Factors

Open Access journals get impressive impact factors

Impressive impact factors prove that BioMed Central's Open Access journals are high quality and widely read and cited. Journals published by BioMed Central have again received impact factors that compare well with equivalent subscription titles, it was announced today, with five titles in the top five of their specialty. The high impact factors for these journals affirm that they are respected by...

Microreactor efficiently regenerates cofactors for biocatalysis

One of the longstanding challenges in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food additives is the continuous regeneration of molecules called cofactors that permit the synthesis through inexpensive and environmentally friendly biocatalytic processes. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Universite Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France...

Studies clarify risk factors for mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis C virus

Breastfeeding does not raise the risk of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV), according to two new studies published in the December 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online. One study found that infant girls are twice as likely to be infected as infant boys. Both studies provide new information with which to counsel pregnant women infected...

With few factors, adult cells take on character of embryonic stem cells

With the introduction of just four factors, researchers have successfully induced differentiated cells taken from mouse embryos or adult mice to behave like embryonic stem cells. The researchers reported their findings in an immediate early publication of the journal Cell, published by Cell Press. The cells--which the researchers designate "induced pluripotent stem cells" (iPS)--exhibit t...

Impressive new Impact Factors for BioMed Central's open-access journals

Eleven journals published by BioMed Central, the open access publisher, received their first Impact Factor this month. With nine journals in the top 10 of their 2005 Journal Citation Report* category, and ten journals with a 2005 Impact Factor exceeding 3.00, open access journals are confirmed as publishing high-quality, highly cited research. Genome Biology, BioMed Central's flagship titl...

With few factors, adult cells take on character of embryonic stem cells

With the introduction of just four factors, researchers have successfully induced differentiated cells taken from mouse embryos or adult mice to behave like embryonic stem cells. The researchers reported their findings in an immediate early publication of the journal Cell. The cells--which the researchers designate "induced pluripotent stem cells" (iPS)--exhibit the physical, growth, and...

New roles for growth factors: Enticing nerve cells to muscles

During embryonic development, nerve cells hesitantly extend tentacle-like protrusions called axons that sniff their way through a labyrinth of attractive and repulsive chemical cues that guide them to their target. While several recent studies discovered molecules that repel motor neuron axons from incorrect targets in the limb, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have...

Early-stage immune system control of HIV may depend on inherited factors

How well an individual's immune system controls HIV during the earliest phases of infection appears to depend on both the specific versions of key immune-system molecules called HLA Class I that have been inherited, as well as on the fragments of viral protein those molecules display to the T lymphocytes that usually destroy infected cells. In a report in the November issue of PLOS Medicine, res...

Study identifies risk factors for spread of respiratory infections in hospitals

The 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China has lessons to teach hospitals on how to prevent the spread of other respiratory diseases, according to new research appearing in the April 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online. Hospitals were epicenters of SARS transmission in Guangzhou province and Hong Kong in 2003. In hospitals with espe...

Study examines genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease

Cardiff University researchers have found evidence for new genes involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Several genes were found to show evidence of contributing to Alzheimer?disease, the most interesting gene being ‘GALP...

A cherry on top: Tart cherries may alter heart/diabetes factors

Tart cherries may be good for more than just making pie, according to new data from an animal study conducted by University of Michigan Health System researchers and presented today at a major scientific meeting. In a study involving rats, the researchers report that animals that received powdered tart cherries in their diet had lower total cholesterol, lower blood sugar, less fat storage...

First confirmed common genetic risk factors for breast cancer

In a paper published online today in the journal Nature, the international team of scientists who conducted the genome-wide association study...

Genetic factors are linked to fever following smallpox vaccination

Immunization against infectious agents has been one of the greatest successes of modern me...

Gene therapy delivery of nerve growth factors reverses erectile dysfunction in animal model

Rats with erectile dysfunction, or ED, that were injected with a gene therapy vector containing either of two nerve growth factors were able to regain normal function after four weeks, according to a study conducted by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers. These findings are being presented at the 10th annual meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy, which is convenin...