By recreating the genetic mayhem that characterizes cancer development, Stanford researchers have isolated a key gene involved in human breast cancer. The gene, called TSG101, was defective in almost half of the breast cancers the researchers studied.
Johns Hopkins Children's Center scientists have identified TWIST as the disease gene causing Saethre-Chotzen syndrome, one of the most common genetic conditions with craniosynostosis, the early closure of the cranial sutures. Their findings, which also include the mapping of TWIST in the human genome, appear in the January issue of Nature Genetics.
Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood of UC Santa Cruz, a nationally recognized biologist, spokesperson for higher education, and an experienced voice in the arena of national scientific policy, has been chosen by her peers as the next president-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The new Intel Pentium MMX microprocessor may lure buyers because a new study shows a majority of current World Wide Web users have begun to experience hardware and software problems when attempting to test new innovations.
National tax reform may have a substantial impact on the environment as well as on economic growth, researchers at Resources for the Future and Stanford University suggest. They have recently launched a study of the environmental implications of three alternative tax plans -- the flat tax, the national sales tax, and the unlimited savings account tax -- now under discussion in Congress.
A University of Minnesota entomologist has found that a line of "hygienic" bees can defend their hives against the huge Varroa mite and also against two common honeybee diseases, a finding that spells hope in the face of a 100 percent Varroa infestation rate in hives nationwide. The work is published in the current Apidologie.
University of Wisconsin researchers have found that a single protein orchestrates not only cell differentiation, but also cell division. Reported in the current Science, the findings may have important implications for understanding pancreatic and colon cancer.
ASME International (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) is contributing 12 technical sessions and symposia at National Manufacturing Week, to be held March 10-13, 1997, in Chicago, Ill. The sessions will explore energy conservation, asset management, problem solving and other issues impacting the safety, reliability and maintenance of plant facilities and their systems. Speakers include members of the ASME Plant Engineering and Maintenance Division.
Dr. John Lienhard, the MD Anderson Professor of Mechanical Engineering and History at the University of Houston, invites those attending Energy Week to travel with him down "The Highways of the 30's," on Wed., Jan. 29, at 6:00 p.m., at the George R. Brown Convention Center, 3rd Level. An honorary member of ASME International, Dr. Lienhard will describe how engineering advancements in automotive technology, fuels and service have changed our society.
January Tip Sheet from the American College of Emergency Physicians: 1) Defincienceis in Some Technologies for Identifying At-Risk Patients; Costs Nation Approximately $3 Billion; 2) Improving Speed, Accuracy of ED Triage Key Saves Lives and Money in Chest Pain Cases; 3) ED Chest Pain Observation Units Preferred by Patients Over Hospital Inpatient Care; 4) Requiring Stress Testing of Chest Pain Center Patients Cost-Effective; 5) Some Teen Visits to EDs May Indicate Depression
A study of 934 patients may offer some guidance to heart disease patients, their doctors and even insurance companies facing a choice between open heart surgery and the less invasive procedure called balloon angioplasty.
ATHENS, Ga. -- The steady warming of the Earth's atmosphere, along with increased concentrations of carbon dioxide, could one day bring cataclysmic changes to the planet, some scientists believe. They have suggested global warming could cause anything from the widespread elimination of species to the melting of polar ice caps. But new studies in USDA's Southern Global Change Program indicate there is at least one hidden advantage to increased CO2 concentrations: much better tree growth due to improved photosynthesis.
Beginning early January, a new FAA/NCAR system being demonstrated at LaGuardia and O'Hare airports will provide snowfall "nowcasts" up to 30 minutes in advance for participating airlines to help reduce takeoff delays, increase safety, and save money on deicing procedures. United, USAir, and Delta are testing the new system.
Purdue University's Center for Agricultural Business (CAB) is celebrating its 10th year as a link between the university and the agricultural marketplace.
More than 500 space technology scientists from around the world are expected to attend the University of New Mexico Space Technology and Applications International Forum scheduled for Jan. 26-30 at the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, NM.
A Johns Hopkins engineer has developed "magnetic tweezers," a joystick-controlled device he uses to grab and manipulate single molecules of DNA. He is developing the device for such uses as non-invasive transportation of medicine through a patient's veins directly to diseased cells.
