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Researchers recently made great strides in stem cell gene therapy research by transferring a new gene to cancer patients, via their own stem cells, with the ultimate goal of being able to use stronger chemotherapy treatment with less severe side effects. This is the first time selection of this gene has been shown to occur in patients.

For the first time, scientists have used human embryonic stem cells to predict the toxic effects of drugs and provide chemical clues to diagnosing disease. Scientists have used all-purpose stem cells to elicit and identify the telltale chemical signals secreted by cells when exposed to a drug known to cause autism.

Children whose mothers have a history of abuse by intimate partners have higher health-care needs than children whose mothers have no history of abuse, according to a study conducted at Group Health, a Seattle-based health plan. These needs -- expressed in terms of the cost of providing care and use of health services -- were higher even if the abuse occurred before the children were born, the research team found.

Scientists have shed important new light on key trafficking mechanisms within epithelial cells. Epithelial cells line the outside of nearly all organs. Specifically, the team has discovered a molecular "switch" in developed epithelial cells that selects from a large family of "motor proteins," called kinesins. Each kinesin facilitates the transport of specific surface markers from production sites inside the cell to their ultimate home on the cell's surface.

A new development in the fight against cancer: Molecules found in common fungus Ganoderma lucidum aid in suppressing some of the mechanisms involved in the progression of prostate cancer. The main action of the fungus: disrupting androgen receptor activity and impeding the proliferation of cancerous cells.

Breast tumors that are 1 centimeter in size or smaller -- no more than 0.4 inch in length -- can still be very aggressive and may require more intensive therapy than is routinely offered today, say researchers.

All cells are surrounded by protective, fatty membranes. In the cell membrane there are thousands of membrane proteins that transport nutritional substances, ions, and water through the membrane. Membrane proteins are also necessary for cells to recognize each other in the body and for a nervous system, for example, to be formed. Researchers have now managed to reveal the "molecular code" that governs the insertion of proteins in the cell membrane.

Combining some traditional experimental methods of molecular biology with computational methods of artificial intelligence, scientists have demonstrated a novel approach for producing 'protein fingerprints' of diverse tissues. This result could lead to the development of new convenient methods in medical diagnostics. Being directly responsible for a great majority of processes in living cells, proteins are the most important class of biological molecules.

Patient pressure has influenced how scientific advances in the space of only 50 years have transformed childhood cancer from a disease that was usually fatal, into one that the majority of newly diagnosed children can expect to survive. Today more than 80 per cent of children with childhood leukemia survive.

Christmas time is full of food when most of us simply have to worry about our expanding waist lines but new research says that people with diabetes need to pay attention to the dangers of a neglected post meal peak in blood glucose. Indeed the research shows that this post meal peak can do even more damage than a more sustained rise in blood sugar. Until recently, the main focus of therapy for people with diabetes has been on lowering blood sugar or glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, with a strong emphasis on fasting plasma glucose.