Good Bugs, Bad Bugs: Learning What We Can from the Microorganisms that Colonize Our Bodies
from The Journal of Clinical Investigation
The number of microorganisms that live inside or on the body of a healthy adult human is thought to be least 10 times greater than the number of human somatic and germ cells. Some of these microorganisms are beneficial to the human host and some can cause illness. More

Letrozole Better than Tamoxifen After Surgery in Women with Early Breast Cancer
from Reuters Health via OncoLink
The aromatase inhibitor letrozole is more effective than tamoxifen as initial adjuvant hormonal therapy in postmenopausal women with hormone-sensitive, early-stage breast cancer, according to researchers. The results showed that women who received letrozole for five years after surgery had a 13 percent lower risk of death than women treated with tamoxifen. More

CLSI Releases Guidelines for Defining, Establishing, and Verifying Reference Intervals in the Clinical Laboratory
from The Wall Street Journal
A measured or observed laboratory test result from a person is compared with a reference interval for the purpose of making a medical diagnosis, therapeutic management decision, or other physiological assessment. It is important to develop reference intervals using a systematic process that takes into account the various influences on the measured laboratory test results. More

Production Line for Artificial Skin
from Science Daily
A fully automated process is set to improve the production of artificial tissue: medical scientists can perform transplants with skin produced in the laboratory. Tissue engineering has been at the focus of research for many years, and tissues such as cartilage or skin are already being cultured in numerous biotechnology laboratories. But the researchers plan to go a step further than that. More

Mathematical Models of Adaptive Immunity
from Biology News Net
More than five million people die every year from infectious diseases, despite the availability of numerous antibiotics and vaccines. The discovery of penicillin to treat bacterial infections, along with the development of vaccines for previously incurable virus diseases such as polio and smallpox, achieved great reductions in mortality during the mid-20th century. More

SABCS 2008: Zoledronic Acid Has Direct Effect on Breast Cancer
from Medscape Medical News
New data suggest that zoledronic acid has a direct effect on breast cancer. The bisphosphonate is currently marketed for osteoporosis and bone metastasis, but there is growing evidence to suggest that it might also have a role to play in breast cancer. More

Department of Energy chooses Michigan for $550M Isotope Facility
from Health Imaging
The U.S. Department of Energy has selected Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., to design and establish the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, a research facility to advance understanding of nuclear isotopes and the evolution of the cosmos. The new facility—expected to take about a decade to design and build and to cost an estimated $550 million—will provide research opportunities for an international community of approximately 1,000 university and laboratory scientists, postdoctoral associates and graduate students. More

Tumor metabolism: Cancer Cells Give and Take Lactate
from The Journal of Clinical Investigation
Tumors contain well-oxygenated (aerobic) and poorly oxygenated (hypoxic) regions, which were thought to utilize glucose for oxidative and glycolytic metabolism, respectively. Researchers show that human cancer cells cultured under hypoxic conditions convert glucose to lactate and extrude it, whereas aerobic cancer cells take up lactate via monocarboxylate transporter and utilize it for oxidative phosphorylation. More

Antibacterial Personal Hygiene Products May Not Be Worth Potential Risks
from Infection Control Today
A recent study by researchers calls into question the widespread use of two active ingredients — triclocarban and triclosan — in personal hygiene products, including antibacterial bar and liquid soaps. Using human and animal cell lines, researchers found that triclocarban disrupts reproductive hormone activity and triclosan interferes with a type of cell signaling that occurs in brain, heart and other cells. More