Researchers from Purdue University, government and the nuclear power industry are improving three computer programs that are critical to preventing disasters such as the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. The complex programs, or “reactor safety codes,” are used to simulate severe accidents and, in the process, provide data needed to ensure that power plants are designed properly.
Without such simulations of hypothetical accidents, the only available information is from the actu
Rapid enzyme-free platform allows robust gene identification without gene amplification
Researchers at Nanosphere, Inc. today reported unprecedented benefits in the company’s technology for the medical analysis of human DNA.
Nanosphere’s nanoparticle-based technology allows for rapid, highly-sensitive and specific Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) genotyping, which is the direct detection of a particular gene and the extent to which it is normal or mutated.
Landscape burning by ancient hunters and gatherers may have triggered the failure of the annual Australian Monsoon some 12,000 years ago, resulting in the desertification of the country’s interior that is evident today, according to a new study.
University of Colorado at Boulder Professor Gifford Miller said the study builds on his research group’s previous findings that dozens of giant animal species went extinct in Australia roughly 50,000 years ago due to ecosystem changes ca
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have discovered a way to overcome one of the major hurdles in gene therapy for cancer: its tendency to kill normal cells in the process of eradicating cancer cells.
In a new study published in the Jan. 25 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers demonstrated that the technique works by incorporating it into a specially designed virus. The virus eradicated prostate cancer cells in the
New research on calcium and bone development suggests that efforts to prevent osteoporosis, generally considered a geriatric disease among women, could actually start before puberty.
In the study at The Ohio State University Medical Center, which is the first clinical trial to track calcium’s effects on bone density in girls age 8-13 for as long as seven years, researchers found that calcium supplementation significantly increased bone mass development during a critical childhood
Instant tea, one of the most popular drinks in the United States, may be a source of harmful levels of fluoride, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report. The researchers found that some regular strength preparations contain as much as 6.5 parts per million (ppm) of fluoride, well over the 4 ppm maximum allowed in drinking water by the Environmental Protection Agency and 2.4 ppm permitted in bottled water and beverages by the Food and Drug Administration.
Findings highlight need for improved doctor/ patient communication about important preventive therapy
Preliminary survey results released today by the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) found that 43% of U.S. adults aged 40 and older who are at increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) events – and therefore potential candidates for doctor-recommended aspirin therapy based on current American Heart Association guidelines – are not utilizing aspirin therapy to reduce their ri
A new study by scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center provides insight into why some men develop aggressive prostate cancer that becomes resistant to hormone-withdrawal therapy, a common form of treatment.
Researchers found that certain mutations in a protein called the androgen receptor cause advanced and invasive prostate cancer when put into otherwise healthy mice. The androgen receptor’s normal function is to control growth of the prostate gland in resp
Parts of the human brain think about the same word differently, at least when it comes to prepositions, according to new language research in stroke patients conducted by scientists at Purdue University and the University of Iowa.
People who speak English often use the same prepositions, words such as “on,” “in,” “around” and “through,” to indicate time as well as location. For example, compare “I will meet you ’at’ the store,” to “I will meet you ’at’ 3 p.m.
An Ohio State University researcher has helped develop a new measure that he says is a better way to calculate how much risk people are willing to take in their investments.
The issue of measuring risk tolerance will become more important than ever under President Bush’s proposal to allow Americans to invest some of their Social Security taxes in stocks and bonds.
Measuring risk tolerance will also be important to baby boomers retiring in the next decade, some of whom w
What gives radio better sound can help block out background noise, increase tonal recognition in many hearing devices
There’s a reason why we listen to music on the FM dial of our radios – it just sounds better than it does on AM.
And this reason also holds true for cochlear implants and hearing aids. UC Irvine School of Medicine researchers have found that improving frequency modulation, or FM, reception on cochlear implants and hearing aids may increase the quality
A study by New York University researchers reveals a new function for the nerve cells that regulate circadian rhythms of behavior in fruit flies.
The nerve cells, called pacemaker neurons, contain a molecular clock that controls a 24-hour circadian rhythm in activity similar to the rhythms in sleep/wake cycles found in humans and many other organisms. It was previously known that pacemaker neurons receive visual signals to reset their molecular clocks, but scientists did not have
Many people with fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions fear that activity will make their pain worse. But new research suggests they may be able to be more active than they think – without suffering from increased pain.
The study by researchers at the University of Michigan Health System and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., found that fibromyalgia patients have similar average activity levels as people without those conditions. B
Genetic defect leads to electrical instability and mechanical pump failure
In genetic mapping of a large family with several members affected by a type of heart failure called dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), the Mayo Clinic team found a defect in a gene on chromosome 3 called SCN5A. By scanning 156 unrelated patients with DCM, they found four additional mutations in the same gene. SCN5A is the gene that encodes the sodium ion channel in the heart, which helps regulate transport of po
University of Iowa researchers have uncovered evidence of sexual reproduction in a single-celled organism long thought to reproduce asexually, according to a paper published in the January 26, 2005 issue of the journal Current Biology.
The finding by John M. Logsdon, Jr., assistant professor in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of Biological Sciences and the Roy J. Carver Center for Comparative Genomics, and colleagues from the UI and Roanoke College (Virgin
The evolution of the sense of fairness may have involved the quality of relationships according to behavioral researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta.
By observing variability in chimpanzees’ responses to inequity, Sarah Brosnan, PhD, and Frans de Waal, PhD, both researchers in Yerkes’ Division of Psychobiology and the Yerkes-based Living Links Center, determined the chimpanzees’ responses depended upon the strength of their social conne
Feedback
