Ohio State University engineers and their colleagues have successfully automated a particular medical test on a compact disc (CD) for the first time — and in a fraction of the normal time required using conventional equipment.

The ELISA biochemical test — one of the most widely used clinical, food safety, and environmental tests — normally takes hours or even days to perform manually. Using a specially designed CD, engineers performed the test automatically, and in only one hour.

A study of more than 2000 children of women with gestational diabetes (the diabetes that some women get during pregnancy) has revealed that obesity in mothers is one of the most decisive factors contributing to the appearance of congenital malformations in their children, even more so than the seriousness of the diabetes. The research, published in the european journal Diabetologia, has been carried out by a research team from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelo

A team of researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has discovered that transposons, small DNA sequences that travel through the genomes, can silence the genes adjacent to them by inducing a molecule called antisense RNA. This is a new mechanism for evolution that has been unknown until now. The research has been recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Transposons are repeated DNA sequences that move through the genomes. For a l

Determining exactly how proteins connect with specific DNA sequences in human cells has eluded researchers and scientists for years. While it has been possible to record the speed at which a protein could bond with DNA, little was known about how proteins located and connected with a specific pattern of DNA to allow genes to express themselves in the form of traits such as facial appearance, hair and eye color or behaviors.

In the July 16 issue of the journal Science, Rutgers-Newark chemi

Cinnamon oil shows promise as a great-smelling, environmentally friendly pesticide, with the ability to kill mosquito larvae, according to a new study published in the July 14 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

The researchers also expect that cinnamon oil could be a good mosquito repellant, though they have not yet tested it against adult mosquitoes.

Besides bein

Autoimmune diseases are quite complex and this is due to the fact that these illnesses do not depend on just one gene. Thus, in order to find a suitable treatment, it is not enough to identify a gene involved in the development of the disease – each and every one has to be identified. To this end, a number of strategies have been design; for example, many geneticists have begun to analyse the genetic differences between healthy individuals and ill ones. A team at the Leioa campus of the University

In recent years, doctors have become more willing to treat prostate cancer more aggressively with radiation therapy, and as a result, more patients are being cured of their cancer, according to a new study published in the July 15, 2004, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

A 1999 Patterns of Care survey reviewing the records of more than 550 patients from 58 inst

School children can be screened for asthma and respiratory allergies using a simple questionnaire. A study validating the student questionnaire – and an alternative questionnaire for parents – is reported in the July issue of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

Children ages 7 to 13 answered nine questions at school about their breathing and allergy symptoms. The answers were then compared to the results of double-blinded clinical examinations of those students. The investigators fo

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a highly malignant aggressive form of soft tissue cancer in children, the causes of which are currently unknown. Although the fibrous growths can be found all over the body they commonly develop around the head, neck, bladder and testes in young boys. The most common age for onset is between 1-5 years of age. The treatments used are usually chemotherapy using a combination of drugs, radiotherapy and surgery and although quite effective (66% success rate at present), the side affec

Docosahexaenoic acid, or “DHA,” is a nutritional compound (an essential fatty acid, or lipid) that has many effects in the body, including the development of the eyes and brain. Prior to birth, fetuses obtain DHA from their mothers, with DHA primarily accumulating in the brain during the third trimester.

DHA is also found naturally in breast milk and has recently been added to some U.S. commercial infant formulas. Some research indicates this postnatal DHA improves vision and some cognitive

OHSU findings suggest more attention be paid to older patients’ cognitive functioning

Many older patients showing signs of dementia are not being diagnosed for the progressive brain disorder by their primary care physicians, an Oregon Health & Science University study has found.

The study, published in the current issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, confirms previous research that found dementia often goes undiagnosed in primary care. It points to the n

A U.S. clinical study is just getting under way that, if successful, could lead to a non-surgical “cure” for the most common type of cardiac arrhythmia. The study is evaluating a new type of cryogenic catheter co-developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The catheter system, which is being commercialized by CryoCor of San Diego, Calif., is designed to selectively freeze cardiac tissue in order to block the abnormal electrical signals that cause arrhythmia, the

Like a parasite exploiting its host, some tumors protect themselves by recruiting non-tumor cells that normally help keep the immune system in check, say researchers at the Medical College of Georgia.

When the researchers looked into the lymph nodes where tumors drain – typically the first place tumors spread – they found a subset of normal host immune cells were expressing IDO, an immunosuppressive enzyme also expressed by the fetus to help avoid rejection by the mother’s immune syst

Using a combination of therapies and cell grafts, a team of University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine researchers has promoted significant regeneration of nerve cells in rats with spinal cord injury.

The therapeutic approach successfully stimulated new nerve fibers called axons to grow and extend well beyond the site of the injury into surrounding tissue, following surgically induced spinal cord damage.

These results prove that combinational therapy can promot

A tarantula venom peptide, GsMTx4, known to affect many organs, can be manipulated to withstand destruction in the stomach, making it a promising candidate for drugs that could treat cardiac arrhythmias, muscular dystrophy and many other conditions, University at Buffalo biophysicists have shown.

Moreover, the peptide, which is amphiphilic — meaning fat-soluble on one side and water-soluble on the other, much like a detergent — affects mechanically sensitive ion channels in membranes in a

Despite challenging obstacles, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration views plant-made pharmaceuticals as a highly promising means of building and securing the world’s drug supply, said FDA Acting Commissioner Lester Crawford at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo here this week.

Speaking at a special forum on the topic Tuesday, Crawford explained that the FDA is working closely with the USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service to monitor and keep isolated p