Knot heartwood, i.e. the knot or branch section contained within the tree stem, has been found to contain considerably large amounts of phenolic protective agents. These bioactive substances contained in knot heartwood can be isolated and utilised e.g. in health foods and medicines or as special chemicals in other products. This year has seen the first tree knot extract product brought onto the market. Current interest is centred around HMR lignan, which has been isolated from spruce knot hea
The Jury of the VI Accenture Awards for the Best Thesis at the University School of Engineering in Bilbao has awarded the prize to Estibaliz Medina Ugarte, graduate in industrial engineering, who has carried out the project entitled Aplicación de materiales inteligentes a piezas de automoción (Application of intelligent materials to automotive parts). She undertook the project in collaboration with Maier Technology Centre, part of the Maier S. Coop. company
The new system substitutes the
New scientific results for the Late Cretaceous greenhouse indicate radically different climatic mechanisms operating about 75-90 million years ago compared to the ones that control today’s climate. The study, published on 29 May 2006 in “Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology” as part of a special issue on “Causes and Consequence of Marine Organic Carbon Burial Through Time” by Sascha Floegel from the IFM-GEOMAR in Kiel/Germany and Thomas Wagner from the University of Newcastle upon
In vast remote taiga not far from the Yenisei river, where one can get only by helicopter within one third of the year, the construction of a huge 300-meter high mast is to be completed this summer. In the underground shelter under the mast, a research laboratory will be located, which is stuffed with the most contemporary scientific equipment. Researchers needed that in order to thoroughly investigate who or, more precisely, what is responsible for the greenhouse effect, where oxygen, carbonic ac
Glycobiology is a hot new topic, a science that has arrived and blossomed in the last decade.
The latest issue of The Biochemist puts glycobiology in perspective with an authoritative article on its origin by Professor Raymond Dwek and with reports from the cutting edge of this fascinating and vitally important new discipline. Read how it is making significant discoveries in the fields of molecular biology and in the fight against disease.
Also: the discovery of muscle bi
Mathematicians from Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk, working on a joint project with American colleagues (sponsored by the CRDF and the Federal Agency for Science and Innovations (Rosnauka)) have improved the tsunami forecasting system. To this end, they applied the method of the so-called circulation of tsunami data obtained in a real-time mode. This newest method is based on the latest results achieved by researchers in the theory and numerical algorithms of inverse problem solution.
A tsu
Researchers in the medical and health care field who receive postdoctoral training abroad have succeeded very well in their careers. This is demonstrated by the impact report of the Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Health. The report is entitled “Strategic funding for enhanced research impact? Three examples from the field of health research” and is part of the Academy’s SIGHT2006 publications describing the state, level and impact of Finnish scientific research.
An international t
The Spaniards may have been right all along – a siesta after a hearty lunch is natural, new research suggests.
Scientists at The University of Manchester have for the first time uncovered how brain cells or ‘neurons’ that keep us alert become turned off after we eat.
The findings – published in the scientific journal Neuron this week – have implications for treating obesity and eating disorders as well as understanding levels of consciousness.
“It has been known f
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), two of the world’s leading oncology societies, today released a joint Consensus Statement on Quality Cancer Care for patients across the globe. The 10-point statement outlines goals to provide access to and continuity of quality cancer care worldwide and will be published jointly in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) and the Annals of Oncology.
“Despite the growing advanc
When Dr Javier Marco checks his patients he often uses a computer with a videoconferencing link. Many of his elderly patients live in remote villages in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees and no longer travel to where he works. “They’re very satisfied. There is less inconvenience and the quality of care is better,” he says.
Dr Marco is one of several specialists in Spain, Italy and Denmark who began using a telecounselling service last year developed by HEALTH OPTIMUM, a groundbreaking
Eighty-five per cent of patients known to be at risk of complications and death following surgery may not receive appropriate post-operative care according to a paper published today in the open access journal Critical Care.
Results of a six year study, lead by Dr Rupert Pearse of Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, reveal that only 15% of patients known to have a high mortality risk following surgery – older patients, patients with multiple medical conditions or tho
A type of protein linked to cancer prevention in humans may also play a role in ageing, according to findings published in the journal Science today (2 June). The internationally funded research, carried out at the Buck Institute in the USA and the University of Manchester in the UK, found that proteins which prevent cancer in humans by stopping damaged cells from dividing, also determine lifespan in microscopic worms.
The findings raise the question of whether genetic variations
The young biotech start up company PRIMACYT has developed a long-term human hepatocyte culture system that may be used as a biosensor for the analysis of drugs, food additives, and chemicals. The entrepreneur team has developed serum-free long-term culture techniques for hepatocytes. Currently, several other companies are validating this culture technique in a multi-center study. The technology is presented on international conferences in San Francisco, USA April 2006 and Linz, Austria June 20
Researchers from the MUHC have found that elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma who take medication to prevent their attacks face an increased risk of developing cataracts. Their findings, which looked at a large group of Quebecers, are released today in the June issue of the European Respiratory Journal. “We found that people over the age of 65 who take a cortisone-like medication called inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) to lower their risk of asthma or
MIT scientists have discovered a way to monitor a crucial molecule as it goes about its business within living cells. The molecule, nitric oxide (NO), plays critical roles in the human body – from the destruction of invading microorganisms to the relaying of neural signals. But catching NO at work has long eluded scientists because it often exists in minute concentrations and for only short periods of time. Now, MIT chemists have developed a bright fluorescent sensor that
Memory tests performed with amnesiacs have enabled researchers to refute a long-held belief in an essential difference between long-and short-term memories. In the study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania determined that the hippocampus — a seahorse shaped structure in the middle of the brain — was just as important for retrieving certain types of short-term memories as it is for long-term memories.
Their findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, overturn th
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