Gastro-Intestinal Stroma Tumor (GIST) is a rare form of cancer of the stomach or small intestine. Up to now, only one effective treatment has existed for GIST: the use of Glivec. However, over time, this remedy becomes ineffective for a large percentage of the patients. Along with colleagues in Leuven, the research group of Peter Marynen of the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), connected to the Catholic University of Leuven, has uncovered the process underlying the freq
The way aquatic plants respond to plant disease and climate change may have applications for managing land-based agriculture, say plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS).
According to David Schmale III, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, many aquatic plants possess unique mechanisms of resistance to microbial attack. “Through further study, plant pathologists may be able to apply the novel mechanisms found in aquatic plants to land-based agricultural sy
Lab synthesizes ammonia using nitrogen and hydrogen in solution
University of Oregon chemists have produced ammonia from nitrogen at room temperature under normal atmospheric pressure, marking a significant step toward achieving one of chemistry’s coveted goals.
A scientific article describing the method, which uses a simple compound of iron and hydrogen as the electron source in the “fixing” reaction, is available online and will be published in the July 27 issue of
Men and women differ in how they decide which strangers they can trust, according to new research.
A study found that men tended to trust people who were part of a group with them. Women, on the other hand, were more likely to trust strangers who shared some personal connection, such as a friend of a friend.
“There are different ways to determine who is a part of your in-group, to decide who you can trust when you first meet a stranger,” said Marilynn Brewer, co-auth
A new research article outlines another aspect of Quantum Cryptography
In “No Signaling and quantum key distribution”, a new paper published in Physical Review Letters 95 (010503 – 2005), Barrett, Hardy and Kent give the first example of a way of implementing quantum cryptography which is provably secure – even if quantum theory is incorrect, so long as a successor theory shares with quantum theory the features which make faster-than-light signaling impossible. The scheme can b
Findings offer therapeutic potential for human asthma treatment
Disruption of a single gene, Nrf2, plays a critical role in determining the susceptibility to asthma. A research team led by Shyam Biswal, PhD, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found the absence of Nrf2 exacerbated allergen-mediated asthma in mice models. The study’s findings, published in the July 4, 2005, edition of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, may hold therapeutic potential for the treat
A new study being released today demonstrates that the health of area restaurant and bar workers has improved dramatically since the enactment last year of Lexington’s Smoke-Free Law.
The study, conducted by the University of Kentucky College of Nursing in collaboration with the UK Prevention Research Center, examined hair nicotine of 106 employees at nearly 50 randomly selected Lexington bars and restaurants.
Hair samples were analyzed four months before the law t
Using newly available biological technology, researchers have developed the first molecular portrait of multiple gene activity in diseased heart tissue taken from dogs near death from a devastating disease. The discovery sheds new light on the heart’s response to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a disease of large-breed dogs.
New microscopic technology allows researchers to place tens of thousands of genes on 1.5-inch-square slides known as a microarray. In this case, researchers
Orthodontics takes first step toward biological control of tooth movement
In the first study of its kind, University of Florida researchers are testing the power of a natural human hormone to biochemically move teeth faster and less painfully during orthodontic treatment.
“Most of orthodontics has traditionally dealt with physics, the biomechanics of applying a force against a tooth to move it,” said study investigator Timothy Wheeler, D.M.D., Ph.D., a professor and cha
By wearing a unique weighted back support device and participating in a special exercise program, women over 60 with osteoporosis-caused curvature of the spine improved their balance and experienced diminished back pain, giving researchers at Mayo Clinic a promising therapy to reduce falls among this population.
Falls present a serious risk of injury in the older population. Falls also can lead to permanent lifestyle changes, such as hospitalization, long-term rehabilitation and
Scientists using the Swift satellite witnessed a tale of fire and ice today, as NASA’s Deep Impact probe slammed into the frozen comet Tempel 1. The collision briefly lit the dim comet’s surface and exposed, for the first time, a section of ancient and virgin material from the comet’s interior.
Swift is providing the only simultaneous multi-wavelength observation of this rare event, with a suite of instruments capable of detecting optical light, ultraviolet, X-ray
ESA’s XMM-Newton observations of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 revealed that the object is a weak X-ray source. These data were acquired on 4 July 2005 by one of the EPIC X-ray cameras on board the spacecraft during the post-impact observation phase.
XMM-Newton observed that Tempel 1 emits X-rays, as suspected from previous observations of comets, but this emission is very weak. It is not certain whether it is possible to obtain spectral data which indicate the mechanisms by which the c
According to a study by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, controlling the movements of wildlife in markets is a cost-effective means of keeping potential deadly pandemics such as SARS and influenza from occurring. The study appears in the July edition of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The cost of controlling the spread of diseases afflicting both human and animal populations has reached hundreds of billions of dollars globally.
“Few threats to global h
ADULT lifestyle has more influence on your chances of developing diabetes than childhood experience, according to new research whose findings contradict previously-held beliefs.
A team from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, studied 412 men and women and found that fatter adults were more likely to have increased insulin resistance, a risk marker for Type 2 diabetes.
Childhood factors, such as birth weight and nutrition, were found to have limited impact, whereas
The largest study to date on the early detection of colorectal cancer offers benchmark data for what could be expected from large-scale use of flexible sigmoidoscopy as a screening tool for colorectal cancer. The report, published in the July 6 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), is part of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial, a randomized, community-based longitudinal study evaluating the effectiveness of cancer screening tests
By combining genetic data with the results of skin prick tests in allergic patients, more insight has been gained into the involvement of specific allergen genes in apple allergy. For his thesis at Wageningen University, Zhongshan Gao identified and localised genes which are involved in the allergenicity. The results represent a step forward in the identification, breeding and development of low allergenic apple varieties.
Approximately 2% of the West-European population has
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