http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest news from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory A review of the current issues in low-dose radiation research authored by two radiation biologists from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is the cover story of the May 2013 issue of Radiation Research. The review, by Laboratory Fellow Dr. William F. Morgan and retired PNNL scientist Dr. William J. Bair, highlights critical areas of controversy in low-dose radiation biology, and suggests areas of future research to address these issues. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-prospective-low-dose-biology-controversy.html Cancer Tue, 14 May 2013 07:56:08 EST news287736963 As part of a new initiative to speed the search for changes in the body that can help predict, diagnose, or monitor Parkinson's disease, a research team led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory recently received a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Scientists from PNNL, University of Miami, Baylor College of Medicine, and Rush University have teamed to identify new components of the Lewy bodies that accumulate in the brain during Parkinson's, and then use ultra-sensitive methods to see if any of these proteins have leaked into cerebrospinal fluid or blood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-parkinson-puzzle-assay-components-protein.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Tue, 26 Mar 2013 08:50:02 EST news283505003 A controversial component of plastic bottles and canned food linings that have helped make the world's food supply safer has recently come under attack: bisphenol A. Widely known as BPA, it has the potential to mimic the sex hormone estrogen if blood and tissue levels are high enough. Now, an analysis of almost 150 BPA exposure studies shows that in the general population, people's exposure may be many times too low for BPA to effectively mimic estrogen in the human body. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-meta-analyses-bisphenol-human-exposure-estrogenic.html Health Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:22:48 EST news280164126 (Medical Xpress)—Expertise at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory contributed to the understanding of the role of cellular metabolism in the pathogenesis of a currently untreatable lung disease. This research, reported in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, highlights the importance of PNNL's nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics in the field of biomedicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-metabolomics-key-disease-pathway-reveals.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 14 Jan 2013 07:07:20 EST news277369632 (Medical Xpress)—At the moment that someone is suffering a stroke, the immediate concern is getting them stabilized. Once the initial attack has passed, additional treatment and preventive measures can be implemented. Understanding what's happening during the actual event, and in the subsequent hours and days, will help improve the effectiveness of the post-attack treatment plan, and also help identify methods of neuroprotection—that is, administer treatments to protect against a stroke in advance for potentially at-risk individuals. Computational biology researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory developed a model for predicting what's happening during a stroke, how the process evolves over time, the potential outcomes, and the effects of different treatment options. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-enables.html Medical research Tue, 27 Nov 2012 07:10:45 EST news273222561 Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) provides a quantitative basis for predicting the pulmonary airflow patterns that carry inhaled materials inside the body. This is not only potentially useful for establishing safer exposure limits to airborne pollutants but also for improving targeted drug delivery in patients with pulmonary disease. One prerequisite is that simulated predictions be thoroughly tested in a living organism, where respiratory airflows depend not only on airway shape and curvature but also on local lung mechanics and associated differences between health and disease.  http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-lung-imaging.html Medical research Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:20:01 EST news267875504 (Medical Xpress) -- In studies on a human skin tissue model, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory used a systems biology approach to show that an ionizing radiation dose mimicking that received during a CT scan is sufficient to alter genes in two cell layers. The epidermis is the outer skin layer, and the dermis is beneath it. The researchers found 1452 genes altered in the dermis and 428 genes altered in the epidermis. Genes altered in the two layers showed little overlap, but the affected signaling pathways were similar. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-human-skin-pathway-effects-dose.html Genetics Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:23:15 EST news254560983 (Medical Xpress) -- Early detection of breast cancer saves thousands of lives each year. But screening for breast cancer also produces false alarms, which can cause undue stress and costly medical bills. Now, a recent study using patient blood reveals a possible way to reduce the number of false alarms that arise during early screening. Researchers found a panel of proteins shed by breast cancer that are easily detected and can distinguish between real cancer and benign lumps. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-singling-real-breast-cancer-lumps.html Cancer Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:11:37 EST news238752684 Although cigarette smoking has long been linked to cardiovascular disease, scientists are still on the lookout for insights into how smoking causes this disease. A team of researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Utah has determined that cigarette smoking and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can both influence oxidative modifications on specific proteins in blood plasma.  Specifically, smoking and COPD can affect the levels of 3-nitrotyrosine, a biomarker associated with many pathological conditions. The results of this study demonstrated that smoking was consistently associated with a decrease in protein nitrotyrosine levels compared with non-smokers but that the presence of COPD in smokers was associated with an increase in protein nitrotyrosine levels. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-cigarettes-cardiovascular-disease.html Health Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:58:08 EST news237455873 The challenge of Dr. Mark Ellisman's life is understanding how the brain works. He wants to know how the interplay of structural, chemical, and electrical signals in and between cells of nervous tissue gives rise to behavior. To meet this challenge, he and his colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, develop methods to understand the entire brain, studying it from the whole atoms up to the whole structure. An innovative tool they've built is the Whole Brain Catalog, which is similar to Google Earth, allowing scientists to see the details and the bigger view. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-brain.html Other Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:23:32 EST news233317399 We've heard it repeatedly: early detection is key to surviving breast cancer. But even with recent advances in mammography, finding indications of breast cancer before it can metastasize remains a problem. Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Duke University Medical Center have increased the ability to determine if a positive result on a breast cancer screen is true or false. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-high-false-positive-mammograms.html Cancer Mon, 13 Jun 2011 10:42:46 EST news227180551 Dr. Joe Gray, director of the Oregon Health & Science University Center for Spatial Systems Biomedicine, addressed a capacity crowd at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory Auditorium at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on April 18 regarding his research involving a systems approach to breast cancer. Gray was at PNNL as part of the ongoing Frontiers in Biological Sciences Seminar series, which features academic, government, and industrial leaders who discuss novel ideas and scientific advances in biological sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-four-dimensional-view-breast-cancer-treatment.html Cancer Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:21:02 EST news226747250 Just like some people, macrophages—tiny cells that provide the immune system with a primary line of defense against pathogens—reveal a lot about themselves when challenged. Computer scientists and biologists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have identified a basic response mechanism that underlies how macrophages respond by presenting the cells with three different insults. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-immune-responses-stimuli.html Medical research Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:24:35 EST news221995462