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On May 1, 1997 American Psychiatric Association publishes new Practice Guideline for Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementia of Late Life.

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A new device may help researchers better understand environmental events such as global warming by measuring individual aerosol particles as small as 10 nanometers--roughly one order of magnitude smaller than existing transportable instruments, say University of Delaware researchers who recently filed a patent disclosure. The instrument analyzes particles "at the critical early stages of their growth," before they accumulate in clouds, says Anthony S. Wexler, associate professor of mechanical engineering.

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Because virtually all of today's information technology is computer-driven, there is a huge demand for computer software engineers in just about any field a college-bound high school student can name.

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Purdue University researcher Samuel Wagstaff is using powerful computers to divide and conquer numbers that have more than 100 digits. Results from the latest round, factoring a record-setting 167-digit number, may help scientists develop secret codes for computer security.

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The University of Maryland Medical Center is using a novel approach to solicit funds for a nationwide study of Celiac disease. Instead of holding dinners or galas, fundraising staff are tapping on computer keyboards and ìsurfing the netî to reach potential donors. ìWe believe this is the first time the Internet has been used to launch a comprehensive fundraising drive for medical research,î says Kirk Gardner, director of major gifts at the University of Maryland Medical Center. ìWe will continue surfing the Internet to solicit an estimated $600,000 to fund a national study on Celiac disease.î

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Using polyethlene glycol, researchers have camouflaged red blood cells, in essence creating a universal blood type with broad applications to transfusion medicine. Embargo: Mon. May 5, 5:50 pm EDT.

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Women make up one-third of the 15.6 million Americans who are drug or alcohol dependent. But until recently, most addiction treatment has been tailored toward men, ignoring special needs and problems of women addicts. In an effort to raise awareness of women's issues in addiction treatment and new services to help them, the University of Maryland Medical Center co-sponsored a free conference at the Baltimore Convention Center on April 24. The conference drew about 2,000 addiction treatment providers, including physicians, social workers, employee assistance professionals, counselors and therapists.

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A team of University of Minnesota researchers has regenerated functioning nerve cells from cervical (neck) nerve tissue taken from young rats, whose spinal cords were once thought unable to grow new nerve cells.

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Emory University melanoma researchers are uncovering new information about a vital cellular ingredient which they believe may direct the body's immune system to kill malignant melanoma tumor cells.

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Researchers at the University of Michigan Medical Center have developed a drug, recently approved by the federal government, that can halt the progression of - and often completely reverse - the symptoms of Wilson's disease. The disorder strikes some 5,000 Americans, usually during their teen-age or young-adult years.

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Genetic research conducted at The Jackson Laboratory has identified a protein in mice that may play a fundamental role in the critical process of "wiring" the central nervous system during vertebrate embryonic development.

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Emory and CDC researchers reported in "Clinical Infectious Diseases" that pathogens from patients in hospital intensive care units are most resistant to antibiotics - organisms infecting patients in other areas of the hospital were less resistant.

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Emory University dermatologic surgeons are using a surgigal procedure called MOHS to treat lentigo-maligna melanoma.

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Hormones are being found to have impacts beyond the individual animal that produces them. They reach from one generation to effect the very survival of the next. In addition, they communicate messages about the environmental conditions affecting the parent generation to the offspring -- which may help the new generation adapt to their environment.

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A pending patent, filed for by two researchers at the University of Georgiaπs Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, could reduce cleanup costs by millions of dollars at U.S. Department of Energy facilities across the country and make the most commonly used groundwater remediation technology process much more effective.

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Five internationally leading experts on arthritis and exercise will discuss how exercise helps adults and children with arthritis at the National Press Club on Monday, April 28, 8:45-11 a.m. Speakers will present new evidence from the US and Canada that exercise improves the health of persons with arthritis and disabilities.

