When the tick-borne bacterium that causes Lyme disease lacks a specific protein that responds to an incoming meal of blood, it is unable to be transmitted from the tick to a new animal host, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. The findings suggest that the protein, called BptA, is essential for the bacterium Borrelia burgdorfei (Bb) to survive in the gut of its tick host and may offer a potential new target for agents aimed at eradicating Lyme disease.
Results o
Astronaut health is one of NASA’s top priorities.
Once beyond Earth’s atmosphere, astronauts are exposed to ionizing radiation and microgravity. Effects from these, along with the potential buildup of toxins in the enclosed environment of a spaceship, put astronaut health at risk.
Kansas State University professor Chris Culbertson has been working with NASA to investigate how such hazardous conditions affect humans at the cellular level and how to lessen such co
Waves System of France has launched ID-AL (Interactive Digital Audio Line) – its new range of interactive, programmable MP3 players. These new professional MP3 players mean no more looped CDs or badly tuned radios. Fully automated and as easy to use as CD players, ID-AL MP3 players are able to play hundreds of hours of personalised background music and programmed audio messages in public and commercial places.
ID-AL players are highly reliable compared to IT systems. Installed ins
A newly discovered pathway by which cells protect themselves from a toxic byproduct of photosynthesis may hold important implications for bioenergy sources, human and plant disease, and agricultural yields, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison bacteriologists announced Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Plants turn energy from sunlight into bioenergy through a chemical process called photosynthesis, which also produces oxygen in its breathable f
A painless, portable device that uses electrical current rather than X-ray to examine breasts for cancer is under study at the Medical College of Georgia.
MCG is one of some 20 centers across the world studying impedance scanning, a technique based on evidence that electrical current passes through cancerous tissue more easily than normal tissue. Preliminary studies have shown the technique, which takes about 10 minutes and doesn’t require often-uncomfortable breast compressio
A new study sheds light on why normal prion proteins may experience age-related mutations in inherited diseases. Researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine studied a previously discovered mutation in the prion protein in members of an extended family in Indiana who inherited the prion disease Gerstmann-Straussler-Sheinker (GSS). GSS is a familial disease that causes movement disorders and has a course of approximately 3 years. This disease, and other prion diseases suc
A family’s bravery and generosity in the face of their son’s death three years ago has enabled researchers to make an important new finding about the brain and its stem cells.
On May 7, 2002, 12-year-old Nathan Van Vleck of Pittsford died after a nearly lifelong fight with an exceedingly rare inherited disease known as vanishing white matter (VWM) disease. As Nathan’s illness progressed, the family discussed how it might help other families and patients coping wit
A 60-page review of the scientific evidence, some based on state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain size, has concluded that race differences in average IQ are largely genetic. The lead article in the June 2005 issue of Psychology, Public Policy and Law, a journal of the American Psychological Association, examined 10 categories of research evidence from around the world to contrast “a hereditarian model (50% genetic-50% cultural) and a culture-only model (0% genetic-100% cult
The ability to observe the health of a field from images taken remotely by satellites or aircraft may have a positive economic and environmental impact on plant disease management, say plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS).
According to Karl Steddom, associate research scientist at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in Amarillo, Texas, “remote sensing” in plant disease management is the practice of gathering information about a crop’s he
New research, to be revealed on Tuesday 26th of April at the launch of the University of Warwick Medical School’s new Clinical Sciences Research Institute at the University Hospital campus at Walsgrave in Coventry, has shown that very simple interventions to target the health care of UK Asian diabetics can almost wipe out the 40% higher risks of heart disease linked to diabetes in that community.
Warwick Medical School researcher Dr Paul O’Hare will use the launch of the
Undetected osteoporosis in the elderly might be discovered if chest radiographs (x-ray images) that are done for other reasons were examined for fractures of the vertebrae, according to an article in the April 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Previous studies estimate that 12 to 25 percent of people aged 50 to 60 years have one or more osteoporosis-related vertebral fracture, the most common fracture associated with osteoporosis, ac
Mitochondria, as they are defined in textbooks, are essential for eukaryotic cells–including our own–because they make large amounts of energy as they use oxygen. However, some eukaryotic cells, including important parasites of humans–such as Entamoeba histolytica, the causal agent of amoebic dysentery–live in environments that are too oxygen poor to support this process. Nevertheless, Entamoeba still contains a somewhat mysterious organelle, called a mitosome, that is evolutionarily derived f
Using underwater field observations in conjunction with behavioral experiments, researchers have discovered that a small crustacean, the yellow-beaked cleaner shrimp, performs a specialized dance that affects the behavior of large, predatory client fish. This signaling represents shrimp-to-fish communication that allows both hungry cleaner shrimp and parasite-laden client fish to benefit from a non-predatory, “cleaning” interaction.
The cleaner-client relationship between the
A broad retrospective review of the effects of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) on memory and other brain functions concludes that, while there may be transient short-term effects, the procedure itself probably does not cause late or permanent neurological effects.
In an article published online April 25, 2005, in the Annals of Neurology, the authors argue that the late cognitive declines seen in some long-term studies are likely associated with progression of underlying c
Research will help manage populations of macaques, a threatened species of primate
After decades of speculation, the origin of Gibraltar’s famous Barbary macaques has been determined. The only free-ranging monkeys in all of Europe, Gibraltar’s 200 or so semi-wild macaques enjoy the run of the hillsides in this British territory – much to the delight of millions of tourists, as well as to the chagrin of some officials responsible for their management.
There were
With careful coaxing, stem cells from the brain can form insulin-producing cells that mimic those missing in people with diabetes, according to a paper published in the April 26 issue of PLoS Medicine.
Although the work is not yet ready for human patients, Seung Kim, MD, PhD, the lead author and assistant professor of developmental biology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, said it could lead to new ways of transplanting insulin-producing cells into people with diabe
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