Patients with cancers previously next to untreatable may have new hope because of a license agreement between Isotron of Norcross, Ga., and UT-Battelle, which manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The license allows Isotron to market a treatment called neutron brachytherapy, which enables physicians to deliver a highly concentrated dose of californium-252 neutrons to the site of a tumor instead of having to treat the tumor with conventional gamma rays, which often are not as effec
Agricultural pesticide workers are not only exposed to pesticides from inhalation, but also through their skin. The dermal route of exposure to chlorpyrifos, a common agricultural pesticide, contributes substantially to workers’ total exposure, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who analyzed agricultural test data provided by pesticide manufacturers. The study authors report that accurate methods
High-quality care for depression can improve productivity at work and lower rates of workplace absenteeism, according to a new report.
A two-year program for depressed employees treated at 12 primary care practices nationwide improved productivity at work by an average of 6 percent, or an estimated annual value of $1,491 per depressed full-time employee. The program reduced absenteeism by 22 percent in two years, saving the companies an estimated $539 for each depressed full-time
Many community pharmacists are not opposed to importing drugs to lower patients’ costs as long as those drugs are channeled through U.S. pharmacies to ensure safety and efficacy, according to a study by pharmacists at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Michigan.
The study will appear in the November/December edition of the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. “Importation of Prescription Medications: The Experiences, Opinions and Intended
Scientists have glimpsed the three-dimensional structure of a protein that protects the ends of human chromosomes, a function that is essential for normal cell division and survival. By visualizing the protein as it surrounds the end of a chromosome, the scientists have learned how the protein homes in on a specific DNA sequence and acts like a protective cap to prevent erosion of chromosome ends.
The researchers, led by Howard Hughes Medical Institute President Thomas R. C
Shipworm has spread to the Baltic Sea. If it continues to spread, it threatens to destroy still well-preserved and irreplaceable shipwrecks and other marine archeological remains along the coast of Sweden, according to Carl Olof Cederlund, professor of marine archeology at Södertörn University College in Stockholm and the Swedish representative in the EU project that has now determined the spread of shipworm to the Baltic for the first time.
“Up till now the Baltic has been regar
GAIKER Technological Centre is taking part in a European project under the auspices of the VI Framework Programme involving the reuse and recycling of liquid crystal display screens (ReLCD) employed in the manufacture of devices such as laptops, electronic agendas, calculators, mobile telephones, electronic video-games, audio equipment, televisions and computer screens.
One of the main objectives of this project is to study methodology in order to check the operation of obsolete LCDs, as w
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has obtained definitive evidence that a distant quasar formed less than a billion years after the big bang contains a fully-grown supermassive black hole generating energy at the rate of 20 trillion suns. The existence of such massive black holes at this early epoch of the Universe challenges theories of the formation of galaxies and supermassive black holes. The Marshall Center manages the Chandra program.
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has
New microengines would be smaller, last 10 times longer than batteries
It may be tiny, but a new microgenerator developed at Georgia Tech can now produce enough power to run a small electronic device, like a cell phone, and may soon be able to power a laptop. The microgenerator is about 10 millimeters wide, or about the size of a dime. When coupled with a similarly sized gas-fueled microturbine (or jet) engine, the system, called a microengine, has the potential to deliver more
Researchers have discovered that individual fibroblast cells contain independent, self-sustaining circadian (ca. 24 hr) clocks. Circadian clocks are important for synchronizing many physiological and behavioral processes to the day/night cycle.
For decades it has been known that a tiny cluster of brain cells known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is required for expression of circadian rhythms in mammals. When clock genes were identified in the late ’90s, they were found
While scientists work to find the ’perfect’ solution to preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, a reasonable option–the female condom–is not being promoted, especially in African and southeast Asian countries where the deadly virus is most prevalent, according to a new study. “While we’re waiting for perfection, people are dying,” said Dr. Amy Kaler, a sociology professor at the University of Alberta.
In a paper published in the November/December issue of Culture,
You may not yet have heard of chylomicrons, but a nutritional scientist at the University of Alberta believes you will soon–especially if you care about preventing a stroke or heart attack.
Dr. Spencer Proctor says chylomicrons gather on arterial walls and may be as dangerous or more dangerous than low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in causing strokes and heart attacks. “We were the first in the world to label chylomicrons remnants with florescence and visually show tha
Research cruise provides new information on tsunami during survey of remote area
A summer voyage to investigate the causes of one of the most devastating tsunamis in United States history has uncovered new mysteries about biological and geological processes off Alaska. Probing the depths below one of the world’s most important fisheries, scientists with Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, as well as Indiana State University and their
Two researchers at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah have offered an explanation for the recent decline in Georgia’s blue crab population that has devastated one of the state’s most important coastal fisheries.
In an article in the November/December issue of the American Scientist, Richard F. Lee and Marc E. Frischer, working on a grant from the Georgia Sea Grant Program at the University of Georgia, say their research shows that Georgia’s recent
A whooping crane that was shot earlier this month in Kansas is showing signs of recovery, although Dr. Glenn Olsen, the veterinarian treating the bird at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md., says it’s too soon to know whether it will be able to return to the wild. The injured crane, part of the last remaining wild flock of an endangered species that migrates annually from northern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, had been shot as it traveled through Kansas on its way south. Th
Johns Hopkins researchers say there is growing evidence that stem cells gone awry in their efforts to repair tissue damage could help explain why long-term irritation, such as from alcohol or heartburn, can create a breeding ground for certain cancers.
At the heart of their argument, outlined in the Nov. 18 issue of Nature, are two key chemical signals, called Hedgehog and Wnt (“wint”), that are active in the stem cells that repair damaged tissue. Recently and unexpectedly, the
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