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New clinical study will help doctors assess abnormal bleeding

How do you know if you bleed normally? Scientists at The Rockefeller University Hospital's Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) aim to answer that question more definitively with the launch of an assessment tool designed to help physicians and researchers more accurately determine what is inside and outside the normal range of bleeding symptoms.

3 Nov 2008

No need for RNA

Not all enzymes that are assumed to require an RNA component in order to function do actually contain RNA. This surprising discovery was made during a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF that focussed on the enzyme RNase P.

3 Nov 2008

Parasites that live inside cells use loophole to thwart immune system

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have discovered a mechanism by which intracellular pathogens can shut down one of the body's key chemical weapons against them: nitric oxide. The researchers found that the microbes block nitric oxide production by subverting the biochemical machinery used by immune cells called macrophages to produce the chemical.

3 Nov 2008

Diagnosis of pelvic inflammatory disease predicts high risk and high rate of further infection in teenagers

A study among Baltimore inner-city teenage girls treated for pelvic inflammatory disease shows they are highly vulnerable to subsequent sexually transmitted infections (STI) - sometimes within a few weeks or months of their treatment.

3 Nov 2008

Scientist says research indicates need for effective HPV vaccine for women and men and a simple HPV screening test

A call to explore a broader use of HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines and the validation of a simple oral screening test for HPV-caused oral cancers are reported in two studies by a Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center investigator.

3 Nov 2008

Researchers develop DNA vaccine for West Nile virus

Researchers are developing a DNA-based vaccine against the dreaded West Nile virus (WNV), which can be transmitted from animals to humans. The unique feature of this vaccine is that it is also effective after onset of the disease, for it has therapeutic properties.

3 Nov 2008

Magnet restores colour perception in partially-sighted patient

A researcher from the University of Essex has succeeded in inducing the experience of colour in the blind part of a partially sighted patient's visual field.

3 Nov 2008

Adult crime linked to childhood anxiety

Being nervous, socially isolated, anxious or neurotic during childhood protects young men from becoming criminal offenders until they enter adulthood, but the protective effect seems to wear off after the age of 21.

3 Nov 2008

First gene for child brain tumour identified

Scientists have found the first genetic link to a common childhood brain tumour - reveals research published in Cancer Research.

3 Nov 2008

Persistent bacterial infection exploits killing machinery of immune cells

A new study reveals an important and newly discovered pathway used by disease-causing bacteria to evade the host immune system and survive and grow within the very cells meant to destroy them. This discovery may lead to new treatments and vaccines for tuberculosis (TB) and certain other chronic bacterial and parasitic infections.

3 Nov 2008

Aboriginals in the Kimberley suffer higher dementia rates

Australian researchers have found that Aboriginal people living in the Kimberley, in northern Western Australia, have significantly higher rates of dementia than the rest of the population.

3 Nov 2008

Insomnia linked to a neurochemical abnormality in the brain

Scientists at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine have linked insomnia to a neurochemical abnormality in the brain.

3 Nov 2008

Two pronged approach to melanomas shows promise

An international team of researchers have developed a new substance which uses a two pronged attack on malignant cells.

3 Nov 2008

How the Nodal gene family keeps the heart in the right (asymmetric) place

Asymmetry is crucial for the heart proper functioning, and now, scientists from the Institute Gulbenkian of Science in Portugal and Harvard University, have discovered that a family of genes, called Nodal, is crucial determining this asymmetry by controlling the speed and direction of the heart muscle cells during embryonic development.

2 Nov 2008

New method provides panoramic view of protein-RNA interactions in living cells

DNA, it has turned out, isn't all it was cracked up to be. In recent years we learned that the molecule of life, the discovery of the 20th century, did not - could not - by itself explain the huge differences in complexity between a human and a worm.

2 Nov 2008

Discovery of new pathway used by disease-causing bacteria to evade host immune system and survive

2 Nov 2008

Double-barreled immune cell approach for neuroblastoma

Adding an artificial tumor-specific receptor to immune system cells called T-lymphocytes that target a particular virus extended and improved the cells' ability to fight a form of childhood cancer called neuroblastoma, said researchers form Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital in a report that appears online in the journal Nature Medicine.

2 Nov 2008

Scientists develop genome-wide platform to study how specialized proteins regulate RNA in living, intact cells

DNA, it has turned out, isn't all it was cracked up to be. In recent years we learned that the molecule of life, the discovery of the 20th century, did not -- could not -- by itself explain the huge differences in complexity between a human and a worm.

2 Nov 2008

Alternative splicing in genes more prevalent than previously believed

Scientists have long known that it's possible for one gene to produce slightly different forms of the same protein by skipping or including certain sequences from the messenger RNA.

2 Nov 2008

Substance tackles skin cancer with two-pronged attack

By playing it safe and using a two-pronged attack, a novel designer molecule fights malignant melanoma. It was created and tested by an international team of researchers led by the University of Bonn.

2 Nov 2008