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A variant of the apolipoprotein E (apoE) gene known as apoe-4 has been shown to be a significant risk factor for Alzheimer's Disease in several ethnic and racial groups, including Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics and Japanese. Leading a collaborative effort of hundreds of scientists around the world, researchers at Boston University School of Medicine report their conclusion in the Oct. 22 issue of JAMA. The paper, which studied the impact of the apoE gene on age and sex as well as race and ethnicity in approximately 6,000 Alzheimer's Disease patients and 8,600 non-demented controls, helps clarify the importance this gene plays in causing Alzheimer's.

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Four independent research studies involving a combined total of more than 22,000 women debunk the misconception that labor epidural analgesia increases a woman's risk of having a cesarean section delivery (c-section).

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The combination of all-natural ingredients in the nutritional supplement LipoGuardô was found to reduce total cholesterol levels by 11 percent, according to results of a clinical study published in this month's issue of the Journal of the National Medical Association.

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New research could offer help for the thousands of sufferers with sickle cell anemia. Nitric oxide (NO), a gas that has been used successfully to treat certain lung ailments, may have another application--the "unsickling" of sickled cells.

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded grants for two long-term studies of urban ecology, representing the first attempts ever made to study the long-term ecology of urban environments.

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A Johns Hopkins paleobiologist has uncovered clues that the horses (and camels and rhinos) that roamed North America millions of years ago went extinct because of climate change that radically changed their food supply. This new understanding of the extinctions is relevant to today's discussions of global warming.

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Experts at the University of Illinois at Chicago have pioneered a new procedure to repair the skulls of persons who have undergone brain surgery or have suffered serious head trauma, including gunshot wounds.

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A dozen widely diverse research and instructional projects--spanning the arts, humanities and social sciences to engineering, natural sciences and environmentl studies -- will benefit from a new $2.4 million gift of computing equipment and other resources from Intel Corp. to the University of California, San Diego.

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Alvin J. Glasky, Ph.D., president and CEO of NeoTherapeutics, Inc., will present research findings on AIT-082, a potential new therapy for the treatment of memory impairments associated with Alzheimer's disease, stroke and spinal cord injuries, at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans, LA.

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Vaccinations may ultimately take their place beside leeches in medical history if promising methods of inserting DNA into animal tissues works out.

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Information technology plays an increasingly important role in our lives through its impact on work, commerce, scientific and engineering research, education and social interaction. Technology developed for the "typical" user, however, may inadvertantly create barriers for people with disabilities. The World Wide Web currently presents many such barriers.

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Sandy Madison hopes to increase the percentage of young women she sees in her introductory computer class at University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. She is designing a summer program for high school teachers and girls with the help of a National Science Foundation (NSF)grant. The 1999 change from Pascal to C++ programming language for high school advanced placement (AP) computer science tests means that most AP teachers nationwide will need training in C++ and associated teaching techniques. The American shad can detect high-frequency sounds, an adaptation that may allow the fish to escape its principal predator, dolphins.

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LSU astronomers studying gamma-ray bursts have developed a sensor that can be used for such diverse things as detecting lead in paint or tumors in mammograms.

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Emergency Diagnostic and Treatment Units (EDTUs) may offer an alternative to inpatient hospitalization for adults suffering from a reversible disease such as acute asthma. The study, funded by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), shows that most EDTU patients had clinical outcomes equivalent to the inpatients, overall lower costs, greater patient satisfaction and an improved quality of life.

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Osteoporosis -- the loss of bone calcium -- is a problem most women face after menopause. But recent studies by LSU researchers show that swimming may be a key to keeping bones strong.

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The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) announces the first set of topics it has assigned to its 12 Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs). The findings will be published as evidence reports or technology assessments, which will form the basis of other organizations' guidelines, quality improvement projects, and purchasing decisions.

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A new fabric being developed by LSU researchers promises to be as soft and absorbent as cotten but as wrinkle-resistant as polyester.

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Predicting weather patterns caused by El Nino is more an art than a science, but there are a number of things we do know.

