UCI study shows how newly identified signaling protein helps control retinal development

In discovering a protein that helps organize the development of the retina, UC Irvine researchers have found a new molecular mechanism that may allow for stem cell-based therapies to treat eye disorders such as retinal degeneration.

The finding also reveals how the retina’s own stem cells can be directed to aid the growth of new cells to replace diseased or dying ones in th

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have discovered the breast cancer growth regulator sEGFR, which may be a useful tool in monitoring a patient’s responsiveness to treatment with the drug letrozole.

Published in a recent issue of the American Association of Cancer Researcher’s journal Cancer Research, the study focused on how decreased concentrations of sEGFR can indicate the effectiveness of letrozole.

In women with postmenopausal breast cancer, the ho

A blood test for thyroid cancer can detect persistent or recurrent disease even before doctors can find any trace of a tumor, according to a new study. The findings suggest that people treated for the disease should be examined regularly for early signs of recurrence.

The study, by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSU CCC – James), examined how well a test for thyro

Increasing social inequality in Britain is at the root of rising levels of anti-social behaviour, teenage pregnancy, violence and obesity, according to a University of Nottingham academic.

More than two decades of widening social and economic differences are leaving their mark on Britain, making it one of the most socially unequal of European countries.

A new book published this week by pioneering social epidemiologist, Professor Richard Wilkinson, examines the impact of

A wide-ranging new international study across all disciplines has found that over 80 per cent of academic researchers the world over would willingly comply with a mandate to deposit copies of their articles in an institutional repository.

The findings of the study, carried out by Key Perspectives Ltd, for the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in the UK, have been greeted by Southampton’s Professor Stevan Harnad as ‘a historic turning point in the worldwide research communi

New research suggests that the way baby girls develop in the womb may affect whether or not they develop polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)* as adults and the severity of the symptoms if they do.

This major population study examines maternal factors during pregnancy and their impact on the subsequent development of PCOS, and is the first to reconcile previous conflicting research on the developmental origins of the syndrome.

Dr Michael Davies, senior research fellow

The route to a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease may have become more straightforward with the discovery that a key enzyme known to have a major role in this disease is in fact part of a family of enzymes. Only some family members play a role in the progression of this brain-wasting illness, new research at the University of Toronto has found.

“It was previously thought that an enzyme called gamma-secretase contributed to the development of protein deposits in the Alzheimer&#

When people hear “thalidomide,” many think “birth defects,” however, evidence has come to light that this once-banned drug can be used as a potent anti-cancer treatment. In a new study, researchers from the University of Bologna, Italy, demonstrate that Thal-Dex (thalidomide used in combination with dexamethasone) is more powerful than conventional chemotherapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Their findings will be published in the July 1, 2005, issue of Blood, the official journal of the Am

A new ESRC report, published to launch Social Science Week 2005, uses the seven deadly sins – pride, anger, lust, avarice, gluttony, envy and sloth – as a way of looking at some pressing issues of modern life: religious conflict, rage in kids and adults, sexual behaviour, corporate greed, binge drinking, rising personal debt and political apathy.

Exploring these issues afresh – and often questioning conventional wisdom – demands a look at the evidence, drawing on the wealth of in

What part does envy play in the apparently spiralling stock of personal debt in the UK, which last year passed the £1 trillion mark? New research by Stephen McKay, published in ESRC’s new report Seven Deadly Sins, indicates that people who are envious of what others have, and dissatisfied with their own incomes, do tend to have higher levels of credit and greater difficulties making repayments. But the size of this effect is small compared with the effects of age, income and changes i

The general elections of 2001 and 2005 had the second and third worst turnouts since 1900, falling from 71% in 1997 to under 60% in 2001 and only just above 61% this May. In ESRC’s new report Seven Deadly Sins, published to launch Social Science Week 2005, Professor Charlie Jeffery uses the British Election Study and other surveys of political participation to understand this growing voter apathy.

He argues that the real problem lies not in the voters’ sloth but in the failure

Yet another proven benefit of tight glucose control for those with type 1 diabetes

New study results confirm, for the first time, that intensive treatment of diabetic patients results in a significantly lower risk of heart disease. In fact, it can cut the risk of cardiovascular disease nearly in half. Researchers say this is yet another proven benefit of the long-term effects of tight glucose control in patients with type 1 diabetes.

The new finding was announced on Sunda

Also helps understand role of kidneys in hypertension

In related discoveries with far-reaching implications for treating diabetes and understanding hypertension, University of Utah researchers have learned why thiazolidinediones (TZDs), a major anti-diabetes drug, cause edema and also have found a new pathway critical to fluid metabolism. Identification of this pathway may help understand fundamental mechanisms of blood pressure control.

Using knockout-gene technology,

Ever stood on the tee and as you feel the eyes on the other golfers on you, your heart starts to race, your palms become sweaty, and you worry about making a mess of the shot? If this has happened, you are experiencing performance stress. A new study from the University of Alberta shows the strategies that elite golfers use to manage performance stress effectively.

A study of 18 of Ireland’s best young international male golfers aged 14 to 21 revealed differences between go

An extraordinary amount of media attention focuses on alcohol consumption and its impact on public order and health. But as Professor Dick Hobbs shows in ESRC’s new report Seven Deadly Sins, while ‘binge drinking’ youths dominate the headlines, it is older drinkers that are most likely to succumb to alcohol-related death.

What’s more, Professor Hobbs argues, it is the logic of the market and not the logic derived from careful data analysis that informs government policy on alc

Twelve women recently completed 60 days of voluntary bedrest in order to simulate the physiological effects of weightlessness on the human body. The research team in Toulouse, France, is now actively seeking twelve new volunteers to enable them to continue and enhance the research.

At the beginning of June, the twelve volunteers from the first phase of the WISE study (Women International Simulation Experiment), were progressively ’released’ as they were gradually returne