Navarre doctor Rosa María Alás Brun has shown, in her PhD thesis defended at the Public University of Navarre, that, despite contamination rates in Pamplona being very low, these still have an influence on death rates.
After analysing the development, between 1991 and 1999, of the levels of five of the most representative contaminants in Pamplona – particles in suspension, sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and ozone -, Rosa María Alás Brun holds that this level o
The International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA), meeting during an international physics conference here, today (August 20) endorsed the recommendation of a panel of physicists charged to recommend the technology choice for a proposed future international particle accelerator.
The 12-member International Technology Recommendation Panel, chaired by Barry Barish of the California Institute of Technology, recommended that the world particle physics community adopt supercondu
C. elegans model helps identify protein linked to long QT syndrome – Could help lead to development of drugs that don’t cause calcium channel block
The worm C. elegans seems an unlikely candidate for studies related to cardiac arrhythmias. After all, the microscopic organism doesn’t even have a heart.
That fact did not deter Christina I. Petersen, Ph.D., research assistant professor of Anesthesiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Petersen and colleagues, includ
Chemical engineers at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have developed a new filtration system to enable scientists and engineers to separate and purify two different kinds of proteins having relatively close molecular weight. Until now, doing such separations with membrane filtration was impossible. This research was reported in the June 20, 2004 issue of Biotechnology and Bioengineering.
“This is good news,” said Kamalesh K. Sirkar, PhD, distinguished professor of chemical
Taking advantage of a unique labyrinth of Texas caves festooned with tree roots, Duke University biologists have given trees the most exacting root-to-twig physical of their circulatory system yet.
The scientists’ findings reveal the impressive adaptive engineering of deep-rooted trees in adjusting the size and structure of their piping, or xylem, to maximize water uptake, maintain their integrity and avoid flow-blocking embolisms. In particular, the findings reveal how the deep
Scientists have developed the first mouse model of a rare disease in which people age rapidly and start developing cancers and other diseases associated with the elderly when they are only about 30 years old.
The advance, reported in the August issue of Nature Genetics, is already shedding light on a suspected strong link between aging and cancer by suggesting that a single cellular protein can play a role in both processes, according to researchers.
“Given that most cancer
Cyclin D proteins not required for development of tissues, as previously believed
In an experiment that appears to refute current theory, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have found that removing three key proteins believed essential to cell division and growth had little impact on normal tissue development of a mouse embryo. These same proteins, when overly active, have been linked to cancer cell proliferation.
With one significant exception, the absence of protein
Coiled baskets made from sweetgrass have been an important source of income for the Gullah community around Charleston, South Carolina for over a century. Descendants of West Africans brought in as slaves, Gullah artisans now find a comfortable livelihood threatened by dwindling supplies of the native grass they have long used to make baskets.
In 2002, the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) and the College of Charleston, with funding from the South Carolina Sea Grant
One of the ingenious instruments on board Rosetta is designed to ’smell’ the comet for different substances, analysing samples that have been ’cooked’ in a set of miniature ovens.
ESA’s Rosetta will be the first space mission ever to land on a comet. After its lander reaches Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the main spacecraft will follow the comet for many months as it heads towards the Sun. Rosetta’s task is to study comets, which are considered the
New technique, reported in Science, unites organic fragments by piggybacking on DNA strands
By piggybacking small organic molecules onto short strands of DNA, chemists at Harvard University have developed an innovative new method of using DNA as a blueprint not for proteins but for collections of complex synthetic molecules. The researchers will report on the prolific technique, dubbed “DNA-templated library synthesis,” this week on the web site of the journal Science.
“T
Scientists at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, and at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, have discovered the mechanism by which acidity helps prevent muscle fatigue.
The discovery runs in the face of the previously held belief among physiologists and athletes that acidity, through a build up of lactic acid, is a major cause of muscle fatigue.
Professors George Stephenson and Graham Lamb of La Trobe’s Muscle Research Laboratory and Mr Thomas Pedersen and
A new study has identified mutations in genes pertinent to the autonomic nervous system among babies who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) that might explain why they died. The study appears in the September issue of Pediatric Research.
Dr. Debra E. Weese-Mayer, professor of pediatrics and director of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine at Rush University Medical Center, and colleagues at Rush and at the University of Pittsburgh conducted a case-control study in which they compa
The first sighting of atoms flying in formation has been reported by physicists at the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder) in the Aug. 13 issue of Physical Review Letters*. While the Air Force and geese prefer a classic “V,” the strontium atoms–choreographed in this experiment with precision laser pulses and ultracold temperatures–were recorded flying in the shape of a cube.
This “rea
Imported resistance has rendered ineffective the two affordable malaria drugs which have been the mainstay of malaria treatment in Africa for forty years, according to experts writing today in the journal Science.
Scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colleagues from institutions in the USA, South Africa and Thailand believe that mutations causing drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum (the parasite which causes the most deadly form of malaria) origi
Grape pomace extract can be used as an effective anti-microbial agent to destroy pathogens and help preserve food, according to new research by Turkish scientists published in the Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture.
Grape pomace
Pomace consists of grape seeds, skin and stems, and is a rich source of polyphenols. Phenolic substances are known to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer by inhibiting human low-density lipoproteins. Pomace is already used as an
Greater use of e-mail consultations could be beneficial to patients according to research from Imperial College London and the University of Edinburgh.
The research, published today in the British Medical Journal, looked at the extent of e-mail consultations already occurring, and measured the opinions of doctors and patients on their effectiveness.
Dr Josip Car from Imperial College London, based at Charing Cross Hospital, and co-author of the research, comments: “With such
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