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Health & Medicine

Tamoxifen’s New Role: Boosting Fertility for Breast Cancer Patients

US fertility experts have discovered a potential new role for the wonder drug tamoxifen – helping breast cancer patients to have babies by IVF.

In a study published in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction[1], researchers from New York’s Cornell University report the first IVF pregnancy to result from the use of tamoxifen as an ovarian stimulant.

In a study of 12 breast cancer survivors they found that stimulating the ovaries with a short, car

Physics & Astronomy

Coronal activity may be ’buried alive’ in red giant stars, say Colorado researchers

When Earth’s sun expands into a red giant star in roughly five billion years, long after Earth has become uninhabitable, the hydrogen core will be burned out and the bloated outer shell will be cool and murky.

But according to new research by the University of Colorado at Boulder, such red giants still retain surface magnetic storms and coronas — the very hot and patchy outer atmosphere of the sun and sun-like stars — at temperatures of millions of degrees Fahrenheit that often signal

Health & Medicine

Benefits of treating behavioral, functional problems caused by Alzheimer’s disease

A class of drugs known as cholinesterase inhibitors has a significant impact on behavioral problems and the ability to perform everyday tasks in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) and UCSF.

The study, an analysis of data from multiple small studies, appears in the January 8, 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Known as a meta-analysis, the study applied sophisticated statistical

Power and Electrical Engineering

Next-Generation Solar Cells: Powering Space Stations

RIT scientists develop nanomaterials for NASA program

Someday, large-scale solar power stations in space could beam electricity to the surface of the moon, the earth and other planets, decreasing our dependence on a dwindling fossil-fuel supply.

Scientists at Rochester Institute of Technology are developing the next generation of solar cells, advancing the technology that could put a solar power system into earth’s orbit.

The National Science Foundation recent

Physics & Astronomy

Astronomers Unveil Innovative Method to Search for Comets

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory astronomers are major partners in a scientific collaboration that will conduct an extremely novel search for small, comet-like bodies in the outer solar system using four half-meter telescopes. The work was described today at the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Rather than look for the light reflected directly by these objects (as is customary astronomy practice), this project will search for those very rare moments when one of these ob

Environmental Conservation

Polar Bears Face Extinction in 100 Years, U of A Scientist Warns

Unless the pace of global warming is abated, polar bears could disappear within 100 years, says a University of Alberta expert in Arctic ecosystems.

While it has been known for some time that the polar bear is in trouble, new research shows that Arctic ice–the polar bear’s primary habitat–is melting much faster than scientists had believed, says U of A biologist Dr. Andrew Derocher.

“The climate predictions coming out are showing massive changes in sea-ice distribution,” sa

Physics & Astronomy

Wireless Network Fuels Record Supernova Discoveries

In results presented this week at the 2003 meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle, astrophysicist Greg Aldering and colleagues report that their supernova factory project has discovered an unprecedented 34 new supernovae in its first year. The accomplishment would not have been possible without the National Science Foundation (NSF) – supported high performance wireless network link to Palomar Observatory. “This has been the best rookie year for any supernova search pro

Health & Medicine

Tamoxifen’s New Role: Boosting Fertility for Breast Cancer Patients

US fertility experts have discovered a potential new role for the wonder drug tamoxifen – helping breast cancer patients to have babies by IVF.

In a study published today (Wednesday 8 January) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1], researchers from New York’s Cornell University report the first IVF pregnancy to result from the use of tamoxifen as an ovarian stimulant.

In a study of 12 breast cancer survivors they found that stimulating the ovaries

Health & Medicine

New Insights on Autism: Latest Research Techniques Explained

Studies indicate that the number of diagnosed cases of Autism, or autistic spectrum disorder, is increasing with around 0.6% of the population affected. Early infantile autism was first described almost 60 years ago and autism has been the subject of intense research activities ever since, however the origin of the condition is still not understood. This review issue of Philosophical Transactions B, a Royal Society publication, provides a comprehensive overview of the latest research on autism and hi

Health & Medicine

Lowering beta-amyloid levels in blood to treatment Alzheimer’s

Agents that alter blood levels of beta-amyloid protein in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease represent a potential approach to treating the illness in humans that may be safer than the vaccine method of therapy, researchers report in a new study.

Beta-amyloid protein is a component of the amyloid plaques that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer¡’s disease. Beta-amyloid is viewed by many researchers and clinicians as the underlying cause of the degeneration and demen

Materials Sciences

New Computer Program Optimizes Microstructure for Materials

Technique could help bring efficiency of biology to man-made materials

A Princeton chemist has developed a general mathematical system for designing materials that perform two functions at once, even when the desired properties sometimes conflict with each other.

Salvatore Torquato and colleagues used computers to calculate the optimum structure for any material that is a composite of two substances with differing properties. The achievement is the first simple example of a

Life & Chemistry

Australia Unveils New Truffle Genus in Fungal Discovery

An Australian scientist has made a discovery which is electrifying world fungal biology – a new truffle genus related to the famous Amanita family, or fairy toadstools.

The Amanita family is famed worldwide for the red and white-spotted toadstools beloved of children’s fairy tales, the lethal Death Cap beloved of tabloid media, and a range of delicious edible fungi beloved of gourmets.

The find, by CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products mycologist Dr Neale Bougher, highli

Power and Electrical Engineering

Wind Power Innovation: Solving Grid Fluctuations in Spain

The University of the Basque Country, IBERDROLA (an electricity utility supplying the Basque Country), the enterprises INGETEAM and INDAR and innovative energies company EHN have participated jointly in this research project. The project has put forward an innovative use of wind-sourced energy to control fluctuations on the grid. The research site where measurements were made was the Salajones wind park in Sanguesa (Navarre).

In recent years the electricity utilities have shown much greater

Agricultural & Forestry Science

Lorenzo’s oil works for plants too

Scientists at Long Ashton Research Station have identified a gene with a pivotal role in regulating seed germination. According to an article published in the January issue of BBSRC business, the Arabidopsis COMATOSE (CTS) gene, is vital for breaking seed dormancy. It is also analogous to the human X-ALD gene, which featured in the 1992 film “Lorenzo’s oil”. Treatment of cts mutants with a plant version of Lorenzo’s oil cures their inability to germinate.

The researchers were inves

Life & Chemistry

Purdue Researchers Identify Key Protein in Biological Clock

The biological clock – timekeeper for virtually every activity within living things, from sleep patterns to respiration – is a single protein, Purdue University researchers report.

The husband and wife team of D. James and Dorothy Morré has discovered this protein, which is responsible for setting the length of periods of activity and inactivity within cells. If the protein is altered, an organism’s body will experience “days” of different length – ranging from 22 to 42 hours in

Life & Chemistry

Sirtuin Protein’s New Role in Lifespan Extension Unveiled

Scientists from Johns Hopkins and the University of Wisconsin have discovered that a protein called Sir2, which is found in nearly all living cells, has a new function that might help explain how calorie restriction can increase lifespans for some animals, the scientists say. Their report appeared in the Dec. 20 issue of Science.

A number of laboratories have shown that restricting total calorie intake extends the lifespans of organisms ranging from yeast to laboratory animals. Others have

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