Research vaccine prevents cancer in mice
LOUISVILLE, Ky., Nov. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they have developed a vaccine that prevents lung cancer in mice and which might lead to a similar vaccine for humans.
The University of Louisville medical researchers caution, however, that while the animal study has produced promising results, much more research is needed to determine if the same results can be obtained in humans, the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal reported.
"Cancer has been prevented and even cured in mice hundreds of times," said John Eaton, deputy director of the university's James Graham Brown Cancer Center. But Eaton also predicted "by the time this is tried in humans, I will be pushing up daisies" because of government rules on testing new drugs.
However, Eaton and colleague Robert Mitchell said they are excited by early results from their work.
The research was presented Wednesday during an international cancer conference in Prague, Czech Republic, sponsored by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer,
Conference organizers singled out the paper as one of 10 from among the 800 to be highlighted as of particular interest, the Courier-Journal said.
Galaxies' chemical composition studied
GARCHING, Germany, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A major survey made with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope has reportedly shed light on the Milky Way galaxy's ancestry.
After determining the chemical composition of more than 2,000 stars in four of the nearest dwarf galaxies to our own, ESO astronomers have demonstrated fundamental differences in their make-up, casting doubt on the theory that those diminutive galaxies could ever have formed the building blocks of the Milky Way galaxy.
"The chemistry we see in the stars in these dwarf galaxies is just not consistent with current cosmological models," reported Amina Helmi of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in Groningen, The Netherlands, and lead author of the paper presenting the results. "It shows that there is plenty of astronomy to learn in our backyard."
He said the results rule out any merging of the nearby dwarf galaxies as a mechanism for building up the Galactic halo, even in the early history of the universe.
"More detailed chemical abundance studies of these systems are needed, as this will tell us more about what happened at those early epochs in our local Universe," Helmi said.
The study by the Garching, Germany-based, ESO appears in the Astrophysical Journal.
Plant study may lead to Chlamydia cure
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Nov. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have discovered the Chlamydia bacterium, which causes a sexually transmitted disease, shares an evolutionary heritage with plants.
That shared evolutionary heritage, which is not found in most other bacteria, points to a prime target for development of an effective cure for Chlamydia infections, Rutgers University researchers said.
"The unique connection between the Chlamydia bacterium and plants had been proposed by others," said Professor Thomas Leustek. "But we have now described a specific example demonstrating the common heritage. That specific example, an enzyme that supports protein production, could lead to antibiotics specific for this form of STD."
He noted the discovery wouldn't have been possible 10 years ago -- before the advent of genome sequencing. "But now we have access to more that 500 different genomes in a data base," said Leustek. "After having identified a gene in plants, I can quickly identify the homologous gene from any bacteria in the database."
The research appears in the early, online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Chan nominated for top WHO position
GENEVA, Switzerland, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The World Health Organization has nominated Dr. Margaret Chan of China to become the U.N. agency's next director general.
If the nomination is approved by the WHO's executive board Thursday, Chan will become the first representative of China -- and the first woman -- to become WHO's chief technical and administrative officer.
The previous director general, Dr. Lee Jong-wook, died in May.
WHO officials said Acting Director General Dr. Anders Nordstrom will continue in that role until a new director general assumes office.
Chan, a former director of the Hong Kong Health Department, was considered the front-runner among a list of five finalists that included candidates from Japan, Kuwait, Mexico and Spain. Chan defeated second place finisher Julio Frenk of Mexico by 10 votes, taking 24 of the executive board's 34 votes, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Chan has been serving as the WHO's top communicable diseases official. Her term as WHO director general is expected to run until July 2012.
