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Scientists generate patient-specific stem cells, Science study says

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...

Bugs, even 'bad' ones, can be educationally beneficial, new book says

We have much to learn from bad bugs, according to Gilbert Waldbauer, whose book "Insights From Insects: What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us" was published March 1 (Prometheus Books). "We know a lot about pests, because so much money is spent on their research," said Waldbauer, professor emeritus of entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Of the 900,000 known species of insect...

AIDS expert says global strategy needed to combat feminization of HIV/AIDS

Thomas C. Quinn, M.D., a Johns Hopkins physician and scientist, who has spent the best part of the last 25 years leading major efforts to combat HIV and AIDS throughout the world, is calling for global strategies and resources to confront the rapid "feminization" of the AIDS pandemic. Quinn, a professor of infectious diseases at Hopkins and a senior investigator at the National Institute o...

WCS says avian flu prevention should focus on farms, markets

Wildlife health experts from the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) warn that efforts to control the spread of avian flu across Asia and beyond must focus on better management practices on farms and in markets. WCS is currently working with Mongolian agencies on the ground in Mongolia's Kovsgol province, collecting samples from wild birds that have recently contracted the...

Controlling wildlife trade key to preventing health crises, study says

According to a study by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, controlling the movements of wildlife in markets is a cost-effective means of keeping potential deadly pandemics such as SARS and influenza from occurring. The study appears in the July edition of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The cost of controlling the spread of diseases afflicting both human and animal popula...

Researcher says flu responders can learn from 1918 epidemic

A doctoral student's research brings lessons and insight to a looming pandemic While that prospect would terrify the average person, it also intrigues Jim Higgins, a doctoral candidate at Lehigh Unive...

Katrina floodwaters not as toxic to humans as previously thought, study says

The floodwaters that inundated New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina were similar in content to the city?s normal storm water and were not as toxic as previously thought, according to a study by researchers at Louisiana State University. Their study, the first peer-reviewed scientific assessment of the water quality of the Katrina floodwaters, is good news for those who've been expo...

World faces challenge as life expectancies lengthen, scientist says

In the 21st century, state-of-the-art anti-aging technologies may extend human lifespans at an unprecedented rate, bringing with them a host of social and economic challenges, says biologist Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford University. The combined impact of these medical advances would have major implications for the global community in the new century. Tuljapurkar, the Dean and Virginia M...

DNA conclusive yet still controversial, Carnegie Mellon professor says

Although the odds that DNA evidence found at a crime scene will match by chance the DNA of a person who was not there are infinitesimal, controversy continues about DNA identification and its use in criminal investigations, says Carnegie Mellon University Statistics Professor Kathryn Roeder. Roeder will present a historical overview of the use of DNA identification on Tuesday, April 25, during th...

Hooked on fishing, and we're heading for the bottom, says scientist

The world has passed "peak fish" and fishermen's nets will be hauling in ever diminishing loads unless there's political action to stem the global tide of over fishing, says a fisheries expert based at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Daniel Pauly says the crisis in the world's fisheries is less about scientific proof than about attitude and political will. And, he says, the world'...

FSU biologist says new dinosaur is oldest cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex

Florida State University paleobiologist Gregory M. Erickson sliced up some ancient dinosaur bones uncovered in China to help an international team of scientists identify a new genus and species. Despite striking skeletal differences and only subtle similarities, the FSU researcher determined that the two remarkably intact specimens were cousins of North America's hulking Tyrannosaurus rex. <p...

Are dancers genetically different than the rest of us? Yes, says Hebrew University researcher

What makes dancers different than the rest of us? Genetic variants, says a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In a study published in the American journal, Public Library of Science Genetics, Psychology Prof. Richard P. Ebstein and his research associates have shown, through DNA examination, that dancers show consistent differences in two key genes from the general popula...

Allergy battle could be won in five years, says scientist

Researchers, working with colleagues at St George's, University of London, are developing drugs designed to stop allergens from entering the body, so rendering them harmless. Professor David Garrod said the research ?recently shortlisted for the Northwest Regional Development Agency's Bionow Project of the Year ?takes a completely new approach to the treatment and prevention of allergies....

