Exotic mushrooms could herald a new era of cancer treatment and prevention as the Western world learns lessons from the Orient according to a report released by Cancer Research UK today (Aug 19th).
The charity has produced the world`s most comprehensive review of information about the way medicinal mushrooms are used in Japan, China and Korea where they have been reported to have anti-tumour properties and to stimulate the immune system to fight disease.
It also documents evidence f
Researchers at Purdue University have made a surprising discovery that could open up numerous applications for metal “nanocrystals,” or tiny crystals that are often harder, stronger and more wear resistant than the same materials in bulk form.
The research engineers have discovered that the coveted nanocrystals are contained in common scrap, the chips that are normally collected and melted down for reuse.
“Imagine, you have all of these bins full of chips, and they get melted down
Before the pancreas is a pancreas, it is just two tiny bumps–two groups of cells sprouting from a central tube. What makes these cells bud off from the main group? How do they go on to make all the cell types of the mature pancreas? These are the kinds of questions that drive the research efforts of Vanderbilt developmental biologist Chris Wright and colleagues. The answers could pave the way toward limitless supplies of pancreatic cells for transplantation therapy of diabetes.
“It has bee
In the future, a “broccoli-pill” a day may help keep breast cancer at bay. Researchers have developed a new compound, designed from a known anticancer agent found in broccoli, that shows promise as a breast cancer preventive.
Apparently less toxic than its natural counterpart, the compound could be marketed for cancer prevention, the researchers say. Their findings were described at the 224th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
Hope for shareholders; warning for salesmen
In these roller coaster times for the economy, there is qualified hope: operations researchers report that peoples’ reaction to a sequence of occurrences in which an initial event is unexpectedly reversed is more favorable if the first event is a loss than if it is a gain, according to a study in a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®). “Our research supports the casual observation that
Australian researchers have created the ideal manufacturing material of the future – clean, green ‘super steel’ that is double the strength of normal steel and resistant to fracture.
“Stronger steel means less material is required to support a load or resist a force, which should lead to lighter structures and vehicles,” says Deakin University researcher, Dr Georgina Kelly.
“This would deliver reduced energy needs and emissions in cars, and greater potential to develop more complex
Nearly one in ten adults suffers from migraine
UK male sufferers alone lose 4m working days with an estimated productivity loss of £750m
Migraine accounts for more than half of all headaches New collaborative research by City University, the University of Essex and the Institute of Optometry, London shows that coloured filters are effective in reducing migraine symptoms for some sufferers.
Professor Bruce Evans, of City University`s renowned Department of Optom
Russian scientists have found one more cause of depletion of the ozone layer. They think that abyssal gases can go to the surface and reach stratosphere, deteriorating the ozone shield. Underground nuclear explosions enforce this process. A geologist Boris Golubov of the Institute of Geosphere Dynamics RAS and a climatologist Grigoriy Kruchenitsky of Central Aerology Observatory are authors of this hypothesis.
Winter and spring are the most common seasons for ozone holes above Yakuti
Researchers from Woods Hole, Scripps oceanographic institutes sail on new Coast Guard ice breaker to study climate, ocean changes
A University of Massachusetts Amherst geoscientist is part of a team of researchers sailing the Bering and Chukchi seas this summer, searching for clues about the sea floor history and the land bridge that once existed between what is now Alaska and Russia. The team will also explore how the disappearance of the land bridge may have affected that region
A DMS professor is leading the way in using computer technology for medical education with a pioneering virtual clinic to teach “Genetics in Clinical Practice.” Joseph V. Henderson, MD, a professor of community and family medicine who heads Dartmouth Medical School’s Interactive Media Lab (IML), created a “virtual practicum in genetics” using state-of-the-art interactive multimedia and world leaders in genetics research to foster more effective continuing medical education at DMS.
Hend
A sort of biochemical scaffold for a compound that enables blood pressure to be low, heart bypass grafts to remain open and nerves to communicate has been identified by Medical College of Georgia researchers.
Researchers say identifying the framework for how these and other very positive health benefits occur should help them find ways to augment the benefits and identify new treatments for cardiovascular disease, which may result when the support structure falls apart.
“It’s
Laboratory experiments led by Hopkins scientists have revealed that so-called “jumping genes” create dramatic rearrangement in the human genome when they move from chromosome to chromosome. If the finding holds true in living organisms, it may help explain the diversity of life on Earth, the researchers report in the current (Aug. 9) issue of Cell.
“Jumping genes,” or retrotransposons, are sequences of DNA that are easily and naturally copied from one location in the genome and inserted els
The white cane used by the blind as a travel aid may be universal, but it is not always adequate when it comes to pedestrian crossings. Although some crossings make a sound when it is safe to cross, many do not, and it is at these crossings that the blind need to know when the green man is showing. Adaptations of the white cane have been made, which use laser or ultrasonic waves to detect more distant obstacles, but they do not give information about the width of the road or colour of the traffic lig
Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have demonstrated that sea spray over the oceans contributes to cleansing air that has been polluted overland. The air pollution is washed down by rain, which occurs because the rain-suppressing effect of such pollution is significantly neutralized. An article on this research appears in the online magazine Science Express, published today.
In previous studies, Prof. Daniel Rosenfeld of the Ring Department of Atmospheric Sciences, and collea
To make an omelet, you need to break some eggs. Not nearly so well known is that breaking eggs also can lead to new information about the evolution of birds and dinosaurs, a topic of hot debate among leading biologists.
Drs. Alan Feduccia and Julie Nowicki of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have done just that. They opened a series of live ostrich eggs at various stages of development and found what they believe is proof that birds could not have descended from dinosaurs. Th
Biologists at Vanderbilt and the University of Missouri have uncovered what could be a major clue into the mysterious molecular processes that direct cells to the correct locations within a developing embryo.
Understanding the molecular basis of these processes, and how they can go wrong, may ultimately lead to treatments for many birth defects, such as spina bifida that afflicts between 800 to 1,000 babies born each year in the United States.
Writing in the August issue of the sc
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