A team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has found the first clear evidence that the process behind the human immune system’s remarkable ability to recognize and respond to a million different proteins might have originated from a family of genes whose only apparent function is to jump around in genetic material.
“Jumping genes” essentially cut themselves out of the genetic material, and scientists have suspected that this ability might have been borrowed by cells needing to build
Among women in their child-bearing years, even minimal amounts of unwanted hair in male-type patterns – especially in the presence of other subtle changes – may be a sign of a hormonal imbalance linked to a variety of serious side effects and medical conditions, according to the December 2004 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
In a study of 188 women conducted by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB
Evolution is something of a gamble: in order to stay a step ahead of a shifting environment, organisms must change or risk extinction. Yet the instrument of this change, mutation, carries a serious threat: mutations are hundreds of times more likely to be harmful to the organism than advantageous. Now, in a paper published online Nov. 28 in Nature Genetics, a team of scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science has shown one way that evolving organisms may be hedging their bets.
The Weizmann Institute of Science today announced that a research group headed by Dr. Ernesto Joselevich has developed a new approach to create patterns of carbon nanotubes by formation along atomic steps on sapphire surfaces. Carbon nanotubes are excellent candidates for the production of nanoelectronic circuits, but their assembly into ordered arrays remains a major obstacle toward this application.
The team was initially researching in a different direction: they were trying
St. Jude finding gives insights into how pneumonia bacteria ‘hijack’ a molecular shuttle that carries antibodies from the bloodstream and use this shuttle to invade the body
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have discovered that the shape of a protein on the surface of pneumonia bacteria helps these germs invade the human bloodstream. This finding, published Dec. 16 online by the EMBO Journal, could help scientists develop a vaccine that is significantly more
With the dynamic evolution of wireless technology, Mayo Clinic researchers have been concerned about the potential effects of electromagnetic interference on heart pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. In the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers report they did not detect interference from personal digital assistants (PDAs).
The findings are important because wireless communication has grown and advanced quickly. Hospitals and clinics have insta
MGH surgeon tells 40-year tale of investigation and innovation into the challenge of hip implant failure
A remarkable story of how a new disease was inadvertently caused by successful medical treatment, ultimately understood, and eventually defeated by scientific innovation is being told a major player in the process. In the December issue of Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research, William Harris, MD, DSc, of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), describes how the development of
The advice to ’sleep on it’ for a while isn’t a bad idea, according to a new study done in part by University of Alberta researchers. Findings published in the December Journal of Sleep Research show that there may be an advantage to dreams that occur for up to a week after a memorable emotional event.
A study conducted by the University of Alberta and the University of Montreal of 470 psychology students revealed that not only do remembered events influence dreams
Ballet dancers’ brains reveal the art of imitation
Scientists have discovered that a system in our brain which responds to actions we are watching, such as a dancer’s delicate pirouette or a masterful martial arts move, reacts differently if we are also skilled at doing the move. The University College London (UCL) study, published in the latest online edition of Cerebral Cortex, may help in the rehabilitation of people whose motor skills are damaged by stroke, and suggests that at
A new study suggests that age–related changes in how the brain responds to the female sex hormone estrogen may be involved in a woman’s transition through menopause. The study provides new clues about hormonal influences on hot flashes and night sweats experienced by some women in the menopause transition.
The findings are reported in the December 22/29, 2004, Journal of the American Medical Association* and are based on data from the Study of Women’s Health Across the N
With the time for New Year’s resolutions uncomfortably close, latest data from a huge nationwide study shows that obesity is up, as is drinking by women. We are also getting more depressed and anxious and taking more drugs, and the poorer we are, the more likely it is we will smoke and not exercise or eat healthily.
The research involved thousands of Britons who have been tracked in three major studies since they were born in 1946, 1958 or 1970. A fourth project, funded by
Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a new technique that enables them to examine the genetic material of cells in greater detail than ever before, a finding that could lead to better ways to study and diagnose diseases.
The U of T research is published in the Dec. 22 issue of Molecular Cell. The new technique developed by the investigators uses a modified type of “gene chip” and a computer program to accurately monitor alternative splicing, a cellular process thro
Residents of Taiwan who consumed drinking water with high levels of arsenic have a higher risk of lung cancer, with cigarette smokers from this group having an even greater risk, according to a study in the December 22/29 issue of JAMA.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring element in soil, and can contaminate drinking water, according to background information in the article. Residents of the southwestern and northeastern coasts of Taiwan had been drinking well water contaminated
First-degree relatives of lung cancer patients have a 2 to 3.5 times greater risk of developing lung cancer than the general population, and tobacco smoke plays a major role, even among those with a genetic predisposition, according to a study in the December 22/29 issue of JAMA.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer among men and women in many Western countries, according to background information in the article. Death due to lung cancer in the United States
A careful analysis of the timing of over a million deaths reveals no evidence that cancer patients can intentionally postpone their demise in order to live long enough to reach an emotionally significant or meaningful event, say scientists in the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The findings, appearing in the December 22 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, run counter to the widely held belief that some people are able to “cheat deat
Can robots learn to communicate by studying and imitating humans’ gestures? That’s what MIRROR’s researchers aimed to find out by studying how infants and monkeys learn complex acts such as grasping and transferring it to robots.
“Our main motivation for the project was to advance the understanding of how humans recognise and imitate gestures,” says Professor Giulio Sandini, coordinator of the three-year IST-funded project, MIRROR. “We did that by building an artificial system t
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