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Highlights of News Scientist for 4-26-97

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Nova Southeastern University and the town of Davie have turned an abandoned sewer plant in Florida into the largest fish-breeding facility in the country, and one of only a few in the nation built from an old utility plant. They're breeding thousands of tilapia--a light, white fish that tastes similar to trout--at the Davie Aquaculture Research Center plant.

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Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and at the Veterans Administration West Side Medical Center have found that cocaine may weaken the body's natural defenses by dramatically altering the numbers and genetic machinery of an important type of immune cell from the thymus gland.

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Sheldon R. Erikson, chairman of the Board of Cooper Cameron Corporation (NYSE) since May 1996, and president and chief executive officer since January 1995, will be accepting the Titanium Award for outstanding citizenship within the petroleum industry. This presentation will take place during the ASME Cajun Crawfish Boil, Sunday, May 4, from 1 to 5 p.m.

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Researchers are developing techniques for using an ionized gas to remove uranium, plutonium and related radioactive isotopes from contaminated tools, gloveboxes, pipes and other materials.

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ASME International (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) is a sponsor of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), to be held May 5 to May 8, at the Houston Astrodome. The following sessions are sponsored by ASME International:

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Recognizing the critical role of technical standards in international trade, ASME International (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) has urged the U.S. government to support market-driven, de facto international standards as a means of satisfying the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade adopted at the most recent round of GATT negotiations.

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Although hypertension and low income already are linked to an increased risk of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) for both African-American and white men, the two factors may help explain the four-fold higher incidence of ESRD found in blacks, compared to whites, according to a study led by Johns Hopkins researchers.

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Global representatives from agricultural universities and research facilities met in Ithaca, N.Y., to hammer out details on diet and 'food systems' alliance to create agricultural demonstration projects that show how food systems could be improved in both developing and developed countries. An agreement also would begin the process of upgrading food-systems infrastructures and training within developing countries.

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Genzyme Transgenics Corp. announced today that it has signed a five-year CRADA with the NCI to expand research and development activities related to idiotypic cancer vaccines. Idiotypic vaccines contain proteins derived from individual patient tumors or from specific types of tumors.

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Superintendents of the nationís largest urban school districts will announce the formation of a national coalition to develop and share solutions to common problems they face in improving mathematics and science education. Revitalizing urban schooling is a key to the success of national education reform programs because urban school systems enroll roughly half of all U.S. public school students.

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Caffeine, stress, sleep loss, anxiety and physical exertion all can induce unnoticeable hand tremors. Now, experiments with a drug commonly used to treat rapid heart beats appears to significantly improve hand steadiness of surgeons during simulated eye operations.

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Leading researchers from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities will convene at UC Santa Cruz on May 10 and 11 for a weekend conference on one of the hottest topics in higher education today: Is science just another cultural and political construct?

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Eric A. Cornell, 35, adjoint professor at the University of Colorado and physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has been selected to receive the Alan T. Waterman Award, the National Science Boardís highest honor for young researchers.

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"Sarcoidosis is a result of an unknown environmental agent," says Lee Newman, M.D., a National Jewish Medical and Research Center physician. "Sarcoidosis is a mystery disease. There's probably more than one cause." Dr. Newman's "Medical Progress" report in the April 24 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine outlines what the medical community has learned about the disease during the past 10 years and the best ways to treat it. EMBARGOED: 5 p.m. EDT, April 23, 1997

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The Cornell University Institute for Animal Welfare has been established to foster discussion and research on issues concerning animals in agriculture, laboratories and the wild. Based in the College of Veterinary Medicine, the institute will provide financial support for studies by Cornell-affiliated researchers and will bring to campus speakers on a range of animal-welfare topics.

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Dentists, dental hygienists and dental students from across the country will learn the latest forensic techniques at a special two-day course at the American Dental Association (ADA) Chicago headquarters in April. The response to this workshop has been so strong that a second workshop has been added to accommodate all who want to attend.

