New evidence published online in Pest Management Science reports the first signs of resistance to pyrethroid insecticides in a population of mosquitoes from Marin County, California. The species in question is not only a major pest, but also acts as a vector of West Nile virus, a virus that spread rapidly westward across the United States after it first invaded the new world in New York in 1999.
The study, carried out by researchers in California, determined that the Culex pipiens complex m
Because of their therapeutic potential, stem cells are today a major focus of at-tention in biomedical research. To realise this potential, however, it is essential to know the signal factors that can regulate the differentiation of a stem cell into the various cell types of an organism. An important factor in stem cell biology is the signal protein “Wnt”. In the case of quite a number of stem cell types, such as embryonal stem cells or stem cells of the central nervous system, “Wnt” re-sults in cell
An international team of scientists from the UK, Australia, Italy and the USA have announced in today’s issue of the journal Science Express [ 8th January 2004 ] the first discovery of a double pulsar system.
They have shown that the compact object orbiting the 23-millisecond pulsar PSR J0737-3039A with a period of just 2.4 hours is not only, as suspected, another neutron star but is also a detectable pulsar, PSR J0737-3039B, that is rotating once every 2.8 seconds.
Professor A
Research among households in Peru in this week’s issue of THE LANCET highlights how healthy growth of infants in less-developed countries is directly related to water supply, water storage, and sanitation-children who grow up in households where these facilities are unavailable or of poor quality are more likely to experience diarrhoeal disease and reduced body growth, with implications for later adult development.
William Checkley from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins
Sea water being churned in the ocean off Antarctica may be having a greater effect on global patterns of ocean movement than previously thought, according to new research reported in this week’s edition of the international journal Science (9 January 2004).
The research, lead by scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA), shows that “remarkably intense and widespread” mixing of water in the Southern Ocean occurs over large regions where the ocean bed is rough.
The main aut
A joint European/University of Hawaii team of astronomers has for the first time observed a stellar ‘survivor’ to emerge from a double star system involving an exploded supernova.
Supernovae are some of the most significant sources of chemical elements in the Universe, and they are at the heart of our understanding of the evolution of galaxies.
Supernovae are some of the most violent events in the Universe. For many years astronomers have thought that they occur in either solitary
From ceramics to jewellery, from Greece to Slovakia, there are hundreds of small suppliers, artists, associations, museums and commercial intermediaries that comprise Europe’s craft industry. IST-project EASYCRAFT provides the business framework and technological platform to network all these craft actors, enabling them to offer value-added services demanded by today’s craft consumers, and to meet demand for new products.
Advantages of the EASYCRAFT platform
The st
Georgetown University Medical Center researchers today published the first ever fMRI study of hyperlexia, a rare condition in which children with some degree of autism display extremely precocious reading skills. Appearing in Neuron, the case study uncovers the neural mechanisms that underlie hyperlexia, and suggest that hyperlexia is the true opposite of the reading disability dyslexia.
Hyperlexia is found in very rare cases in children who are on the “autism spectrum,” meaning they
Climate change could drive more than a quarter of land animals and plants into extinction, according to a major new study published in tomorrow’s edition of the journal Nature
The study estimates that climate change projected to take place between now and the year 2050 will place 15 to 37 percent of all species in several biodiversity-rich regions at risk of extinction. The scientists believe there is a high likelihood of extinctions due to climate change in other regions, as well.
Northwestern University researchers have prevented learning and memory deficits in a model of Alzheimer’s disease using a gene-targeting approach to block production of beta-amyloid, or “senile,” plaques, one of the hallmarks of the disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition affecting over 15 million people worldwide that causes memory loss and, ultimately, dementia. Some research suggests that Alzheimer’s disease is caused by an increased amyloid burden in
In four months, when flower buds spring up from the ground, you may wonder how plants know it’s time to bloom. This question has baffled plant biologists for years. Now, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have an answer: a gene that functions as an alarm clock to rouse certain plants from a vegetative state in the winter to a flowering state in the spring.
According to the researchers, the findings, published in the Jan. 8 issue of the journal Nature, could lead to new metho
Ophthalmology researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a key risk factor for the development of cataracts. For the first time, they have demonstrated an association between loss of gel in the eye’s vitreous body — the gel that lies between the back of the lens and the retina — and the formation of nuclear cataracts, the most common type of age-related cataracts.
The researchers reported their findings in the January issue of Investigative Op
Long-lasting depot medication appears safe and effective for treatment of narcotic addiction
A study in the January issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence reports that a long-lasting depot medication appears safe and effective for treatment of narcotic addiction. In the study a single injection prevented withdrawal discomfort for 6 weeks in heroin-dependent patients, reduced the effects of injected opiates, and provided a comfortable detoxification as it gradually wore off.
New insights may help brain scientists, diabetic patients, many others
A mystery of basic cell metabolism that has persisted for a century has come a major step closer to giving up its secrets.
Teams of scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a mechanism that triggers increased blood flow to brain cells actively engaged in work. The findings appear in two papers in the Jan. 13 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci
Molecule developed from marine mollusk overcomes risks of current methods
Human embryonic stem cell (HESC) lines, or cultures, in the U.S. are not suitable for use in the budding field of regenerative medicine. Their creation using mouse feeder cells, a specialized growth medium, allows scientists to study their basic characteristics, but ultimately the HESCs are too risky to develop in applied medicine because mouse-associated viruses possibly contaminate them.
Now, Rock
Less than five years after being removed from the endangered species list, peregrine falcons could be facing a new threat. A Swedish study found that eggs of peregrine falcons in that country contain high levels of a popular flame retardant, deca-BDE, which scientists have long thought could not get into wildlife. Falcons in North America are likely to face the same threat, the researchers say.
The birds’ eggs contained some of the highest levels of BDEs (brominated diphenyl ethers) ev
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