New clues about how our body guards against cancer

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers have uncovered a key factor protecting against age-related DNA damage, providing important clues about how our body guards against cancer. The discovery was made by identifying a rare genetic mutation in three patients with an unusual, early-onset form of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). The patients all lacked a DNA repair protein called MBD4, which […]

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Cancer drug and antidepressants provide clues for treating brain-eating amoeba infections

The amoeba Naegleria fowleri is commonly found in warm swimming pools, lakes and rivers. On rare occasions, the amoeba can infect a healthy person and cause severe primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a “brain-eating” disease that is almost always fatal. Other than trial-and-error with general antifungal medications, there are no treatments for the infection. Researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical […]

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Gene study spots clues to heart risk for statin patients

A Vanderbilt-led research team has discovered genetic variations that increase the risk of heart attack even when patients are receiving a statin drug like Lipitor or Crestor to lower their blood cholesterol. The finding, published by the journal Circulation, helps explain why some patients experience a heart attack or the need for coronary revascularization to open blocked heart arteries while […]

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Sunshine could hold clues on the timing for a severe form of heart attack, study says

The sun’s radiation could be a factor in seasonal patterns of a deadly type of heart attack, according to new research that tracked a “summer shift” in their occurrence across seven countries. Previous research has examined how these attacks – called ST-elevation myocardial infarctions, or STEMIs – seem to happen most often in the daytime during the colder winter months, […]

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