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Researchers attempt to quantify processes underlying cell heterogeneity

Combining the latest methods in gene splicing and computer modeling, Rice University researchers are trying to develop a predictive framework for one of the most basic and complex biological phenomena — cellular heterogeneity, or the ability of genetic clones to act and behave differently when exposed to the same set of environmental stimuli.

8 Nov 2004

In a world first, Australian researchers re-grow cut spinal cord

In a world first, Australian researchers have discovered a mechanism for greatly enhancing regrowth of spinal cord nerves after they are damaged, restoring the ability to walk in mice within weeks of a spinal cord injury.

8 Nov 2004

Drug reaction breakthrough

The ‘data mining’ research maximises the information extracted from existing drug safety data by cross-referencing much of the existing information on adverse drug reactions.

8 Nov 2004

D-cycloserine (DCS), used in concert with psychotherapy, is an effective treatment for some anxiety-related disorders

A tuberculosis drug called D-cycloserine (DCS), used in concert with psychotherapy, is an effective treatment for some anxiety-related disorders, according to research by scientists at Emory University School of Medicine and the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN).

8 Nov 2004

Search for genetic key to corneal disease

A new federal grant focusing on painful inherited visual disorders that scar the cornea will allow researchers to narrow the genetic cause of one type of corneal dystrophy and to offer improved diagnosis of this family of diseases.

8 Nov 2004

Lipid Sciences' selective delipidation process demonstrates enhanced ability in removing cholesterol from cells

Lipid Sciences announced today that researchers have successfully used the Company's proprietary "selective delipidation" process to create a modified form of HDL ("good cholesterol") that is known to be more effective in reverse cholesterol transport, the body's natural process for removing lipids from arterial plaque.

8 Nov 2004

Genetic testing can be used to distinguish between ischemic and nonischemic forms of heart failure

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that genetic testing can be effectively used to distinguish between heart failure patients who suffer from ischemic or nonischemic forms of the disease.

8 Nov 2004

Sexual competition among males is evident at the molecular level, as well as at behavioral and physiological levels

In what could be termed a truly seminal discovery, researchers have shown that when females are more promiscuous, males have to work harder -- at the genetic level, that is. More specifically, they determined that a protein controlling semen viscosity evolves more rapidly in primate species with promiscuous females than in monogamous species.

8 Nov 2004

Association between long-term air pollution exposure and the early stages of atherosclerosis

Air pollution may trigger and accelerate narrowing of carotid arteries, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2004.

8 Nov 2004

Coronary stents have no impact on mortality over the long term

While the placement of stents in newly reopened coronary arteries has been shown to reduce the need for repeat angioplasty procedures, researchers from the Duke Clinical Research Institute have found that stents have no impact on mortality over the long term.

8 Nov 2004

Dopamine in the brain plays a key role in how we make choices

Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder studying Parkinson's disease patients found strong evidence that dopamine in the brain plays a key role in how people implicitly learn to make choices that lead to good outcomes, while avoiding bad ones.

8 Nov 2004

After stopping drinking, the brain grows back - significant implications for treatment of alcoholism during recovery

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists have reported - for the first time - a burst in new brain cell development during abstinence from chronic alcohol consumption.

8 Nov 2004

Testosterone may impede immunity

Decreasing testosterone boosts immunity because testosterone helps control T-lymphocytes, the attack cells of the immune system, according to Mayo Clinic-led research in laboratory animals.

8 Nov 2004

Researchers find two locations in the human genome that may harbor genes that increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have found two locations in the human genome that may harbor genes that increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. If confirmed, they will be the first genes linked to Alzheimer’s disease since ApoE4 was discovered in 1993.

8 Nov 2004

Vioxx linked with risk of cardiovascular disease

With the support of the National Research Programme (Musculoskeletal Health - Chronic Pain) , researchers at the University of Berne analysed the data in publicly available studies on the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx.

5 Nov 2004

Link between immune protein and longer survival in melanoma patients

Immune responses to prevent or delay the spread of melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, are more likely to prolong survival in patients if their immune cells carry a special kind of marker on the surface, according to a team of researchers at the University of Virginia Health System.

5 Nov 2004

Atomic switch capable of discriminating color in a bacterial membrane protein

Researchers using extremely high resolution imaging have found an atomic switch capable of discriminating color in a bacterial membrane protein.

5 Nov 2004

People with terminal conditions should be able to die at home with dignity

Although 65% of people with cancer want to die at home, only about 30% are successful in doing so. A government committed to choice for patients must improve this figure, write palliative care experts from Edinburgh University.

5 Nov 2004

Problem gambling is a health issue that needs to be taken seriously

The United Kingdom is just about to undergo one of the most radical changes of gambling legislation in its history. The new gambling bill will provide the British public with increased opportunities and access to gambling like they have never seen before.

5 Nov 2004

Autophagy may even provide a clue to the mythical fountain of youth

The cells of higher organisms have an internal mechanism for chewing up and recycling parts of themselves, particularly in times of stress, like starvation and disease. But nobody is quite sure yet whether this recently discovered process protects cells, or causes damage.

5 Nov 2004