Dutch researcher Corine Visser investigated a new way of transporting medicines into the brain. Her approach made use of an iron transport system located on the blood-brain barrier. The smaller the medicine, the more easily it penetrates the brain.
A special barrier between the blood and the brain, the so-called blood-brain barrier (BBB), protects the brain from toxic substances. It only lets through important nutrients for the brain such as iron, glucose and oxygen. Visser allowe
The existence of growth spurts and growing pains in children may be perpetually evident to parents, but their cause has lacked scientific explanation. A new study by Emory University anthropologist Michelle Lampl, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison now sheds some light on this childhood phenomena.
In a five-year study using lambs, the research team found that leg growth occurred primarily when the animals were at rest. While the research does not pro
A large, multisite trial designed to examine the safety and preliminary effectiveness of two candidate topical microbicides to prevent HIV infection has opened to volunteer enrollment. The trial, sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, represents a partnership among various research institutions in Africa and the United States. Although no licensed microbicides are available to the public currently, scientists h
Take a moment and look at a picture near you. What did you see? How long did it take you to understand what was in the image, meaning how long did it take you to realize the green blob was a tree? Or that the orange circle was a piece of fruit? Most likely you assume that it took you no time at all, you just knew.
Psychologists who study how we perceive images used to think that, before the process of object recognition and categorization could begin, the brain must first separate
Find provides evidence of earliest known use of diamond and sapphire by prehistoric people
Researchers have uncovered strong evidence that the ancient Chinese used diamonds to grind and polish ceremonial stone burial axes as long as 6,000 years ago -– and incredibly, did so with a level of skill difficult to achieve even with modern polishing techniques. The finding, reported in the February issue of the journal Archaeometry, places this earliest known use of diamond worldwide
Boosting these cellular signals may lead to new treatments
Using a revolutionary technique to turn off chemical signals inside the cell, scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have discovered that the different metabolic abnormalities present in type 2 diabetes can be caused by knocking out two key signals in liver cells. Their findings in mice may someday lead to strategies in humans to boost these two different signals, providing a powerful new way to treat the different meta
A compound may improve the chances that stem cells transplanted from a patient’s bone marrow will help take over brain functions
A compound similar to the components of DNA may improve the chances that stem cells transplanted from a patient’s bone marrow to the brain will take over the functions of damaged cells and help treat Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological illnesses.
A research team led by University of Central Florida professor Kiminobu Sugaya found tha
Teens who cut themselves are more likely to engage in unprotected sex according to a new study by researchers at the Bradley/Hasbro Children’s Psychiatric Research Center (BHCPRC) in Providence, RI. Published this month in the journal Pyschiatric Services, researchers report a previously uncharted link between self-mutilation and sexual risk.
Lead researcher Larry K. Brown, MD, of BHCPRC believes that the findings should especially resonate with physicians since they are often
Developing compounds to block activation pathway
Researchers from Tufts-New England Medical Center have identified a long-sought-after enzyme that interacts with a specific protease-activated receptor, PAR1, on breast cancer cells. The study authors identified metalloprotease-1 as the molecular scissors that activates PAR1 resulting in cancer cell invasion and tumor growth. They were able to block the spread of the breast cancer in animals using novel compounds called pepducin
A novel technology that can test cells in minutes for responses to any stimulus, including antibiotics, pathogens, toxins, radiation or chemotherapy, has been developed by scientists at the University at Buffalo.
The paper describing the sensor will appear in the Feb. 15 issue of Analytical Chemistry, and currently is available as an “ASAP” article on the American Chemical Society Web site http://www.chemistry.org.
Susan Z. Hua, Ph.D., UB assistant professor of mech
Improved patient outcomes and reduced costs highlight crucial link between electronic medical data and clinical practice guidelines
A new clinical study published today in this month’s American Journal of Managed Care demonstrated that a technology-driven clinical decision support system applying evidence-based clinical guidelines to patient’s electronic medical data helps flag potentially serious clinical errors or deviations from accepted best practices, while making a
People and farm animals are helping an invisible pollutant to change the types of plants that grow in Britain, particularly in remote and rural regions such as the Lake District.
Nitrogen deposits are the cause of the problem. The dung from farm animals produces vast quantities of ammonia. Since the industrial revolution, burning fuels (coal, gas, petrol) has lead to massive emissions of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. These practices lead to ammonia and nitrates being depo
A new semantic web interface, which will improve access to information and present search results in associated categories in one window, was launched this week.
This new approach means that instead of users having to wade through long lists of search data to decide what is relevant, the interface will enable the machine to pull related sources into one usable view.
The new mSpace software framework developed by the School of Electronics & Computer Science (ECS) at t
Contrary to conventional wisdom, technology’s advance into the vanishingly small realm of molecules and atoms may not be out of sight for the venerable optical microscope, after all. In fact, research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggests that a hybrid version of the optical microscope might be able to image and measure features smaller than 10 nanometers–a tiny fraction of the wavelength of visible light.
In a preliminary test of the embryo
The Protein Structure Initiative (PSI), a national program aimed at determining the three-dimensional shapes of a wide range of proteins, has now determined more than 1,000 different structures. These structures will shed light on how proteins function in many life processes and could lead to targets for the development of new medicines.
The PSI is a 10-year, approximately $600 million project funded largely by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part
Study in Science may help change the broad understanding of how they are formed
Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, have produced new findings that may help alter commonly held beliefs about how chains of undersea mountains formed by volcanoes, or “seamounts,” are created. Such mountains can rise thousands of feet off the ocean floor in chains that span thousands of miles across the ocean.
Since the mid-20th centu
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