Authors of a research letter in this week’s issue of THE LANCET provide further evidence that the effect of sunlight on neurotransmitters in the brain plays a significant role in seasonal mood disorders.
The success of phototherapy (ultraviolet light therapy to stimulate brain neurotransmitter activity) and drugs that prevent the reuptake of the neurotransmitter serotonin have suggested that serotonin itself has a role in the development of seasonal depression. However, concentrations
Management of Pacific Salmon has been an issue for years. To determine whether management goals are working, knowledge of historical populations can prove quite useful. In a recent study published in Ecology, Deanne C. Drake, Robert J. Naiman, and James M. Helfield, all of the University of Washington, paired annual tree ring growth with catch data to determine what salmon stocks looked like 200 years ago.
Born in freshwater lakes and rivers, salmon swim to the ocean where they feed and matu
Scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have identified a signaling pathway that is turned on when benign moles turn into early-stage malignant melanoma. The pathway could provide a new target for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of the most lethal form of skin cancer. The research was reported in the December issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
A team of Emory scientists led by Jack L. Arbiser, MD, PhD, found that the signaling pathway called mitogen activated p
The internal state of an atom can change by absorbing or emitting bits of light. In a warm gas or plasma the electrons are frequently shuttling back and forth from one state to another. Some of these states are longer lived than others, though, because of extenuating circumstances. For instance, many transitions from an excited state to the ground state occur in nanoseconds, but some can last for tens of seconds or longer. Measuring the true lifetime of the longer-lived of these transitions is diff
At this week’s First Pan American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics in Cancun, researchers presented results on acoustic microscopy, a burgeoning technique that could provide new kinds of medically useful information on biological tissue. Unlike many other microscopy techniques, acoustical microscopy can be performed on living tissue and even inside the body, with the use of small ultrasound probes. And unlike optical microscopy of biological specimens, acoustic microscopy does not require tis sue stain
Four annual mass treatments of single doses of safe and inexpensive drugs found effective
Researchers report in the December 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reaching an important milestone in learning how to halt a major mosquito-borne disease affecting 120 million people around the world. The disease, called lymphatic filariasis and commonly known as elephantiasis, is a leading cause of physical disfigurement, social ostracism, and economic loss throughout Africa, Asia
Surgeons at University Hospitals of Cleveland have demonstrated that the risk of brain damage associated with the use of the heart lung machine can be significantly reduced by modifying the traditional placement of cannulas (tubing) for returning blood flow to the patient. The findings were presented last month at the American Heart Association’s annual Scientific Sessions conference in Chicago, Ill.
The neurological problems associated with bypass surgery have been widely reported. As
Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh report in the current Journal of Medical Genetics that they have found defects in the gene that produces a common protein in urine and that these defects are linked to two inherited kidney diseases.
For six years, the researchers had studied a family from Western North Carolina that has been plagued with a rare kidney disease, trying to learn more about the genetics of the disease. Anthony J. Bleye
Astronomers think big all the time: it’s their job. And on 13th December, at a meeting hosted by the Royal Astronomical Society in London, a group of them will juggle with some truly astounding large numbers. On this occasion, though, they won’t be discussing the distances to remote galaxies, but the phenomenal sizes of the telescopes they want to build so they can explore the universe to a level of detail previous generations of astronomers would never have dreamt possible. Announcing a si
A European website designed to stimulate informed debate on future energy sources this week launches a multi-lingual survey to gauge public attitudes to, and knowledge of, crucial energy issues.
The INTUSER website (www.intuser.net) is a new on-line forum for both the general public and energy experts to communicate about energy issues – from nuclear power and global warming to alternative energy sources such as solar and wave power.
Renewable energy expert Robin Saunders, of the Un
A comparison of the newly completed, publicly available, genome sequence of the mouse with the prior sequence of the mouse from Celera Genomics Inc. and with the human genome provides a consensus view of the mouse and important insights into human genes. Hot on the heels of the mouse genome sequence published in this week’s Nature by the Mouse Genome Sequencing Consortium of publicly funded laboratories, Genome Biology publishes the first comparison of this ’public’ mous
Penn State acousticians have achieved proof of concept for a compact ice cream freezer case based on “green” technology that substitutes sound waves for environment-damaging chemical refrigerants.
Dr. Steven Garrett, the United Technologies Corporation professor of acoustics at Penn State, leads the research team conducting the project with financial support from Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company, Unilever.
“In our proof-of-concept test system, there is no ’test freeze
New software that responds to written questions by retrieving digital images has potentially broad application, ranging from helping radiologists compare mammograms to streamlining museum curators’ archiving of artwork, say the Penn State researchers who developed the technology.
Dr. James Z. Wang, assistant professor in Penn State’s School of Information Sciences and Technology and principal investigator, says the Automatic Linguistic Indexing of Pictures (ALIP) system first build
Hopkins radiologists have found that a combination of positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) detects cancer spread better than PET alone. In a study to be presented at the Radiological Society of North America (Abstract #1458, 10:57 AM, Thursday, December 5, Room S502AB), researchers reported that overall, PET-CT improves the ability to distinguish cancerous from normal tissue and locate metastases, where they have spread. The study used a scanner that fuses CT technology, wh
A new first-aid method of treating carbon monoxide poisoning could prevent brain damage in patients by delivering more oxygen to the brain than the standard treatment, according to a study by physicians at the Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network (UHN).
The study is published in the December issue of the U.S. based and peer-reviewed journal Annals of Emergency Medicine. The researchers, led by Dr. Josh Rucker, a Toronto General Hospital research fellow and resident in the Ane
In a finding that could have broad implications for farmers’ ability to stop pests from decimating cotton crops, scientists from North Carolina State University and agricultural research stations in the Cotton Belt have developed a new technique to determine where the larvae of certain agricultural pests develop.
The study, which looks at the characteristics of the moths that the larvae turn into, shows that a large majority of late-season moths in the Cotton Belt – specifically Helico
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