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Americans are increasingly recognizing the value of therapeutic massage, according to a national survey being released today in conjunction with the first-ever National Massage Therapy Awareness Week, Oct. 19-25, sponsored by the American Massage Therapy Association.

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I congratulate the 1997 Nobel Laureates in science. This honor is fitting tribute to their remarkable achievements and, in the case of four of them, to the foresight of the American public which supported their work.

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The largest study ever to examine the prevalence of thyroid disease found that 11.7 percent of the study participants had abnormal thyroid function, yet only one percent of the total population were receiving treatment.

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Emerging management technologies such as data warehouses, call centers, and specialized web sites are converging with the increased globalization of business to revolutionize customer relationships, finds UT Austin and businesspartner Andersen Consulting. Businesses in great need of leaders who understand the trends and can deploy the right technologies to identify, build, and maintain profitable customer relationships can now look to the first ever Center for Customer Insight, located at the Texas Business School.

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Parents wanting to help their children adjust to life's stresses may want to turn down the noise in their home, says a Purdue University professor of psychological sciences.

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What do landscape architects, zookeepers, food technologists and forest rangers have in common? Chances are it's a degree in agriculture. A strong and varied job market is getting some of the credit for the increasing number of students signing up for classes in Purdue University's School of Agriculture.

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Doctors can face an ethical dilemma when patients request screening tests - such as those for breast cancer and prostate cancer - that may be ill-advised under certain circumstances. Four authors explore that predicament in the article "Ethical Considerations in the Provision of Controversial Screening Tests," in the current issue of the Archives of Family Medicine.

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A tell-tale genetic defect that has been identified in the thyroid cancers of children exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl disaster may lead to a better understanding of the precise role of radiation in the type and incidence of the disease in the United States, according to researchers at the American Thyroid Association (ATA) meeting.

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The University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center is launching a statewide network of interactive computer kiosks to link residents with up-to-date health information. The $1 million project, was funded by proceeds from the state tobacco tax. The highly interactive system is the first health-related project of its kind in the nation.

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A mechanism that regulates protein activity, previously undescribed for advanced cells, has been reported by Dr. Toshinori Hoshi, University of Iowa assistant professor of physiology and biophysics.

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University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists are a step closer to solving a climatological riddle of the early Stone Age when, in what is now North African desert, hippos and crocodiles abounded, Neolithic fishermen thrived on the shores of numerous shallow lakes, and grasslands stretched to the horizon.

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Researchers at Cornell University will share in a $10 million grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the University of Buffalo's National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER), to engineeri structures to better resist earthquakes.

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A $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the Electronic Packaging Program at Cornell University will support the design andconstruction of a PICT (precision interconnect cluster tool) capable of attaching integrated circuits with at least 10 times more connections than today's most powerful chips.

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Highlights of New Scientist for Oct 16, 1997.

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Madagascar's largest remaining rainforest contanining animals found nowhere else on earth will be preserved, thanks to an historic compromise that blends the two competing pressures faced by poor countries worldwide: conserving natural resources versus human development.

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Maggots wriggling in an open wound; leeches crawling about your body; blood oozing from a punctured vein. The stuff of nightmares? In reality, it could be the cure for what ails ya'. A new book by a Michigan State University professor looks with loving detail at many ancient folk remedies and old wives' tales that were discarded by medical practitioners of the past but are now making comebacks in medical clinics today.

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Scientists Solve Active Site of Structure of Enzyme that Produces Nitric Oxide; Discovery Suggests Possible New Ways to Design Novel Drugs for Several Human Diseases

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A questionnaire answered by students at a Baltimore County high school shows that nearly 10 percent of them have received psychological help to deal with difficulties related to exposure to violence in one or more of the three major areas of their lives: the media, their home and/or community, and school.

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Five thousand of the worldís premier pharmaceutical researchers are gathering in Boston, Nov. 2-6, to discuss the latest scientific research and medical advances of 1997. A small sampling of the breakthroughs, presented for the first time at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting, are listed below.

