News Articles

New research in an animal model suggests that a diet high in inorganic phosphates, which are found in a variety of processed foods including meats, cheeses, beverages, and bakery products, might speed growth of lung cancer tumors and may even contribute to the development of those tumors in individuals predisposed to the disease.The study also suggests that dietary regulation of inorganic phosphates may play an important role in lung cancer treatment. The research, using a mouse model, was conducted by Myung-Haing Cho, D.V.M., Ph.D., and his colleagues at Seoul National University, appears in the first issue for January of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.

Indulgence in a high-fat diet can not only lead to overweight because of excessive calorie intake, but also can affect the balance of circadian rhythms – everyone's 24-hour biological clock, Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have shown. The biological clock regulates the expression and/or activity of enzymes and hormones involved in metabolism, and disturbance of the clock can lead to such phenomena as hormone imbalance, obesity, psychological and sleep disorders and cancer. 

Back pain costs more than $100 billion annually in the U.S. but is the surgery to offset it cost effective?  Obviously to people suffering any cost might be worth it but since most people today have health insurance, and the government is likely to institute some form of mandatory health care for those who don't, cost versus actual achieved benefit is an issue. 

Agricultural crop production relies on composted waste materials and byproducts, such as animal manure, municipal solid waste composts, and sewage sludge, as a necessary nutrient source.Some studies have shown that human hair, which is readily available as waste generated from barbershops and hair salons, combined with additional compost, could be an additional nutrient source for crops. Although human hair has become commercially available to crop producers in the past couple years, it has not been proven to be an exclusive source of nutrients in greenhouse container production.

Contact with nature has long been believed to increase positive feelings, reduce stress and provide distraction from the pain associated with hospital stays and researchers now say they have confirmed the beneficial effects of plants and flowers for patients recovering from abdominal surgery.

A recent study by Seong-Hyun Park and Richard H. Mattson, researchers from the Department of Horticulture, Recreation and Forestry at Kansas State University, provides evidence that contact with plants is directly beneficial to a hospital patient's health. Using various medical and psychological measurements, the study set out to evaluate if plants in hospital rooms have therapeutic influences.

Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have succeeded in reversing brain birth defects in animal models, using stem cells to replace defective brain cells. Neural and behavioral birth defects, such as learning disabilities, are particularly difficult to treat, compared to defects with known cause factors such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease, because the prenatal teratogen – the substances that cause the abnormalities -- act diffusely in the fetal brain, resulting in multiple defects. 

University of Cincinnati researchers say they have discovered a new therapy for transplant patients; targeting the antibody-producing plasma cells that can cause organ rejection.  Steve Woodle, MD, and colleagues found that a cancer drug. bortezomib, that is used to treat multiple myeloma, or cancer of the plasma cells, is also effective in treating rejection episodes caused by antibodies that target transplanted kidneys and reversing rejection episodes that did not respond to standard therapies.B-lymphocytes, or B cells, play a large role in the humoral immune response by making immune proteins that attack transplanted organs.

As the party season approaches, a timely reminder of the issues surrounding the binge drinking culture are again highlighted by research into 'young people and alcohol' a team lead by Professor Christine Griffin, at the University of Bath. The research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) suggests several considerations for future policy. 

A British company says they have a solution to the over 22,000 tons of hazardous waste that ends up in UK landfills annually from Alkaline batteries that are thrown away after being used in toys and gadgets, creating a toxic problem for hundreds of years.
Moixa Energy's award winning USBCELL re-usable batteries could help reduce this, they say, as they can be re-used hundreds of times by re-charging in USB ports on desktops, laptops or games consoles, saving consumers from money and helping the planet. USBCELLs were recently a Good Housekeeping consumer awards finalist and in September won the Barclays Commercial 'Green Leaders in Business' award.

During an autoimmune disease, the endogenous defence system (the immune system) loses the ability to distinguish between "self" and "foreign".     As a consequence, the immune system directs its defense against itself, with fatal consequences.In the case of multiple sclerosis, a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disease, the immune system attacks the protective layer encapsulating the nerve fibres: This protective layer formed by myelin works like insulation for electrical cables. If the insulation is damaged, the nerves can no longer transmit messages effectively. 

Artificial bone marrow that can continuously make red and white blood cells has been created in a University of Michigan lab.   This development could lead to simpler pharmaceutical drug testing, closer study of immune system defects and a continuous supply of blood for transfusions.The substance grows on a 3-D scaffold that mimics the tissues supporting bone marrow in the body, said Nicholas Kotov, a professor in the U-M departments of Chemical Engineering; Materials Science and Engineering; and Biomedical Engineering.The marrow is not made to be implanted in the body, like most 3-D biomedical scaffolds. It is designed to function in a test tube.

JetBrains, creators of intelligent and innovative productivity-enhancing tools for software developers, have announced the Beta version of their new product - Meta Programming System, or MPS. Meta Programming System is a brand new concept of software development environment implementing the Language Oriented Programming paradigm. After several years of research and development, JetBrains has released its Beta version now, targeting 1.0 for early 2009.
Meta Programming System is an environment for professional software developers to create new custom languages, extend existing languages, and use them to develop programs. MPS is also an instrument for creating Domain Specific Languages (DSLs).