Alzheimer’s. Parkinson’s. Lou Gehrig’s. Huntington’s. These neurodegenerative diseases exhibit loss of nerve function in different ways, from memory lapses to uncontrollable muscular movements, but it is now believed that these diseases share many common molecular mechanisms.
A team of Northwestern University scientists, led by Richard I. Morimoto, John Evans Professor of Biology, has made a key discovery toward understanding one of these mechanisms. In stu
For many patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease, deep brain stimulation can mean the difference between having difficulty walking and being able to run. Since its approval by the Food and Drug Administration in 1997, the treatment has been used by 20,000 patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease or other movement disorders to help control their symptoms. Now, researchers have discovered that surgically implanting electrical stimulators on just one side of a patient’s brain could help alle
Volcanic ash that encased and preserved sea life in the Silurian age 425 million years ago near Herefordshire, UK has yielded fossils of an ancient sea spider, or pycnogonid, one of the most unusual types of arthropod in the seas today.
Sea spiders are soft-bodied arthropods, found widely in modern oceans. For two-centuries there has been a controversy about the relationship of sea spiders to land spiders, scorpions, ticks and mites because of their unique body form. Sea spiders
For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that a single change in a person’s DNA can contribute to a range of life-shortening risk factors, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other metabolic disorders.
The mutation affects the genes of the mitochondria – the energy-producing power plants of the cell that are passed from mother to offspring. The researchers are hopeful their discovery could help unravel the complex genetic and environmental factors th
Researchers at Yale and Syracuse Universities found the first direct evidence for a mutation in mitochondrial DNA that directly affects blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
It has long been known that several metabolic traits including high cholesterol and hypertension cluster in individuals more frequently than by chance, but the underlying causes were unknown. This study, published early in Science Express on line, suggests that altered mitochondria may account for the clusteri
For the first time, researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected with the Catholic University of Leuven have shown clearly that receptors in yeast cells detect and react to nutrients in the cell. The chance is great that this is also the case with human cells. Because about 40% of today’s medicines act on receptors in our cells, this research opens new possibilities for the treatment of metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity.
In order to divide, cells must first replicate their chromosomes. Cells use an array of proteins to accomplish the job, including a large enzyme complex that synthesizes new strands of DNA. In a paper to be published Oct. 22 in the journal Molecular Cell, University of Minnesota researchers report that a particular protein, called minichromosome maintenance protein 10 (Mcm10), protects the enzyme from destruction and, like a molecular tugboat, escorts it to its “port”–the location on a chromo
Converting quantum bits
A team of physicists at the Georgia Institute of Technology has taken a significant step toward the development of quantum communications systems by successfully transferring quantum information from two different groups of atoms onto a single photon.
The work, to be published in the October 22 issue of the journal Science, represents a “building block” that could lead to development of large-scale quantum networks. Sponsored by the Research Corpor
The Bizkaian company, Ekoplast Balenciaga, manufacturer of large, high-thickness plastic parts, has developed and patented, in collaboration with the Gaiker technological centre, a novel support for the handling and transport of coils of sheet steel. Made from 100% recyclable plastics from containers, agricultural film, the recycling also contributes to a better use of these plastic residues generated by these industrial sectors.
Undertaking the novel design with the latest generation CAD
Results of a European study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET provide further evidence that patients with early symptoms of multiple sclerosis given a weekly injection with interferon beta are less likely to progress to full clinical disease after two years follow-up. The study showed that the drug reduced patients’ loss of brain tissue compared with individuals given placebo.
Early findings from the ETOMS (early treatment of multiple sclerosis) trial (see Lancet 2001; 357: 1576-82)
Research from Australia in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggests that tall girls given oestrogen therapy in adolescence to reduce adult height are more likely to experience later fertility problems than the general population.
Treatment with oestrogen to reduce the adult height of tall girls has been available since the 1950s. No randomised trials have examined the effect of oestrogen therapy. Such therapy alters the development of the long bones and has been reported to re
Authors of a research letter in this week’s issue of THE LANCET highlight how the use of drug-eluting stents (DES) may carry a risk of subsequent thrombosis if stenting is accompanied by a withdrawal of antiplatelet therapy.
More than 1•5 million people a year have stents implanted to improve coronary artery blood flow. A recently published pooled analysis of 11 trials (see Lancet 2004; 364: 583-91) suggested that DES—increasingly used in coronary angioplasty—have benefits ov
UK scientists and industrialists involved in the NASA, ESA, ASI Cassini-Huygens space mission are eagerly awaiting the data to be received when the spacecraft makes its closest fly-by of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, on 26th October.
At the time of the closest approach, which is scheduled to be at 5.44 pm BST (9.44 am PDT), the spacecraft will travel a mere 1200km (745 miles) above the surface of the moon at a speed of 6.1 km per second. Confirmation that the flyby has been suc
The mechanisms behind rock-weathering processes can provide vital clues for understanding and reconstructing the history of ancient environments and visualizing the physical conditions in which they were formed, especially climatic situations. Thick ancient coverings of weathered material such as laterites are still the most intensively studied to date. However, little is known about the initial stages of weathering, owing to the rare occurrence of well-preserved examples.
As a c
Glacier regression in the tropical Andes has accelerated considerably over the past 30 years. This change is cause for great concern, insofar as many regions of the Andes depend on the Cordillera’s glaciers for their water supply (2).
In 1991 scientists from the IRD research unit Great Ice (UR032) set up an observation network, jointly with their Bolivian, Peruvian and Ecuadorian partners. This system takes in a dozen glaciers along the Andes between the Equator and longitude 16
People living in rural areas are still dependent on their market town, and the town is reliant on them, a new study shows.
However, changes need to be made if residents are to continue using local shops and services, suggest researchers from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, who examined the situation in Alnwick in rural Northumberland, which is widely known for its castle – the location for Hogwarts wizard school in the Harry Potter films and its multi-million pound water gar
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