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First time video capture of chemical signals that traverse human cells messaging

Researchers at UCSD and UC Irvine have captured on video for the first time chemical signals that traverse human cells in response to tiny mechanical jabs, like waves spreading from pebbles tossed into a pond. The scientists released the videos and technical details that explain how the visualization effect was created as part of a paper published in the April 21 issue of Nature.

21 Apr 2005

What makes children laugh?

Children say the funniest things, but what makes them laugh? Do German and Israeli kids share the same sense of humour - or is the Simpsons the universal language of laughter?

20 Apr 2005

Scientists reveal the shape of a protein that helps retroviruses break into cells

Retroviruses are among the trickier and more malicious disease agents, causing AIDS and cancers such as leukemia. The viruses manage to sneak into cells with the help of special protein assemblies scattered all over their surfaces. These retrovirus surface proteins cause the membrane envelope of the virus to fuse with the membrane of the cell, spilling virus RNA into the cell to wreak damage.

13 Apr 2005

Link between insomnia and obesity

A possible link between lack of sleep (insomnia) and obesity has been traced to hypocretin/orexin cells in the hypothalamus region of the brain that are easily excited and sensitive to stress, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the April issue of Cell Metabolism.

13 Apr 2005

New invention can easily spot whether cancer has spread

German researchers have come up with a test that measures how stretchy cells are, which could revolutionise the way doctors spot whether cancers have spread, Inventors at the University of Leipzig have produced a laptop-sized gadget which can give a diagnosis using as few as 50 cells and avoids the need to cut out tissue and say it is 1,000 times more accurate than traditional tests.

12 Apr 2005

Assessing the function of unknown genes is feasible and can be done with a microarray phenotype

Microarrays provide a method of quantifying the expression and order of genes in a particular genome -- acting as a surrogate measure of cell physiology, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online today in the journal Nature Genetics.

10 Apr 2005

When treating malaria is a waste of money

Africa may fail to benefit from new and better drugs for malaria because of massive misdiagnosis of the disease by health workers and patients.

5 Apr 2005

Natural killer cells could lead to new Hepatitis treatments

Researchers have discovered that natural killer T (NKT) cells, the immune system's sentinels, patrol the labyrinthine blood vessels of the liver for invaders or signs of tissue damage and demonstrate a dogged behavior not seen before in other T cells.

4 Apr 2005

Immune cells in the liver travel in the liver's blood vessels with surprising speed and agility

Scientists at New York University School of Medicine viewing the actual journey of immune cells in the liver have found that these cells travel in the liver's blood vessels with surprising speed and agility.

4 Apr 2005

Bionic eyes from Stanford

Stanford physicists and eye doctors have teamed up to design a "bionic eye," of sorts. On Feb. 22 in the Journal of Neural Engineering, Daniel Palanker, Alexander Vankov and Phil Huie from the Department of Ophthalmology and the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory and Stephen Baccus from the Department of Neurobiology published a design of an optoelectronic retinal prosthesis system that can stimulate the retina with resolution corresponding to a visual acuity of 20/80

4 Apr 2005

Inexpensive treatment stops multi-drug resistant TB in its tracks

A standard and inexpensive tuberculosis treatment regimen cut the overall TB rate in half and lowered the rate of drug-resistant cases even more dramatically in a remote Mexican health district with a high prevalence of the disease.

3 Apr 2005

Red blood cells lump by mobile phone

Two students of the Gymnasium high school in Spaichingen (Germany) have investigated the influence of using a mobile phone on the red blood cells. With a microscope they made 255 pictures of the blood of 51 testees.

22 Mar 2005

$3.2 million for two shock-related studies

A Virginia Commonwealth University research group has been awarded $3.2 million in federal grants for two shock-related studies, one with battlefield implications and the other for emergency medicine.

21 Mar 2005

Study indicates need for new standards and training for cornea transplants

Improving the training and standardizing the procedures used by the nation's eye banks to assess corneal cells may help to select corneas with optimal health for transplantation, according to new study led by Jonathan H. Lass, MD, principal investigator of the study and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

14 Mar 2005

Confocal imaging promises early detection of skin cancer

Detecting skin cancer early saves lives, but is a job for specialists. A new European system based on confocal imaging promises to improve detection and diagnosis rates by 20 per cent and to speed up the whole process considerably.

8 Mar 2005

Virologists make major step towards understanding the process of HIV infection

A working group of virologists headed by Professor Hans-Georg Kräusslich at Heidelberg University Hospitals, jointly with Professor Hanswalter Zentgraf, Division of Applied Tumor Virology of the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (German Cancer Research Center, DKFZ), have been the first to label Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV) for visual investigations without inhibiting the functional characteristics of the virus.

28 Feb 2005

Early Alzheimer's disease may be precipitated by a neuron traffic jam

Early Alzheimer's disease may be precipitated by a “traffic jam” within neurons that causes swelling and prevents proper transport of proteins and structures in the cells, according to new studies by Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers.

27 Feb 2005

Scientists have replicated hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the laboratory

For the first time, scientists have replicated hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the laboratory. The ability to replicate HCV in cell culture will allow researchers to better study the life cycle and biology of this virus and to test potential antiviral compounds, which may lead to new therapies for the liver disease that results from infection with HCV.

22 Feb 2005

New methods of gene delivery using lasers

Leading laser scientists at the University of St Andrews have developed a new method of delivering genes to cells using laser light. The new technique, which is cheap and powerful, could have important implications for future studies in biomedicine and healthcare.

26 Jan 2005

Broadening treatment to battle recurrence of endometrial cancer

Mayo Clinic researchers studying endometrial cancer have found that patients at risk for relapse based on identified risk factors had a 46 percent probability of experiencing recurrence within five years despite treatment with state-of-the-art therapy.

18 Jan 2005