The mechanism used by the bacteria that cause anthrax, bubonic plague and typhoid fever to avoid detection and destruction by the body’s normal immune response – leading to life-threatening bacterial infections – has been identified by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.
Published in the March 18, 2004 issue of the journal Nature, the lab-culture research with mouse cells identifies a protein kinase called PKR that causes the death of macrophage
UCSF scientists have demonstrated for the first time that a change in the folded shape of a prion protein changes its infectious properties — including the prion’s ability to jump “species barriers.”
The research, based on studies of prion infectivity in yeast, solves one of the great puzzles about prions: If they are infectious proteins with no genetic material of their own and no ability to mutate genetically, how can a single prion exist in different strains that can cause differen
The first results from the world’s only phase III trial to compare tamoxifen with the newer hormone treatment exemestane in advanced breast cancer shows that exemestane is safe, superior and lengthens progression-free survival.
The median progression-free survival for patients taking exemestane was 10.9 months compared with 6.7 months for those taking tamoxifen. Complete and partial response rates were also higher in the exemestane arm with 7.4% responding completely and 36.8% partiall
Two independent research groups have established conclusively that prions are proteins, and that they do not depend on genes or other factors for transmission of their traits. According to the scientists, the studies answer a nagging question that had raised doubts among some researchers about the validity of the so-called “protein-only” hypothesis of prion infectivity.
Scientists have grappled for years with one of the central tenets of the protein-only hypothesis, namely, that a single pri
Despite conventional wisdom, simply watching television is not related to a child’s weight, but playing video games may be, new research indicates.
“Children with higher weight status spent moderate amounts of time playing electronic games, while children with lower weight status spent either little or a lot of time playing electronic games,” say Elizabeth A. Vandewater, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Texas in the Journal of Adolescence. “Moderate” play, while it sounds benign,
In the way magic eye posters simultaneously hide and reveal the main point of the picture, new research suggests that children might well be asking more than their simply-worded questions seem to indicate.
Normally, adults assume that when children ask, “What is this?” in reference to an object, they are seeking merely a name–some kind of label to help differentiate the elements of their rapidly burgeoning universes. However, a new study explored the possibility that children posing such
Wires, tubes and brushes make it possible to build and maintain the machines and devices we use on a daily basis. Now, with help from a surprising source, these same building blocks can easily be created on a scale 10,000 times smaller than the period at the end of this sentence.
Researchers at Argonne have figured out the basics of using electrochemistry to control the architecture of nanocrystals – small structures with dimensions in billionths of meters. Their findings, published in the
A shrub found in Southeast Asia can give you a rash like poison ivy; but it may also stop prostate cancer
The croton plant, long known to oriental herbalists and homeopaths as a purgative, has an oil in its seeds that shows promise for the treatment of prostate cancer – the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States. The active ingredient in the oil is 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, a compound generally known as TPA.
The finding was reported in t
Five years ago, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers first reported finding that the nutrient choline played a critical role in memory and brain function by positively affecting the brain’s physical development.
Differences in development influenced action, the scientists and their colleagues found. In animal experiments conducted at Duke University, both young and old rats performed significantly better on memory tasks if they received enough choline before birth compared
Today at the “Solar platform” test site in Almeria (Spain) the European Commission presented the state of play on its research programmes in alternative energy sources, including solar thermal, wave and geothermal energy. World energy consumption will double over the next 50 years, with Europe currently depending heavily on foreign energy sources. Currently, 41% of EU energy consumption is based on oil, followed by gas (23%), coal (15%), nuclear (15%) and only 6% is based on renewable energies. The t
The number of applications requiring random numbers increases continuously. They are used for example in cryptographic applications to guarantee the secrecy of electronic communications, in scientific calculations or in chance games and lotteries. In spite of this, their generation remains a difficult task. The Group of Applied Physics and the Computer Science Department of the University of Geneva team with the company id Quantique to launch the first website allowing to download random numbers from
Younger women who survive breast cancer have particular problems in coping with the physical and psychological after effects, even ten years later, a scientist said today. Speaking at the 4th European Breast Cancer Conference in Hamburg, Germany, Dr. Lonneke van de Poll-Franse, from the Comprehensive Cancer Centre South in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, said that there was a growing need for special programmes to be tailored to the needs of long-term cancer survivors.
Dr. van de Poll-Franse s
Significant progress towards identifying the genetic make-up of individual tumours, hence allowing treatment choices to be made based on personalised information, was announced at the 4th European Breast Cancer Conference today. Dr. Alane Koki, Chief Scientific Officer of Ipsogen, a French biotechnology company, told a news briefing that, subject to the successful conclusion of ongoing validation studies, the Breast Cancer ProfileChipTM (BCPC) should be available for use in pathology laboratories by
New research published in Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture suggests that sherry may have the same health benefits as red wine. Sherry contains antioxidants that help control cholesterol levels, say Spanish scientists.
Studies by researchers at University of Seville have shown that sherry, like red wine, contains antioxidants called polyphenols, which reduce the occurrence of coronary artery disease. They work by preventing the oxidation of Low-Density Lipoproteins (LDL), which
A ’fast, easy and confidential’ online hospital order system was recently successfully tested in hospitals in Belgium, Greece and Italy.
Apostolos Kontogeorgis, coordinator of the IST programme-funded project OPUS, saw a great need for such a technology. “The pharmaceutical industry has a wasteful problem. Over 10 per cent of products are slow moving or completely stagnant… Furthermore, healthcare providers are looking forward to lowering their costs and to enforcing more transpar
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) have demonstrated in-orbit the use of a steam propulsion system onboard the UK-DMC satellite, launched on 27th September 2003.
The novel micro-propulsion experiment used 2.06 grams of water as propellant. This ‘green’ propellant is non-toxic, non-hazardous to ground operators and results in improved specific impulse over conventional cold gas nitrogen, at a significantly lower cost.
During the first in-orbit firing, the thruster was pre-heated
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