UCSF surgeons are using a novel technique to remove tumors from the cervical region of the spine that were previously thought “inoperable.”
Called a lateral paramedian transpedicular approach, the technique uses advances in spinal instrumentation and reconstructive strategies to provide a direct approach to the removal of cervical spinal tumors with minimal, or no, neural manipulation.
The procedure is reported in the November issue of Operative Neurosurgery. UCSF
Initial results in mice show this promising new treatment may disrupt the vessels supplying blood and nutrition to tumors
For the first time, ultrasound is being used in animal models – to treat cancer by disrupting tumor blood vessels. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine completed a study in mice in which they used ultrasound both to see a tumor’s blood perfusion and then to treat it with a continuous wave of low-level ultrasound. After three minu
Reflecting on meaningful values provides biological and psychological protection from the adverse effects of stress, UCLA psychologists report in the November issue of the journal Psychological Science.
“Our study shows that reflection on personal values can buffer people from the effects of stress, but the implications are broader than that,” said Shelley E. Taylor, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology, and an expert in the field of stress and health. “Any positive self-affi
Most comparisons of language and inherited traits consider whether genetic patterns conform with expected relationships observed by linguists. But few have considered the use of genetic data to support specific hypotheses raised by linguists regarding the relationships between language families.
In a forthcoming article in Current Anthropology, Francisco M. Salzano (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil) examines the proposals of three eminent lingu
Modern humans arrival in South Asia may have led to demise of indigenous populations
In a major new development in human evolutionary studies, researchers from the University of Cambridge argue that the dispersal of modern humans from Africa to South Asia may have occurred as recently as 70,000 years ago. “Paleoanthropological projects must now be launched in South Asia if we hope to document the spread of our species and if we wish to explain how we became behaviorally mode
Study links information and communications technology to political ’place-making’ efforts
Cyberspace is widely considered to be lacking geography, rendering borders and distances irrelevant in a globalizing world. As a result, few have focused on how the very technologies that created the virtual space of the internet are also used to delineate physical locales.
A new study in the forthcoming issue of Current Anthropology focuses on how information and communi
Duke University engineers are developing technology that may enable physicians to someday use high frequency ultrasound waves both to visualize the heart’s interior in three dimensions and then selectively destroy heart tissue with heat to correct arrhythmias.
“No one else has developed a way for ultrasound to combine therapy and imaging in a catheter, let alone 3-D imaging,” said Stephen Smith, the biomedical engineering professor who heads the project at Duke’s Pratt
May help researchers develop cancer therapies that target one enzyme, while leaving the other alone
Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center researchers have found that two enzymes that catalyze the same reaction and produce the same product have opposite effects on cell growth and death. These findings may help researchers develop cancer therapies that target one enzyme, while leaving the other alone.
In the November issue of the Journal of Biological Chemist
The best response to a building emergency is a fast and informed one. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is working with the building industry as well as the public safety and information technology communities to achieve both objectives.
NIST researchers are studying how “intelligent” building systems can be used by firefighters, police and other first responders to accurately assess emergency conditions in real-time. One of the biggest problems faced by
Researchers have utilised more than a decade’s worth of data from radar altimeters on ESA’s ERS satellites to produce the most detailed picture yet of thickness changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet.
A Norwegian-led team used the ERS data to measure elevation changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2003, finding recent growth in the interior sections estimated at around six centimetres per year during the study period. The research is due to be published by Sci
Plain old colors are passé. Complex visual effects, such as pearlescence, translucence, iridescence and glitter, help sell many products, including cars, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and military hardware. A new instrument at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) makes comprehensive measurements of such appearance properties to help companies calibrate their own tools and control product quality.
Exotic surfaces and coatings may look different depending on illuminatio
Using a humanized mouse model that mimics the effects of human rheuma-toid arthritis (RA), researchers have discovered that protein growth factors called cytokines in the immune system have both pro- and anti-inflammatory responses to RA that help explain why some patients respond to current therapy and others don’t. By pinpointing the unique immune mecha-nisms involved in different forms of RA, the scientists hope to guide physicians toward more pre-cise individualized diagnosis of RA patien
Below the plains of the Big Sky states, where the Columbia and Snake rivers wind their way to the Pacific, might lie a geologic answer to one of our most pressing environmental problems: too much carbon dioxide in the air. The greenhouse gas traps heat to contribute to a slow warming of the atmosphere. For humans, who have been pumping carbon out of the earth for the last 200 years, part of the solution might be to finally learn how to do the reverse.
Along with researchers from
Waist-to-hip ratio, not body mass index (BMI), is the best obesity measure for assessing a person’s risk of heart attack, concludes a global study published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.
If obesity is redefined using waist-to-hip ratio instead of BMI the proportion of people at risk of heart attack increases by threefold, calculate the authors.
Previous research has shown that obesity increases the risk of heart disease. However, these studies have mai
A growing market for biodiesel fuels is heating up interest in canola among Texas producers.
Dr. Brent Bean, Texas Cooperative Extension agronomist here, said he quit participating in the National Winter Canola Variety Trials some time back when interest waned. But he’s participating once again due to calls from several producers.
David Bordovsky, Texas Agriculture Experiment Station research scientist in Chillicothe, said he hasn’t had a lot of producer interest, but
A University of Alberta physicist who helped solve the age-old mystery of what keeps afloat the highest plateau on earth has added more pieces to the Tibetan puzzle. Dr. Martyn Unsworth has uncovered new research about the Tibetan Plateau–an immense region that for years has plagued scientists studying how the area became so elevated.
Several years ago, Unsworth and a team of scientists from China and the United States used low-frequency radio waves to detect that the mid-crust of the plate
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