26/Jan/19
Claudia Campanella, 31, works as a student support administrator at a UK university, and in her spare time she is a poo donor.
Health News
24/Jan/19
As Egypt becomes the first Arab country to authorise the production and sale of a drug meant to boost the female libido, the BBC's Sally Nabil explores whether there's a market for it in such a socially conservative country.
24/Jan/19
Tens of thousands of people die from snake bites worldwide every year. Lack of treatment and even the wrong medicine mean many of these deaths are preventable.
24/Jan/19
Children are turning their backs on sugary drinks, with the numbers drinking them falling by a third over the past nine years, a survey suggests.
24/Jan/19
Funding to tackle 33 significant diseases has reached its highest level since figures were taken, says a survey which has tracked this for 11 years.
22/Jan/19
A three-week-old baby who was in desperate need of a heart transplant has died, his parents have said.
22/Jan/19
A "stealth disease" which can cause liver failure, diabetes and severe arthritis may be much more common than previously thought, research has shown.
22/Jan/19
A diet has been developed that promises to save lives, feed 10 billion people and all without causing catastrophic damage to the planet.
22/Jan/19
Five-year-old Oscar's life has regularly hung in the balance because of severe asthma.
22/Jan/19
Women who freeze their eggs should be allowed to keep them for longer than 10 years, fertility experts are telling the government.
20/Jan/19
New guidance from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has stopped short of recommending specific limits on screen time, saying there is little evidence that it is harmful. But some parents have told the BBC they are frustrated by the advice and England's children's commissioner has said parents need more support.
20/Jan/19
An artist whose vision deteriorated after lens replacement surgery is one of dozens of people considering legal action against manufacturer, Oculentis.
20/Jan/19
Experts have developed a potentially "game-changing" test to predict a woman's risk of breast cancer.
20/Jan/19
Having sex too soon is the biggest regret of young people losing their virginity, a survey of British sexual behaviour suggests.
17/Jan/19
Nobel Prize-winning American scientist James Watson has been stripped of his honorary titles after repeating comments about race and intelligence.
16/Jan/19
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is associated with B cell lymphomas in humans. The latent membrane protein 1 (LMP-1) of EBV constitutively activates the JAK/STAT signaling pathway and contributes to the proliferation of EBV-infected primary human B lymphocytes. Thus, targeting LMP1-induced JAK/STAT signaling may prove effective in treating B-cell lymphomas. The extract of the fruiting body of Antrodia cinnamomea, has been reported to have cytotoxicity on blood cancer cells. Here, we report that the bioactivity of antcin H, an analog of the JAK2 inhibitor zhankuic acid A (ZAA), inhibits LMP1-induced JAK/STAT related signaling and induces lymphoma cell line apoptosis. Moreover, antcin H enhances low-dose methotrexate (MTX) cytotoxicity against lymphoma cells. Treatment of antcin H with low-dose MTX significantly suppressed tumor growth and prolonged the survival of tumor-bearing mice. Our findings indicate antcin H as a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of EBV-infected cancer cells.
16/Jan/19
Taiwanofungus camphoratus is a unique medicinal mushroom endemic to Taiwan, and it is used as a folk medicine in East Asian countries. The aim of the present study was to investigate the immunomodulatory effects of “leader Antrodia cinnamomea capsule” (LAC), a health food product containing solid-state cultivated mycelial powder of T. camphoratus. For the in vivo studies, mice were orally administered LAC (76, 250, and 760 mg/kg b.w.) for 30 days, and its effects on cell-mediated humoral immune function were examined. The results of the concanavalin A-induced splenic lymphocyte proliferation test showed that LAC significantly increased splenic lymphocyte proliferation compared with the control. In addition, serum hemolysin analysis showed that LAC treatment significantly increased the half value of serum hemolysin (HC50) in mice compared with the control. Moreover, treatment with LAC significantly increased the phagocytic index as measured by carbon clearance and natural killer cell activity. Taken together, these findings provide strong evidence that LAC can modulate immune function.
16/Jan/19
Radiotherapy is one of the most common treatment options for local or regional advanced prostate cancer (PCa). Importantly, PCa is prone to radioresistance and often develops into malignancies after long-term radiotherapy. Antrocin, a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from Antrodia cinnamomea, possesses pharmacological efficacy against various cancer types; however, its therapeutic potential requires comprehensive exploration, particularly in radioresistant PCa cells. In this study, we emphasized the effects of antrocin on radioresistant PCa cells and addressed the molecular mechanism underlying the radiosensitization induced by antrocin. Our results showed that a combination treatment with antrocin and ionizing radiation (IR) synergistically inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in radioresistant PCa cells. We further demonstrated that antrocin downregulated PI3K/AKT and MAPK signaling pathways as well as suppressed type 1 insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R)-mediated induction of β-catenin to regulate cell cycle and apoptosis. Using xenograft mouse models, we showed that antrocin effectively enhanced radiotherapy in PCa. Our study demonstrates that antrocin sensitizes PCa to radiation through constitutive suppression of IGF-1R downstream signaling, revealing that it can be developed as a potent therapeutic agent to overcome radioresistant PCa.
16/Jan/19
A key fund which finances the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria is seeking fresh investment worth £11bn.
15/Jan/19
Glioblastoma (GBM), a malignant form of glioma, is characterized by resistance to therapy and poor prognosis. Accumulating evidence shows that the initiation, propagation, and recurrence of GBM is attributable to the presence of GBM stem cells (GBM-CSCs).
