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Japanase scientists reprogramme human adult cells to function like pluripotent embryonic stem cells

Acclaimed stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, has reported that he and his Kyoto University colleagues have successfully reprogrammed human adult cells to function like pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells.

21 Nov 2007

Scientists find what we see depends on the patterns of neural activity in our brains

Vase or face" When presented with the well known optical illusion in which we see either a vase or the faces of two people, what we observe depends on the patterns of neural activity going on in our brains.

21 Nov 2007

Study looks at rural and urban cancer patients in terms of late-stage presentation

Rural patients are often assumed to be the top truants in American medicine, not seeking medical attention until a condition is more advanced and less treatable.

21 Nov 2007

Chlamydia pneumoniae involved in both heart disease and infertility

Outside the laboratory, Anthony Azenabor is outgoing and talkative, an extrovert who laughs heartily at his own jokes.

21 Nov 2007

Stem-cell finding alters ethical controversy

When University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers succeeded in reprogramming skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells, they also began to redefine the political and ethical dynamics of the stem-cell debate, a leading bioethicist says. R. Alta Charo, a UW-Madison professor of law and bioethics, says the scientific finding could have far-reaching effects on the social dimensions of the ongoing controversy over embryonic stem cell research.

21 Nov 2007

Regulation of the retinoic acid gradient in zebrafish embryos

Human embryos that get too much or too little retinoic acid, a derivative of Vitamin A, can develop into babies with birth defects.

21 Nov 2007

Sports reduces risk of blood clots

According to a new study published in Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, regular participation in sports reduces the risk of developing blood clots by 39 percent in women and 22 percent in men.

21 Nov 2007

New human rhinovirus associated with pediatric respiratory tract infection in Germany

Using a rapid, sensitive, and inexpensive diagnostic tool called MassTag PCR, scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health's Center for Infection and Immunity implicated a new human rhinovirus as the cause of severe pediatric respiratory tract infections in Europe.

21 Nov 2007

Quiet and shy pupils tend to under achieve

New research from the University of Stavanger shows that quiet and shy pupils in junior high schools in Norway achieve below their active classmates in oral, practical and esthetic subjects.

21 Nov 2007

New method for detecting and characterizing prions

An effective and sensitive new method for detecting and characterizing prions, the infectious compounds behind diseases like mad cow disease, is now being launched by researchers at Linköping University in Sweden, among other institutions.

21 Nov 2007

Whole-body positron emission tomography can reassure cervical cancer patients

Whole-body PET (positron emission tomography) scans done three months after completion of cervical cancer therapy can ensure that patients are disease-free or warn that further interventions are needed, according to a study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

21 Nov 2007

Monkeys fend off AIDS-like symptoms with enhanced HIV vaccine

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that using an immune system gene to enhance a vaccine used to study HIV in macaque monkeys provides the animals with greater protection against simian HIV (SHIV) than an unmodified vaccine.

21 Nov 2007

Older people who live alone more likely to be unhappy

Older people living alone are more likely to be depressed, lonely and unhappy and to be less satisfied with life than those living with others, according to new research.

21 Nov 2007

New UNAIDS report offers encouraging news, but most HIV-positive mothers still not getting care

The following statement was released today by Pamela W. Barnes, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation:

21 Nov 2007

Study finds most people dissatisfied with their bodies

Most normal-weight women -- almost 90 percent in a Cornell study of 310 college students -- yearn to be thinner.

21 Nov 2007

Many employers do not implement programs to improve quality and value of health benefits

A new survey indicates that among large employers, many have not examined data on physician quality or shared health plan or physician data with employees that could help improve the value and quality of health benefits, according to a study in the November 21 issue of JAMA.

21 Nov 2007

Discovery of proteins key to normal brain function

MIT researchers have identified a family of proteins key to the formation of the communication networks critical for normal brain function.

21 Nov 2007

Sexy dads produce sexy sons, in the insect world at least

While scientists already knew that specific attractive traits, from cricket choruses to peacocks' tails, are passed on to their offspring, the heritability of attractiveness as a whole is more contentious. Now, new research by the University of Exeter, published (20 November) in Current Biology, shows that attractiveness is hereditary.

21 Nov 2007

Influenza vaccine strategies for broad global access

If an influenza pandemic occurred this year, fewer than one-fifth of the approximately 13 billion vaccine doses needed to fully vaccinate the global population would be available within six months in a best-case scenario.

21 Nov 2007

Third Annual Disability Status Report

There is a dramatic employment and poverty gap between working-age people with disabilities and those without disabilities, according to a new Cornell report.

21 Nov 2007