Scientists have made progress in understanding what causes migraines. The research reveals how gene mutations known to cause a form of inherited migraine–the kind that cause debilitating headaches and light flashes known as auras–target a cellular process involved in brain cell communication.
Combining partially differentiated stem cells with gene therapy can promote the growth of new “insulation” around nerve fibers in the damaged spinal cords of rats, a new study shows. The treatment, which mimics the activity of two nerve growth factors, also improves the animals’ motor function and electrical conduction from the brain to the leg muscles. The finding may eventually lead to new ways of treating spinal cord injury in humans. The study was funded in part by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health.
The abortion drug mifepristone (Mifeprex,TM RU-486) has been linked to rare cases of fatal bacterial infections, but until now the connection has not been clearly understood. In “Pathophysiology of mifepristone-induced septic shock due to Clostridium sordellii,” author and Brown University professor Ralph P. Miech, MD, PhD, proposes two models of how this devastating reaction may occur.
A single prenatal dose of methamphetamine — commonly known as speed — may be enough to cause long-term neurodevelopmental problems in babies, say University of Toronto researchers. In research published in the August issue of Free Radical Biology and Medicine, U of T pharmacy and pharmacology professor Peter Wells and his colleagues determined that exposing pregnant mice only once to methamphetamine led to delivery of offspring with long-term neurodevelopmental problems, including reduced motor co-ordination. Methamphetamine is a potent and addictive stimulant.
How alike are you and your husband or wife — or, you and your best friend? Probably more alike than you realize. A study of twins shows that people’s spouses and best friends are much more similar to them than was previously recognized — about as close as brothers and sisters. The research also suggested that the preference for partners who are similar to us is partly due to our genes.
Hurricane Emily’s 140-mile-per-hour winds, which last week blew roofs off hotels and flattened trees throughout the Caribbean, owed their force to an unlikely culprit — ocean spray. According to a new study by two University of California, Berkeley, mathematicians and their Russian colleague, the water droplets kicked up by rough seas serve to lubricate the swirling winds of hurricanes and cyclones, letting them build to speeds approaching 200 miles per hour. Without the lubricating effect of the spray, the mathematicians estimate, winds would rise to little more than 25 miles per hour.
Like 3-2-1, orbiter Discovery has successfully shed its Solid Rocket Boosters and External Tank, and shut down the main engines after reaching space. Solid Rocket Booster separation was triggered 2-minutes and 5-seconds into the flight after burnout of the putty-like fuel packed inside each rocket. The firing of explosive bolts freed the twin boosters from the side of the External Tank, allowing them to peel away from the Space Shuttle. Parachutes were then automatically deployed from the boosters, allowing them to slowly descend into the Atlantic Ocean where they will be towed back to shore.
Quantum communication networks show great promise in becoming a highly secure communications system. By carrying information with photons or atoms, which are entangled so that the behavior of one affects the other, the network can easily detect any eavesdropper who tries to tap the system. Physicists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have just reached an important milestone in the development of these systems by entangling a photon and a single atom located in an atomic cloud.
Researchers have isolated bacteria which can grow on and ‘mop up’ smelly compounds in the mouth that are linked to bad breath. These smelly, highly reactive ‘one-carbon’ compounds are naturally produced from the breakdown of sulphur-containing amino acids in the mouth.
NASA gave the green light for a launch attempt Tuesday for Space Shuttle Discovery on its Return to Flight mission (STS-114). Launch is scheduled for 10:39 a.m. EDT, and it will be carried live on NASA TV. Senior NASA managers met Sunday at Kennedy Space Center for a launch readiness meeting. Discussions focused on recent problems related to a liquid hydrogen low-level fuel sensor inside the external fuel tank, which prompted postponement of the Shuttle’s launch on July 13. Since then, engineers have been working around-the-clock on troubleshooting the sensor system issue.
Condom-use errors are associated with gonorrhea infection in men, according to a recent study of patients at a clinic specializing in sexually transmitted diseases. The finding highlights the importance of promoting not only consistent condom usage, but also correct usage. “The tendency to assume that consistent condom users are using condoms correctly seriously underestimates their risk of transmitting or contracting STDs or becoming pregnant unintentionally,” say authors led by Diane Grimley of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
A testosterone patch may produce modest increases in sexual desire and frequency of satisfying sexual experiences in women who develop distressful, low sexual desire following hysterectomy and removal of the fallopian tubes and ovaries, according to a new study. Diminished sexual desire has been reported by 30 to 50 percent of women who undergo surgical menopause (menopause induced by the surgical removal of both ovaries), according to background information in the article. In one form of female sexual dysfunction, hypoactive sexual desire disorder, a chronic absence of desire for sexual activity results in personal distress.
Saturn’s radio emissions could be mistaken for a Halloween sound track. That’s how two researchers describe their recent findings, published in the July 23 issue of the Geophysical Research Letters. Their paper is based on data from the Cassini spacecraft radio and plasma wave science instrument. The study investigates sounds that are not just eerie, but also descriptive of a phenomenon similar to Earth’s northern lights.
Workers in salt factories, who inhale large amounts of salt particles, are at risk of high blood pressure due to the increased salt intake. A study published today in the Open Access journal Environmental Health shows for the first time that breathing in large quantities of salt particles has just the same effect on blood pressure as eating a salty diet. Wearing face masks and plastic eyeglasses is enough to protect workers who are highly exposed to salt from salt-related high blood pressure.
A mixture of bacteria developed in part by University of Alberta researchers has been proven highly effective in treating people suffering from ulcerative colitis. The findings showed that the majority of patients taking a probiotic mixture of 8 bacteria for 6 weeks improved their ulcerative colitis. Probiotics are preparations of living microbial cells that, when ingested, are thought to positively influence the composition of microbes in the gut and improve the health of the intestine.
A new study finds that a cancer vaccine combined with hormone-deprivation therapy can help patients with recurrence of prostate cancer. The results of this clinical trial, led by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, appear in the August 2005 issue of the Journal of Urology.*
With some work still to go, NASA is moving toward a new launch attempt for the Space Shuttle Discovery Tuesday, July 26, at 10:39 a.m. EDT. Engineers are wrapping up a troubleshooting plan to address a fuel sensor system issue that caused Space Shuttle managers to scrub the first launch attempt for the Return to Flight mission, STS-114.
Scientists report that a defect in a gene that codes for part of the mammalian sweet taste receptor can account for cats’ indifference to sugar and other sweets. Cat owners have long recognized that, unlike most mammals, domestic cats are uniformly uninterested in sweet-tasting foods. According to an early study conducted in the 1970s, the same indifference to sweets is also evident in wild cats such as lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars.