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Cigar sales are up as tobacco companies use movie stars and athletes to boost the popularity of cigar smoking by making it look sophisticated and glamorous. But, the American Dental Association (ADA) warns that even occasional cigar smoking may contribute to serious oral health risks.

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Fact on Cigar Smoking by ADA

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Breaking a long drought on national advertising, the American Dental Association this month will place four page-dominant advertisements in the Wall Street Journal to promote Direct Reimbursement, a method of dental benefit funding that lets patients choose their own dentist while allowing employers to allocate a greater percentage of benefit dollars toward actual dental care, thus minimizing administration costs.

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Astronomers are having a difficult time explaining how a distant galaxy can emit gamma rays at extremely high energies. The galaxy, called Markarian 421, is challenging conventional astronomical theories of particl acceleration processes driven by black holes. The observations also indicate that the universe is not as opaque at these energies as previosuly thought.

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The solution to the growing environmental problem of scrap tires may well be found on the football field - or a golf course or a well-worn yard. The U.S. Patent Office on April 22 will issue a patent to Michigan State University to use crumb rubber as a turf topdressing. MSU turfgrass researchers discovered that working tires into the soil -- after grinding them into crumbs -- solves a thorny disposal problem while improving grass and athletic fields that get a lot of wear and tear.

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National Jewish Medical and Research Center Shows Rush Immunotherapy Results in Allergen-Specific Changes in T Cells. Rush immunotherapy targeting a single allergen makes distinct changes in T cells and stops allergic reactions, National Jewish Medical and Research Center physicians found, according to the April issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. EMBARGOED UNTIL: April 21, 1997

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ARS News Service Tips for 4-19-97: 1- Estimates for Basal Metabolism Inaccurate for African American Girls; 2- Less Irradiation Would Still Stop Fruit Pests; 3- Commercial Traps Control Wayward Bees; 4- Corn, Crop Residues Offer Cleaner Environment; 5- Animal Disease Conference Comes to the Web.

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Protecting children from the dangers of the sun is the focus of a joint American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) national skin cancer prevention conference at the New York Hilton and Towers, May 1-2.

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Scientists have discovered that there are fewer low-energy photons in the universe than previously thought, an observation that may alter the way astronomers think about how galaxies were formed. The findings were presented April 18 at the meeting of the American Physical Society.

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Adolescents who have been exposed to community violence are more likely to engage in violent behavior themselves, according to the results of a study presented by Jennifer Conroy M.P.H. of UT-Houston School of Public Health at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (April 1997).

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For years, scientists have been unable to account for all of the material they believe would have been needed to form the cosmos billions of years ago. Now two Johns Hopkins astrophysicists may have found much of the missing "dark matter." Their new analytical method is detailed in an article published April 20 in the "Astrophysical Journal."

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The National Science Board (NSB) has named H. Guyford Stever, a recently retired physicist, long-standing leader in science, technology and public policy and former National Science Foundation (NSF) director to receive the boardís1997 Vannevar Bush Award.

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A graduate student at Purdue University has developed a gel-like material that may someday be used to deliver insulin to diabetic patients in a way that mimics the natural response of the body ã by responding to changing glucose levels in the blood.

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No grades were given, but the first "graduates" of Purdue University Calumet's Entrepreneurship program scored high marks for increasing sales. Collective sales of the program's charter group of 18 business owners increased nearly 56 percent over the two-year period during which they attended classes.

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There appears to be something special about the fruits of the vine when it comes to preventing heart disease. Red wine and purple grape juice appear to inhibit clotting activity whereas orange and grapefruit juice don't, researchers at the University of Wisconsin Medical School have found.

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A gene linked to excessive cell duplication in the breast, one of the primary genetic events that occurs in breast cancers, has been discovered by researchers at Temple University School of Medicine's Fels Institute for Cancer Research.

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Press release of issue dated April 19 for New Scientist, the international science and technology weekly news magazine