Researchers from Chicago have identified focal neurological deficits as a major group of presenting symptoms among patients with West Nile Virus infection, which became epidemic in the United States in 2002. Focal neurological deficits included visual loss, muscle weakness, paralysis of one half of the body, abnormally slow movement, tremor with rigidity, numbness or tingling and unstable gait. Findings of their study are being presented at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting in Honolul
A protein responsible for the assembly of cell cilia – the hair-like projections from cells – may cause polycystic kidney disease, the most common genetic cause of kidney failure, according to a new study at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
The study, which will be published online this week and will appear in a future edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to directly test the role of cilia in polycystic kidney disease. Previous studies have h
Vitamin C helped convert mouse embryonic stem cells growing in the laboratory to heart muscle cells, researchers report today’s rapid track publication of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Rapid track articles are released online early because they have major clinical impact or represent important basic science discoveries. This basic-research discovery could lead to future research on ways to treat people suffering from damaged heart muscle.
“Alth
The same characteristics that make misfolded proteins known as prions such a pernicious medical threat in neurodegenerative diseases may offer a construction toolkit for manufacturing nanoscale electrical circuits, researchers report this week in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists working at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and the University of Chicago write that they have used the durable, self-assembling fibers formed by prions as
EMBL researchers discover a mechanism by which cells monitor estrogen
The hormone estrogen is recognized by most people because of its important role in women’s reproductive cycles. It also has other functions in the body: it drives some types of cells to replicate themselves, and it has been linked to the development of tumors. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg have now described a new model of how cells constantly monitor their exposur
Though Einstein put his foot down and demanded that nothing can move faster than light, a new device developed at the University of Rochester may let you outpace a beam by putting your foot down on the gas pedal. At 127 miles per hour, the light in the new device travels more than 5 million times slower than normal as it passes through a ruby just a few centimeters long.
Instead of the complex, room-filling mechanisms previously used to slow light, the new apparatus is small and, in the wor
Just as vegetables are essential to balancing the human diet, the inclusion of vegetation may be equally essential to balancing Earth’s climate models.
Scientists at MIT who were trying to create accurate models of climate change in the southern portion of the Sahara desert found that including a realistic component of vegetation growth and decay was absolutely essential. Without including the vegetation as a variable (rather than a fixed parameter), the models were not able to show the regi
The first clinical trials of a new type of cancer treatment that releases the “brakes” on immune cells indicate that this approach enhances attacks on tumors while sparing the body’s own tissue.
The results of the phase I clinical trials of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 blockade therapy were published online on April 1, 2003, in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers involved in the study included James Allison, a Howard Hughe
In a new study published in the April 1, 2003 issue of Genes and Development, scientists at University Health Network’s Advanced Medical Discovery Institute (AMDI)/Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI) have shown that a molecule called caspase-8 plays a key role in the immune system response, by controlling how T-cells are activated to respond to infections.
T-cells are white blood cells that recognize and fight off viruses and bacteria. When T-cells encounter these foreign invaders they build up
People who live in neighborhoods where stores, schools and homes are within walking or cycling distance from each other make almost twice as many weekly trips on foot as residents of less “walkable” neighborhoods, according to new research.
And all that car-free traveling can add up to better health: One or two extra walking trips a week can burn off enough calories to drop nearly two pounds in a year, which is about how much weight American adults gain annually.
If a large propo
Black holes really are holes – objects without a surface – say Drs Christine Done and Marek Gierlinski in a paper accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Having an “event horizon” rather than a surface is the property that makes something a black hole but, by definition, it’s impossible ever to see one directly. However, these new results give direct evidence of the existence of such holes in spacetime.
Drs Done and Gierlinski set out to track
Patients with sickle cell disease have mutant haemoglobin proteins that form deadly long, stiff fibres inside red blood cells. A research team led by University of Warwick researcher Dr Matthew Turner, propose a mathematical model in the 28 March online issue of PRL to explain the persistent stability of these deadly fibres. The theory suggests that an inherent “twistiness” in the strands that make up the fibres could be the key to their durability and possibly to new treatments.
Red blood
Most people are familiar with the fact that sensitive instruments known as seismographs can detect earthquakes taking place many hundreds or thousands of miles away. By studying the waves from these tremors, scientists can find out about the conditions deep inside our rocky planet.
In the same way, astronomers are now able to measure millions of sound waves that propagate throughout the Sun, causing it to vibrate or ring like a bell. This technique, known as helioseismology, is the solar eq
New research at the Institute of Food Research shows that two food components recognised for their ability to fight cancer are up to 13 times more powerful when put to work together. The results are published in the latest issue of international journal Carcinogenesis.
The study focuses on genes that play an important role in tumour formation, tumour progression, and the spread of tumour cells. The food components sulforaphane and selenium were found to have an increased impact on these gene
Unique Hand-Over-Hand Rotation Transports Molecules Through Cells
Within every neuron is a vast protein trail system traversed by a small protein engine called Myosin V. The long-standing question of how this molecule moves may have finally been resolved by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Their findings, presented in this week’s issue of Nature, show how myosin V can move ’hand-over-hand’ on tracks, composed of a protein called actin,
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital expands treatment options
People who suffer from irregular heartbeat now have a different treatment option, thanks to a new procedure being offered at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
RWJUH is the first hospital in New Jersey and one of a few centers in the nation to offer patients the option of Microwave Ablation as a stand-alone procedure to eliminate atrial fibrillation, the most common form of irregular heartbeat.
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