Researchers have discovered a gene that appears to be critical for maintaining a healthy sense of balance in mice. The study, led by a team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, appears in the April 1 issue of the journal Human Molecular Genetics and online March 24.
“Loss of balance is a significant problem in the elderly because it can lead to dangerous falls and injuries,” says one of the study’s principal investigators, David M. Ornitz, M.D., Ph.D., professor of
David L. Rodland, a Ph.D. student in Virginia Tech’s Department of Geological Sciences, has been studying encrustation, or the colonization of seashells by other marine organisms that live permanently attached to hard surfaces.
Examples of encrusting organisms (or epibionts) include serpulid and spirorbid worms, bryozoans, barnacles, and algae. Many epibionts produce their own calcareous tubes, shells, or skeletons, which are attached to that surface and may become fossilized along wit
A procedure known as lung-volume reduction surgery (LVRS) appears to improve overall health and quality of life for individuals with end-stage emphysema, and these effects last as long as five years in more than half of this population, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The findings appear in the March issue of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. The procedure was developed at the School of Medicine in 1993 by the study’s
ESA’s Integral satellite is detecting gamma-ray bursts at a rate of nearly one per day, establishing itself as a key player in the hunt for these enigmatic explosions.
Launched in October 2002, Integral has just captured four bursts in the last four months right in the middle of its field of view. Such precision observations are providing scientists with a remarkable view of gamma-ray bursts, which occur randomly, fade within seconds, and yet shine with the intensity of millions
Scrap tyres could provide an inexpensive source of raw materials for the chemical industry, according to Professor Paul Williams of the University of Leeds who will speak on Tuesday 25 March at the Waste Management conference, part of the Institute of Physics Congress at Heriot-Watt University.
Approximately 150 million scrap tyres are generated throughout Europe each year, about a fifth of those in the UK alone. Most of these are simply buried in landfills or accumulate in enormous scrap-ty
Eye diseases and circulation problems can now be observed in full colour thanks to the development of a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) that operates simultaneously with low-power red, green and blue lasers. Dr Ayyakkannu Manivannan will report the latest test results on the SLO at the Institute of Physics Congress at Heriot-Watt University on Tuesday 25 March. He will demonstrate how the SLO system can reveal early retinal damage in diabetic patients and inflammatory macular disease in the elde
Scientists studying trees ranging from saplings to 130 years old in Canada’s northern forests have discovered that the period since a fire last swept through an area determines how much carbon the forest can store. Twenty to forty year old stands absorb more carbon than those 70 years old and older, despite being smaller and having less biomass or plant material.
Boreal or northern forests account for close to 25 percent of total carbon stored in vegetation and soils in the Earth’s biospher
Intriguing Structural Strategy Aims at Making Designer Plastics Affordable
The future was supposed to be “plastics,” according to advice given in a 1960s movie The Graduate. Many a company thought that future meant the gradual ascendancy of “designer” or specialty plastics, but almost 40 years later the market is still dominated by plastics that can be manufactured cheaply in bulk.
Six researchers from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) and one at Helsinki U
Sascha Abramson has been investigating new methods to ensure that polymer medical implants in the human body don’t fail. Abramson looked at degradable polymers, ones the body can ultimately absorb, to gain a deeper understanding of how and why their structures change – crucial parts of a puzzle that must be solved for polymers to perform predictably and successfully in medical implants.
Her research was conducted as a postdoctoral associate at Rutgers’ New Jersey Center for Biomaterials in
In the future, consumers may be adding a powerful “spice” to their food that could save lives. Researchers in Canada are developing a natural antibody cocktail that can help prevent the most common foodborne germs, including E. coli and Salmonella, which cause thousands to become sick or die each year in this country.
Derived from freeze-dried egg yolk, the substance is nicknamed a spice because it can be sprinkled or sprayed onto meats, fruits and vegetables to complement existing sanitati
Because methanol, as a liquid, would be easier to dispense using current infrastructure, it will likely be one of the first fuels for fuel cells.
Speaking at the 225th national meeting of the American Chemical Society March 23-27 in New Orleans, Yu Seung Kim, a former research scientist at Virginia Tech, will report the results of studies at Virginia Tech to determine the optimum materials for use as a proton exchange membrane in a methanol-based fuel cell.
Methanol is the
Aim is better filters for contaminants
Tracy L. Cail, a Ph.D. student in geological sciences at Virginia Tech, is developing a new method for calculating sticking efficiency at the nanoscale with the aim of someday developing improved filters for removing contaminants from solutions, such as bacteria from groundwater. She will present her research at the 225th American Chemical Society national meeting March 23-27 in New Orleans.
In the past, scientists have used theoretical
Using direct-write assembly of organic ink, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a technique for fabricating three-dimensional microvascular networks. These tiny networks could function as compact fluidic factories in miniature sensors, chemical reactors, or computers used in applications from biomedicine to information technology.
“The fabrication technique produces a pervasive network of interconnected cylindrical channels, which can range from 10 t
Discovery could lead to new therapies for Smith-Magenis Syndrome
Researchers at Michigan State University have identified the gene responsible for a developmental disorder known as Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS), a discovery that could lead to new therapies for the disorder and the myriad problems that accompany it.
The finding is documented in the March 24 issue of Nature Genetics, a prestigious peer-reviewed British journal.
SMS is a chromosome microdeletion syndrome th
Antibody/enzyme combo protects transplanted lungs from oxidative stress damage
Researchers based at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have combined the precision of antibodies with the power of an antioxidant enzyme to create a new way to protect transplanted lungs from oxidative stress – also known as free radical damage – before and during transplantation.
Their findings, presented in the April edition of Nature Biotechnology and available online now, demon
How do you improve on plastic, a modern material that has already changed the way we do everything from design medical devices to build cars? Embed it with specialized proteins called enzymes, says Shekhar Garde, assistant professor of chemical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
“Such protein-enhanced plastics might someday be able to act as ultra-hygienic surfaces or sensors to detect the presence of various chemicals,” says Garde. These types of materials could have a wide
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