Consuming a substance found in red wine, grapes and other foods may prevent cancer, University of Illinois at Chicago researchers report in the Jan. 10 issue of Science magazine. The researchers discovered the cancer chemopreventive activity of the substance, resveratrol, as part of a project to test plants from around the world for their ability to prevent cancer. EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE by Science magazine Thursday, Jan. 9, 1997 4 p.m. Eastern time
The benefits of Redux (d-fenfluramine) don't outweigh the risks, according to Cornell University nutritionist David Levitsky,who has examined the 40 studies on long-term use of the diet pill. "People do lose weight more easily with than with a placebo, but the advantage of taking the medication over a placebo after a year is less than 5-and-a-half pounds."
The 12-state Northeast was sopping, soggy, soaked and sodden as the region sloshed its way to the wettest year in more than a century -- 102 years of official records -- with 53.89 inches of precipitation. This easily broke the old record set in 1972 by 2.55 inches, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University.
Concerned that raccoon rabies could infect wildlife and humans, Canadian authorities are reaching across the border to help support oral vaccination programs in Northeastern states by veterinarians and wildlife biologists from the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Men and women taking selenium supplements for 10 years had 41 percent less total cancer than those taking a placebo, a new study by Cornell University and the University of Arizona shows. This is the first double-blind, placebo-controlled cancer prevention study with humans that directly supports the thesis that a nutritional supplement of selenium, as a single agent, can reduce the risk of cancer
A relatively new theory that may better enable scientists to predict the effects of pollution and contamination on the environment will be discussed at a symposium at the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory from Jan. 20-23.
The following stories appear in the January issue of the American Thoracic Society's (ATS) American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 1 - Withdrawing life support from terminally ill patients reportedly more routinely accepted by physicians and patient families. 2 - Sleep disordered breathing found to be twice as prevalent among African Americans than Caucasians. Embargoed For Release: January 16, 1997 6:00 p.m.
It is one of those last gorgeous days of October, and John Fellman is leading me through the variety block of WSU's Tukey Orchard, 392 trees of 97 different varieties. The tastes are doing extraordinary things to my nose and taste buds. We are in apple heaven.
Research by an international team of scientists on brain chemicals that control breathing may have paid off for the stroke patients and brain-damaged children who most commonly suffer from apneusis. The hallmark of the dangerous and under-recognized disorder is an inability to exhale normally.
Genzyme Transgenics Corp. has begun a phase II clinical trial in the United States with its lead product, the transgenic form of human antithrombin III (ATIII), a plasma protein that helps prevent harmful blood clotting in many serious medical conditions. It is the first clinical trial in which patients will be treated with a product made in the milk of a transgenic animal.
Genzyme Corp. has commenced a gene therapy program that will concentrate on the development of molecular therapies to treat cardiovascular disease. As an initial focus, the company will be working with scientists at Duke University and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), to develop treatments for congestive heart failure, vein graft failure, and restenosis. Additionally, through its collaboration with UCSD, Genzyme will be developing a gene therapy application to protect heart tissue from oxygen damage that can occur during various types of cardiac procedures.
Review copies are available of a new Johns Hopkins University Press book on biodiversity. "The Idea of Biodiversity: Philosophies of Paradise" examines the concept of biodiversity, its origins and its impact on society.
Johns Hopkins scientists studying scleroderma may have identified the unique molecular footprints on the biochemical trail leading the immune system to attack its own tissues.
A small gold oven sent to Russia's MIR space station may give scientists valuable insights into diffusive transport in liquids, a fundamental physical process that is so little understood that there are a half dozen conflicting theories about how the process actually works.
Relatively small U.S. companies probably should not invest the money that is needed to develop industrial products which are technically superior and have superior performance.
A process that bonds the stuff from which bones are made onto the surface of artificial bone and joint implants may give longer life to as many as 600,000 implants a year.
Elderly patients who receive beta blockers following a heart attack are 43 percent less likely to die in the first 2 years following the attack than patients who do not receive this drug, according to a new study funded by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), published in the January 8 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Cigarette smoking seems to do more than affect the coronary arteries, which supply heart muscle tissue with blood and nutrients. Scientists at the Hippokration Hospital and the University of Athens, Greece, say smoking also affects the aorta, the large blood vessel that transports blood from the heartÃs main pumping chamber to all parts of the body except the lungs.