Federal testing for mad cow disease a failure, law review editor says

The U.S. Agriculture Department's mad cow disease-testing program is wholly inadequate and the agency's refusal to let processors do their own testing further undercuts the safety of American beef, a University of Illinois scholar writes. Eating meat from cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, can cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal human brain-wast...

OHSU study says stem cell 'fusion' occurs in tumors

An Oregon Health & Science University study is adding credence to an increasingly popular theory that fusion is what bonds stem cells with bone marrow cells to regenerate organ tissue. Scientists in the OHSU School of Medicine found that transplanted cells derived from adult bone marrow can fuse with intestinal stem cells of both normal and diseased tissue comprising the cellular linin...

Ozone recovering, but unlikely to stabilize at pre-1980 levels, says study

When given extra shots of the plant steroid brassinolide, plants "pump up" like major league baseball players do on steroids. Tracing brassinolide's signal deep into the cell's nucleus, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have unraveled how the growth-boosting hormone accomplishes its job at the molecular level. The Salk researchers, led by Joanne Chory, a professor i...

When the label says 'low fat,' calories can pile up, study says

People -- especially overweight people -- consume up to 50 percent more calories when they eat low-fat versions of snack foods than when they eat the regular versions, according to a new Cornell study. Further, a companion study finds, when food labels show serving sizes on such packaged low-fat snacks as granola or chocolates, normal-weight people tend not to overeat them while overweight...

To slow AIDS in Russia, treat HIV-positive addicts, Stanford study says

The key to combating AIDS in Russia may be to treat HIV-infected drug users. A new model estimating the spread of HIV in Russia suggests that treating injection drug users with antiretroviral medication will slow transmission of the virus among the general population. The study, which will appear in the December issue of the journal AIDS, was led by Douglas Owens, MD, a researcher at...

RNAi shows promise in gene therapy, Stanford researcher says

Three years ago Mark Kay, MD, PhD, published the first results showing that a biological phenomenon called RNA interference could be an effective gene therapy technique. Since then he has used RNAi gene therapy to effectively shut down the viruses that cause hepatitis and HIV in mice. With three human RNAi gene therapy trials now under way - two in macular degeneration and one in RSV...

Napoleon's mysterious death unmasked, UT Southwestern researcher says

A new investigation into Napoleon Bonaparte's cause of death might finally put to rest nearly 200 years of lingering mysteries about the illness that killed the French emperor during his island exile, a UT Southwestern Medical Center scientist reports. American, Swiss and Canadian researchers applied modern pathological and tumor-staging methods to historical accounts and found that Napol...

New research says winning a Nobel Prize adds nearly 2 years to your lifespan

New research by the University of Warwick reveals that a Nobel Prize brings more than just cash and kudos - it can also add nearly two years to your life. The research by Professor Andrew Oswald, an economist at the University of Warwick, and Matthew Rablen, (a former Warwick postgraduate researcher now a government economist), is published this month in a study entitled "Mortality and Imm...

Does God answer prayer? ASU research says 'yes'

Does God or some other type of transcendent entity answer prayer? The answer, according to a new Arizona State University study published in the March journal Research on Social Work Practice, is “yes.?David R. Hodge, an assistant professor of social work in the College of Human Services at Arizona State University, conducted a comprehensive analysis of 17 major studies on the effects of i...

Tibetan antelope slowly recovering, WCS says

Returning from a recent 1,000-mile expedition across Tibet's remote Chang Tang region, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) biologist George Schaller reports that the Tibetan antelope -- once the target of rampant poaching -- may be increasing in numbers due to a combination of better enforcement and a growing conservation ethic in local communities. The eight-week journey, which was co-fun...

Research says boiling broccoli ruins its anti-cancer properties

Researchers at the University of Warwick have found that the standard British cooking habit of boiling vegetables severely damages the anticancer properties of many Brassica vegetables such as broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower and green cabbage. Past studies have shown that consumption of Brassica vegetables decreases the risk of cancer. This is because of the high concentration in Br...

Rising skin cancer rates are more likely to affect wealthy people, says 12-year review

Researchers who looked at official cancer statistics for nearly 23,000 patients over a 12-year period, reported a 20...

Prenatal Stress Keeps Infants, Toddlers up at Night, Study Says

While this finding presents itself as important news to tired new moms and dads for whom a soundly sleeping child spells out well-deserved respite it may carry eve...