The rapid and deadly method that destroys the body’s defenses against the common bacterial cause of disease, Staphylococcus aureus (staph), has been identified by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.
Published online the week of July 19, 2004 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study describes the detailed cellular mechanisms by which Staphylococcus aureus protein A, or SpA, spreads within minutes throughout
A previously unrecognized molecular structure on the surface of the human bacterial pathogen Group B Streptococcus (GBS) – the most common cause of sepsis and meningitis in newborn infants – is described by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published online the week of July 19, 2004.
The new discovery has important implications for understanding the mechanism of infection and the design of vac
The journal Endocrine-Related Cancer today publishes work showing that scientists from the Clinical Proteomics Program of the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) have discovered a test that was 100% effective for detecting early ovarian cancer in their study.
The study describes the use of a high-resolution mass spectrometer to measure patterns of protein markers in a small sample of blood. The mass spectrometer measured slight differences in the weights between normal and cancerous protein
The African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, begins development as a compact ball of cells that undergoes a dramatic transformation through cell migrations and positional rearrangements that result in the separation of the embryo into three distinct germ layers, which go on to give rise to all of the tissues and structures in the adult animal’s body. During this transformation, known as gastrulation, the embryo changes from a roughly spherical shape to an elongated, streamlined form through a proces
NASA will decommission the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) later this year. A highly successful scientific research mission, TRMM has provided data used worldwide in the monitoring and forecasting of hazardous weather on a demonstration basis. Originally intended to be a three-year mission when launched in 1997, TRMM is now in its seventh year of operation having completed all of its research and technology objectives four years ago. The extension of mission operations for nearly four add
At the last meeting of the Aurora Board of Participants, held at ESA’s Paris headquarters on Thursday 8 July, the participating states approved the Preparatory Phase of the European Space Exploration Programme (ESEP).
Revising the original Declaration, the European countries already participating, plus Canada, unanimously agreed to remodel Aurora into a broader preparatory ESEP. This is with a view to possibly increasing their subscriptions and welcoming further participants, including
A molecule found in nearly all cells plays a vital role in kick-starting the production of key biological molecules involved in inflammation, a group of Salk Institute scientists has discovered. The finding, published in the June 25 issue of Science, may lead to new strategies for blocking the devastating inflammation that lies at the heart of autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, arthritis, lupus as well as some cancers.
When the cells of the body are confronted with toxic che
When a physician discovers cancer in a patient, the first thing the doctor wants to know is whether that cancer has spread, or “metastasized.” This metastasis signifies that the patient has entered a new and potentially lethal phase of the disease. A new study opens up the possibility of detecting whether a tumor will spread long before a patient ever reaches that dangerous phase.
Scientists at the Pacific Northwest Research Institute in Seattle have found evidence for a DNA structure char
Results of laboratory experiments by Johns Hopkins scientists suggest it may be possible to “educate” the immune system to recognize rather than destroy human embryonic stem cells. Doing so could reduce the risk of rejection if the primitive cells are someday transplanted into people with conditions like Parkinson’s disease, diabetes or spinal cord injuries, the researchers say.
In their experiments, described in the July 10 issue of The Lancet, the Hopkins team successfully coaxed human
That cardinal singing his heart out in your backyard has ancestors that left the neighborhood of Australia 45 million years ago. A comprehensive study of DNA from songbirds and their relatives shows that these birds, which account for almost half of all bird species, did not originate in Eurasia, as previously thought. Instead, their ancestors escaped from a relatively small area–Australasia (Australia, New Zealand and nearby islands) and New Guinea–about 45 million years ago and went on to popula
A review article by Yale researchers reaffirms that the vast majority of people with cardiovascular disease can travel safely on airlines, provided they follow basic guidelines such as carrying an ample supply of medication or waiting two weeks to travel after having a cardiac procedure.
Published in the July 20 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, the article reviewed previous studies on air travel and cardiovascular disease. “We pulled together work that has been done on the topic, syn
Recent advances in brain imaging may allow very early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, and improved assessment of treatment effectiveness
Imaging techniques such as PET and MRI are near to becoming useful in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease earlier and distinguishing it from other types of dementia, according to research reported today at the 9th International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (ICAD), presented by the Alzheimer’s As
Published this week on-line in PLoS Biology, Sara Sawyer, Michael Emerman, and Harmit Malik investigate the genetic roots of the battle for evolutionary advantage between HIV-type viruses and the hosts they infect. What they find is surprising.
The gene, APOBEC3G, belongs to a family of primate genes that produce enzymes (in this case, APOBEC3G) that “edit” DNA and RNA, by slipping into viral particles and inducing mutations that replace one base (cytosine) with another (uracil) as the viru
Vertebrates come in a dazzling array of shapes and sizes, from blue whales to pygmy bats, their overt morphology determined largely by the skeleton. The head skeleton in particular has undergone remarkable diversification, as is beautifully illustrated in Darwin’s examination of beak morphology in Galapagos finches. This week in PLoS Biology, Justin Crump, Mary Swartz, and Charles Kimmel explore the mechanism by which cell signals induce specific patterns of cartilage and bone that form the vertebr
Anyone who’s endured their share of childhood scrapes has probably heard some version of the motherly admonishment, “Don’t pick that scab, you’ll just make it worse!” It turns out, Mom was on to something, according to research published on-line in the open-access journal PLoS Biology.
Tissue damage in humans triggers a well-characterized response marked by rapid blood clotting and a recruitment of epidermal cells to the injury. When you remove a scab, you’re also removing some of the new
One of the most perplexing things about children’s health is that parents and children do not agree about it. The importance of obtaining children’s perspectives of their own health is the subject of a major debate among pediatricians and child health researchers. An analysis conducted by Anne Riley, PhD, associate professor with the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, concluded that children, even those as young as age six, can adequat
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