Early warning devices seen for citrus diseases Western Farm Press - Nov 6, 2008 The detection is based on genetic responses used by host plants to communicate stress caused by diseases or pests. The responses are measured by highly ...
Tackling emotional health 'key to solving obesity crisis' Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - Nov 11, 2008 Diets from books don?t work because they don?t take into account an individual?s genetic tendencies and metabolic rate.? Dr Haslam is particularly sceptical ...
Spirit of Children's endures Cincinnati.com, OH - Nov 9, 2008 In recent years, genetic studies have moved to the forefront, and researchers at Children's have focused on liver diseases, asthma and leukemia, ...
The donor trail guardian.co.uk, UK - Nov 17, 2008 He was born with porphyria, a genetic condition that affects the nervous system. In Andrew's case, it made him highly sensitive to light, so that if exposed ...
Source: Google News
Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: 0.17 + 1,220,000 + bypass Related to the article below (Last Update: 8/7/2008)
Wall Street poised for mixed open on Freddie loss The Associated Press - The Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 3.90, or 0.30 percent, to 1279, and the Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 3.25, or 0.17 percent, to 1872.25. ...FRE
[CITATION] MEASUREMENTS OF THE NUCLEON STRUCTURE FUNCTION IN THE RANGE 0.002-GeV**2 < x < 0.17-GeV**2 AND 0.2- … M Arneodo, A Arvidson, JJ Aubert, B Badelek, J … - Nuclear Physics B
People suffering from heart disease may soon be able to have a genetically engineered coronary bypass. Doctors in Britain and the United States have been working on a way of preventing veins used in heart surgery from blocking up, making a further operation necessary.
By-pass surgery is one of the commonest types of operation performed, with surgeons taking veins from patients' legs to graft round diseased and blocked arteries in the heart.
Unfortunately, the procedure often has to be repeated, sometimes only a few years after the first operation. The main problem is that the veins used to by-pass the heart are not as strong as the diseased arteries they replace, and they tend to react badly to the sort of blood pressure intended only for arteries. As a result, the vein grows a thick layer of muscle to protect itself against damage. But this can result in narrowing, which makes the vein more likely to clog than the artery.
Now doctors have succeeded making the veins used in a by-pass to behave more like an artery. After removing the vein from the patient's leg ready for implantation, they inject it with human DNA designed to alter the genetic make-up of the muscle cells to slow down the narrowing of the vein.
In a preliminary trial on 42 patients, 17 were given the new gene therapy vein by-pass operation and the rest given conventional grafts. Patients who had the pioneering surgery fared much better, with only 20 pc suffering blockages within the first year of surgery, compared to 60pc for those having normal by-pass treatment.
Besides cost and risk to patients of repeated surgery, there are only a limited number of veins that can be used in the operation, and supply can become almost exhausted if a patient needs several veins per operation.
Dr Keith Channon of Oxford University and the city's John Radcliffe Hospital is also using gene therapy to treat heart by-pass patients. Instead of using human DNA, he is modifying viruses, first making them safe, so they can infect the cells making up the vein. The virus prevents the chain of events which leads to the unwanted build-up of extra muscle. 'This is a huge problem in modern medicine,' he says. 'What we are trying to do is to make the original by-pass last as long as possible.'
