IBM and TotalStorage®-based Systems Improve Patient Care and Efficiency for Customers Worldwide, Including Brno University Hospital and St Michael’s Hospital
White Plains, NY and Erlangen, Germany, July 29, 2004 — IBM and Siemens AG (XETRA: SIE) today announced that they have signed a global agreement to deliver medical imaging management systems for the healthcare industry.
The IBM-Siemens relationship addresses management of the rapidly growing volume of digital medica
A drug once considered for cancer chemotherapy is advancing in clinical trials to test its effectiveness in fighting a virus from the herpes family that threatens transplant patients.
University of Michigan professors Leroy Townsend and John Drach developed the compound maribavir. It is licensed by ViroPharma, which announced today that maribavir is headed for phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of cytomegalovirus infection in stem cell transplant patients. New drugs go thro
Scientists have produced a prion protein that can trigger the development of a neurological disorder in mice that is similar to “mad cow” disease, according to a new study supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a part of the National Institutes of Health. The findings demonstrate that prions, an unusual class of infectious proteins, can make copies of themselves without the presence of viral DNA or RNA, damage brain tissue, and cause neurological diseases.
The work by Nobel Lau
Researchers reveal Argonaute2 as the catalytic engine of mammalian RNA interference
RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as a fundamentally important biological phenomenon and as a versatile, powerful tool for biomedical research. In organisms from fungi and flies to plants and mammals, RNAi plays a multifaceted role in molecular biology by silencing genes through chromatin remodeling, interfering with protein synthesis, and–in its best-studied mode of action–quashing gene expressio
A new study of California’s southern Sierra Nevada range by a University of Colorado at Boulder research team has located a massive body of rock that sank into Earth’s mantle some 3.5 million years ago, allowing the mountains to pop up.
Undertaken with a high-tech suite of instruments designed to probe the geology to roughly 125 miles below Earth’s surface, the study illustrated the mountain building process in the southern Sierras with unprecedented detail.
UCSF scientists are reporting what they say is compelling evidence that the infectious agent known as prion is composed solely of protein. Their findings promise to create new tools for early diagnosis of prions causing bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or “mad cow” disease, in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people, they say. The researchers believe that their work may also help advance investigations of more common neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’
Insects increase biodiversity by munching on dominant trees
A University of Utah experiment conducted in Peru’s Amazon Basin shows insects increase the diversity of the rainforest when they munch on trees. Such seemingly destructive behavior keeps dominant tree species under control but allows other trees to thrive.
“The battle between plants and insects increases the number of habitats in the rainforest,” thus increasing the diversity of trees living there, says biology
Scientists have pinpointed the source of a meteorite from the moon for the first time. Their unique meteorite records four separate lunar impacts.
They are the first to precisely date Mare Imbrium, the youngest of the large meteorite craters on the moon. That date, 3.9 billion years ago, is a new key date for lunar and even terrestrial stratigraphy, the scientists say, because life on Earth would have evolved only after heavy meteorite bombardment ended.
Geologists who fou
Some people think cities and nature don’t mix, but a new NASA-funded study finds that concrete jungles create warmer conditions that cause plants to stay green longer each year, compared to surrounding rural areas.
Urban areas with high concentrations of buildings, roads and other artificial surfaces retain heat, creating urban heat islands. Satellite data reveal that urban heat islands increase surface temperatures compared to rural surroundings.
Using information
Scientists studying a whale carcass in Monterey Canyon recently announced the discovery of two new species of unique worms that feed on the bones of dead whales. In the July 30 issue of Science, the researchers describe these worms, whose bodies and feeding strategies differ from those of any other known animal. The worms have no eyes, legs, mouths, or stomachs, but they do have colorful feathery plumes and green “roots.” They use the roots to infiltrate the bones of dead whales, digesting the fats
Scientists have rendered the first gene and protein networks of human aging, an important step in understanding the genetic mechanisms of aging. The work led by Joao Pedro de Magalhaes from Harvard Medical School is detailed in the July 30 issue of FEBS Letters.
The work involved the integration of all genes, in both humans and animal models, previously shown to influence aging. By using a combination of bibliographic information and modern high-throughput genomics, employing softwa
The NASA Swift satellite, which will pinpoint the location of distant yet fleeting explosions that appear to signal the births of black holes, is due to arrive at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida today in preparation for an October launch. UK scientists, from the University of Leicester and University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory, have provided key technology for two of the instruments on Swift.
Professor Alan Wells from the University of Leicester, UK Lead Investi
For the approximately 30 percent of the U.S. population affected by venous disease, covering up their varicose and spider veins with clothing or cosmetics can be a real pain. But the physical pain caused by this common medical condition is what drives most patients to seek treatment.
Speaking at ACADEMY ’04, the American Academy of Dermatology’s summer scientific session in New York, dermatologist Mitchel P. Goldman, M.D., an associate clinical professor of dermatology at the University o
Every year, Americans spend millions of dollars on anti-aging products in their unwavering quest to look younger. But treating stubborn wrinkles and fine lines often require more help than is available at the cosmetics counter. In the last few months, several new skin fillers have received approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating facial wrinkles and are safe and effective options for combating aging skin.
Speaking at ACADEMY ’04, the American Academy of Dermatol
For the estimated six to seven million Americans with psoriasis, the warm-weather months of summer might be the most challenging. Instead of being able to cover up their condition with sweaters or pants, psoriasis patients – forced to keep cool by wearing short-sleeved shirts and shorts – find themselves revealing the raised, thickened patches of red skin and silvery-white scales that they try so desperately to hide. Now, new treatment advances offer patients more hope in finding a life-long solutio
For the estimated 15 million Americans with eczema – a chronic skin disease in which the skin becomes itchy with red patches of inflamed skin – finding effective, long-lasting treatments was a difficult and frustrating process. Now, two new non-steroidal medications recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are improving the quality of life for eczema patients of all ages and offering hope as potential treatment options for patients with other hard-to-treat skin conditions.
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