Variation in dopamine receptor gene is associated with hypertension, could help explain why people have different risk, especially as they age
A new genetic discovery made by a University of Michigan team may help explain why some people develop high blood pressure and others don’t — and why some people’s blood pressure increases as they age.
It also gives new insight into how the kidneys govern the balance of salt in the body, a crucial task for regulating blo
Brain tumors called ependymomas that occur in different parts of the central nervous system appear to arise from subpopulations of stem cells called radial glia cells (RGCs), according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The discovery explains why some identical-looking ependymomas are actually distinctly different diseases, the researchers said.
This new information, in combination with the techniques used to conduct the study, holds promise for designi
A way to detect fragments of broken brain cells that leak into the bloodstream may help doctors more quickly and precisely treat people with severe head injuries or brain diseases, say researchers at the University of Florida’s McKnight Brain Institute.
UF scientists have discovered they can use an approach similar to one commonly used in HIV or pregnancy testing to find bits of axons – nerve fibers that help brain cells communicate – in the blood and spinal fluid of laborator
Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory’s Marine Meteorology Division in Monterey, CA, (NRL-Monterey), working with researchers from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the National Geophysical Data Center, presented the first satellite detection of a phenomenon known as the “milky sea.” The satellite observations were corroborated by a ship-based account. This research was published in the October 4, 2005, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
If successful, moxifloxacin could be first new treatment for TB in more than 40 years
A Johns Hopkins infectious disease expert will lead two international studies of the effectiveness of the antibiotic moxifloxacin as a new treatment for tuberculosis, the highly contagious bacterial disease that kills more than 2 million people worldwide each year and is the leading cause of death of people living with HIV and AIDS. Moxifloxacin is currently approved in more than 100 countri
In a new study of cichlid fish descended from others caught in East Africa’s Lake Tanganika, scientists have made some surprising observations about how those animals respond to changes in their environments known as “social opportunities.”
Dr. Sabrina S. Burmeister, assistant professor of biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s College of Arts and Sciences, and colleagues found that subordinate male fish underwent a radical and rapid transformation when more d
Rapidly fluctuating wind gusts blowing over mountains and hills can create “hotspots” high in the atmosphere and significantly affect regional air temperatures. A research paper to be published this month in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Space Physics reports that the actions of such winds can create high-frequency acoustic waves and could stimulate a 1000-Kelvin [1,000-degree Celsius; 2,000-degree Fahrenheit]spike in a short period of time in the thermosphere, at an altitude of 200-300 k
The tracks of a previously unknown, two-legged swimming dinosaur have been identified along the shoreline of an ancient inland sea that covered Wyoming 165 million years ago, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder graduate student.
Debra Mickelson of CU-Boulder’s geological sciences department said the research team identified the tracks of the six-foot-tall, bipedal dinosaur at a number of sites in northern Wyoming, including the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation
A new type of silicone breast implant, currently available to women who agree to be part of a clinical study, offers breast augmentation and reconstruction patients more natural looking breasts with a low complication rate, according to a recent study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The new gel implants will be the next type of silicone implant produced by manufacturers if the U.S. Food and Drug Administ
Treating breast cancer with MammoSite® resulted in a low risk of complications and was generally well tolerated, according to a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study presented today at the 47th annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) in Denver.
MammoSite, a type of breast brachytherapy (bray-kee-therapy), uses a single catheter inserted into the breast following lumpectomy, or surgical removal of a tumor, to deliver a
Revolutionary new self-diagnostic devices to provide early warning of deadly and debilitating illnesses like cancer, diabetes and heart disease are the aim of a €22.5m Science Foundation Ireland research facility to be established at Dublin City University.
The Biomedical Diagnostics Institute will carry out cutting-edge research to develop this range of next-generation biomedical devices that will directly affect the quality of people’s lives worldwide over the next decades.
Green lanes(1) are significantly more attractive to birds than your average hedgerow, according to the findings of new research from Staffordshire University.
The study was conducted by PhD student Mike Walker who carried out the research in Cheshire over three years.
Mike found green lanes had almost treble the number of bird species as hedgerows. As green lanes are made of two parallel hedges he compared the abundance of birds in 50 metres of green lane with 100 metres o
The creation of an international Grid federation will help scientists from around the world access computers and information in over 50 countries and regions simply, securely and easily. The International Grid Trust Federation (IGTF) was established at the Global Grid Forum meeting which took place in Boston last week, and will bring together organizations representing Asia, the Americas and Europe- from Canada to China and from Portugal to Pakistan. Members of the federation provide systems a
A new group which will help women who are seriously overweight to lose weight and keep it off run by the University of Hertfordshire will start in Stevenage in January.
The group, which has been formed by Professor Julia Buckroyd, the University’s Professor of Counselling, and will run for 12 months, and invites women who have serious weight problems, are over 18 and are not involved in any other treatment for weight loss to attend.
Professor Buckroyd, who has proved i
The scientific magazine Brain Research has recently published the results of research work by scientists from the University of Navarra. The work describes the presence and location of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) in the brain of the rat and characterises the neurones expressed therein, above all within the cerebral cortex of this rodent. The authors are José Luis Velayos and Francisco José Moleres, research scientists at the Department of Anatomy at the University of Navarra.
Interactive health websites can help people live with their chronic illness, according to a UCL (University College London) review of studies on internet health.
Contrary to the UCL group’s original findings, the review – published by the Cochrane Library and revised after being found to contain errors – shows that people who use interactive health programs and websites generally have a better health outcome than non-users.
The UCL paper reviewed studies on how computer
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