UNCOMMON COLD: Want to kill cancer cells? Give the patient a cold. Medical Center researchers injected genetically weakened cold viruses into patients whose colon cancer had spread to their livers. The virus appeared to take advantage of a defective protein common in cancer cells, causing those cells to self-destruct while bypassing normal cells. On average, the 28 people who received the highest dose of the virus survived almost one year—roughly twice as long as doctors expected they would without the treatment.
PUT ON A HAPPY FACE: The brains of outgoing people are more likely to respond to happy facial expressions than the brains of shy people, according to a study by associate psychology professor John Gabrieli and former Stanford postdoc Turhan Canli. The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to record reactions in the amygdalae, areas of the brain associated with emotion and memory.
POLLSTERS, TAKE HEED: The most partisan voters—not the undecideds—are more likely to adopt a favorable opinion of another party’s candidate whom they initially disliked but who is predicted to win an election, report researchers at the Graduate School of Business. The researchers say people are more likely to rationalize anticipated outcomes for events in which they are psychologically invested.
FRUIT FLY FOCUS: A new treatment for type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes may take flight at the Medical Center. Scientists there have engineered fruit flies with a condition that mimics human diabetes, including low insulin and high blood-sugar levels. By studying the flies, they hope to determine how insulin-producing pancreatic cells develop in humans. The next step: using human stem cells to generate replacement pancreatic cells.
