A drug prescribed for the prevention of osteoporosis reduced women’s risk of mild cognitive impairment by 33 percent in a worldwide clinical trial led by researchers at San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC).
The drug, raloxifene, modulates the activity of the hormone estrogen. The finding was published in the April 2005 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) affects more than one-third of women and one-fifth of men aged 65 a
It’s nature’s fastest quick-change artist: In less than the time it takes a beam of light to travel a tenth of a millimeter, vanadium dioxide can switch from a transparent to a reflective, mirror-like state.
How this material (VO2) can turn from a transparent insulator into a reflective metal so rapidly has physicists scratching their heads, but a collaboration among researchers at Vanderbilt, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have clocked the
Archaeologists from the University of Toronto, the Field Museum, and Shandong University announce the results of the first intensive investigation of early agriculture in Liangchengzhen, Shandong in Northern China. The results are published in the April 2005 issue of Current Anthropology. Several thousand crop and weed seeds were recovered by the team at the 4000 year-old Liangchengzhen site, a regional political center in Shandong.
Prior to the investigation, Longshan agricultur
But Earth’s elusive mantle is a near miss
Scientists affiliated with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) and seeking the elusive “Moho”–the boundary, which geologists refer to as the Mohorovicic discontinuity, between Earth’s brittle outer crust and its hotter, softer mantle–have created the third deepest hole ever drilled into the ocean bottom’s crust.
Scientists had hoped to drill into Earth’s mantle, but found instead that their efforts h
As Americans’ waistlines continue to expand, contributing to a burgeoning epidemic of type 2 diabetes, the scientific jury is in and the verdict is clear: weight loss and increased physical activity is directly related to improved diabetes control. To help Americans fight the dramatic increase in type 2 diabetes, Joslin Diabetes Center has crafted new nutrition and physical activity guidelines for overweight and obese individuals with type 2 diabetes and those at risk for developing diabetes
New highly sensitive approach shows no evidence of SV40 in tumors – SV40 unlikely to be factor in asbestos related cancers
SV40 does not have a role in the majority of malignant mesotheliomas — a cancer associated with exposure to asbestos – according to a study in this month’s Cancer Research. The study, led by Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers used a scrupulous protocol that eliminated contamination that has likely been the reason previous studies have implicated
A reduction in U.S. consumption, increased savings and the adoption of flexible exchange rates in Asia would trigger global instability, according to a Conference Board analysis released today.
Says Gail Fosler, Executive Vice President and Chief Economist of The Conference Board: “Not only would these actions not have the intended effect but they would add to global instability and further slow an already disturbing slowdown in long-term global growth.”
The analysis app
More stringent federal standards for acceptable levels of arsenic in public drinking water go into effect next year, a prospect that has resulted in four new research projects on arsenic. The research, funded by the Midwest Technology Assistance Center for Small Public Water Systems, will address the new standards, which will change the acceptable level of arsenic in public groundwater supplies from 50 micrograms per liter to 10 mg/l. The center, housed at the Illinois State Water S
Sensory deprivation causes changes in new cell size and excitability in the olfactory system, which governs the ability to smell, according to a study in Neuron by a Yale School of Medicine researcher.
“This gives new insight into how stem cells in the olfactory system may be used to restore function in a brain that has been compromised by degenerative disease or trauma,” said Gordon Shepherd, M.D., co-author of the paper and professor of neuroscience at Yale.
Shepher
Dr. Eric McAdams, who led the PhD research project alongside Peter O’Hare and Gillian McCullough, is available to discuss the Impedimap technology and its commercial development.
The key to Impedimap is that the system can be used to provide instant, accurate feedback on wounds such as venous leg ulcers, diabetic ulcers and sores, burns and surgical wounds – all without removing the dressing. It works using an electrode array system built into the bandage, which builds up
Distant galaxies undergoing intense bursts of star formation have been shown by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to be fertile growing grounds for the largest black holes in the Universe. Collisions between galaxies in the early Universe may be the ultimate cause for both the accelerated star formation and black hole growth.
By combining the deepest X-ray image ever obtained with submillimeter and optical observations, an international team of scientists has found evidence that
NHGRI-supported researchers discover largest ’gene deserts’; find new clues to ancestral chromosome fusion event
A detailed analysis of chromosomes 2 and 4 has detected the largest “gene deserts” known in the human genome and uncovered more evidence that human chromosome 2 arose from the fusion of two ancestral ape chromosomes, researchers supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), reported today.
The risk of HIV transmission via heterosexual intercourse is highest early in the course of HIV infection, before most infected people know their HIV status, according to a new study published in the May 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.
Conducted by a group of investigators led by Maria J. Wawer of Columbia University, the study is the first to present empirical data showing that the rate of heterosexual HIV transmission per coital act varies
According to a study published in the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, a nutritionally complete oral supplement enriched with fish oil, soluble fiber and antioxidants reduces reliance on traditional therapies for people with ulcerative colitis. Moreover, people who took the oral supplement were less likely to start corticosteroid drug therapy, which has many long-term side effects.
“Our study proves that an oral supp
Stem cell research and artificial lung technology presented at ISHLT meeting today (6-Apr-2005)
Promising new technology may extend the life of a failing organ for patients suffering from heart or lung disease while they wait for a donor organ. The use of stem cells may eliminate the need for a transplant and even eradicate heart disease in patients. Research and discussion will be presented today during symposia at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISH
An outgrowth of the 1960s alternative school movement, homeschooling, is on the upswing in the United States, and a Penn State researcher is trying to piece together a snapshot of the movement where in many cases, states require little record keeping.
“Until the 1980s, most of the students kept out of regular schools to be homeschooled were breaking state laws,” says JoAnn C. Vender, graduate student in geography. “In research on the geography of education, there are very few
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