ban

UN votes to ban human cloning

By a vote of 84 in favor, 34 against and 37 abstaining, with 36 absent, the UN today approved a declaration calling on all UN Member States to ban all forms of human cloning, including cloning for medical treatment, as incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life. While in general agreement, some delegates said they opposed banning therapeutic cloning. The Declaration,...

SuperLigands - a database of ligand structures derived from the Protein Data Bank

Scientists have isolated the first human embryonic stem cell lines specifically tailored to match the nuclear DNA of patients, both males and females of various ages, suffering from disease or spinal cord injury. These ce...

Bad aftertaste? New sensory on/off switch may 'cure' bane of artificial sweetener search

Chemistry and biology researchers at Virginia Tech have enhanced the abilities of the molecules they are creating to deliver killing blows to cancer cells. The man-made molecular complexes enter cancer cells and, when signaled, deliver killing medicine or cause the cell to change. The new supermolecules have more units that will absorb light - providing more control over the range of light freque...

Chemical 'band-aid' prevents heart failure in mice with muscular dystrophy

A common chemical used in the manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries can repair damage to cardiac muscle cell membranes and prevent heart failure in mice with the genetic mutation that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy, according to scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School. The mutation in the dystrophin gene causes the progressive deterioration of skeletal muscles see...

Deep treasure to be found in Oculina Bank

Expedition to help protect Florida's unique oculina deepwater reefs On Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005, scientists will begin a six-day expedition to explore one of Florida's most vital but least familiar marine resources--the spectacular deepwater coral reefs of the Oculina Bank--some 30 years after their discovery. Among the team's goals is the start of a sustained and critically needed moni...

Why were the HIV prevention trials in commercial sex workers abandoned?

One promising approach to help stem the global HIV epidemic is to give commercial sex workers an HIV medication (such as the drug tenofovir) before they have high risk sex in the hope of reducing their chances of becoming infected, an approach called "pre-exposure prophylaxis" (PREP). But activist groups, including Act Up-Paris have "halted the progress of at least two important clinical trials o...

UF researchers kill resistant bugs one bandage at a time

University of Florida researchers have led the development of a new type of wound dressing that could keep dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria from spreading in hospitals, a problem that leads to thousands of deaths in the United States each year. This microbicidal coating - which can be chemically bonded to gauze bandages, socks and even hospital bedding and gowns - kills the two most...

Toxic flood lifts lid on common urban pollution problem

Broken sewers, flooded industrial plants and dead bodies are all likely to blame for poisoning the waters being drained from New Orleans. So sa...

'Banana-jawed' fossil mammal linked to rare sound-producing skill

Paleontologists at the Duke Lemur Center have assembled a new picture of a 35-million-year-old fossil mammal -- and they even have added a hint of sound. By painstakingly measuring hundreds of specimens of a fossil mammal called Thyrohyrax, recovered from the famous fossil beds of Egypt's Fayum Province, the researchers determined that males of this now-extinct species -- and only males --...

The urban evolution lab

Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected to the University of Antwerp are the first to show that the quantity of amyloid protein in brain cells is a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Amyloid protein has already been known to be the primary component of the senile plaques in the brains of patients. The new discovery demonstrates that the gr...

Multi-million pound UK Biobank underway

UK Biobank, a visionary medical project aimed at improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and many other serious conditions is launched this week after several years of meticulous planning. Up to three thousand people living in the south Manchester area are being given the opportunity to trailblaze the project before it goes nationwide later this...

US woman gives birth to baby from world's first frozen donor egg bank

(Lexington, Kentucky, USA, 1/2/06) Wendy and Jared Kennedy are thrilled with their New Year baby girl, Avery Lee, born December 31, 2005, at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky. They are the first couple to deliver a baby from the first commercial donor egg bank in the world, which has offices in Lexington, Kentucky and Phoenix, Arizona. The technolo...

Study supports 'urgent' need for worldwide ban on lead-based paint

Environmental and occupational health experts at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that major countries--including India, China and Malaysia -- still produce and sell consumer paints with dangerously high lead levels. The researchers say that this l...

Sleep disturbances affect classroom performance

As a night of bad sleep can have an adverse effect on an adult’s performance at work the next day, an insufficient amount of rest can also have a negative impact on how well middle or high school students perform in the classroom. A study published in the February 15th issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (JCSM) finds that adolescents who experience sleep disturbances are more likely...

Smoking ban dramatically reduces air pollution in Irish pubs

A national workplace ban on smoking in Ireland resulted in an 83 percent reduction in air pollution in pubs, an 80 percent decrease in airborne carcinogens for patrons and staff, and an improvement in the respiratory health of bar workers, according to a one-year follow-up study. The research appears in the second issue for April 2007 of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Car...

Out-of-body experiences may be caused by arousal system disturbances in brain

Having an out-of-body experience may seem far-fetched to some, but for those with arousal system disturbances in their brains, it may not be a far off idea that they could sense they were really outside their own body watching themselves. In previous studies of more than 13,000 Europeans, almost 6 percent said they have had such an out-of-body experience. Dr. Kevin Nelson and a research te...