Penn State researchers have developed software that more quickly and efficiently ensures that databases don’t release unauthorized information.
The software, QFilter, “sits” between users and databases and filters or culls out unauthorized requests for data before a database responds to a query. “We have shifted the thinking from data filtering to query filtering,” said Dongwon Lee, assistant professor in the School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST). “This is a prac
SLU Cardiologist Was First in Missouri to Investigate the Device
The concept is simple: to halt deterioration of the heart muscle, wrap it in a mesh-like net to prevent further enlargement in patients with heart failure. It’s like a jacket for the heart.
New research results from Saint Louis University and other institutions across the country found the “heart jacket” technique helped patients feel better and reduced the likelihood that they would need a heart t
Peering into the center of Sandia National Laboratory’s Z machine as it fires had been a feat unachievable for a decade.
Other than a nuclear bomb, Z is the most powerful generator of X-rays on the planet. Last year, its central mechanism, called a Z-pinch, fused isotopes of hydrogen to create nuclear fusion. Now, by inserting a pretty, two-inch-long crystal that reflects at only a single frequency into the hellish center of Z as it fires, researchers have been able to visuall
A progressive skin disease causing hair loss in adult humans was identified in laboratory mice, providing a genetic tool to study the disease known as alopecia areata (AA).
“Our mouse model has proven to be very useful as a preclinical model to test new treatments for alopecia areata before being used in humans,” states lead researcher, John P. Sundberg, D.V.M., Ph.D., of The Jackson Laboratory inBar Harbor, Maine. The study further provided the opportunity to use newly availabl
Scientists at Johns Hopkins have linked a stem-cell gene to a portion of one of the most common childhood brain cancers, opening the door to tailored therapies that block the gene’s tumor-promoting ability.
The gene, called Notch2, whose pathway is known to be an important factor in regulating brain stem-cell growth and survival, has been studied in fruit flies for almost a century. The research team at the Johns Hopkins Pathology Department and Kimmel Cancer Center found t
Widespread volcanic activity, cyanobacteria and global glaciation may sound like the plot of a new, blockbuster disaster movie, but in reality, they are all events in the mystery surrounding the development of our oxygen-rich atmosphere, according to a Penn State geoscientist.
The most extreme fluctuation in the Earth’s carbon cycle occurred about 2.2 billion years ago, according to Dr. Lee R. Kump, professor of geosciences and member of the Penn State Astrobiology Resear
Predicting with uncanny accuracy the effects of recent hurricanes, Los Alamos National Laboratory computer models are helping the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Assurance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other organizations plan for future disasters. For those in the paths of hurricane devastation, tools such as the Los Alamos infrastructure models could mean their lights and gas return to service hours or even days more rapidly.
“The comparison of a
Fungi and animals, including humans, have a lot in common when it comes to the arrangement of genes that determine their sex, according to new work by Howard Hughes Medical Institute geneticists at the Duke University Medical Center.
Regions of the genome that determine the sexual identity of the infectious fungus Cryptococcus neoformans bear striking similarities to the human Y chromosome — the sex chromosome associated with male characteristics — the team found. The researchers
Bretylium’s unique effects may point to new concept of heart attacks
An “old” drug has unique benefits for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI; commonly known as heart attack), a finding that may contribute to a new understanding of how heart attacks develop, according to an article in the September/October American Journal of Therapeutics.
In the definitive report, Marvin Bacaner, M.D., University of Minnesota, describes the effects of the antiarrhythmi
Plastic surgeons respond to FDA concerns
Plastic surgeons can reduce breast implant re-operations in augmentation patients to 3 percent by following a new system of decision and management algorithms, according to a study published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery® (PRS), the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). At the same time, these algorithms can raise patients’ safety and overall satisfaction, the study also found. During the U.S
Research at Saint Louis University finds that families who eat out are more likely to skimp on the fruits and vegetables.
“The more often parents eat out, the lower their intake of fruits and vegetables,” says Amanda Harrod, a researcher at Saint Louis University School of Public Health who is presenting her findings at the American Public Health Association conference this week.
Harrod studied young families who live in Missouri’s bootheel and found that about 73
Got mosquitoes? Thanks to a new Web-based mapping system, you soon will be able to see if West Nile encephalitis or some other mosquito-borne disease is in your neighborhood.
The Knowledge Engineering Lab in the department of entomology at Texas A&M University is heading up the project to develop the statewide Mosquito Spatial Information Management System. The real-time system — that will be available through the Internet — will map disease occurrence, epidemiology and control
Some new generation COX-2 inhibitors may not allow heart attack patients to recover fully, research indicates.
Researchers at the University of Alberta have discovered a basic cellular process the body uses to balance pH in cells–also critical to recovery following a heart attack–is compromised by certain novel COX-2 inhibitors.
Bicarbonate transporters, enzymes critical to maintaining this delicate balance of bicarbonate across the cell membrane, are potently inhib
A laser-based method for identifying a single atom or molecule hidden among 10 trillion others soon may find its way from the laboratory to the real world.
Developed by physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the technique is believed to be more than 1,000 times more sensitive than conventional methods. Vescent Photonics of Denver, Colo., hopes to commercialize the method as an “optical nose” for atmospheric monitoring. The portable sensors would r
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a technique for growing well-formed, single-crystal nanowires in place—and in a predictable orientation—on a commercially important substrate.
The method uses nanoparticles of gold arranged in rows on a sapphire surface as starting points for growing horizontal semiconductor “wires” only 3 nanometers (nm) in diameter. Other methods produce semiconductor nanowires more than 10 nm in dia
University of Pittsburgh researchers describe how the antigen-rich particles receive cozy welcome by recipient cells
Bubble-like nano-scale particles that are shed by dendritic cells may hold the key to achieving transplant tolerance – the long-term acceptance of transplanted organs without the need for drugs, suggests a study by University of Pittsburgh researchers published in the Nov. 15 issue of the journal Blood. The results provide some of the first information about what t
Feedback
