One-year study shows diet may be as effective and safe as conventional diets
A 3-center study led by researchers at the Weight and Eating Disorders Program of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reports the results of the first controlled trial of the Atkins Diet. The Atkins Diet limits carbohydrates but permits unrestricted amounts of protein and fat. Compared to a conventional, high- carbohydrate, low-calorie approach, Atkins dieters lost twice as much weight at 3 and
The identification and duplication of a gene that controls production of plants’ outermost protective coating may allow Purdue University researchers to create crops with increased drought resistance.
Scientists cloned the gene WAX2 after they discovered a fast-wilting mutant of Arabidopsis, a commonly used experimental plant. The gene is directly associated with the synthesis of the protective layer of plants, called the cuticle, and its contained waxes, according to the study publ
Images made by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have revealed two distant cosmic construction sites buzzing with activity. This discovery shows how super massive black holes control the growth of massive galaxies in the distant universe.
X-rays were detected from vast clouds of high-energy particles around the galaxies 3C294 and 4C41.17, which are 10 and 12 billion light years from Earth, respectively. The energetic particles were left over from past explosive events that can be traced
An enzyme crucial to formation of Alzheimer’s plaques and tangles may hold promise as a target for future medications, suggest studies in mice and cells. By blocking the enzyme, lithium stems the accumulation of beta amyloid, which forms Alzheimer’s plaques, scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) report in the May 22, 2003 Nature. Inhibiting the enzyme, glycogen synthase kinase – 3 alpha (GSK-3 alpha), also blocks formation of neurofibrilary tangles by the tau protein.
An innovative medical discovery that has the potential to vastly improve the lives of people suffering from coronary artery disease was implanted today in the first human patient. The antibody coated stent, developed by Dr. Michael Kutryk, a cardiologist and clinician scientist with St. Michael’s Hospital and assistant professor, University of Toronto, was implanted into the first human patient at Thoraxcenter, University Hospital Rotterdam in Holland. The procedure was transmitted via a live fe
It has long been known that tropical climate – by redistributing vast amounts of solar energy through welling hot air and the formation of towering cumulous clouds – influences weather in other parts of the world.
It remains unclear, however, how much the tropics can be affected by higher latitudes.
Now, with the help of a sophisticated computer model, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have shown that vast atmospheric “bridges” and oceanic “tunnels,” created by overturn
A new method developed by a University of Toronto mathematician gives the most precise understanding yet of diffusion, a finding with potential applications to phenomena such as the spread of heat through materials, population modeling and fluid seepage through rock or soil. “We were able to get much more precise information than anticipated,” says Robert McCann, a professor in U of T’s Department of Mathematics and co-investigator of an article in the March 19-23 issue of the Proceedin
USC researchers find ways to improve effectiveness against tumors
Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California have isolated a protein fragment derived from the cancer immunotherapy drug interleukin 2 (IL-2) that seems to enhance the uptake of chemotherapeutic agents into tumors.
In fact, says Alan Epstein, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology at the Keck School of Medicine, when this patented protein fragment is attached to a tumor-ta
Penn State environmental engineers estimate, based on tests with wastewater from small Pennsylvania food processors, that typical large food manufacturers could use their starch-rich wastewater to produce hydrogen gas worth close to $5 million or more each year. They present their findings today at the 103rd General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
Steven Van Ginkel, doctoral candidate, and Dr. Sang-Eun Oh, post-doctoral researcher in environmental engineering, conducted th
Compounds found in tea can stop the growth of bacteria that cause bad breath, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Polyphenols, chemical components of tea, prevent both the growth of bacteria responsible for bad breath and the bacteria’s production of malodorous compounds, the UIC researchers found. The findings were presented today at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Washington, D.C. by Christine Wu, professor of periodonti
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may damage more of the intestine than previously thought, according to images taken by a swallowable, capsule-size camera pill used in a Baylor College of Medicine study.
According to the study, announced today at the Digestive Disease Week 2003 conference in Orlando, capsule endoscopy detected NSAIDs-related injury in the small bowel, an area of the gastrointestinal tract unreachable by other diagnostic tools such as endoscopes. The tool detec
Using a laser range-finder, neurobiologists have scanned real-life scenes to gather millions of distance measurements to surfaces in each scene — analyzing the mass of data to explain a series of long-known but little-understood quirks in how people judge distances.
The measurements reveal, for example, that the tendency of people to estimate the distance of isolated objects as being six to 12 feet away arises because that is the average distance of actual objects and surfaces in the visual
A team of researchers, led by NASA and Columbia University scientists, found airborne, microscopic, black- carbon (soot) particles are even more plentiful around the world, and contribute more to climate change, than was previously assumed by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC).
The researchers concluded if these soot particles are not reduced, at least as rapidly as light-colored pollutants, the world could warm more quickly.
The findings appear in the latest issu
A new antibiotic appears effective against deadly strains of tuberculosis resistant to nearly all currently available treatments for the infectious disease. The antibiotic, called linezolid, recently saved the lives of four women and one girl who were gravely ill with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and who were hospitalized at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, according to a report by physicians at NYU School of Medicine. The patients, ranging in age from 10 to 54, were resistant to at least eigh
U-M study finds no relationship between backpack use, pain
Backpacks have gotten a bad rap. For years, specialists have urged school children to lighten their loads, wear their backpacks on both shoulders and avoid lugging around those heavy school bags whenever possible.
But new research from a University of Michigan Health System physiatrist indicates backpacks don’t cause the stress and strain on young backs that they’ve been linked to.
“There is no go
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have designed a new way to make vaccines against drugs of abuse that could become a valuable tool for treating addiction by helping the body clear the drug from the bloodstream.
The latest vaccine they created using this approach induces the body to clear nicotine.
“These new vaccines greatly suppress the reinforcing aspects of the drug,” says principal investigator Kim D. Janda, Ph.D. “Blocking it before it gets to the brain–th
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