A commonly prescribed incontinence drug may help patients in more than one way, according to research completed by the University of Pittsburgh. When taken orally, trospium chloride not only helps control symptoms of overactive bladder systemically, but according to this study, it also may help control symptoms in the bladder itself when it comes into contact with the bladder walls. Results of this study are being presented today at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association
University of Pittsburgh researchers have isolated two biomarkers for interstitial cystitis (IC), a chronic and painful pelvic disease for which there currently is no test. The discovery of these biomarkers could lead to a definitive test for IC and have the potential to lead to new therapies. Results of two studies are being presented today at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) in San Antonio, and are published in abstracts 69 and 80 of the AUA proceedings.
The human fossil evidence from the Mladec Caves in Moravia, Czech Republic, excavated more than 100 years ago, has been proven for the first time, through modern radiocarbon dating, to be the oldest cranial, dental and postcranial assemblage of early modern humans in Europe.
A team of researchers from the Natural History Museum in Vienna, from the University of Vienna in Austria and from the Washington University in St. Louis, USA recently conducted the first successful direct da
Ocean-going acoustic sensor array to aid in national security, ocean research efforts
Jason Holmes, a mechanical engineering graduate student at Boston University and guest researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, has devised a low-cost, highly sensitive array of underwater ears that is perking up interest in both homeland security and ocean research circles. Holmes’ device — an underwater hydrophone array designed to be towed by a small, autonomous submarine — c
In a recent study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, scientists report that a molecule previously thought to play a purely structural and inert role in cells is actually involved in multidrug resistance in cancer. Using antagonists for this molecule, the researchers were able to sensitize drug resistant breast cancer cells to chemotherapeutic drug treatment.
The research appears as the “Paper of the Week” in the May 27 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistr
From the June 2005 issue of Biology of Reproduction
The June 2005 issue of Biology of Reproduction includes a special paper by a team of Spanish scientists indicating that delayed motherhood in mice results in shorter life expectancy and reduced body weight in their offspring.
Negative effects of late maternal age in women, such as abnormal numbers of chromosomes in their children, are well known. However, other potential negative effects on offspring from delayed mot
Seventy-two per cent of migraine sufferers in a clinical trial experienced either ’substantial’ or ’noticeable’ improvement after a period of chiropractic treatment, defying historical skepticism of chiropractics by some medical practitioners.
The randomised clinical trial was undertaken by Dr Peter Tuchin, a chiropractor for the past 20 years, as part of his recently-completed PhD thesis at Macquarie University. “Around 22 per cent [of patients] had substanti
Premenopausal women who were heavier than average at birth or had not been breastfed as infants appear to be at increased risk for developing breast cancer, epidemiologists at the University at Buffalo’s School of Public health and Health Professions have found.
Results of the study, which showed no association between birth weight and breastfeeding in infancy and postmenopausal breast-cancer risk, were reported at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meetin
The great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of December 26, 2004, was an event of stunning proportions, both in its human dimensions–nearly 300,000 lives lost–and as a geological phenomenon. The sudden rupture of a huge fault beneath the Indian Ocean unleashed a devastating tsunami. It was the largest earthquake in the past 40 years and was followed by the second largest just three months later (March 28, 2005) on an adjacent fault.
Modern monitoring technology gathered an unprece
A new device, called a “sonic flashlight,” offers a more efficient method of ultrasound guidance to place catheters in patients that will be used for repeated doses of chemotherapy or other treatments, a preliminary study shows.
Ultrasound can be used to help guide catheters, such as peripherally inserted central catheters, into place, said Wilson Chang, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh and the lead author of the study. The difficulty occurs because the physician or nurse inse
At the same time as many urban economies are developing into 24-hour societies, it is becoming increasingly popular amongst shift workers to compress their working hours. This is done by working longer shifts and/or restricting free time in-between shifts. The advantage is longer consecutive periods of days off. The disadvantage is lack of recovery during work periods.
John Axelsson has in his thesis at the Department of Psychology at Stockholm University and at the Institute of
A glance at the frog’s skin can say what kind of blood the amphibia has, the blood composition accounting for frog’s capability to get on alongside human beings. The research by the Ural ecologists has been supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.
The crucial importance for the frog is in the light strip on the back along the spinal column. V.L. Vershinin, Doctor of Biology, specialist of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of
Migrating birds transmit different forms of the Borrelia bacterium or Borrelia spirochetes to every corner of the globe. Birds are especially prone to Borrelia infected ticks during their autumn and spring migrations. The bacteria may also persist for several months in the birds and it may then be reactivated in response to migration. Borrelia spirochetes and the role of birds as global transmitters of the bacteria have been investigated by a Swedish research group led by Professor Sven Bergst
Borrelia bacteria are capable of masking themselves in the human body and deceiving the immune defence system. In this way they can hide in the human organism even for periods of years. In their recent studies Professor Seppo Meri and his team have managed to trace the evasive movements of the Borrelia bacterium in the body. Their work is part of the Microbes and Man research programme, jointly funded by the Academy of Finland and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research.
Much of our electronics could soon be replaced by photonics, in which beams of light flitting through microscopic channels on a silicon chip replace electrons in wires. Photonic chips would carry more data, use less power and work smoothly with fiber-optic communications systems. The trick is to get electronics and photonics to talk to each other.Now Cornell University researchers have taken a major step forward in bridging this communication gap by developing a silicon device that allows an el
A new method for correcting common timing errors in high-speed oscilloscopes has been developed by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The method improves the accuracy and clarity of measurements performed in the development and troubleshooting of components for wireless and optical communications, military radar and other technologies.
Oscilloscopes display graphical representations of electrical and optical signals as waves, showing how the
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