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44 countries to hammer out global health issues at Earth Observation Summit

44 countries will hammer out plans for sharing outbreak data at the Earth Observation Summit meeting, to be held Sunday in Tokyo.

19 Apr 2004

Computer technology helps to make sense of human brain

Through the HBP, federal agencies fund a system of web-based databases and research tools that help brain scientists share and integrate their raw, primary research data. At the conference, eminent neuroscientists and neuroinformatics specialists will recap the field's achievements and forecast its future technological, scientific and social challenges and opportunities.

16 Apr 2004

Cancer could be inactivated by RNA library

CANCER RESEARCH UK and the Netherlands Cancer Institute have completed the first stage of a landmark initiative to systematically uncover the function of our genes, the charities announce today.

14 Apr 2004

Genetic mutation raises interesting questions about the evolution of the Y chromosome

The names and dates comprising a family tree contain branches that can extend backward centuries in time. People use these diagrams to discover their ancestral origin. Scientists use them to study the genealogical origins of entire species, tracing evolutionary history down to changes in a single gene.

14 Apr 2004

EU ethical, social and legal aspects of human genetic testing

On 6 and 7 May 2004, the European Commission is inviting all interested parties to attend a European citizens’ and stakeholders’ conference to discuss the ethical, social and legal aspects of human genetic testing in research and healthcare applications.

14 Apr 2004

Autism gene discovered

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine are first to strongly link a specific gene with autism. While earlier studies have found rare genetic mutations in single families, a study published in the April issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry is the first to identify a gene that increases susceptibility to autism in a broad population.

14 Apr 2004

Batch control makes chemical reactions easier to manage

Two Dutch researchers have developed a method for managing so-called batch productions. During a batch production, substances react in a reactor vessel according to a certain recipe to produce an end product. After the reaction the reactor is emptied and a new reaction with the same recipe is started.

13 Apr 2004

Leeches back to relieve pain

The leech was indispensable in 19th Century medicine for bloodletting, a practice believed to be a cure for anything from headaches to gout. Leeching was largely abandoned as medical science advanced, only occasionally being called upon to treat bruising and black eyes.

13 Apr 2004

Prosthetic heart valve made completely of the body’s own tissue

Eight out of every 1000 children are born with a heart problem. Out of these, every fifth child needs a heart valve. While today’s mechanical or biological heart valves allow children to continue their lives, a research team at RWTH is developing a significantly more compatible heart valve that grows along with the body’s growth.

13 Apr 2004

Protein sequences harder to predict than originally thought

Scientists have believed for decades that the sequencing of the human genome would automatically yield the sequences of proteins, the functional products of genes, and thus lead to the unraveling of the mechanisms behind human cell biology and disease.

12 Apr 2004

Vitamin C can reduce levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation and chronic disease

Vitamin C supplements can reduce levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation and chronic disease risk in humans, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

12 Apr 2004

Gene therapy helps damaged heart cells regain strength and beat normally

Researchers at Jefferson Medical College and Duke University have used gene therapy to help damaged heart cells regain strength and beat normally again in the laboratory. The work takes the scientists one step closer to eventual clinical trials in humans.

12 Apr 2004

Researchers pinpoint pathway to muscle regeneration

A team including MDA grantee Gordon Lynch in the Department of Physiology at the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, found that a biological signaling pathway may help explain why mice with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) can regenerate their muscles much better than can humans with the same disease.

12 Apr 2004

New process to extract proteins from membranes by using chemicals

Proteins are complex compounds that are essential for the growth and repair of tissue. While scientists understand much about the structure and stability of water-soluble proteins that ‘float’ around in humans, they know very little about the shape and stability of proteins that are embedded, or folded, into the lipid membrane of cells. Such membrane proteins make up about 30 percent of all proteins in the body.

8 Apr 2004

New microgel could potentially recover any enzyme and save manufacturers considerable money

Carnegie Mellon University scientists have employed biological molecules to create a microgel that could recover costly enzymes for repeated use in catalyzing commercially important reactions. The microgel could potentially recover any enzyme and theoretically save manufacturers considerable money.

8 Apr 2004

University of Florida researchers have used a common gel to successfully deliver gene therapy to the diaphragm

The technique, described in the current issue of Molecular Therapy, could eventually lead to a method to correct genetic conditions in humans that cause diaphragm weakness and respiratory failure -- a leading cause of death in tens of thousands of patients with forms of muscular dystrophy, including Pompe’s disease. Thousands of Americans with muscle-weakening diseases are placed on ventilators each year, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

7 Apr 2004

Alcohol screening can spot addiction

Have you ever felt like you needed a drink? If an occasional cocktail changes into a need, it could mean an alcohol problem. National Alcohol Screening Day is April 8. In cities and towns throughout the United States, screening programs will be offered to help people determine whether they exhibit drinking behaviors that could be signs of alcohol addiction.

7 Apr 2004

Protein kinase complex influences the outer layer of skin to control the eventual shape of the full-grown skeleton and skull

Continuing studies about an important regulatory protein kinase complex called I-kappa-B kinase (or IKK) have now shown that a subunit of IKK – IKK alpha – influences the outer layer of skin in developing mice to control the eventual shape of the full-grown skeleton and skull.

7 Apr 2004

Time-reversal acoustics research promises medical breakthroughs

Scientists have not yet found a way to actually make time run backward, but in the cutting-edge world of recent acoustics research, they have shown a way to make sound waves run backward in a kind of ultra-focused reverse echo. By the technology known as time-reversal acoustics, sound waves - in exact reverse order from the original sound - echo directly and very precisely back to their source point.

7 Apr 2004

Completion of the sequencing of human chromosome 19

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and Stanford University report today the completion of the sequencing of human chromosome 19, the most gene-rich of all the human chromosomes. This achievement is described in the April 1, 2004 edition of the journal Nature.

7 Apr 2004