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Novel methodology that can be used to investigate choice and introspection

When evaluating facial attractiveness, participants may fail to notice a radical change to the outcome of their choice, according to a study by researchers at Lund University, Sweden, and New York University. Equally surprising, the study shows that participants may produce confabulatory reports when asked to describe the reasons behind their choices.

9 Oct 2005

Minimally invasive needle breast biopsies and sentinel node biopsies should be performed more routinely than they currently are

Physicians should strive to replace traditional, invasive procedures for diagnosing breast cancer with proven, less-invasive diagnostic methods, according to an international panel of breast cancer experts convened at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

9 Oct 2005

Brain needs the middle ear to track depth

When you jaywalk, your ability to keep track of that oncoming truck despite your constantly changing position can be a lifesaver. But scientists do not understand how such constant updating of depth and distance takes place

5 Oct 2005

New role for the blood protein serum amyloid P in the body's response to medical materials

Using a technique called proteomics, the researchers identified many of the blood proteins that stick (adsorb) to the surfaces of medical devices. Blood proteins that adsorb to the surfaces of materials unfold and can be recognized by the body, which then mounts a response against the device.

5 Oct 2005

Deadly 1918 Spanish flue virus has been reconstructed and characterized

This research, reported in this week's issue of Science, is part of a larger research initiative being led by Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Peter Palese, PhD, Professor and Chairman of Microbiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

5 Oct 2005

Fruits and vegetables can increase or decrease the activity and toxicity of orally-administered drugs

Eating fruits and vegetables is essential to living a long and healthy life, yet research has shown they can cause dangerous interactions with medicines.

5 Oct 2005

Particular versions of the TGFb1 gene are largely responsible for how badly the illness affects patients' lungs

Subtle differences in other genes -- besides the defective gene known to cause the illness cystic fibrosis -- can significantly modify the inherited disease's severity, a large new multi-center national study has concluded.

5 Oct 2005

Why kids need to wear mouthguards

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 74 million students will head back to school this fall, however, according to the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation (NYSSF), many of those students end up as part of the 15 million dental injuries and five million cases of traumatically lost teeth that occur every year.

5 Oct 2005

Cells inside the hair follicle are true multipotent stem cells

Using an animal model, a research team led by Yann Barrandon at the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) and the CHUV (Lausanne University Hospital) has discovered that certain cells inside the hair follicle are true multipotent stem cells, capable of developing into the many different cell types needed for hair growth and follicle replacement.

5 Oct 2005

The cocktail party problem

Known as "the cocktail party problem," the ability of the brain's auditory processing centers to sort a babble of different sounds, like cocktail party chatter, into identifiable individual voices has long been a mystery.

5 Oct 2005

Large tumors that block the sinuses can be removed endoscopically through the nose

The endoscopic approach worked well not only to remove large inverted papillomas in 18 patients ages 36 to 74 but also to watch for regrowth of the tumors that have a high recurrence rate and a small chance of becoming cancer. Patients were treated as outpatients and 56 percent remained disease-free at 29 months.

5 Oct 2005

Most comprehensive picture to date of how influenza viruses evolve and are transmitted

In the first large-scale effort of its kind, researchers have determined the full genetic sequence of more than 200 distinct strains of human influenza virus.

5 Oct 2005

Our own mind and body give us the foundation to understand what other people are doing, thinking, or feeling

Successful social communication is based, above all, on the ability to understand the actions of other people. But how can we imagine what other people are thinking, or what intentions they have? Psychologists and neuroscientists trace it back to a kind of simulation that goes on in our brain as soon as we observe a person acting.

5 Oct 2005

Earliest signs of Alzheimer's can be screened for with an electroencephalograph

Although Alzheimer's disease affects millions of people worldwide, there is no way to identify this devastating brain disease at its earliest stages when there still may be time to delay or even prevent the downward spiral into dementia.

5 Oct 2005

Richness of motor training determines not only what we learn but how we learn

Practice makes perfect when people learn behaviors, from baseball pitching to chess playing to public speaking. Biomedical engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have now identified how people use individual experiences to improve performance.

5 Oct 2005

Study looks at childrens end-of-life care preferences

Pediatric cancer patients as young as 10 years old who are aware that their disease is incurable have the ability to participate meaningfully in discussions of their own end-of-life care with family members and the health care team, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Sydney Children's Hospital.

5 Oct 2005

Math1 gene plays a pivotal role in the formation of many of the neurons important in hearing and balance

Close your eyes and imagine you are in a darkened Carnegie Hall. Although it's pitch black, you know you are getting closer to the stage as the music gets louder. If you have been there before, you have a sense of the location of the seats and aisles.

5 Oct 2005

Influenza evolution in action

On the eve of the 2005-06 flu season, scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) have captured influenza evolution in action. In a study published in this week's journal Nature, the researchers report the first large-scale project to sequence the influenza virus.

5 Oct 2005

Immature stem cells that proliferate to form brain tissues in mice can function for at least a year

New studies in mice have shown that immature stem cells that proliferate to form brain tissues can function for at least a year -- most of the life span of a mouse -- and give rise to multiple types of neural cells, not just neurons.

5 Oct 2005

New set of guidelines for treating the mental health needs of incarcerated youth

Although as many as 65 to75 percent of juvenile offenders have one or more psychiatric disorders, most juvenile correctional facilities do not have the resources to serve them.

5 Oct 2005

Medical News

Novel methodology that can be used to investigate choice and introspection

Minimally invasive needle breast biopsies and sentinel node biopsies should be performed more routinely than they currently are

Brain needs the middle ear to track depth

New role for the blood protein serum amyloid P in the body's response to medical materials

Deadly 1918 Spanish flue virus has been reconstructed and characterized

Fruits and vegetables can increase or decrease the activity and toxicity of orally-administered drugs

Particular versions of the TGFb1 gene are largely responsible for how badly the illness affects patients' lungs

Why kids need to wear mouthguards

Cells inside the hair follicle are true multipotent stem cells

The cocktail party problem

Large tumors that block the sinuses can be removed endoscopically through the nose

Most comprehensive picture to date of how influenza viruses evolve and are transmitted

Our own mind and body give us the foundation to understand what other people are doing, thinking, or feeling

Earliest signs of Alzheimer's can be screened for with an electroencephalograph

Richness of motor training determines not only what we learn but how we learn

Study looks at childrens end-of-life care preferences

Math1 gene plays a pivotal role in the formation of many of the neurons important in hearing and balance

Influenza evolution in action

Immature stem cells that proliferate to form brain tissues in mice can function for at least a year

New set of guidelines for treating the mental health needs of incarcerated youth

How microRNA is transforming science: From discovery to diagnostics

Advancing benzodiazepine detection

The Surgeon-Scientist Pioneering Regenerative Engineering

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