A gel-like material being developed by scientists at the VA Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis could eventually mean the end of bifocals and contacts for millions of middle age and older people who suffer from presbyopia — literally “old vision.” The material, which could be used to replace old hardened lenses in patients, including those with cataracts, was described today at the 226th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
New study shows parasitic flatworms take destiny by the tail
In the research article “Larval swimming overpowers turbulent mixing and facilitates transmission of a marine parasite,” appearing in the September issue of the Ecological Society of America’s journal Ecology, Jonathan Fingerut of the University of California-Los Angeles and colleagues describe the results of the first study to examine larval behavior versus passive-transport processes under natural and simulated water
Test for EZH2 protein reveals how aggressive — and deadly — breast tumors will be
U-M, Harvard team shows EZH2 helps cancer cells form colonies and invade tissue
Like a killer charged with more than one murder, a tiny protein that has already been linked to deadly prostate cancer is now being implicated in lethal breast cancer. And it may soon help doctors tell cancer patients just how dangerous their tumors are.
The double-duty offender, called EZH2, appears to hel
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. To successfully fight the disease, doctors use a variety of techniques to diagnose the cancer and determine the extent of its spread throughout the body. When using positron emission tomography (PET) as a diagnostic tool, 18F-FDG has proven to be a reliable and accurate tracer, but false positives have been noted in areas of inflammation. Recently, German researchers conducted a study comparing the results of 18F-FDG PET and 18F-
Two short protein segments, called peptides, have been identified by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, for their ability to recognize and bind to beta-amyloid-containing plaques that accumulate abnormally in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients, providing a possible “Trojan horse” mechanism to diagnose and treat the disorder.
“These peptide sequences are potential new tools for the delivery of medication to the amyloid plaques that are fo
When a plane arrives late to an airport, it affects more than just the frustrated passengers on the tardy plane – the ripple effects could throw the entire day’s timetable off schedule.
Similarly, in a new study, North Carolina State University geneticists have found that changes to genes regulating olfactory behavior in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a popular insect model for genetics, have far greater implications than previously appreciated.
The study is presented in a p
A Duke University research collaboration has identified a likely route for “leakage” of therapeutic gene-bearing viruses out of tumors in experimental anti-cancer gene therapy experiments in laboratory animals. The group also found this toxic leakage can be avoided by using a chemical extracted from common brown algae.
Their work was described in a 9:30 a.m. Sept. 8 presentation at the American Chemical Society’s national meeting in New York, as well as in a research paper accepted for
By taking advantage of techniques developed in the search for Alzheimer’s treatments, a team of researchers has discovered that a molecule called Notch is essential for the development of critical kidney cells. The study, published online and in the Oct. 15 issue of the journal Development, provides key information about kidney development that could have implications for tissue regeneration.
“Tissue transplantation is fantastic but it would be so much better if we could instead raise o
A new software tool promises to aid scientists whose research has forced them to lead double lives – as computer programmers.
The tool, called the Tensor Contraction Engine (TCE), automatically generates the computer code that chemists, physicists, and materials scientists need to model the structure and interaction of complex molecules, saving them weeks or even months of work.
By making the computer code more efficient, the TCE could even reduce the amount of time required
Tiny organisms living in the oceans could be playing a significant role in human health, an audience at this year’s BA Festival of Science will hear today (8 September).
Professor Peter Liss of the University of East Anglia (UEA) School of Environmental Sciences will talk about how microscopic marine organisms called plankton produces gases that can travel in the atmosphere until they ultimately get deposited on land. Here they can become important in supplying micronutrients to human diets,
Making sugar coated proteins for use in medicines is a step closer thanks to a chance discovery by scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The research is presented today, Tuesday 9 September 2003, by Professor Brendan Wren at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting at UMIST in Manchester.
“We were trying to find out exactly how a particular bacteria, Campylobacter jejuni, causes severe diarrhoea,” says Professor Wren, “and discovered that it can also make
Scientists are examining which genetic characteristics of rice best control the growth of a common weed.
The growth of rice (Oryza sativa L.) is of great agricultural importance but it is affected by the common weed, barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli). Scientists from the Department of Crop Science at Konkuk University examined the use of rice allelopathic potential for weed control.
A laboratory bioassay using water extracts was conducted to determine the alleopathic p
Carbon nanotubes, recently created cylinders of tightly bonded carbon atoms, have dazzled scientists and engineers with their seemingly endless list of special abilities – from incredible tensile strength to revolutionizing computer chips. In today’s issue of Science, two University of Rochester researchers add another feat to the nanotubes’ list: ideal photon emission.
“The emission bandwidth is as narrow as you can get at room temperature,” says Lukas Novotny, professor of
Some cells in the kidney can not only survive without sufficient oxygen, but actually begin stretching and multiplying to make up for their fallen brethren, says a Medical College of Georgia researcher.
Some cancer cells similarly adapt; as a tumor grows too big for its blood and oxygen supply, some cells transform so they can survive without oxygen, emerging stronger and treatment resistant, says Dr. Zheng Dong, cell biologist.
He doubts that these two very different cell types tr
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered three of the faintest and smallest objects ever detected beyond Neptune. Each lump of ice and rock is roughly the size of Philadelphia and orbits just beyond Neptune and Pluto, where they may have rested since the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. The objects reside in a ring-shaped region called the Kuiper Belt, which houses a swarm of icy rocks that are leftover building blocks, or “planetesimals,” from the sola
As U.S. consumers seek reassurance that their hamburgers and steaks are free of deadly mad cow disease, researchers at the University of California-San Francisco say they may have found a promising solution. They’ve developed a faster, more reliable test for identifying the disease, possibly even in living cows. Current tests can only detect the disease after the cow dies.
The test was described today at the 226th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s larg
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