The outcome for some cancer patients can now be predicted much earlier by making the right choice of treatment based on a mathematical model rather than the current life-table method, which has been in use for over 20 years, according to research published today in the Institute of Physics Journal Physics in Medicine & Biology.
The paper`s author, Dr Richard Mould, explains that clinical trials usually try to establish which cancer treatment is more effective, A or B. Dr Mould has now desig
Get ready to rewrite those biology textbooks – again. Although the “lowly” blue-green algae, or Cyanobacteria, have long been credited as one of Earth’s earliest life forms and the source of the oxygen in the early Earth’s atmosphere, they might be neither.
By creating a new genetic family tree of the world’s most primitive bacteria and comparing it to the geochemistry of ancient iron and sulfur deposits, Carrine Blank of Washington University has found evidence that instead of Cyanobacter
A project which aims to make laboratory-grown leukaemia cells change form and then be used to prime a patient’s own immune system to kill off malignant cells has begun in Edinburgh. If successful, the study could give clinicians a way of destroying residual leukaemic cells which are undetectable by microscope. The findings could be helpful in the treatment of acute myeloblastic leukaemia (AML), one of the most common forms of leukaemia in adults.
Although about 70% of patients with AML achie
This project has been proposed in the doctoral thesis of professor Igor Egaña Santamarina of the Public University of Navarre, called “Design of complete mould QFT multivariable controllers”. Professor Mario Garcia Sanz, from the Department of Automation and Computer Science of the Public University of Navarre, has supervised the project.
Air traffic controllers and wind generator controllers
Control engineering involves the design of mathematical laws that modify the way i
The development of drugs to combat some of the world’s most serious parasitic diseases is a step nearer with the discovery of a widely-shared gene that helps parasites to invade host cells.
The new understanding of the gene’s role in the single-celled parasite Toxoplasma gondii gives scientists a target to block that could stop the parasite literally in its tracks.
In experiments reported today in the journal Science, researchers at Imperial College London and the Univer
Robotic Carbon Explorers test the “iron hypothesis” in nature
In the spring of 2001, two robotic Carbon Explorer floats recorded the rapid growth of phytoplankton in the upper layers of the North Pacific Ocean after a passing storm had deposited iron-rich dust from the Gobi Desert. The carbon measurements, reported in the October 25 issue of Science, are the first direct observation of wind-blown terrestrial dust fertilizing the growth of aquatic plant life.
A group of scie
Atmospheric particles that become acidic through exposure to such pollutants as sulfuric acid can lead to vast increases in the formation of secondary organic aerosols, a new study indicates. Such aerosols are major components of the unsightly haze that hangs over cities and oil refineries and even affects otherwise pristine U.S. national parks.
A report on the research appears in Friday’s (Oct. 25) issue of the journal Science. Authors, all at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Antibiotics have been used against infectious diseases with great success and have been a part of agriculture for many years. Agricultural uses of antibiotics include the treatment and prevention of diseases in animals and plants and the promotion of growth in food animals. But scientists have long recognized a down side. The concentrated and widespread use of antibiotic agents has resulted in the emergence of drug-resistant organisms, some of which can now survive most commercially available antibio
High blood pressure treatment with a calcium channel antagonist slowed progression of atherosclerosis, the disease process responsible for heart attacks and strokes, better than a beta blocker, according to a rapid track report posted online this week in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Rapid track articles are released online early because Circulation editors believe the work has major clinical impact or represents important basic science discoveries.
Body size is one of the most important biological characteristics in the study of organisms, telling a researcher a lot about how a particular animal lives and interacts with it’s environment and with other species. Despite this importance, there has been little study of body size trends of ancient life.
Now, using marine life forms as models, three Virginia Tech doctoral students in geological sciences have launched a long-term research project to see what can be learned about life ac
Geological sciences researchers at Virginia Tech are using GPS antennas to measure aquifer use and storage capacity. At the Geological Society of America’s 114th annual meeting in Denver, Oct. 27-30, master’s degree student Sandra Warner will make the case for the broader coverage of such tools.
Warner and Virginia Tech geological sciences professor Thomas Burbey are conducting a large-scale aquifer test on a new municipal well in the Virgin River Valley near Mesquite, Nev. In add
Brachiopods, the most common shellfish in Paleozoic times, now live primarily in the chilly waters of northern fjords and the Antarctic shelf, except for an abundant population in the tropic waters of the continental shelf off southeast Brazil.
The Brazilian brachiopods are the best modern analogy for the life and times of the critter that was so pervasive over 250 million years ago, says David Rodland, Ph.D. student in geological sciences at Virginia Tech. He has been studying the p
About 150,000 years ago, an anomalous ice age was triggered by an increasingly salty Mediterranean Sea, a development that’s occurring today and may start new ice sheet growth in the next few decades, according to a study at the University of Minnesota. Robert Johnson, an adjunct professor of geology and geophysics, will present his study of the glaciation 150,000 years ago and discuss its implications for today’s climate on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at the annual meeting of the Geological Society
The oozing of glacial material in the floating ice shell on Jupiter’s moon Europa has important implications for future exploration of the enigmatic moon and prospects of life in its ice-covered ocean, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder professor.
Robert Pappalardo, an assistant professor in the astrophysical and planetary sciences department and one of the world’s foremost Europa experts, said the icy moon is believed to contain an ocean some 13 miles under its icy
Raul Hernandez was no stranger to sports activity, and was active in Little League by the time he was 10 years old. But one day while running a short race at school, Raul experienced an intense burning sensation in his feet that turned his world upside down. From that day forward, he would experience severe pain in his feet any time he engaged in physical activity or, strangely, when the weather was hot or it rained. The situation worsened when the pain spread to his hands. His doctors, however, were
Elderly people who eat fish or seafood at least once a week are at lower risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.
Using data from a large ageing study, a team of French researchers set out to test whether there was a relation between consumption of fish (rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids) or meat (rich in saturated fatty acids) and risk of dementia.
The study involved 1,674 people aged 68 and over without dementia and liv
Feedback