Ninety-two percent of children taking corticosteroids and 71 percent of children using beta-agonists to control asthma attacks exaggerate how often they take medication, according to a National Jewish Medical and Research Center study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Children who didn't follow prescription instructions had a significantly greater chance of having a severe asthma attack than children who took medication correctly.
Topics: * Diagnostic 'bad news' doesn't always signify a problem, spine surgeon says * Don't give kids cigarette premiums, expert says * Reduce infection risk by cleaning your dishwashing tools properly, epidemiologist advises * Feeling down? Some simple tests could point to easily treatable thyroid disease * Call for an ambulance when a 'brain attack' is suspected, then prepare to answer some simple questions
More than 75,000 people become crime suspects each year in the United States based on being identified from lineups and photo spreads. Some identifications will be false and lead to mistaken arrests and imprisonments.
New evidence that the mumps vaccine wiped out one specific type of heart failure raises a question: Would vaccines against other viruses known to infect heart muscle cells prevent other types of heart disease?
Once youÃve made those New YearÃs resolutions to take better care of your health, do you know how to get started in making those promises a reality? One possible first step is to follow your mouse to the American Heart Association's Home Page at http://www.americanheart.org where you can take a unique interactive quiz, available 24 hours a day, to learn your personal risk of heart attack and some steps you can take to reduce your risk.
A Johns Hopkins discovery that certain proteins interacting with RNA or DNA have nearly identical shapes and function similarly came as a surprise and may help chemists find more effective antibiotics.
Jan story ideas from the Univ. of Colorado Health Sciences Center 1. Bloodless surgery available at Denver's University Hospital 2. Hepatitis C Virus: what everyone should know 3. Sickle cell disease: facts and fallacies 4. Shingles Pain, rash can strike without warning
Thousands of people at risk of sudden cardiac death walk around wearing an implanted device that will shock the heart back into the right rhythm if it starts malfunctioning. The device, called an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), is popular and growing more so. The ICD is also under scrutiny because of its considerable expense, said Dr. Douglas Owens, a senior research associate in health services research and development at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.
In the January π97 Neuron, Harvard Medical School researchers report that mutant mice lacking a certain gene fail to weave the neatly layered pattern that is the trademark of the cerebral cortex, a finding that comes one step closer to understanding how the cortex unfolds during embryonic development.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School report in the December 27 Cell their discovery of a genetic mutation responsible for venous malformations, the most common type of birthmark and describe what role a gene might play in the assembly of veins during embryogenesis.
News about the so-called ìgoodî cholesterol -- HDL -- just keeps getting better. Elevated high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol -- which has been shown to increase a personÃs resistance against heart attacks -- may also protect against ìischemicî stroke, Israeli scientists report today in the American Heart Association journal Stroke. Ischemic stroke, the most common form of stroke, occurs when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked. The other type, ìhemorrhagicî stroke, is caused by bleeding from a ruptured blood vessel. Study co-author Uri Goldbourt, Ph.D., of the Neufeld Cardiac Research Institute at Sheba Medical Center in Tel-Hashomer, Israel, says, ìOur study indicates that high levels of HDL may be associated with protection against more than one vascular disease entity.î
A solvent used in the food-processing trade is expected to help the pharmaceutical industry replace environmentally unfriendly and expensive solvents in the manufacture of drugs. By using supercritical carbon dioxide, or CO2, in the pharmaceutical process, researchers at the University of Kansas have successfully replaced some chemical solvents.
The federal Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) today announced the funding of 13 new research projects: eight projects to determine how the referral of primary care patients to medical specialists and other specialized services affects the quality and cost of health care; and five projects to improve primary care services overall.
January 1, 1997 Annals of Internal Medicine Tips 1) Coronary Artery Bypass Rates in New York State and Ontario Differ, But Which Rate is Right?; 2) Polycystic Ovaries Associated with More Extensive Heart Disease, Metabolic Abnormalities; 3) Satiety Hormone is Higher in Obese People; No Genetic Factor Found; 4) Three Conditions for Bedside Rationing