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Life expectancy declines in some U.S. populations

Although life expectancy has been increasing in the U.S. for most people, there is a growing disparity in mortality depending on race, income and geography, according to a study published on Monday in the online journal PLoS Medicine, the New York Times reports.

22 Apr 2008

Self-repairing technologies in polymer materials

Will the day come when cracks in buildings close up without external help and before they get to the stage where they cause damage to the component?

17 Apr 2008

Salivary diagnostics

Accuracy, convenience, and non-invasiveness are the most critical characteristics for any diagnostic tool.

7 Apr 2008

Genetic mutations tied to immune comeback during therapy for HIV-1

Researchers with the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program (IDCRP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) here and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have published a patient outcome study in the March 30 online edition of Nature Medicine that may signal a need for a change of thought in the management of HIV.

3 Apr 2008

Gene mutations tied to immune comeback during therapy for HIV-1

A new study by U.S. scientists provides compelling evidence that two genes are linchpins in defining the course of immune restoration in HIV-positive individuals undergoing virus-suppressing therapy.

31 Mar 2008

New horizons in the creation of synthetic enzymes

Mankind triumphed in a recent "competition" against nature when scientists succeeded in creating a new type of enzyme for a reaction for which no naturally occurring enzyme has evolved.

26 Mar 2008

Birth of an enzyme

Mankind triumphed in a recent 'competition' against nature when scientists succeeded in creating a new type of enzyme for a reaction for which no naturally occurring enzyme has evolved.

25 Mar 2008

Designer enzymes

Chemists from UCLA and the University of Washington have succeeded in creating "designer enzymes," a major milestone in computational chemistry and protein engineering.

20 Mar 2008

Cutting edge computing sheds light on how life on earth may have originated

The UK's national computing grid, along with their counterparts in the US (TeraGrid) and Europe have helped UCL (University College London) scientists shed light on how life on earth may have originated.

19 Mar 2008

Hib meningitis eliminated in children under 5 in Uganda

Hib meningitis has been virtually eliminated in young children in Uganda just five years after the country introduced Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine nationwide, according to an independent study.

11 Mar 2008

Novel mechanism found that may boost impaired function of leukemia protein

A new study led by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) reports on a novel mechanism that can enhance the function of a protein that is frequently impaired in patients with acute forms of leukemia.

3 Mar 2008

Adult-onset obesity seen in mice when gene ubiquitin disrupted

Texas and California scientists who disrupted one type of the gene ubiquitin (Ubb) in mice observed neuronal death in the hypothalamus, impaired control of energy balance and adult-onset obesity in the rodents.

27 Feb 2008

Curcumin reduces heart enlargement and may prevent heart failure

Eating curcumin, a natural ingredient in the spice turmeric, may dramatically reduce the chance of developing heart failure, researchers at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre of the Toronto General Hospital have discovered.

22 Feb 2008

Despite advances, atherosclerosis solution is years away

It's the leading cause of heart disease and stroke: atherosclerosis - a disease characterized by the thickening of arterial walls, restricting blood flow like a narrow pipe.

21 Feb 2008

Discovery of a new anticoagulant

The discovery of a new anticoagulant with promising therapeutic value is reported on the 20th of February issue of the journal PLoS ONE1.

20 Feb 2008

Suicide rates in young men at lowest levels since 1970s

The reasons for the steady decline in suicides among young people in the UK are explored in two studies by researchers from the University of Bristol published on bmj.com.

18 Feb 2008

Researchers find new U.S. trend in antibiotic resistance

A research team from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, examining bacterial isolates obtained in hospital and non-hospital clinical settings between 2000 and 2006, has identified drug-resistant strains of E. coli and Klebsiella bacteria in more than 50 blood, urine and respiratory samples.

11 Feb 2008

Moss protein plays role in Alzheimer's disease

Preventing Alzheimer's from developing is a goal of Raphael Kopan, Ph.D., professor of molecular biology and pharmacology at the Washington University School of Medicine.

11 Feb 2008

Less waste in the synthesis of anti-inflammatory drugs

Dr Francesca Paradisi of the Centre for Synthesis and Chemical Biology (CSCB) at University College Dublin, and Professor Daria Giacomini and co-workers at the University of Bologna, Italy, have developed a highly efficient enzyme-driven process which could be applied to the synthesis of drugs such as Ibuprofen, avoiding the 50% waste of the undesired byproduct generated by current processes.

4 Feb 2008