Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers have demonstrated the ability to identify kidney cancer, including localized (stage I) cancer, in the urine of affected patients. What’s more, urine tests were repeated following the removal of the cancerous kidney and none of the tests showed DNA evidence of disease. These research findings were presented at the American Urological Association Annual Meeting May 8-13, 2004 in San Francisco.
As with other cancers, an early diagnosis of kidney cancer
Many sexual partners, history of gonorrhea seen as risks for prostate cancer
Men who have had gonorrhea are more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, new research from the University of Michigan Health System finds.
Having more than 25 lifetime sexual partners also increases odds of prostate cancer, by more than 2.5 times that of men with five or fewer sexual partners, the study found.
The conclusions are part of the Flint Men’s Health Study, a populat
Findings presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) indicate that prostate cancer could be detected as many as five years earlier than it is currently being diagnosed by testing for a protein in tissue that indicates the presence of early disease. The University of Pittsburgh researchers suggest that testing for the protein, called early prostate cancer antigen (EPCA), could serve as an adjunct to the current diagnostic approach to patients with elevated levels of pr
The family of bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB) and leprosy are notoriously sturdy. And although the diseases they cause have been held in check for the past 50 years by antibiotics, some strains are becoming increasingly resistant to existing therapy.
Now, however, a new chink has been found in the cellular armor that makes these infectious diseases difficult to treat. The discovery, reported today (May 9) in the online editions of the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology by
Moscow researchers have solved the most challenging problem: they made E. coli synthesize one of the most toxic elements of cobra’s poison. It was no simpler a task than keeping a terrarium. The scientists’ efforts were supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and INTAS.
Natural poisons have always been an attraction for researchers, but it is very hard to study them as poisons are multi-componential and each of them affects cells in its own specific way. Such are alpha-neuroto
These images were taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express of the Acheron Fossae region, an area of intensive tectonic (continental ‘plate’) activity in the past.
The images show traces of enormous stress and corresponding strain in the crust of the Red Planet. The HRSC was pointed twice at this interesting geological feature in the Acheron Fossae mountain range, during orbits 37 and 143.
The feature is situated at approximately 35º-40º North a
Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT is serving as an expert in a European project for developing processing methods for mobile videos. In the near future, consumers will be able to store videos taken by video camera and video phones to their personal digital archives, where they can search and browse them, share them with their friends and view them on their own devices. The videos are easy to find and view on a computer, mobile phone or handheld computer. The new methods promote the commercial
Dutch researcher Niels Cornelisse used computer models to study the electrochemical communication between cells from rat kidneys and cells from the pituitary gland of a toad species. He found many similarities in the coupling of chemical and electrical signals in these completely different cells.
Cells transmit electrical and chemical signals to other cells to coordinate the various cellular activities in the organism. Cornelisse made a mathematical model for the link between the chemical c
During research carried out in the Netherlands, Marilia Santos Silva discovered that some tobacco plants die if a virus infects them, whereas others survive.
A virus can quickly and completely infect a plant by spreading through the plant’s vascular system. This is analogous to human viruses spreading through the circulatory system in the human body. Santos Silva discovered that the cowpea mosaic virus could not penetrate the vascular system of some tobacco plants. In the future
Dutch researcher Steve van Straaten set a record during his doctoral research. The researcher registered the fastest ever change in the X-ray emission originating from a binary star. The record-breaking binary star consists of a neutron star and a lighter companion star.
Astronomer Steve van Straaten studied the time variations in the X-ray emission from various binary stars. He found that one of the binary stars had a vibrational frequency of 1330 Hz. This means that the intensity of the X-
A team of expert marine biologists and chemists has carried out research which proves for the first time that oceans and shores are contaminated with microscopic fragments and fibres of plastic.
Eight scientists from the Universities of Southampton and Plymouth and the Plymouth-based Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science have today (Friday 7 May) published their findings in the prestigious international journal Science.
The article ’Lost at Sea: Where Is All the Plasti
Dolphins off the coast of East Africa are exposed to a number of threats, like indirect catching, hunting, and environmental impact. In her dissertation at the Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Sweden, Eva Stensland has studied behavioral ecology in Indo-Pacific bottlenose and humpback dolphins, off Zanzibar, Tanzania.
For the last decade dolphin tourism around the southern coast of Zanzibar has replaced the previous hunting of dolphins, where they were used as bait for shark fis
VLT Measures Properties of New Jupiter-Size Objects in Very Close Orbits
Discovering other Worlds
During the past decade, astronomers have learned that our Solar System is not unique, as more than 120 giant planets orbiting other stars were discovered by radial-velocity surveys (cf. ESO PR 13/00, ESO PR 07/01, and ESO PR 03/03).
However, the radial-velocity technique is not the only tool for the detection of exoplanets. When a planet happens to pass in front o
Project will examine potential for artificial intelligence
A project jointly led by Cardiff University and Salford University will examine whether it is possible for a computer to make a judgement about the acoustic quality of a space, such as a concert hall or pop music arena.
Professor Jonathon Chambers of the School of Engineering at Cardiff and Professor Trevor Cox at Salford’s Acoustics Research Centre aim to discover whether an artificial intelligence system could
IRD scientists have revealed, in an article just published in Nature, that the cooling event known in the Northern Hemisphere as the Younger Dryas (about 12 000 years B.P.) was expressed in the Pacific by the absence of any South Pacific Convergence Zone activity and the movement of tropical waters closer to the Equator. This observation shows the interaction which occurs between the low and high latitudes and provides boundaries relevant for building ocean-atmosphere climatic models. Geochemical ana
McGill University researchers design and test computer games that enhance self-esteem
Can computer games help raise self-esteem? Absolutely. In a world-first study, researchers from McGill University’s Department of Psychology have created and tested computer games that are specifically designed to help people enhance their self-acceptance.
Available for public consultation at www.selfesteemgames.mcgill.ca, the games have catchy names such as Wham!, EyeSpy: The Matrix a
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