Swedish stem cell researchers are in a good position to become even more successful than in recent years. This can be achieved by improving the collaboration between research groups, and by increasing the number of researchers in the field through, for example, the introduction of “come-home” grants for those who have been abroad. Equally important would be economic commitment to basic research on stem cells, and the creation of regulations for emergent commercial aspects so that researchers can main
The first clinical trial in Europe of a revolutionary approach to diagnosing breast cancer has just got under way at one of the UK’s leading breast cancer centres.
The research involves a minute endoscope, no thicker than a few strands of human hair, which can pass through the nipple and search for the earliest signs of cancer within the breast.
Consultant breast surgeon, Dr Nicolas Beechey-Newman from Guy’s Hospital in London, told a news briefing at the 3rd European Breast Cancer Confe
Because living organisms contain millions of different molecules, identifying or separating any single one of these from their natural environment in order to carry out research work or perform diagnoses is quite like looking for a needle in a haystack. A number of molecular separation technologies are of course available, and are used by laboratories on a daily basis, but they are often unwieldy and costly. Scientists the world over are therefore attempting to develop a new generation of analytic de
For years scientists have been studying the impact of different geophysical fields on the earthquakes occurrence. It has been assumed that the fields, generated due to the solar activity, earth flows fluctuations, the Earth`s speed of rotation and even the launch of magnetohydrodynamic generators affect the strained state of the earth`s crust, these fields `pumping` additional energy into the crust. Normally the aroused earthquakes are recorded several days after the provoking key event.
Mushrooms (of course, those grown in an ecologically safe area) accumulate many microelements good for human and animal health, in particular, selenium. The natural cycle of selenium was studied by a team from the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry in Moscow.
The scientific expedition worked in the eastern part of the Meshchera (at the meeting point of the Moscow, Ryazan, and Vladimir areas). Scientists found selenium in many natural objects (soil, grass, le
A US population study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET reports how life expectancy of people with Down’s syndrome has doubled since the early 1980s. The study also highlights the unexpected finding that Down’s syndrome appears to reduce the risk of many forms of cancer.
Down’s syndrome (characterised by three copies of chromosome 21) occurs in around one in every 800 live births. It is the most frequently identified cause of mental retardation, but information about illness and causes of d
Patients who are at high risk of stroke should be treated with the drug ramipril, irrespective of their initial blood pressure levels and in addition to other preventive treatments such as blood pressure lowering agents or aspirin, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.
Over 9,000 patients aged 55 or over and at high risk of stroke received either ramipril or placebo. Patients were seen after six months and then every six months for an average of four and a half years.
Although reductio
Scientists in America have made the first steps in identifying a group of genes which may be involved in the progression of breast cancer from non-invasive to invasive, the 3rd European Breast Cancer Conference in Barcelona heard today (Thursday 21 March).
Professor Craig Allred, Director of Breast Pathology at the Breast Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA, used a technique called microarray to discover which genes might be involved in causing ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) to
An anti-oestrogen compound, discovered only four years ago, has been found to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells using a unique mechanism which enables it to work against tumours that are resistant to other anti-oestrogens, the 3rd European Breast Cancer Conference in Barcelona heard today (Thursday 21 March).
Yasuji Yamamoto, from the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences at the University of Tokyo in Japan, said the compound, known as TAS-108, was being assessed in phase l
Astronomers at the Gemini telescope in Hawaii have obtained a complete, multi-dimensional picture, of the dynamic flow of gas and stars at the core of an active galaxy [NGC 1068] located 70 million light years away. The image was achieved in a single snapshot and is the first time such a picture has been obtained by one of the new generation of giant telescopes with an 8 – 10 metre light collecting mirror. The astronomers used a new instrument – the Integral Field Unit (IFU), designed and built at Du
A medical team of the Basque Country has discovered a new technique to detect cardiac fibrosis. After a research carried out during several years, it has been discovered that serum leves of PIP peptide is an indicator of increased myocardial fibrosis.
Fibrosis is formed when scar tissue is accumulated in heart. As a consequence it causes stiffening of the heart and often heart failure. In order to fight against such disease, researchers started looking for an indicator substance in blood.
A University of Plymouth lecturer and his PhD student are putting Plymouth on the world map for research in a specialist field of marine biology: the importance of seagrass meadows.
Seagrass can grow prolifically in outer estuarine areas and is the only flowering plant fully adapted for life in the marine environment. As well as being home to a wide variety of animal life including fish such as sea horses, its dense beds offer some protection against wave buffeting and the ensuing coastal e
Ethiopian fossil suggests early humans were one big family.
A one-million-year-old skull unearthed in Ethiopia hints that our long-extinct cousins Homo erectus were a varied and widespread bunch, much like today’s humans. The find may undermine previous claims that H. erectus was in fact made up of two different species. Homo erectus , which means ’upright man’, appeared about 1.8 million years ago. Because of its posture and large brain, it is regarded as t
Knee-high relative of Triceratops unearthed.
The fearsome horns and bony neck plates of Triceratops have scared generations of kids. Now fossil finds reveal that its predecessor was a little more huggable: it was a dog-sized creature with a beak.
Triceratops is the most famous member of the late ceratopsians, which were rhinoceros-like dinosaurs with horns. Little is known about the early evolution of this large and varied group of plant-eaters because their fo
Martian atmosphere churns harder in south making north wetter.
Scientists have figured out why it’s wet up north – on Mars. A new computer simulation of the martian atmosphere suggests that the planet’s geography causes differences in atmospheric circulation within the northern and southern hemispheres. These differences dump more water on the martian north pole, where it adds to the seasonal ice-cap.
Mark Richardson of the California Institute of Technology in Pasa
Grant Supports Young Researchers in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland Heidelberg, Germany – The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) announces that the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has joined the organization in supporting young scientists from Central Europe, namely the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. The HHMI provides $ 2 Mio for the next four years to the EMBO Young Investigator Programme. Each year six scientists can be supported with Euro 30 000 per year for a durat
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