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,

Collaborative project promises new approach to battling fires

Someday fire fighters will be able to manage wildfires by computer.

Rochester Institute of Technology recently won a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to translate remote-sensing data about wildfires into real-time “mini-movies” that fire managers can download on laptop computers at the scene of a blaze. The model and visualization will predict the fire’s behavior for the following hour.

Physicians at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have reported encouraging short-term outcomes in fetal surgery for the birth defect spina bifida. Among the benefits were a reduced need for a shunt to divert excess fluid from the brain, the reversal of a potentially devastating neurologic condition called hindbrain herniation, and better-than-expected neurologic function in the infants’ legs.

Mark Johnson, M.D., and colleagues from Children’s Hospital’s Center for F

As a paleontologist, Gerta Keller has studied many aspects of the history of life on Earth. But the question capturing her attention lately is one so basic it has passed the lips of generations of 6-year-olds: What killed the dinosaurs?

The answers she has been uncovering for the last decade have stirred an adult-sized debate that puts Keller at odds with many scientists who study the question. Keller, a professor in Princeton’s Department of Geosciences, is among a minority of scientists