A scientist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station said the development of corn with improved protein quality would reduce the need for soybean additives when feeding corn to swine and poultry. Corn is deficient in two essential amino acids, lysine and tryptophan. Increasing the relative content of these two amino acids is the project of corn researcher Dr. Javier Betran.
The resulting nutritionally-improved corn, known as Quality Protein Maize, could have positive implications no
Researchers have used a recently developed anti-inflammatory drug as a starting point to construct a possible new, targeted anti-cancer agent. The new agent works by triggering cancer cells to self-destruct.
The agent is now undergoing laboratory testing by the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Rapid Access to Intervention Development (RAID) program.
The potential new drug was developed by researchers at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy and the OSU Comprehensive Can
The factor that puts children at greatest risk of being overweight is having obese parents, according to a new study by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers. By identifying the risk factors that lead to childhood obesity, the researchers hope to pave the way toward preventive measures.
“The findings of this study suggest that at-risk children may be identifiable in the first few years of life,” said W. Stewart Agras, MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences
A new technique for examining DNA is giving scientists a more detailed picture of which genes have the propensity for activation, offering a new tool for understanding how genes function and possibly for diagnosing disease.
The technology, called a chromatin array, was developed by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and is described in the July issue of the journal Genome Research.
DNA, which contains the genetic instructions needed to make a human or any ot
Deep in the Antarctic interior, buried under thousands of meters [more than two miles] of ice, lies Lake Vostok, the world’s largest subglacial lake. Scientists believe that the waters of Lake Vostok have not been disturbed for hundreds of thousands of years, and there are tantalizing clues that microbes may exist there that have been isolated for at least as long.
Now, the most comprehensive measurements of the lake–roughly the size of Lake Ontario in North America–indicate that it is
A new technology developed by a research group headed by Nimmi Ramanujam, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will be a “third eye” during breast biopsies and can increase the chance for an accurate clinical diagnosis of breast cancer.
Doctors currently use X-ray or ultrasound – two-dimensional pictures – to guide the biopsy needle into a three-dimensional region. To ensure that they are doing the biopsy at the right spot, they take up to a
Frequent tanning bed users may be getting more out of the experience than darker skin. Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center say exposure to ultraviolet light may produce a “relaxing” effect that lures tanners back to the beds.
“We believe that ultraviolet light has an effect on mood that tanners value,” said Steven Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., lead researcher. “This may be creating a reinforcing effect that influences tanning behavior.”
The research – involving 14
No beneficial effects were found on cognitive function, bone mineral density or plasma lipids when postmenopausal women age 60 years or older took soy protein supplements with isoflavones for one year, according to a study in the July 7 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
“The sudden decline in estrogen levels after menopause coincides with acceleration of several aging processes,” according to background information in the article. “On average, bone mineral den
A new material which is set to revolutionise the way we protect our bodies from impact and injury is being launched by specialist technology company d3o Lab. d3o Lab were granted a government SMART award in 2001 and following a significant breakthrough they secured a second award in 2003 for the development which is now nearing commercialisation.
Since 2000 Richard Palmer and Dr. Phil Green have been working out of the University of Hertfordshire’s research and development centre, and a des
Exploring and using space is the biggest adventure facing mankind. Finding innovative ways for ESA to continue doing this is the role of the Advanced Concepts Team (ACT) at ESA’s European Space Technology Research Centre (ESTEC).
It is their job to look into the future and identify ideas which could enable missions that currently sound like science fiction.
From simple “what if?” ideas, the ACT evaluate what is and is not possible. For example, among many other proposals, they are
A groundbreaking European project launched next week and led by the University of Plymouth will help to combat major diseases such as cancer and brain diseases. The four-year project, which involves 31 institutions across Europe, will be launched in Milan on Friday 9 July, when the first workshop takes place.
The projects’ key aim is to tackle and reduce fragmentation in the new field of biopattern and profile analysis. (A biopattern is the basic information ie pattern that prov
Taken to its ultimate outcome, the research that biology professor Dr. Steve Howard is working on could help disarm deadly retroviruses such as HIV or SARS.
Howard, associate professor of biology at Middle Tennessee State University, would be the first to advise against making that kind of quantum-leap claim. It’s much too early. But assuming that the research that led to the polio vaccine first crawled, then walked, then charted a new course for civilization itself, Howard’s disco
Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered a gene responsible for the onset of aging, including age-related disorders such as infertility, reproductive problems and cataracts. This research, conducted in genetically modified mice, is promising in helping physicians understand and treat the same disorders in humans. The findings appear in the July issue of the journal Nature Genetics. [Baker, D.J. et al. (2004). Nat. Genet. 36, 744-749.
The discoveries came as the result of general investigati
A blood test that measures food-specific allergy antibodies can be used to help pediatric allergists with the difficult decision of when to reintroduce a food that a child has been allergic to, say researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
In their report, published in the July issue of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the researchers provide guidelines for using these antibody levels to determine which children should be offered an additional allergy test, known
OHSU study flies in face of belief that plasticity causes stem cells to transform
An Oregon Health & Science University study is defying a long-accepted assertion among many scientists that stem cells repair diseased tissue by transforming into other cell types in a process called plasticity.
The first study from OHSU’s new Oregon Stem Cell Center, published in the current issue of the journal Nature Medicine, found that mature macrophages derived from bone marrow stem
Finland has become the eleventh member state of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) [1].
The formal accession procedure was carried through as planned and has now been completed. Following the signing of the corresponding Agreement earlier this year (ESO PR 02/04), acceptance by the Finnish Parliament and ratification by the Finnish President of the Agreement as well as the ESO Convention and the associated protocols in June [2] and the deposit of the instruments of accession tod
Feedback
