Sharks, people have electric connection in their lineage
Sharks are known for their almost uncanny ability to detect electrical signals while hunting and navigating.
Now researchers have traced the origin of those electrosensory powers to the same type of embryonic cells that gives rise to many head and facial features in humans.
The discovery, reported by University of Florida scientists in the current edition of Evolution & Development, identifies neural
As our environments change over time with technology, pediatric emergency specialists are continuously challenged to observe possible trends and prevent more injuries by educating the public. In a new case report published in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics, researchers at New York University School of Medicine discuss the serious injury risks posed by paper shredders, which have become increasingly common household items.
“It’s a dangerous piece of machinery and leavin
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered an alternative way to produce heparin, a drug commonly used to stop or prevent blood from clotting. The findings could enable the current supply of the drug – now extracted from animal tissue – to be replaced or supplemented by the synthetic version. The new process also can be applied as a tool for drug discovery, according to the researchers.
Heparin is a complex carbohydrat
Two Dartmouth researchers are one step closer to defining exactly when human maturity sets in. In a study aimed at identifying how and when a person’s brain reaches adulthood, the scientists have learned that, anatomically, significant changes in brain structure continue after age 18.
The study, called “Anatomical Changes in the Emerging Adult Brain,” appeared in the Nov. 29, 2005, on-line issue of the journal Human Brain Mapping. It will appear in a forthcoming issue of the
A unique low cost disposable solid-state catheter that can measure swallowing pressure has been developed by a University of South Australia research team using intelligent manufacturing processes that eliminate the infection risks posed by existing catheters.
Believed to be the first of its kind in the world, the catheter is one of the new products being developed in the emerging field of bio micro-electro-mechanical systems, or BioMEMS, which have applications in the biomedical fiel
In the clouds above Darwin, Australia, pilots guided by a team of international climate scientists are now one week into a series of carefully orchestrated flights to obtain key in situ data about tropical clouds. Preliminary results obtained from instrumentation on the Proteus –a space-age aircraft equipped with a suite of highly sophisticated sensors — reveal superior images of ice crystals in high-altitude tropical cirrus clouds.
“These images, combined with data from other air
A protein that binds to bile in the small intestine may hold the key to preventing infection and intestinal breakdown in people with conditions such as obstructive jaundice or irritable bowel syndrome, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered.
“What we’ve identified is one of the mechanisms for how the body keeps the number of bacteria low in the small intestine, and how it prevents them from getting into other organs,” said Dr. Steven Kliewer, professo
Just about everything that runs on batteries – flashlights, cell phones, electric cars, missile-guidance systems – would be improved with a better energy supply. But traditional batteries haven’t progressed far beyond the basic design developed by Alessandro Volta in the 19th century.
Until now.
Work at MIT’s Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems (LEES) holds out the promise of the first technologically significant and economically viable alternative to co
Fifty years after MIT researchers pioneered the use of electron microscopy to study viruses, MIT scientists have helped produce the most detailed images yet of the tiny infectious agents .
The images, which show for the first time a virus poised to inject its genetic material into a host cell, grace the cover of the Feb. 2 issue of Nature.
Scientists have known for decades that viruses infect cells by injecting their genetic material, either DNA or RNA, into host cells, b
Results of a new study support the hypothesis that chronic periodontal infection increases the risk of developing preeclampsia in pregnant women. This study printed in February’s issue of the Journal of Periodontology. The results also suggest that maternal chronic periodontal disease is a risk factor for low birthweight babies among preeclamptic mothers compared to those women who did not have preeclampsia.
“We found that chronic periodontitis was more prevalent in the preecla
Johns Hopkins scientists say an infected person’s HIV subtype is a better predictor than viral load for determining rapid death from AIDS. Traditional testing standards help monitor the progression of an HIV infection to AIDS by keeping track of viral load, using a scale in which less than 50 viral particles per cubic milliliter of blood is considered suppressed disease and a viral load of more than 75,000 particles per cubic milliliter of blood means that the disease will progress more rapi
The cellular “pumps” associated with multi-drug resistance in bacteria may also be involved in exporting signals responsible for cell-cell communication, a process known as quorum sensing, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“We believe that the drugs exported by these pumps may actually be similar in structure to molecules involved in communicating,” said Dr. Lynn Zechiedri
Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers discovered Alzheimer’s patients with lifetime history of depression have more rapid cognitive decline
A lifetime history of depression is associated with increased plaques and tangles in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s disease and more rapid cognitive decline, according to a study by researchers at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The study is published in the February issue o
Until E! 2668 AUDIOCLAS, there was no method to automatically classify audio and musical sound effects. This EUREKA project has resulted in an objective sound-effect classification system that should provide a major boost to European film, video and audio production. The software system makes it possible to speed access to major sound-effect libraries and simplify synthesis of new or combined sound effects from the stored data. Audio DNA is used to identify sounds similar in nature, such as door s
The recently completed “European Fusion Power Plant Conceptual Study” investigates the technical feasibility, the expected safety and environmental properties, and the cost of a future fusion power plant. The latest results in plasma physics, technology, and materials research provided the basis for the development of four different power plant models illuminating a wide spectrum of physical and technical possibilities. Analysis of their ecological and economic properties has confirmed favourable
A new study from Imperial College London shows that robot assisted knee surgery is significantly more accurate than conventional surgery.
The team of surgeons tested whether Acrobot, a robotic assistant, could improve surgical outcomes for patients undergoing partial knee replacement. Acrobot works by helping the surgeon to line up the replacement knee parts with the existing bones.
The surgeons looked at 27 patients undergoing unicompartmental knee replacement. The patie
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