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How an AIDS-Related Cancer Unleashes Inflammation

Although new HIV treatments have drastically reduced the incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma in developed countries, it remains a health threat in many developing countries. Now, researchers have discovered one way that Kaposi's sarcoma ?a cancer-like viral disease traditionally associated with AIDS ?triggers severe inflammation. Don Ganem, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator,...

Old drug, new tricks: Prospects for slashing the impact of malaria

A dramatic reduction in the impact of malaria is in prospect with a clinical drug trial to begin in Papua New Guinea early next year. Success in the trial would open the way to relief in the 10% of humanity infected with this debilitating and often fatal disease - over 500,000,000 people. The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research is collaborating with the Papua New Guinea In...

UCR biochemist goes to Washington with high-protein corn

Daniel Gallie's findings propose a useful approach to feed the world's growing population Because his research holds promise for efficiently fee...

MRSA study demonstrates need for frequent hand washing and environmental disinfection in health care settings

A major cause of hospital-acquired infections can persist for days and even weeks on environmental surfaces found in healthcare settings, including bed linens, computer keyboard covers and acrylic fingernails, according to research presented today at the 105th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major cause of ho...

Emerald Spectre haunts Ontario's ash forests

A new study shows that while we're winning isolated battles, we could well lose the war to prevent the devastating spread of the emerald ash borer in eastern Canada and the United States. It's a failure that would cost billions of dollars in lost timber and ornamental trees, and dramatically change the forest and neighbourhood landscape in eastern North America - with even more impact than Dutch...

Method slashes quantum dot costs by 80 percent

Rice scientists replace pricey solvents with cheap processing fluidsIn an important advance toward the large-scale manufacture of fluorescent quantum dots, scientists at Rice University have developed a new method of replacing the pricey solvents used in quantum dot synthesis with cheaper oils that are commonplace at industrial chemical plants. Rice's study, which was conducted under the a...

New book on rain forests, slash-and-burn agriculture

UC Davis economist Stephen Vosti is co-editor and co-author of a new book assessing the environmental, economic and social impacts of farming in tropical rain forests. "Slash-and-Burn Agriculture: The Search for Alternatives" details the causes and consequences of the annual destruction of 80,000 square miles of rain forest. The forests are cleared by rural farmers to feed their families a...

Loosen leash on cancer protein 'watchdog,' researchers say

Scientists may have found a way to keep a protein "watchdog" on high alert to stop hereditary cancers from overrunning our bodies - if they can keep it on a leash of just the right length. In a collaborative effort, a team of scientists including Purdue University's Susan M. Mendrysa has found that one of the proteins found naturally in cells has the ability to halt the progression of inte...

Whiplash injuries ?are they caused by startle reflexes?

New research published in The Journal of Physiology suggests that a cause of whiplash injuries could be startle reflexes elicited by unexpected loud sounds. Whiplash injuries most commonly result from seemingly minor low-speed rear-end collisions. The reason for the injury is not known but it is generally thought that the sudden acceleration of the body relative to the head damages the jo...

Tweedle coat fashions stocky flies

University of California, San Diego biologists have discovered that disruptions in genes they call Tweedles make fruit flies short and stout like Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Alice in Wonderland. They report in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that a defective TweedleD protein in the outer coat of fly larvae makes them appear compressed....

Smashing the time it takes to repair our bones

New research by Queensland University of Technology is helping scientists better understand how bone cells work and may one day lead to the development of technology that can speed up the time it takes to heal fractured and broken bones. Dr Hannay said his device re...

U of M researchers invent 'flashy' new process to turn soy oil, glucose into hydrogen

Anyone who's overheated vegetable oil or sweet syrup knows that neither oil nor sugar evaporates--oil smokes and turns brown, sugar turns black, and both leave a nasty film of carbon on the cookware. Now, a University of Minnesota team has invented a "reactive flash volatilization process" that heats oil and sugar about a million times faster than you can in your kitchen and produces hydrogen and...

Manual dishwashing study digs up dirt on dish cleanliness

New research at Ohio State University answers an infectious question about eating at restaurants: How clean are manually washed dishes? Jaesung Lee and Melvin Pascall found that even when they washed dishes in cooler-than-recommended water, numbers of bacteria on the dishware dropped to levels accepted in the Food and Drug Administration's Food Code. They also found that certain foods—espe...

Research identifies protein that signals flowering in squash plants

The length of the day relative to night, or photoperiod, is a strong determining factor for the induction of flowering in many plant species. Short day (SD) plants require a short day length (or more precisely, a long night) in order to flower. These are plants that flower...