-may-treat-deafness/articleshow/4330632.cms.

Tests Show Drinking Hot Tea May Increase Risk for Throat Cancer

Researchers found that people who drink hot tea as opposed to just warm tea increase their risk for throat cancer. The researchers made a trip to Iran where hot tea and esophageal cancer are both very common. They studied the drinking habits of 871 people, 300 whom had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. The researchers found that regular drinkers of hot tea were eight times more likely to be diagnosed with esophageal cancer, than drinkers of warm tea.

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/2009/03/27/health-buzz-hot-tea-and-throat-cancer-and-other-health-news.html

Reversing Cell Division Gives Cancer Patients Hope

Until recently, cell division was supposedly unstoppable. However, scientists have managed to harness the protein that conducts cell division. The team is able to "interrupt and reverse the event, sending duplicate chromosomes back to the center of the original cell". The only problem is if they don't do it quickly enough, then the process does not work due to "multiple regulators in the cell division cycle". The next step is to study what starts such events. If scientists succeed, they will be able to control the development of cancers, be able to prevent and TREAT birth defects along with multiple other conditions. 

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=17351

Stem Cells may help the Deaf Hear

With deafness comes the loss of hair cells, called sensory receptors. Doctors have come up with a way to isolate the auditory part of the ear and distinguish between the neurons and hair cells. Scientists take cochlear cells from human fetuses 9 to 11 weeks old. These cells were kept for a year and were dividing for 7 to 8 months. They realized that these cells showed markers, “expressed by pluripotent embryonic stem cells, from which all tissues and organs develop.” Researchers are using this information to further distinguish the “embryonic stem cells” into different ear cell types. This process has been used on animals, making it slightly less reliable for humans.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lifestyle/Stem-cell-therapy-may-treat-deafness/articleshow/4330632.cms

A Cause For Cell Division Problems

When a cell is dividing the chromosomes are duplicated into two identical clusters. Between these clusters is a cleavage furrow, which forms the cell nuclei and separates the cell into two daughter cells. Daniel Gerlich has discovered that when something goes wrong in this process the cleavage furrow regresses and the cell does not divide creating a tetraploid cell. After studying the process Gerlich has found that enzyme Aurora B is very important. Aurora B responds to non-separated chromosomes and is part of a protective mechanism that ensures that the final step of cell division is only initiated when all chromosomes have been fully separated” says Gerlich

Is You're Bub 1 On?

Normally, the body's natural growth includes cell division that heals and renewals. When the body cannot control the way the cell divides, it can result in cancer. Researchers have found a protein called 'Bub 1' that is needed for normal cell division. “’Bub 1’ is an enzyme that controls several processes required for cell division to occur,” said Dr Stephen Taylor. If this protein is "switched off" then the cell cannot divide correctly. Researchers have been using mice embryos to keep track of the enzyme development. They have found that mice that lack this enzyme are unable to develop. Ever since the researches found the lack of development in the mice, they are hopeful that it will have similar effects on cancer cells. “Unlike some other genes that become mutated in cancer cells, the 'Bub 1' gene appears normal indicating that it behaves in exactly the same way in cancer cells as it does in healthy cells,” Dr. Taylor said. If this is true, targeting 'Bub 1' will be a treatment for cancer.

A Step Closer to a Cure for Cancer

Centrosomes serve as anchors for spindles, “complex structures of filament-like tubules” that connect each centrosome with the centromere. The spindles are responsible for separating chromosomes and equally dividing them into two sets for daughter cells. During cell division, it is important cells duplicate their centrosome only once so that there are two total centrosomes. Extra copies mess up the anchoring of spindles and, as result, create an uneven distribution of chromosomes. Such occurances have lead to cancer and other disorders. Dr. Stillman has found a way to control the duplication of centrosomes so that no more than one copy is created. Orc1 is a protein responsible for preparing a cell for duplication. Stillman discovered that cells induced to generate more Orc1 only duplicate centrosomes once per cell division cycle. This eliminates errors in uneven distribution of chromosomes.

Source: http://www.brightsurf.com/news/headlines/42966/CSHL_scientists_discover_link_between_control_of_chromosome_duplication_and_segregation.html

A Step Closer to Curing Cancer

Can Stem Cells do the impossible?

Scientists at the University of Sheffield think so. Using stem cells taken from the inner ears of aborted human fetuses, they have been able to grow the specialized hair cells needed for human hearing. These cells, more specifically, turn vibrations into electrical signals that are processed by the brain. The scientists are hoping for a breakthrough in the near future allowing them to transplant the cells in deaf patients. The transplant would apply only to those who suffer from sensorineural hearing loss, which happens to affect 90 percent of the deaf population. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/5066549/Hairs-grown-from-stem-cells-could-restore-hearing-to-the-deaf.html

Cancer in the lymph nodes

Adam Schoener was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). It is a collection of almost sixty related diseases. He was diagnosed a week after a perfect annual physical. He thought it was heartburn but it was actually a mass pushing on his heart and lungs. It is a very complex problem. It is in the lymph system, which is a fluid network that carries immune cells through the body. Tumors in the lymph nodes spread to other parts of the body because of the uncontrolled division of white blood cells. He is cancer free after four years.

http://www.curetoday.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/article.show/id/2/article_id/98

AIDS Research may also Help Children with Cancer

A drug originally used to battle AIDS may also help fight an extremely deadly type of brain cancer that usually attacks children. The Abacavir in the AIDS drug suppresses the enzyme telomerase that seems to be essential for certain tumor's survival. Although studies show that this drug improves the survival rate of the people who take it, it does not cure them. This drug also seems to be more easily tolerated by patients than the drugs that have been used in the past.

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/03/26/aids-drug-slows-spread-of-deadly-childhood-brain.html