Better understanding of Parkinson's disease onset during aging is important for improving diagnostics and developing strategies for therapeutic intervention. Scientists have now identified genes and processes that may underlie what makes some people more susceptible to this disease.
Demand for stem cells from cord blood is greater than supply. Two senior doctors analyze the UK's growing cord blood banking industry and the potential impact of a new bank that provides blood for both personal and public use. One private cord blood bank will store 20% of a sample for private use and 80% for public use.
Oceangoing sailing rafts plied the waters of the equatorial Pacific long before Europeans arrived in the Americas, and carried trade goods for thousands of miles all the way from modern-day Chile to western Mexico, according to new findings by MIT researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
Astronomers have made the best ever determination of the power of a supernova explosion that was visible from Earth long ago using X-ray observations of a supernova remnant and optical observations of the expanding light echoes from the explosion. These results establish the validity of an important new method for studying supernovas.
A new study in the Journal of School Health reveals that children with healthy diets perform better in school than children with unhealthy diets. Students with an increased fruit and vegetable intake and less caloric intake from fat were significantly less likely to fail the literacy assessment.
Logistics is a key part of life. Nutrition, tools and information constantly have to be transported from one place to another in cells. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have now discovered how molecular motors transport cargo in cells. Two competing teams of motors pull in opposite directions, like in a tug-of-war contest. The winning team determines the direction of transport after the competition.
Based on a close look at the everyday eating habits of a large group of men and women, researchers have found that people whose diets were most similar to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans were least likely to have metabolic syndrome. For the study, metabolic syndrome was defined as a condition occurring among people who have at least three of the following health risks: abdominal obesity, poor blood sugar control, high blood fats, low levels of HDL "good" cholesterol, and high blood pressure.
Radiofrequency ablation -- an interventional treatment that "cooks" and kills lung cancer tumors with heat -- greatly improves survival time from primary or metastatic inoperable lung tumors, according to a new study. These survival results are similar to surgical results from other studies, but the interventional treatment is less invasive and has far fewer side effects and less recovery time.
The dramatic increase that has occurred in the cure rate for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia will be difficult to replicate in older patients without considerable additional research, according to a new article. Research aimed at understanding the success in treating pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia combined with molecular science could help clinicians treat adolescents and adults with the disease.
A sled dog's thick fur can be used to detect mercury contamination in the environment and possibly in humans. Source: LiveScience.com | 22 Mar 2008 | 3:22 pm
LONDON (Reuters) - The British government is right to push through hybrid human-animal embryo legislation after a Roman Catholic cardinal attacked the government for "endorsement of experiments of Frankenstein proportion", Health Minister Ben Bradshaw has told the BBC.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station prepared on Saturday for a spacewalk to store an extension boom and other tasks, the fifth and final outing during a busy visit by the shuttle Endeavour.
Europe recruits astronauts for first time in 15 years, with up to 50,000 applications expected for eight places Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 22 Mar 2008 | 12:02 am
Piers Sellers: If you want to see Brits on the moon along with everyone else, the thing to do would be to start now to lay the ground work Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 22 Mar 2008 | 12:02 am
British researchers are developing a medical robot which can work out the intentions of a surgeon performing an operation Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 22 Mar 2008 | 12:02 am
