A team of researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, lead by Professor Jordi Alberola, has demonstrated the efficacy and safety of a new type of antibiotic, belonging to the family called antimicrobial peptides, for treating canine leishmaniasis, which is a disease that also affects humans. It is the first time that these antibiotics have been demonstrated to be useful against parasitic diseases in real clinical situations. The antibiotic can also improve treatment of other infections, p
ESA’s new Weather Today website allows you to access data from space relied upon by weather forecasters across Europe.
Perched in geostationary orbit 36,000 km above Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, the seventh ESA-developed Meteosat satellite maintains a constant weather eye on the European continent and its neighbours. Day and night every 30 minutes it routinely acquires a new image combining visual, infrared and water vapour channels.
Meteosat operator Eumetsat – the intergove
ESA PR 10-2004. A pioneering demonstration of communications between the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter and NASA’s Mars exploration rover, Spirit, has succeeded.
On 6 February, while Mars Express was flying over the area that Spirit is examining, the orbiter transferred commands from Earth to the rover and relayed data from the rover back to Earth.
“This was the first in-orbit communication between ESA and NASA spacecraft, and we have also created the first
For the first time, scientists at the University of Virginia Health System have engineered cells that produce the pathological hallmark found in the brain cells of all patients with Parkinson’s disease – Lewy bodies, tiny balls of damaged protein, found only in the brain and discovered more than ninety years ago.
The U.Va. research on Lewy bodies means that scientists now have a model of the pathological changes found in Parkinson’s disease “in a dish” and can use this cellular model for ex
In these days of heightened security and precautions, surveillance cameras watching over us as we cross darkened parking lots or looking over our shoulders at airports may seem reassuring, but they’re only of use if someone is watching them. Researchers at the University of Rochester’s computer science laboratories have found a way to give these cameras a rudimentary brain to keep an eye out for us, and the research is already been licensed to a Rochester company with an aim toward homeland security.
Fossilized bones found in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, are likely those of the earliest known South American penguin, which probably lived 20 million years earlier than scientists had supposed. The new find doubles the known fossil record of penguins in South America.
That’s the conclusion of Dr. Julia A. Clarke, assistant professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences at North Carolina State University, and her colleagues from Argentina, who published their findings in the December 200
Researchers have created a portable, chip-size version of a detection system that is commonly used by industry and law enforcement to identify everything from agricultural toxins to DNA.
The miniature detector could move certain types of testing from the lab into the field, saving time and money while increasing security.
The team, which used a newly developed laser-processing technique to create the miniature detector, was supported by the National Science Foundation and led by a P
Killing the disease without killing the patient is an old dilemma for doctors fighting cancer and some of the tougher microorganisms such as fungal infections in individuals with suppressed immune systems. Drugs have little effect when a patient’s own immune system isn’t available to help, and these fungi can resist external radiation that would kill even a perfectly healthy human. But they can be easily killed by a very small dose of radiation inside their cells.
Monoclonal antib
Bone marrow stromal cells release a blood vessel-dilating hormone found in the brain — a finding that suggests the hormone may be tapped to help with recovery from stroke or other neurological injuries disrupting blood flow to the central nervous system, researchers at the University of South Florida and James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital report for the first time. The hormone is known as brain natriuretic peptide.
The laboratory study was published in the January 2004 issue of the jou
New research by Historian Dr Rebecca Earle from the University of Warwick charts love letters from the 16th -18th centuries to reveal that over 300 years ago men commonly used flowery, romantic words to express emotions, and that the emotionally open ‘New Man’ is not so new. Her research also suggests that 16th century Spaniards were more romantic than their American or English contemporaries.
The study of 303 letters entitled “Letters and Love in Colonial Spanish America” charts the langu
An observational study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET sheds more light on the theory that ageing is associated with a shortening of chromosomes in somatic (ie. non-reproductive) cells. Results of the study suggest that the gene responsible for telomere shortening is inherited via the X chromosome.
Previous research including a 2003 Lancet paper (Lancet 2003; 361: 393-95) has shown that the relative length of the ends of chromosomes (telomeres) is associated with age-related illness and m
In Treibstoffen enthaltene Schwefel- und Stickstoff-Verbindungen setzen bei der Verbrennung Schwefel- und Stickoxide frei, die die Umwelt belasten. Daher wird immer größerer Wert darauf gelegt, dass Benzin, Diesel und Kerosin möglichst frei von diesen Stoffen sind.
Forscher der University of Michigan haben eine neue Methode entwickelt, um unliebsame Stickstoffverbindungen aus Diesel zu entfernen. Ralph T. Yang und Arturo J. Hernández-Maldonado suchten nach einer adsorptiven Methode, um stör
The preparation of Espresso Coffee (EC) is influenced by factors related to the coffee and water and other technical conditions related to the machine. Susana Andueza has presented her doctoral thesis about Influence of technological variables on espresso coffee quality. Antioxidant and pro-oxidant capacity of coffee in the University of Navarre.
The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of hot water temperature (88, 92, 96 and 98º C), water pressure (7, 9 and 11atm), grinding gra
Planning a visit to one of Europe’s remote nature reserves? An information system under development by the REGEO project will allow you to plan hiking routes in 3D from your PC or access local restaurants over a PDA once you have arrived.
Four different nature parks in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland tested a geo-multimedia information system developed by IST project REGEO, based on mainly four components that can work independently.
The Web application is bas
European researchers launch 10 million Euro collaborative technology project: EMBL-Hamburg coordinates a four-year integrated research project within the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commission:
The European Commission has given Europe a huge boost in the field of Structural Genomics, awarding the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and its partners 10 Million Euro for an integrated project called “BIOXHIT.” The project aims to create a common platform throughout Europe f
An e-commerce solution developed for Alpine tourism combining geographical 3D information with actual offers for visitors has met with success and is being extended to other tourist regions.
In the pilot version created by IST-Project TourServ, a portal site was developed and tested in the Italian winter resort of Scopello, available for use by foreign travel agents and tourists on site to prepare actual and relevant information tips. Among the information supplied is lodging, travel, weathe
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