Sunday, June 26, 2011

Vaccine Supports Immune Targeting of Brain Tumors

An experimental vaccine developed by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute targets overactive antigens in highly aggressive brain tumors and improves length of survival in newly diagnosed patients, according to new data that was presented in a poster session at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and aggressive type of tumor originating in the brain, typically live only 12 to 15 months after diagnosis even with standard treatments: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

ICT-107 is a product of the biotechnology company ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. Keith L. Certain rights in the dendritic cell vaccine technology and corresponding intellectual property have been exclusively licensed by Cedars-Sinai to ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, including subsequently developed versions of the vaccine investigated in this clinical study.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Foods for Healthy and Glowing Skin

You cannot just imagine keeping your skin healthy and glowing by using expensive lotions, creams, moisturizers or sunscreens, but essentially by eating right. You can found out by making tiny alterations to your diet and adding these foods to keep your skin healthy & glowing.

Berries

Berries like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and plum have antioxidant properties. These antioxidants prevent skin damage and when skin cells are protected from damage and disintegration, they look youthful and younger for longer.

Spinach & Carrots

Carrots & spinach are excellent sources of vitamin A, which is a required nutrient for healthy skin. You should eat these vegetables for a healthy body and skin. You can have them raw, in salads or cooked with omelets and other dishes.

Green Tea

This drink contains antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. It has been proven to reduce the damage of sunburns and overexposure to ultraviolet light, which, in turn, reduces the risk of skin cancer.

Almonds

Essential fatty acids found in nuts and seeds help to keep the skin soft and supple. Almonds are amazingly healthy and full of Vitamin E which gives the skin that glory look. Vitamin E also helps in repairing skin tissues and maintaining skin moisture.

Water

Last, but certainly not the least, is water. Good hydration is our skin’s best friend. Water both hydrates the skin and moves toxins out and nutrients in. Also, if you are properly hydrated, you sweat more which, in turn, helps keep your skin clean and clear.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Babies Perform Sophisticated Analyses of Physical World


Over the past two decades, scientists have shown that babies only a few months old have a solid grasp on basic rules of the physical world. They understand that objects can't wink in and out of existence, and that objects can't "teleport" from one spot to another.

Now, an international team of researchers co-led by MIT's Josh Tenenbaum has found that infants can use that knowledge to form surprisingly sophisticated expectations of how novel situations will unfold.

Furthermore, the scientists developed a computational model of infant cognition that accurately predicts infants' surprise at events that violate their conception of the physical world.

Infant cognition by studying babies at ages 3-, 6- and 12-months (and other key stages through the first two years of life) to map out what they know about the physical and social world.

Elizabeth Spelke, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, demonstrated that infants' level of surprise can be measured by how long they look at something: The more unexpected the event, the longer they watch.