Using math and physics to investigate mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE) and similar diseases caused by infectious proteins called prions is the aim of research by physicists Daniel Cox, Rajiv Singh and colleagues at UC Davis. The researchers are using mathematical models to study issues such as the incubation time, prion “strains” and treatment or detection strategies.

Diseases such as BSE in cattle, Creutzfeld-Jakob disease in humans and chronic wasting disease in d

Some men may not be willing to use condoms regularly even after seeking treatment for a sexually transmitted infection and acknowledging their protective value, according to a new survey of low-income African-American clinic patients.

Two-thirds of the men with a primary sexual partner and one-third of those without a primary partner said they were not ready to use condoms consistently, say Diane Grimley, Ph.D., of University of Alabama at Birmingham and colleagues. The study was published

Researchers at the University of Bradford are looking for a better understanding of how the body can fight-off heart disease – without needing drugs.

Senior lecturer Dr Khalid Naseem in the University’s Department of Biomedical Studies has secured two grants totalling almost £150,000 from the British Heart Foundation to fund two research posts.

Dr Naseem said: “Coronary heart disease is the greatest cause of death in industrialised nations and we are looking for a better understand

A blood test is often given during a medical checkup to reveal indicators of general health conditions. In a study reported in the most recent issue of the Journal of Periodontology (JOP), Japanese researchers found that a blood test may also reveal indicators of periodontal diseases.

Researchers examined and measured the oral health of 7,452 men and women, and tested their blood for 37 items used in general blood tests. Some of the items tested for in the blood include cholesterol and C-re

Scientists interested in the Earth’s carbon cycle – something that must be understood to assess the ongoing effects of carbon dioxide created by human actions, such as driving cars – have a new problem. They need to adjust various calculations because one component, graphitic black carbon, similar to the material found in pencil lead, turns out to be so tough.

In a letter in today’s issue of Nature, researchers say that graphitic black carbon is created as sedimentary rocks undergo

Early humans migrating from Africa carried small genetic differences like so much flotsam in an ocean current. Today’s studies give only a snapshot of where that genetic baggage came to rest without revealing the tides that brought it there. Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a model for pinpointing where mutations first appeared, providing a new way to trace the migratory path of our earliest ancestors.

The study was led by Luca Cavalli-Sforza,

Findings Could Aid Treatment Planning and Prevention Strategies

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studying dengue hemorrhagic fever epidemics in Thailand have determined that the disease radiates outward in a traveling wave from Bangkok, the nation’s largest city, to infect every province in the country. According to the researchers’ analysis, the spatial-temporal wave travels at a speed of 148 kilometers per month and takes about eight months to sprea

A person’s sense of self-worth is probably linked, to a certain degree, on how economically or socially successful they are

Worried about gaining weight and wrinkles as you age? Well, now there’s one more reason to fear aging – an increased sense of insecurity, say sociologists from the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario.

“We live in a culture of youth where being young is prized and idealized,” says Professor John Cairney, a sociologist in U of T’s

The reward mechanism involved in addiction appears to regulate lifelong social or pair bonds between monogamous mating animals, according to a Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) study of prairie voles published in the January 19 edition of the Journal of Comparative Neurology. The finding could have implications for understanding the basis of romantic love and disorders of the ability to form social attachments, such as autism and schizophrenia.

In their research, funded by the Natio

Findings suggest that enzyme may be manipulated phamalogically to control brain receptor

The discovery of a molecular “addiction switch” in the mammalian brain has the potential to control the addiction process in drug addicts, say U of T researchers.

A study published Jan. 18 in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience finds that a region of the brain called the VTA contains receptors that, when exposed to a certain enzyme, can control the switch from an addicted to non-a

Study shows that perception is tied to movement

Our fingers run over surfaces; our eyes are in constant motion. This is all a part of “active sensing,” key principles of which have now been uncovered by a Weizmann Institute study.

“We intuitively understand that active sensing should provide the brain with information very different from that which is acquired by mere passive sensing, (e.g. feeling without finger movement),” says Prof. Ehud Ahissar of the Neurobiology Depart

Psychology’s Ron Rensink Discovers Visual Sensing Without Seeing

Most of us have felt it before — that sinking feeling that something is about to happen, that something is not quite right. It’s the stuff of scary movies, X-Files episodes and psychic visits.

But according to a new study by Ron Rensink, an associate professor in both psychology and computer science at UBC, the “sixth sense” is a distinct mode of visual perception and may be something all of us can le

A new study has found that cereal fortified with vitamin E has a very high rate of absorption into the bloodstream, whereas pills taken separately with the same food have inconsistent effects, and taking the supplements alone is largely useless.

The research was just published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by scientists from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.

The study points the way to more effective methods of taking this essential vitamin if p

Smokers trying to kick the habit for 2004 are probably finding it much harder than they expected. New research by University of Sussex psychologists reveals that smokers subconsciously react to all sorts of visual cues that encourage them to light up.

It’s not just the obvious sight or smell of a cigarette that sparks off the behaviour. The researchers found that neutral images can also set off the craving.

“The implication of these findings is that cures for smoking should be focu

Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Indiana University School of Medicine and other centers have identified a gene that appears to increase the risk of alcoholism.

The study, published in the January issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, is the first to demonstrate an association between this particular gene and alcohol dependence.

The gene is related to a receptor that allows for the movement of Gamma-amino butyri

A growing number of cancer patients are receiving aggressive treatments when they are near death, according to a study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The findings will be published in the Jan. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

“Our research has shown that the treatment of cancer patients near death is becoming increasingly aggressive and that more patients are being admitted to emergency rooms and to intensive care units during their last few weeks of life,”