Ever wished that you could know what a place was like before you booked a holiday or you could revisit where you went on holiday? A new virtual reality tool created by the IST project BENOGO allows you to do just this.
The project was initiated to build on research into a new image-based rendering (IBR) technique that had been carried out by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, one of the project partners. BENOGO aimed to further develop the technologies to produce an innovative system to pe
Scientists at the University of Bath are beginning research to find a new chemical based on plant oils and sugar which would make washing powder, shampoos and soaps less damaging to the environment.
Researchers from the University’s Chemical Engineering Department have been given a £95,000 grant to develop a new complex chemical reaction which would produce a range of molecules that could replace the petroleum-based chemicals used now in many cleaning materials.
Household deter
A new study demonstrates that a protein called periostin promotes deadly spreading and late stage progression of colon cancer. The research results demonstrate that periostin promotes metastatic growth of colon cancer by activating signaling molecules that encourage cell survival and identify the protein as a potential therapeutic target for the control of colon cancer.
Colorectal cancer commonly metastasizes to the liver and is the second leading cause of death from cancer in the United St
Tissue damage due to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is reduced and lifespan lengthened in mouse models of the disease when a naturally occurring fibrous protein called fibrin is depleted from the body, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.
The study, reported online the week of April 19, 2004 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, identifies fibrin as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in the disease, which affe
Team work is just as important in your brain as it is on the playing field: A new study published online on April 19 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that groups of brain cells can substantially improve their ability to discriminate between different orientations of simple visual patterns by synchronizing their electrical activity.
The paper, “Cooperative synchronized assemblies enhance orientation discrimination,” by Vanderbilt professor of biomedical engineeri
Ever since the AIDS epidemic began more than two decades ago, scientists have been trying to understand why as many as one-quarter of those infected with HIV develop dementia.
Now, researchers at Jefferson Medical College may have an answer.
Investigators led by virologist Roger J. Pomerantz, M.D., director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Environmental Medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, have shown that the virus produces
Kidney disease may affect as many as one in twelve people, and causes millions of deaths each year. Currently, the diagnosis of kidney function relies mainly on blood and urine tests, an indirect means of figuring out how well they’re working.
Standard MRI scanners, used to view many organs of the body, do not always show the whole picture for kidneys. This is because the MRI equipment found in hospitals and clinics works by imaging water molecules in the body. But in water-logged kidn
The “scanning electron microscope” (SEM) has been a basic research tool for fifty years, and for those fifty years, scientists have been looking for better ways to observe biological samples under its beam. The problem is that the viewing chamber of the SEM must contain a vacuum (in which liquid water in tissues “boils” away). To overcome this difficulty, scientists have had to resort to all sorts of complicated procedures, including coating the specimens with an ultra-fine layer of gold, quick-freez
Trend comes despite critical public health need
Despite a critical need for new antibiotics to treat drug-resistant infections and other infectious diseases, very few new antibiotics are being developed, according to a study in the May 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.
To document trends, researchers evaluated Food and Drug Administration (FDA) databases of approved drugs and the research and development (R&D) programs of the world’s largest
Mayo Clinic researchers have found a way to revive immunity in mice that have abnormal or deficient immune systems. The discovery may lead to a means of restoring immunity to individuals with immunodeficiency diseases such as AIDS and cancer. Also, because the research involves an existing therapy, application may be possible in the near future.
The research team, led by Mayo Clinic immunologists Marilia Cascalho, M.D., Ph.D., and Jeffrey Platt, M.D., report in this month’s Journal of I
A Mayo Clinic discovery about a protein known as Dynamin-2 has thrown conventional wisdom for a loop. Finding the protein on the centrosome, a minute structure near a cell’s nucleus, may lead to new strategies for stopping cancer growth.
The Mayo team, already known for discovering several families of dynamins, this time discovered them — not on a membrane, as expected — but on the unlikely centrosome which has no membrane. It was the last place they expected to find them, but the surpris
Young women risk trying to emulate fantasy images, developing eating disorders
Viewing media images of thin, glamorous models may have a positive effect on young women’s self-image – but it may still lead to destructive dieting behaviour, says a University of Toronto study.
“The traditional assumption about body image is that exposure to thin images in the media makes young women feel bad about themselves, leading to dieting and, in extreme cases, to eating disorders,”
Police who need to dust suspicious packages for fingerprints could someday rely on a robotic device to do this dangerous work.
The device, developed by scientists from U of T and the University of Calgary, offers a safe way to collect fingerprint evidence from packages that might be too dangerous for a human to approach. A study describing the development of the device, called a Robot Accessory for Fuming Fingerprint Evidence (RAFFE), appears in the March 2004 issue of the Journal of Forensi
A researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine says a small study shows promise for a nutritional supplement that may help boost fertility in women who have difficulty conceiving. Initial results indicate that of the women who took the supplement, one-third became pregnant after five months.
“This was a small, pilot study but if the findings hold up in a larger trial, the supplement may be a feasible treatment for some women,” said Lynn Westphal, MD, assistant professor of obste
In one of the first national surveys of dental hygienists about their knowledge and screening practices for oral cancers, researchers at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Dental Medicine found indications that while dental hygienists view screening for oral cancer an important component of their practice and possess comparable oral cancer knowledge with the general dentist in the private practice, they often do not carry out oral cancer screenings.
Oral cancer impacts people.
Alternative hormones, doses and delivery systems not explored in WHI may exhibit
Low-dose transdermal hormone therapy (HT) remains a viable short-term alternative for women to treat debilitating menopausal symptoms, offer lipid protection and preserve bone health, despite the negative news about oral HT effects from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), according to a recent review of peer-reviewed medical studies by Mary Jane Minkin, M.D., of Yale University School of Medicine, i
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