Ranitidine could become new treatment for cerebral ischemia
Ranitidine, a widely used substance used as an antihistaminic drug against gastric ulcers, may become a new treatment for cerebral ischemia caused by craneoencephalic infarcts or traumatisms, the third leading cause of deaths in industrialised countries. In experiments with a model of cerebral ischemia using rats, a team from the Institute of Neurosciences of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain) has observed how th
Results challenge public health service efforts to increase vaginal delivery
For a pregnant woman who already has had one cesarean delivery, an attempt at vaginal delivery is more dangerous for the baby than a second cesarean section, according to a research study at 19 academic health centers, including Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
The study, published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine, showed that vaginal birth after a cesarean section (VBAC
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have shown that some long-term breast-cancer survivors may have innate mechanisms to keep breast cancer at bay.
Their findings, published in the December issue of Clinical Cancer Research and available online, show that one-third of the longtime disease-free patients in the study had circulating tumor cells (CTCs). The presence of CTCs is often associated with a higher risk of recurrence if they are found soon after a mastect
The Tarantula Nebula is the most vigorous star forming region known in the local Universe. Using the power of the freely available ESA/ESO/NASA Photoshop FITS Liberator package a young amateur astronomer has created this amazing panorama of the centre of the Tarantula. The original image was taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and subsequently retrieved from the ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive in Munich, Germany.
The Tarantula Nebula, also known as 30 Doradus, is situated 170,0
International team shows collapse of Fermi volume in quantum critical matters
Modern materials science has been a boon for electronics, providing average consumers with palm-sized computers that would have filled a room just a few years ago for instance. But the push to create materials with radically new electronic properties has also produced a host of experimental results that textbook theories simply cannot explain.
In the Dec. 16 issue of Nature magazine, a team
Glaciologist Lonnie Thompson worries that he may have found clues that show history repeating itself, and if he is right, the result could have important implications to modern society.
Thompson has spent his career trekking to the far corners of the world to find remote ice fields and then bring back cores drilled from their centers. Within those cores are the records of ancient climate from across the globe. From the mountains of data drawn by analyzing countless ice cores, and
A simple stroll after a full day of field research near a high Andean glacier in Peru led glaciologist Lonnie Thompson to discover a bed of previously hidden plants that date back at least 50,000 years.
And while that discovery is novel enough to please any scientist, it’s the implication that those perfectly preserved plants may suggest that really excites him.
Thompson, a professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University and a world-class glaciologist, has made
The Swedish automotive industry, with its base in western Sweden, has a crucial role to play in the Swedish economy. Exports from the Volvo Group and Volvo Cars alone amount to around SEK 140 billion per year, equivalent to almost 15 per cent of the total. To sustain competitiveness and improve the future potential of the industry, Volvo and Chalmers have agreed to expand their research collaboration with the aim of producing more environmentally friendly diesel engines and developing the vehicl
This ultra high-resolution sea surface temperature map of the Mediterranean could only have been made with satellites. Any equivalent ground-based map would need almost a million and a half thermometers placed into the water simultaneously, one for every two square kilometres of sea.
This most detailed ever heat map of all 2 965 500 square kilometres of the Mediterranean, the world’s largest inland sea is being updated on a daily basis as part of ESA’s Medspiration proje
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) should be one of the preferred routes for treatment of individuals experiencing mild to moderate depression, according to a new report published by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE).
Depression has been recognised by the World Health Organisation as one of the largest causes of “disease burden” in the world. It is a deeply distressing condition for sufferers and their family and friends. With depression also having a stro
Leading coral reef experts are meeting today, 16 December 2004, at the Zoological Society of London to discuss the alarming rates of decline and formulate an action plan to prevent the demise of these important ecosystems. With approximately 20% of coral reefs already destroyed, it is thought that close to 50% may be close to collapse.
Coral reefs are critically important for the goods and services they provide to millions of people, with a global value estimated at $375 billion
It won’t quite be a white Christmas for Professor Nick Petford, but the Kingston University geologist will see in the New Year in sub-zero temperatures. Professor Petford, from the Centre for Earth and Environmental Science Research, flies out to Antarctica on December 27 to investigate the ancient interiors of volcanoes. He has been selected as one of only 25 participants from around the world to take part in a month-long expedition to the remote McMurdo Dry Valleys region.
Although vo
Immune cells can trigger severe pneumonia
A new study has found that malfunctioning immune cells can be the cause of severe pneumonia. This discovery was made by scientists working at the German Research Centre for Biotechnology (GBF) in Braunschweig. In the latest issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (AJRCCM), GBF researchers describe how mice in their experiments developed a tendency toward chronic inflammation of the lung’s mucous membra
Unexpected findings about the genetic makeup of a marine microbe have given scientists a new perspective on how bacteria make a living in the ocean – a view that may prove useful in wider studies of marine ecology.
By deciphering and analyzing the DNA sequence of Silicibacter pomeroyi, a member of an important group of marine bacteria, scientists found that the metabolic strategies of marine bacterioplankton are more diverse and less conventional than previously thought.
Researchers have known that mutations in a key gene called parkin are a major cause of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Now they have discovered a new mechanism by which the parkin gene can be compromised, a finding that they say could lead to new drugs for the disorder.
Andrea Lozano, Senior Scientist at the Toronto Western Research Institute, of University Health Network and Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto and colleagues found that the protein produced by a gene calle
Individuals with the metabolic syndrome are at risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, vascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Although risk factors for this syndrome are known to include obesity, physical inactivity, and genetic factors, the mechanistic role of obesity is not completely understood. In the December 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Iichiro Shimomura and researchers from Osaka University, Japan, show that fat cells of obese mice produce increased levels of toxic o
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