Over the next few weeks researchers at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Sandia National Laboratories will begin testing innovative ways to treat arsenic-contaminated water in an effort to reduce costs to municipalities of meeting the new arsenic standard issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The testing is sponsored by the Arsenic Water Technology Partnership (AWTP), a multiyear-program funded by a congressional appropriation through the U.S. Department of Energ
New research on rat heart cells suggests that a well-known antioxidant found in red wine, called resveratrol, may benefit heart tissue by limiting the effects of a condition called cardiac fibrosis.
Diseases such as hypertension and heart failure can cause fibrosis, a hardening or stiffening of the heart tissue. This condition arises when heart cells called cardiac fibroblasts are activated. These cells secrete collagen, a protein that provides structural support for the heart.
Transplanted bone marrow cells can reduce carbon tetrachloride-induced liver fibrosis in mice and significantly improve their survival rates, according to a new study published in the December 2004 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hepatology is available online via Wiley InterScience at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/hepatology.
Previous reports have shown
A new study has found hepatic steatosis – fatty liver disease – in nearly one third of American adults in a large urban population sample. The prevalence of the disease varied significantly among ethnic groups. Hispanics had a higher prevalence than whites, while blacks had a lower prevalence than whites. The study is found in the December 2004 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hepa
The length of time necessary to recover from a mass extinction may seem like a problem from the past, but a team of Penn State researchers is investigating recovery from the second largest extinction in Earth’s history at the end of the Ordovician 443 million years ago and sees some parallels to today’s Earth.
“We are currently in an undeniable biotic crisis,” says Andrew Z. Krug, graduate student in geosciences. “We are not just interested in what will disappear, but
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory and Ceramatec, Inc. of Salt Lake City are reporting a significant development in their efforts to help the nation advance toward a clean hydrogen economy.
Laboratory teams have announced they’ve achieved a major advancement in the production of hydrogen from water using high-temperature electrolysis. Instead of conventional electrolysis, which uses only electric current to separ
First observation of extended chains of molecules that exhibit a strong interaction without forming chemical bonds
A new chemical state, designated a “protopolymer,” has been observed by Penn State researchers in chains of phenylene molecules on a crystalline copper surface at low temperature. Protopolymers form when monomers, small molecules that link together chemically to form long chains, align and interact without forming chemical bonds. The novel structures were discovered
Scientists determine how ’trump card’ protein blocks DNA replication
New research at Rice University is allowing biochemists to understand a key hierarchy of protein interactions that occurs in DNA replication, showing for the first time how a key protein “trumps” its rivals and shuts down cell division while DNA repairs take place.
The work, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, appears in the Dec. 8 issue of the journal Structure. It could aid drug makers in d
Teenagers suffering from bulimia may in fact be fighting a two-front war, coping with the effects of a devastating eating disorder while struggling with a chronic form of depression, reveals research by Texas A&M University psychologist Marisol Perez, who says the finding has critical implications for the way the disorder is treated.
Often masked by the bulimia itself, dysthymia – a lower-level, chronic form of depression – is often present in bulimics and may even predispose t
What causes the most stress during the holiday season? Money issues were the top vote getters for holiday stress, according to a recent poll by the American Psychological Association (APA).
The Survey found that 61% of Americans listed lack of money as the top cause of holiday stress followed by the pressures of gift giving, lack of time, and credit card debt. Survey results also show that younger Americans are more worried about lack of money and gift giving compared to people ov
A new treatment for the age-old scourge of cholera and perhaps a whole new type of antibiotic medicine may emerge from chemicals discovered in an Australian seaweed, new research results suggest.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales have found that compounds known as furanones – isolated from the seaweed Delisea pulchra – can prevent the bacteria that cause cholera from switching on their disease-causing mechanisms. It seems likely that furanones can have the same e
North Carolina high schools that adopt Tobacco-Free School policies are making progress in protecting students, staff and visitors from the unhealthy effects of secondhand smoke by reducing smoking even during home football games, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study concludes. Schools can improve compliance with the policies further by communicating and enforcing them better, researchers say.
Doctoral student Eric Pevzner conducted the study as part of the Tack
As survival rates have steadily improved for children with heart defects, physicians have focused more attention on improving quality-of-life factors such as neurological and cognitive abilities. A new study shows that newborns with congenital heart disease often have abnormally low blood flow in their brains before they undergo surgery.
Researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia led the study, published in the December issue of The Journal of Thoracic and C
A multicenter study of 821 patients referred for breast biopsy based on prior examinations that suggested cancer finds that while magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) distinguishes between benign and malignant breast tumors better than mammography, biopsies are still needed to confirm the diagnosis.
The study, called the International Breast MR Consortium, was carried out in 14 university hospitals in the United States and Europe, including Johns Hopkins, from June 1998 through Octob
Biochemists at Ohio State University and their colleagues have overcome one of the major obstacles to drug design, by trimming some of the fat from a molecular sponge that scientists use to study proteins.
In the December issue of the journal Structure, the biochemists report using their method successfully in experiments with two common cellular proteins. The results suggest that scientists could one day use the method as a step in designing drugs for diseases such as cystic fibr
Trial results presented at the Annual American Society of Hematology Conference
University of Minnesota researchers will present the promising results from adult umbilical cord blood studies for patients with cancers of the blood and bone marrow. These studies’ findings provide solutions to the problems outlined in recently published studies in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). “The results of our studies are a triumph in a treatment that has been largely viewed as only
Feedback
