Discovery could lead to development of protein-targeting drugs, OHSU researchers say
When HIV enters the human body, a fierce battle ensues between a ruthless viral protein and our long-misunderstood innate protection system. Ultimately, the protein seizes and destroys that system, and HIV replicates.
But Oregon Health & Science University researchers who discovered the mechanism by which this destruction occurs say our innate protection system could have a leg up in the mêl
Vanderbilt is one of nine US sites
Vanderbilt University Medical Center is participating in worldwide tests of a potential vaccine that can stimulate important immune responses against the virus that causes AIDS.
This is the first candidate vaccine against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to be studied simultaneously in so many locations, from Brazil to Thailand, according to Merck & Co. Inc., which developed the vaccine.
Vanderbilt currently is testing six p
Researchers have demonstrated that Methotrexate, a promising drug to treat hearing loss in patients with autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED), proved no more effective than placebo in a recently concluded four-year study.
In findings published in the October 8, 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a team headed by University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Professor and Chief of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Jeffrey Harris, M.D., also noted that the s
New findings by the University of Colorado at Boulder indicate tiny footpaths traveled by Costa Rican people 1,500 years ago were precursors to wide, deep and ritualistic roadways 500 years later leading to and from cemeteries and villages.
During the past two years, a team of graduate students, NASA archaeologists and remote sensing specialists led by Professor Payson Sheets spent much of their time mapping the small footpaths, many of which are invisible on the ground but visible by sate
Imagining movement of arms and legs that have been weakened from stroke may facilitate functional recovery of affected limbs, a Northwestern University study has found.
The effects of stroke vary, based on the type of stroke and its severity and location in the brain. The majority of strokes affect one of the brain’s hemispheres, resulting in muscle weakness or paralysis on the opposite side of the body — a condition known as hemiparesis.
Jennifer A. Stevens and co-researche
…and bring high power to small packages
Researchers have developed a new family of glasses that will bring higher power to smaller packages in lasers and optical devices and provide a less-expensive alternative to many other optical glasses and crystals, like sapphire. Called REAl(tm) Glass (Rare-earth – Aluminum oxide), the materials are durable, provide a good host for atoms that improve laser performance, and may extend the range of wavelengths that a single laser can currently
NASA satellite data was used for the first time to analyze the biology of hot spots along the coast of Antarctica. The biological oases are open waters, called polynyas, where blooming plankton support the local food chain.
The research found a strong association between the well being of Adelie Penguin populations in the Antarctic and the productivity of plankton in the polynyas. Polynyas are areas of open water or reduced ice cover, where one might expect sea ice. They are usually created
Wetlands are nature’s water filters. They collect water around river mouths and marshes, and whole communities of plants and micro-organisms feed off detritus in these murky depths.
Conventional chemical treatments of industrial waters consume cash, energy and time. Wetlands, by contrast, grow and clean themselves while they act as super-efficient absorbers of phosphates, nitrates and other environmental hazards.
The INDCONWET project applies these natural abilities to industrial w
Even as the genetic blueprint for Shadow the poodle was being completed in Maryland, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had been engaged in a long-term study that they hope will add functional gene information to the dog genome as well as benefit both canine and human health.
The still-in-progress Illinois study, in which researchers are measuring the effects of diet on gene expression in both weanling and geriatric dogs, is described in a paper in the October iss
Humans Share DNA That Helps Mice Move Ears, Eyes, Whiskers
University of Utah researchers have identified genes that ensure nerves develop in the correct part of the brain so mice can roll their eyeballs sideways, wiggle their whiskers, pull their ears back and blink their eyelids. The genes are common to all mammals, and so they likely help control human facial expressions such as smiles and frowns.
“In this study we looked at what nerves are made in a particular part of th
The interest sparked by airspace themes has once again brought together, in the Basque city of Donostia-San Sebastián, representatives of the main European enterprises in these sectors to deal with the applications of innovative materials capable of providing greater safety, longer life and increased wear to aircraft parts and components. Airspace sector experts from companies such as Sener, EADS-Airbus, CESA, amongst others, came together to analyse the applications of composite materials (composite
The building industry could significantly reduce materials-related CO2 emissions, through greater innovation within the industry itself together with action by governments to further stimulate existing processes towards environmentally friendly construction. This is the main thrust of Tessa Goverse’s dissertation, entitled “Building a Climate for Change – Reducing CO2 emissions through materials innovation in the European building industry”, which she will defend on Thursday 9 October at the Vri
Duke University Medical Center researchers have linked elevated levels of a specific heart protein in elderly hearts to a decrease in the pumping ability of the heart.
Since levels of this protein, known as G-alpha-i, are also elevated in patients with congestive heart failure, the researchers believe that not only do they better understand why the heart’s pumping ability decreases with age, but that there may be a pharmacological approach to prevent this age-related decline.
Could help improve treatment of anxiety
Behavior therapists may have a better way to help anxious patients, thanks to insights from a UCLA study of different ways to get mice past their fears. Rodents have long been used to study learning by association. Neuroscientists compared different ways of exposing mice to a stimulus that they had learned to fear, and found that “massing” the feared stimulus -– delivering it in concentrated bursts, not pacing it with longer pauses in between –
The thymus, a once overlooked glandular structure just behind the top of the sternum, has gained increasing attention from scientists in the past two decades because it is where disease-fighting T-cells mature.
Especially in AIDS patients, T-cell count is a relative indicator of the body’s ability to fight disease. Until recently, however, researchers have understood little about how T-cells are generated.
Now, thanks to what a researcher at the University of Georgia calls a
One year after miscarrying, two-thirds of women say their relationships with their husbands or partners stayed the same or improved, according to a recent study. The remaining third said their relationships grew more distant over the same time span.
“It seems that when miscarriage affects couples, it may stimulate growth or, conversely, unearth inability to support each other through troubling times,” says Kristen M. Swanson, R.N., Ph.D., F.A.A.N., professor of family and child nursing at
Feedback
