Protein may help immune system fend off virus
UCLA scientists have shown that a protein called telomerase prevents the premature aging of the immune cells that fight HIV, enabling the cells to divide indefinitely and prolong their defense against infection. Published Nov. 15 in the Journal of Immunology, the research suggests a future therapy for boosting the weakened immune systems of HIV-positive people.
Every cell contains a tiny cellular clock called a telomere, wh
Although triplets are the fastest growing birth population in the Western world, and the number of triplet births has multiplied tenfold since 1980 in industrialized countries, no systematic research has studied the development of triplets across infancy.
Thus, we designed a study in which we followed 23 sets of triplets, 23 sets of twins, and 23 singletons (138 infants) from birth to 1 year. We matched groups for medical (e.g., gestational age, birthweight, medical risk) and en
Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery can effectively control gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms in morbidly obese patients who had previous antireflux surgery, with the additional benefit of weight loss and improvement of co-morbidities, according to a study published in the November issue of the journal Obesity Surgery.
The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study found that gastric bypass is feasible and effective in controlling GERD in patients who had p
Many families experience economic stress such as job loss and salary cuts. Such stress often has negative effects on marriages, parenting, and children’s developmental outcomes. Although all ethnic groups and social classes experience economic stress at some point in their lives, minority families are especially likely to suffer such economic problems. For instance, poverty rates for African-American and Hispanic-American families are three times higher than for non-Latino white families.
Attachment security has long been recognized as one of the hallmarks of adaptive social development in infancy and childhood, and is increasingly being recognized for its similar role in adolescence and adulthood. In adolescence, attachment security reflects the ability to openly and straightforwardly seek out and value close relationships while maintaining perspective and balance within those relationships.
Numerous studies have identified the importance of attachment security
Mast cells are immune cells known mostly for their unwanted effects: they cause the wheezing of asthma, the itching of eczema, the sneezing and runny nose of hay fever and, in extreme cases, the life-threatening shock of anaphylaxis. But researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that these cells also have some very beneficial effects.
Stephen Galli, MD, the Mary Hewitt Loveless, MD, Professor and chair of pathology, and his colleagues have shown for th
A team of Stanford University researchers led by Richard Myers, Ph.D., in collaboration with Chris Amemiya, Ph.D., of the Benaroya Research Institute in Seattle, campaign in the December issue of Genome Research for deciphering the genetic code of a “living fossil” fish, the coelacanth.
The genomic sequence of this large “hollow-spined” fish, which populates deep-sea volcanic caves, could hold valuable clues for biologists studying the evolution of vertebrate species. Coelacanth
WWF Calls on Governments to Restrain Rapidly Growing Tuna Farming Industry
In advance of a critical meeting of government and industry leaders on the fate of vulnerable Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today called on participants to make urgent, far-reaching moves to end mismanagement and stop illegal fishing and farming methods used to produce tuna to meet growing consumer demands from the United States, China, Japan and Korea.
The 14th Special
Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Wildlife Health Center are concerned that avian cholera, which recently killed about 30,000 eared grebes–small, diving water birds–at Great Salt Lake, Utah, could spread as birds migrate south for the winter, the agency announced today. Last week, USGS scientists isolated Pasteurella multocida, the bacterium that causes avian cholera, from dead grebes that were sent to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. USGS
Health educators and dietitians ought to be more precise the next time they advise Americans that “vegetables and fruit are good for you,” according to a study by a nutritional expert at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
That’s because a person who likes vegetables tends to have different food tastes and social habits from a person who prefers fruits. Lumping the two groups together may undercut the effectiveness of “better-health” educational campaigns that seek to
While nosing around the Quaternary mammal collection at the Provincial Museum of Alberta two years ago, Paul Matheus, a paleontologist with the Alaska Quaternary Center, came across a brown bear fossil that seemed out of place. The fossil had been collected by Jim Burns, curator of Quaternary mammals at the PMA a few years earlier near Edmonton, Alberta, in gravels that date to before the last ice age (older than 24,000 years). If this was true, Matheus thought, it could be a very important f
Researchers working with Florida red tide discovered two new compounds that may treat mucus build-up associated with cystic fibrosis and similar lung diseases. Preliminary studies show these compounds improve the flow of mucus through the respiratory tract, allowing airways to clear more quickly and efficiently.
“These compounds are excellent candidates for the development of an entirely new class of drugs targeted for the treatment of mucociliary disease,” said Kenneth Olden, Ph.
A new approach to outwit resistance to antibiotics has been discovered by a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
By inserting a naturally occurring molecule into an antibiotic-resistant bacterium, the team was able to gradually destroy the machinery responsible for the resistance. “Multidrug-resistant bacteria are now ubiquitous in both hospital settings and the larger community,” wrote Paul J. Hergenrother, a professor of chemistry, in a pape
Driving with one hand on the wheel and another on a cell phone has led to legal restrictions and proposals to require drivers to use hands-free phones.
Hello?
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have tested the hands-free approach and found that drivers — young and old — struggled to see dangerous scenarios appearing in front of them.
The experiments, reported in the Fall 2004 issue of the journal Human Factors, were conducted
Scientists say that low carbohydrate diets, like the Atkins and South Beach Diets, may actually be the best option for men who want to slim. New research, published this week in the Open Access journal, Nutrition & Metabolism, shows that over 70% of men lost more weight and fat on a low carbohydrate diet, despite eating more calories.
Jeff Volek and colleagues, from the University of Connecticut, also show for the first time that a low carbohydrate diet is much more effective in
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have identified a Lyme disease receptor called TROSPA that is used by disease agents to invade ticks.
Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne disease in the United States, is caused by spirochete bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which also cause arthritis in humans. The purpose of the study, published November 12 in the journal Cell, was to identify how Lyme disease pathogens survive inside ticks.
“We identified a receptor inside t
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