Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the major killers in Western societies. Recently, mutations in a gene called MEF2A on chromosome 15 were reported to be causative of premature CAD. The authors of the report failed to find the mutation in a large number of control individuals and thus concluded that the MEF2A mutation was the cause of the CAD. Only a single family was observed to carry the putative mutation, however.

A new study appearing in the April 1 print issue of The Journal o

In a study believed to have implications for children and adults suffering from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, rat pups given alcohol during a period of rapid brain development demonstrated significant changes in circadian or 24-hour rhythms as adults. The alcohol dosage was the equivalent of several nights of binge drinking on the part of a pregnant woman, and it was given at a time during rat brain development (shortly after birth) equivalent to the third trimester of human fetal development.

A new study in mice suggests that, in certain cases, stress may enhance the body’s ability to fight the flu.

Short bouts of intense social stress improved the ability in the mice to recover from the flu. The stress apparently did so by substantially boosting the production of specialized immune cells that fought the virus.

“Stressed mice had a stronger immune response and were able to fight off the infection faster,” said Jacqueline Wiesehan, a study co-author and a

An early type of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that caused a global epidemic of infections in the 1950s has re-emerged as one of the community-acquired MRSA ‘superbugs’, according to a study published in this weeks issue of The Lancet.

This “re-equipping and re-emergence” of a clone that caused a pandemic 40-50 years ago could mean that community acquired MRSA will spread faster and be more widespread than previously expected, warns an international team of researchers who have

A new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Harvard School of Public Health finds that promoting cleaner, more efficient technologies for producing charcoal in Africa can save millions of lives and have significant climate change and development benefits.

The African continent, as well as many developing nations in Asia and Latin America, is dependent on both wood and charcoal for cooking and heating homes. In 2000, nearly 470 million tons of w

Administering hormonal treatment in addition to radiation therapy in patients with high-risk prostate cancer can improve survival rate, according to a new study published in the April 1, 2005, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

The study, conducted between1987 and 1992, separated 977 patients into two groups: the adjuvant arm and the observation arm.

Although many developing countries are leapfrogging to new, mobile, wireless technologies as drivers for development different business models are required, according to preliminary findings from a senior industry Think Tank.

The Think Tank, run under the IST-programme’s MOCCA project, addressed issues and requirements in usage, technology, regulations and policies in emerging markets, all of which face shortages – or a complete lack – of electricity.

“This work has le

Children in Europe and other parts of the world are entering puberty at an ever younger age. The reasons for this are unknown, and the EU is now financing a major three-year project called PIONEER in a determined effort to get to the root of the problem. Two Swedish research groups are involved in the project, both from Karolinska Institutet.

The onset of puberty is determined by a string of factors, such as environment, physiology and heredity, but just how they interact remains

When people feel they’ve hit a roadblock in reaching a personal goal, such as losing weight, a change in perspective may give them the help they need to move forward, a new study suggests.

The research found that picturing memories from a third-person perspective – as if looking at one’s past self in a movie – can lead people to perceive more personal change in their lives. Picturing the past in first-person, through their own eyes, doesn’t always allow people to see how they’ve

Long Beach hardest hit in economic scenario modeled at USC

A new University of Southern California study, which appears in the April edition of Civil Engineering magazine, finds that the potential damage from a tsunami in Southern California could range from $7 billion to as much as $42 billion.

The report is the first attempt to calculate possible losses from tsunamis, as opposed to earthquakes, in the Southern California area.

Entitled “Could It Happen Her

A new report, “Part of a Context,” presents successful outcomes in the rehabilitation of female substance abusers with the help of a network model used at Fortuna House in Värnamo, Sweden. The project helped 18 of 20 women out of their abuse, that is, 90 percent.

“Considering the clients we have, these results are sensational,” says Sture Korpi, director general of SiS, the National Board of Institutional Care, which operates the home for abusers placed in compulsory rehabilit

The Japanese theatre scholar, Professor Tatsuji Iwabuchi, and the Director of Japanese Studies at the University of Bonn, Professor Josef Kreiner, are this year’s winners of the Eugen and Ilse Seibold Prize in recognition of their contributions to the advancement of sciences and mutual understanding in both countries. This is the fifth time that the prize, which is worth €10,000, has been awarded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation).

The exhib

Men and women may not be as different as previously thought when it comes to feeling emotion

“Do males and females react differently to emotional advertising?” begin the authors of an article in the March 2005 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. While it is commonly accepted that women are more emotional, no solid evidence exists to support this assertion. In fact, the results of the study conducted by Robert Fisher (University of Western Ontario) and Laurette Dubé (McGill

Vegetarians who don’t cook their food have abnormally low bone mass, usually a sign of osteoporosis and increased fracture risk. But a research team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis also found that raw food vegetarians have other biological markers indicating their bones, although light in weight, may be healthy.

The study, published in the March 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, was led by Luigi Fontana, M.D., Ph.D., research instructor i

Why does extra fat around the waist increase the risk of heart disease? A new study by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center researchers and colleagues suggests that inflammation may be the key.

“It is well known that obesity affects nearly one-third of adults in the United States and is closely linked with heart disease,” said Tongjian You, Ph.D., instructor in geriatric medicine at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author. “While we don’t fully understand the link be

Increase in sea lice infections of wild juvenile salmon are potentially deadly and extend for 30 km beyond farm

A new study published in the March 30th edition of the prestigious scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B (a publication of the UK’s national academy of science) shows that the transfer of parasitic sea lice from salmon farms to wild salmon populations is much larger and more extensive than previously believed.

This quantitative analysis of par