News Articles

A team of scientists say they have uncovered the basis for drug resistance in acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer.  Acute lymphoblastic leukemia accounts for about 23 percent of all cases of cancer in children under the age of 15, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Whole body computerized tomography (CT) scanning has helped diagnose the earliest confirmed case of coronary artery disease in history.The Egyptian princess Ahmose-Meryet-Amon, who lived in Thebes (Luxor) between 1580 and 1550 B.C.,  lived on a diet rich in vegetables, fruit and a limited amount of meat from domesticated (but not fattened) animals. Wheat and barley were grown along the banks of the Nile, making bread and beer the dietary staples of this period of ancient Egypt. Tobacco and trans-fats were unknown, and lifestyle was likely to have been active.

A gene in the nucleus of muscle and brain cells named 
MLIP (Muscle enriched A-type Lamin Interacting Protein)
affects heart development and the aging process, according to a study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry .
Mutations in the Lamin gene family are associated with muscular dystrophy and other degenerative heart muscle diseases.    

Aggression in mating males is a successful reproductive strategy for individuals but a numerical model says it can drive a species to extinction,

Evolutionary biologists have long debated whether the behavior of the individual is able to influence processes on a population or species level but the possibility of selection at the species level remains controversial.   Using a mathematical model, an international team of researchers now say that aggressive male sexual behavior not only harms the female, but can also cause entire populations to die out.

Human embryonic stem cell research is limited in the US and Europe but creative researchers have made significant advances  using the existing hESC lines allowed under US federal guidelines along with induced pluripotent stem cells and adult stem cells.Scientists at Monash University's Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories (MISCL) say they can now make precursor human stem cells from healthy adult kidneys without working on human embryos at all.

Could the key to our hydrogen future be a black stain on rocks?Using sunlight to split water in a cheap, efficient way is the goal of true renewable energy that won't involve ghastly wind vanes or porkbarrelled government funding of ethanol.  The obstacle is splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen and researchers have been looking into complex catalysts that mimic what plants use - but a new study says that there might be much simpler alternatives.

Thrombolytic agents, commonly called "clot-busting" drugs, are frequently used in the treatment patients with blood clots in the lungs but a new study says clot-busting drug are no more effective than traditional blood thinners for the majority of the patients who get them. Thrombolytic agents also appear to increase the risk of death in patients with normal blood pressure.

In a complex system you never know what obscure change can modify things that wouldn't seem to be related.  A new study shows that variation of the scavenger receptor class B type 1 gene (SCARB1)
involved in regulating cholesterol in the bloodstream also appears to affect progesterone production in women, making it a likely culprit in a substantial number of cases of their infertility. The group has developed a simple blood test for this variation of the scavenger receptor class B type 1 gene (SCARB1) but emphasize there is no approved therapy yet to address the problem in infertile women.

Diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are the leading causes of incurable blindness in the western world. In these diseases, retinal cells (photoreceptors) begin to die and limit the eye's ability to capture light and transmit information to the brain. Retinal cells, like other cells of the central nervous system, have limited capacity for endogenous regeneration. Now scientists say they can regenerate large areas of damaged retinas and improve visual function using IPS cells (induced pluripotent stem cells) derived from skin.    IPS cells became well-researched, along with ordinary stem cells, due to limitations in the US and Europe regarding use of human embryonic stem cells.   

Beginning in the 1970s, we were taught to keep homes cooler if we want to save energy and therefore both money and the planet.   But systems don't really work that way, as most knew, and a report commissioned by Friends of the Earth and written by Professor Sir Michael Marmot points out that cold homes cost lives and harm the environment in the long run. 

Fifty years ago, the philosopher and linguist Noam Chomsky speculated that humans are able to learn language easily as children because knowledge of grammar is 'hardwired' into human brains. In other words, we know some of the fundamental things about human language at birth, without ever being taught.Controversial?  Yes, but a group of cognitive scientists now say he may have been onto something.   They contend we are born with knowledge of certain syntactical rules that make learning human languages easier.

Is someone sitting in the passenger seat of the car?   If so, are they leaning forward and can be damage by the airbag?    Did a person enter the danger zone in front of an industrial machine?Debuting at the Sensor+Test trade fair in Nuremberg from June 7-9, 2011, researchers have now developed sensors capable of expanding, in extreme cases, to twice their original length - and they are so supple they are virtually unnoticed when sewn into clothing.