Virus helps show how cancer spreads

sea-maid submitted, created time 4 months 5 days (news.bbc.co.uk)

Scientists have used a common cold virus to "light up" prostate cancer tumors in different parts of the body. A University of California team has found that, when infected by a certain virus, mouse prostate cancer cells become remarkably easy to spot on scanners.

The research team says that the technique requires further development, but if these results extrapolate to humans, it could be a huge boon to cancer research, particularly in cases in which metastasis is suspected.

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UCLA researchers locate and image prostate cancer as it spreads to lymph nodes

kavin submitted, created time 4 months 1 week (newsroom.ucla.edu)

Using an engineered common cold virus, UCLA researchers delivered a genetic payload to prostate cancer cells that allowed them, using Positron Emission Tomography (PET), to locate the diseased cells as they spread to the lymph nodes, the first place prostate cancer goes before invading other organs.

The tiny cancer metastases in the pelvic lymph nodes are very difficult to find using conventional imaging tools such as CT scanning

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Food Restriction Increases Dopamine Receptor Levels in Obese Rats

Siegfried submitted, created time 1 year 2 weeks (www.bnl.gov)

A brain-imaging study of genetically obese rats conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory provides more evidence that dopamine - a brain chemical associated with reward, pleasure, movement, and motivation - plays a role in obesity. The scientists found that genetically obese rats had lower levels of dopamine D2 receptors than lean rats. They also demonstrated that restricting food intake can increase the number of D2 receptors, partially attenuating a normal decline associated with aging.

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Small animal imaging facility is big boon to research

sumsung submitted, created time 1 year 2 months (www.eurekalert.org)

When powerful magnets line up the body's protons before radiofrequency waves can grab their attention away, it's called spin physics.

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'Virtual' mouse brains now available online

bianjie submitted, created time 1 year 4 months (www.eurekalert.org)

A multi-institutional consortium including Duke University has created startlingly crisp 3-D microscopic views of tiny mouse brains -- unveiled layer by layer -- by extending the capabilities of conventional magnetic resonance imaging.

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