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Five thousand researchers gathering in Boston, Massachusetts for the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), Nov. 2-6, 1997 will present contributed papers responding to societies most chronic medical issues. From cancer to diabetes to asthma, the following top-lines the presented research. Complete abstracts are available by calling Lisa Mozloom or Nicolle Ugarriza at 305-672-4422.

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NEW YORK, N.Y., Oct. 15, 1997--Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons scientists have discovered a molecule, called ERAB, that provides an important clue to how early neuron damage may occur in Alzheimer's disease. The findings, published in the Oct. 16, issue of Nature, may lead to a intracellular target for the eventual treatment of the disease.

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From scalding hot places that rival Dante's Inferno to frigid locations colder than the dark side of the moon, scientists taking part in a $6 million National Science Foundation (NSF) research initiative are searching for life forms on Earth that may provide insight about possible life on other planets. The first NSF awards in this initiative -- which is titled Life in Extreme Environments (LExEn) -- involve more than 20 research projects and some 40 scientists who will look at life in Earth's most extreme habitats.

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Atmospheric scientists participating in a workshop funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) will debate the effects of so-called "space weather" on earth's navigation and communication signals -- two of the major systems affected by an upcoming "solar max." The workshop will take place in Bethesda, Maryland, at COMSAT Corporation, from October 22-24, 1997.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Among neurological disorders, autism is the new kid on the block, and no one really knows what causes it. For nearly 30 years scientists believed that autism was a disorder of the mind, caused by poor parenting or perhaps early psychological trauma. But by the 1970s, it became clear that biological rather than psychological factors cause the brain abnormality. Today, psychiatrists still don't know exactly what that abnormality is or where and how it develops. Those are questions Dr. Joseph Piven, University of Iowa associate professor of psychiatry, and his colleagues tackle daily. Recently, they found neuroanatomical differences between the brains of autistic and healthy young adults.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Every mom knows that after giving birth, sleep is a precious commodity; fatigue and emotional fluctuations are part of the experience. Everyone knows it, but according to Michael O'Hara, University of Iowa professor of psychology, no one has documented the effect of post-birth sleep patterns on thought processes and mood.

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This supplement to the Annals of Internal Medicine deals with articles generated from the Sixth Regenstrief Conference, "Measuring Quality, Outcomes, and Cost of Care Using Large Databases," held September 4-6, 1996.

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1) Oral cavity measurements, together with body mass and neck measurements, provide a rapid, accurate method to predicting sleep apnea syndrome. 2) No increased stroke risk is found in women taking oral contraceptives. 3) A paper examining the appropriate roles of cardiovascular specialist and generalist.

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The Abrams Curve--discovered by University of Delaware economist Burton A. Abrams and disclosed Oct. 15--provides direct evidence of a relationship between the size of a country's government and its unemployment rate, according to a forthcoming article in the journal, Public Choice. The curve suggests that "at least some of the increases in jobless rates in the United States since 1949 have resulted from increases in government outlays," says Abrams. Reducing the size of the U.S. government would, therefore, probably reduce the unemployment rate, he says.

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Six women who each have faced the death of a child and made the decision to donate their organs for transplantation have formed the countryπs first organization of mothers to provide counseling and support to other families confronted with similar tragic circumstances. Called Mothers of Donors ã or MOD Squad, as they refer to themselves ã was conceived and coordinated by the Albany Medical Collegeπs Center for Donation and Transplant. It is the only program of its kind in the country.

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High doses of acetaminophen, especially when mixed with alcohol, caused liver injury in some patients, researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center at Callas report in the Oct. 16 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

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The National Institute on Drug Abuse has funded a three-year, $780,000 study of marijuana use designed to answer fundamental questions about the drug, including whether it leads to the use of "harder" drugs, long-term effects, and whether users become dependent. UC Santa Cruz will coordinate the three-nation comparative study.

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NEW HAVEN, Conn., Oct. 15, 1997--A genetically engineered strain of the bacteria Salmonella potentially may target cancerous tumors, amplify within tumors and inhibit tumor growth, according to new research reported by Yale University School of Medicine scientists and colleagues.