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MOLECULAR PHARMACOLOGY: Enzyme Pair Joins fight Against Drug-resistant Bacteria
By wielding a couple of enzymes as molecular tools, researchers Heather Losey, Christopher T. Walsh, and colleagues have generated new versions of last-ditch antibiotics vancomycin and teicoplanin. The work will not result in new drugs any time soon, but it demonstrates a method of refining naturally occurring drugs to thwart resistant bugs. Drug-resistant bacteria, particularly in hospitals, are a major threat to patient care. The paper appears in the Dec. 16 Chemistry & Biology. |
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DISEASE PROFILING: Gene Expression Pattern Predicts Potential for Tumor Metastasis
A DNA microarray analysis of 279 tumors of several different types reveals a gene expression pattern that predicts the likelihood of metastasis. The unexpected discovery of the metastasis-associated genes in some early-stage primary tumors suggests that some tumors may be predisposed to spread. The findings, by Sridhar Ramaswamy and colleagues, contrast with a widely accepted model that tumors sequentially accumulate mutations giving them a selective advantage for growth and eventual metastasis. The study is published in the Dec. 9 online Nature Genetics. |
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AMBULATORY CARE: Hospital Length of Stay May Not Affect Newborns' Health
Six years after Congress and 41 states established a 48-hour minimum hospital stay following normal vaginal delivery, a new study by Jeanne Madden and colleagues at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care challenges the popular assumption that early hospital discharge after birth is harmful to newborns. The study, which appears in the Dec. 19 New England Journal of Medicine, could add a new dimension to policy debates about appropriate newborn care. |
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Copyright 2003 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
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