A destructive pathogen is impacting Hawaii’s production of anthuriums, a plant known for its heart-shaped flower and leaves, say plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS).
Anthuriums’s flower portion, or spathe, is available in a variety of colors including brilliant shades of red, orange, pink, and salmon. Although they originated in Central America, anthuriums are now the most important cut flowers in the Hawaiian floriculture industry,
A team of researchers has developed a new process to make flexible, conducting ’nano skins’ for a variety of applications, from electronic paper to sensors for detecting chemical and biological agents. The materials, which are described in the March issue of the journal Nano Letters, combine the strength and conductivity of carbon nanotubes with the flexibility of traditional polymers.
“Researchers have long been interested in making composites of nanotubes and polymers, but i
Much has been written about the enormous effort required to take scientific discovery from the laboratory bench to the patient’s bedside. In the Supplement to the February issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, Brad Doebbeling, M.D., M.Sc., and colleagues offer strategy on how best to take the next step, to use technology to incorporate new or better treatments at the bedsides of patients treated anywhere.
In the paper, Dr. Doebbeling, director of the Indiana University Ce
Role of body mass index (BMI) and other factors in driver deaths occurring w/in 30 days of motor vehicle crashes
A team at the Injury Research Center of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee has found that being obese increases male drivers’ risk of dying in a car crash, as does being very slim. However, being moderately overweight might help cushion the blow.
They also found that obesity did not affect women’s risk of death from such crashes. Their study
A study by University of Virginia sociologists W. Bradford Wilcox and Steven L. Nock finds that the single most important factor in women’s marital happiness is the level of their husbands’ emotional engagement — not money, the division of household chores or other factors. The study also finds that women whose husbands earn the lion’s share of income, who don’t work outside the home, or who share a strong commitment to lifelong marriage with their husbands report the highest levels of marital happin
Education and training are the linchpins that will give the nation’s Hispanic workers and their children important tools to contribute to and share in U.S. prosperity, says a new report from the National Academies’ National Research Council that examines the Hispanic experience in the United States. Targeted investments in these areas would benefit not only Hispanics, but also the country as a whole by enhancing U.S. productivity as baby boomers shift into retirement.
The childr
A team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers has found that a delayed-release stimulant used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be less likely to be abused than other stimulant drugs. Study participants taking therapeutic oral doses of Concerta, a once-daily form of the drug methylphenidate, did not report perceiving and enjoying the drug’s subjective effects, features that are associated with a medication’s potential for abuse. The report ap
New evidence on chronic fatigue causation: The ’Dubbo Infection Outcomes Study’
A seven-year tracking study has prompted scientists to suggest that chronic fatigue syndrome could be the result of brain injuries inflicted during the early stages of glandular fever.
Australian researchers have put the suggestion in this week’s Journal of Infectious Diseases, which reveals new findings from the ’Dubbo Infection Outcomes Study’. Since 1999, a t
Attaching a recently discovered cytokine to neural stem cells derived from bone marrow, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute have developed a tool to track and kill malignant brain tumor cells and provide long-term protection against their return.
Results of an animal study are published in the March 1, 2006 issue of Cancer Research, and the researchers are now applying to regulatory agencies to translate their work into hum
Doctors in Brazil have concluded that the drug amifostine eases many of the most common side effects associated with patients receiving radiation therapy to treat their cancer while simultaneously making the cancer more susceptible to radiation. The study was published in the March 1, 2006, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.
The researchers set out to evaluat
Researchers at National Jewish Medical and Research Center report in the March issue of Cancer Research that a pair of promising proteins, known as fibulins 3 and 5, slow the growth of cancer tumors in mice by preventing blood vessels from sprouting. The proteins are promising candidates for use in cancer therapy.
“Healthy humans produce fibulin proteins, which regulate cell proliferation, migration and invasion. In the past, we have seen that they are depleted in numerous metastatic
An independent clinical and laboratory study of more than 3000 people treated with the drug natalizumab (Tysabri®) for multiple sclerosis (MS), Crohn’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis has found no evidence of new cases of the often-fatal disorder called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). The laboratory component of the study was coordinated by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), working in conjunctio
Catheter ablation for chronic atrial fibrillation returns 74 percent of patients to normal rhythm
People who have endured the effects and risks of an irregular heartbeat for years can get long-lasting relief from a procedure that takes less than two hours, a definitive new study shows.
In the March 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center and the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy report the resul
Mouthwatering Peruvian cuisine like causa (mashed yellow potatoes layered with avocado and seafood) and carapulcra (dried potatoes and pork/chicken in peanut sauce) combine food crops from Amazon basin rainforests and Andean highlands. Smithsonian archaeologists and colleagues presenting in the prestigious journal, Nature1, uncover the first definitive evidence for this culinary, cultural link: 3600-4000 year-old plant microfossils and starch grains.
Heading to the supermarket to pi
Obese people may be more sensitive to pain than people who aren’t obese, a new study suggests.
All of the older adults who completed the study had osteoarthritis of the knee, a disease that causes inflammation and extreme pain in the knees.
Participants were given a mild electrical stimulation on their left ankle to measure their pain reflex. The stimulus was given before and after the participants took part in a 45-minute coping skills training session that included
Plaques that form around the nerve cells of people with multiple sclerosis are apparently what disable people with the disease. But partly developed reparative cells within the plaques provide hope for a treatment, a UT Southwestern physician reports in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Elliot Frohman, professor of neurology and ophthalmology, is lead author on an overview of MS. It is the first time in five years that Journal editors have had researchers provide an overvi
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