Duke University Medical Center researchers have found that contrary to the classical model of aging, increased blood pressure does not accelerate the age-related decline in performing certain mental tasks.

Furthermore, the researchers reported, middle-aged subjects with high blood pressure showed more of a slowing in cognitive performance tests than did older adults with high blood pressure.

According to the researchers, past studies have been epidemiological in nature and have hi

Researchers find positive results in people with HIV

The evolving science of “flushing” hidden reservoirs of HIV from cells got a encouraging boost today as researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center demonstrated how an experimental intranasal drug can activate the immune system and send HIV viral counts in white blood cells to undetectable levels.

Published in the latest issue of Peptides, this is the first human study to assess antiviral and immune effects of the

Many medications such as therapeutic DNA, insulin and human growth hormone must enter the body through painful injections, but a Johns Hopkins researcher is seeking to deliver the same treatment without the sting. Justin Hanes wants to pack the drugs inside microscopic plastic spheres that can be inhaled painlessly. Inside the lungs, the particles should dissolve harmlessly, releasing the medicine at a predetermined pace.

“We’ve made significant progress,” said Hanes, an assistant prof

As doctors tout the toxin found in Botox for its ability to iron out wrinkles, calm muscle spasms and treat migraine headaches, defense agencies condemn it as a weapon that could wipe out large numbers of civilians.

While it is well known that this toxic substance can paralyze the body’s muscles, including the ones that help us breathe, how it infiltrates cells to do this has not been determined.

In a paper published in the Sept. 29 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology, resea

Findings Could Lead to New Treatments of HIV Infection

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine used positron emission tomography (PET) scans to identify sites of replicating HIV in the lymphatic system of people recently infected with the virus. PET scan imaging is typically used to detect tumors. The researchers believe PET scans could lead to greater understanding of HIV disease and new methods for treating the in

Research published in Genome Biology this week has uncovered 25 genes that are expressed at different levels in worker and soldier termites. As one of the first molecular studies on termites, it paves the way for investigations into how termite larvae can develop into workers, soldiers or reproductive adults depending on the colony’s needs.

The eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes, exists in colonies, whose members share work and resources among themselves. Different castes

When biologists want to compare different sequences of DNA or protein, it’s as simple as plugging the information into a browser and pressing enter. Within 15 seconds, an online software tool contrasts one sequence of DNA with up to 18 million others catalogued in public databases. Now, a software tool developed by Whitehead Institute scientists promises to apply this same computational muscle to the far more intricate world of protein interaction networks, giving researchers a new view of the comple

Chance encounter between two labs resurrects dying immune system theory

A lucky encounter between laboratories at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of California-Berkeley has resurrected a moribund theory about how the immune system mobilizes one of the body’s most important defensive systems: the immune system cells known as T lymphocytes.

The new findings, published online by the journal Science this week, are a key step toward u

Duke University researchers have used self-assembling DNA molecules as molecular building blocks called “tiles” to construct protein-bearing scaffolds and metal wires at the billionths of a meter, or “nanoscale.”

The achievements in nanoscale synthesis, which the five authors said could lead to programmable molecular scale sensors or electronic circuitry, were described in a paper in the Sept. 26, 2003, issue of the journal Science written by HaoYan, Thom LaBean, Gleb Finkelstein, Sung Ha P

Salk researcher provides new view on how the brain functions

Scientists are developing a new paradigm for how the brain functions. They propose that the brain is not a huge fixed network, as had been previously thought, but a dynamic, changing network that adapts continuously to meet the demands of communication and computational needs.

In the Sept. 26 issue of Science, Salk Institute professor Terrence Sejnowski and University of Cambridge professor Simon Laughlin argue tha

New technique, partial shotgun-genome sequencing at 1.5X coverage of genome, provides a useful, cost-effective way to increase number of large genomes analyzed

Analysis reveals that 650 million base pairs of DNA are shared between dog and humans including fragments of putative orthologs for 18,473 of 24,567 annotated human genes; Data provide necessary tools for identifying many human and dog disease genes

Researchers at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and The Cent

Graduate student camped out in the lab, sleepless in Seattle, to collect the data

Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have made a landmark discovery in yeast that may hold the key to revealing why growing older is the greatest cancer-risk factor in humans. Their findings appear in the Sept. 26 issue of Science.

Senior author Daniel Gottschling, Ph.D., a member of Fred Hutchinson’s Basic Sciences Division, and first author Michael McMurray, a graduate stu

A protein in Salmonella bacteria called SipA invades healthy human cells by using two arms in a “stapling” action, according to scientists at the University of Virginia Health System. The U.Va. researchers, working with colleagues at Rockefeller University in New York, report their findings in the September 26 edition of the magazine Science.
Edward Egelman, professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at U.Va., said the significance of this research is that it could be possible to design mol

Scientists used to think that fibroblasts – the cells that form basic tissue structures – were little more than scaffolding on which more important cells would climb. But University of Rochester Medical Center scientists have discovered that certain fibroblasts have highly specialized duties and play a major role in how scars form, fat accumulates, and harmful inflammation arises in humans.

The research is published in The American Journal of Pathology, October 2003 edition. The work may he

Discovery holds immediate promise for diagnosis & treatment of hereditary spastic paraplegia

A single mutation in a single gene is enough to slowly rob people of their ability to walk, scientists from the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania report today.

And while the inherited defect itself is rare, its discovery may help researchers unravel the mysteries of much more common paralyzing conditions, from spinal cord injury to Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Deep brain stimulation via electrodes implanted on both sides of the brain markedly improves the motor skills of patients with advanced Parkinson’s Disease, says a new long-term study by researchers at the University of Toronto and Toronto Western Hospital.

“We saw a pronounced decrease in the motor scores associated with Parkinson’s Disease – the tremors, stiffness and slowness – and this benefit was persistent through the course of the long-term followup,” says Dr. Anthony Lang,