Zebrafish may offer big clues on innate immunity

For the first time, researchers have sequenced all 36 genes of novel receptors that appear to play a critical role in the innate immune protection of zebrafish — an achievement that could lead to a better understanding of infectious diseases and certain cancers. ”This is the most genetically complex system of innate immune receptors thus far described,” said principal investigator Gary Litman. ”They may be related to receptors in humans involved in natural killer cell function.” Natural killer cells sense and kill malignant cells and cells infected with certain viruses.

Researchers Use Brain Cell Transplants To Correct Muscle Spasms

Transplantation of human brain cells corrected involuntary muscle spasms in rats with ischemic spinal cord injury, according to new research. Ischemic spinal cord injury, caused by reduced blood flow to the spinal cord, occurs in 20 to 40 percent of the several hundred patients each year in the U.S. who undergo surgery to repair an aneurysm, or sac-like widening of the aorta, the main artery that leaves the heart. A subpopulation of patients with ischemic spinal cord injury develop a prominent muscle spasticity, or jerkiness of the legs and lower body, due to the irreversible loss of specialized spinal cord cells that control local motor function.

Patients care more about doctor relationship than errors

The first study of the patient’s perspective on errors in medicine may have health care professional rethinking what is important to their patients. The study, published in the Annals of Family Medicine, suggests that patients are more disturbed with lack of access to and relationships with their physicians than technical errors in diagnosis and treatment. Although much has been written about medical errors since the controversial To Err is Human: Building A Safer Health System was presented by the Institute of Medicine in 2001, a new study expands the dialogue to include the patient’s perspective.

Last ion engine thrust puts SMART-1 on track for Moon

From 10 to 14 October the ion engine of ESA’s SMART-1 carried out a continuous thrust manoeuvre in a last major push that will get the spacecraft to the Moon capture point on 13 November. SMART-1, on its way to the Moon, has now covered more than 80 million kilometres. Its journey started on 27 September 2003, when the spacecraft was launched on board an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Since then, it has been spiralling in progressively larger orbits around Earth, to eventually be captured by the lunar gravity and enter into orbit around the Moon in November this year.

A Nanowire with a Surprise

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and their collaborators have discovered that a short, organic chain molecule with dimensions on the order of a nanometer (a billionth of a meter) conducts electrons in a surprising way: It regulates the electrons’ speed erratically, without a predictable dependence on the length of the wire. This information may help scientists learn how to use nanowires to create components for a new class of tiny electronic circuits.

Excess omega-6 fat accelerates breast cancer

Experiments carried out by scientists in Spain on experimentally induced breast cancer tumours in laboratory rats show that an excess of certain fats in the diet, commonly known as omega-6, accelerates breast cancer, increasing the malignancy of the disease. The research team has identified four genes, one which has a completely unknown function, whose expression may be involved in this effect caused by dietary lipids. More extensive research into these genes is required to discover whether the mechanism discovered works in the same way in human breast cancer. The authors of the study emphasise the importance of a moderate consumption of fats although some of them, such as blue fish and olive oils, have been shown to be beneficial to health. These oils are common elements in the Mediterranean diet.

Identity thieves’ ‘phishing’ attacks could soon get a lot nastier

The number of people who succumb to identity thieves’ ”phishing” e-mails could go way up if immediate action isn’t taken to preempt the next generation of attacks, according to Markus Jakobsson, an Indiana University School of Informatics researcher. A report by cybersecurity expert Jakobsson describing worst-case phishing scenarios was recently cited by Howard Schmidt, chief information security officer for eBay Inc., during his testimony before a U.S. Congressional subcommittee on government reform. The report has also been presented to members of the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, based in Washington, D.C.

FDA Finds No Chiron Flu Vaccine Safe to Use in U.S.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that none of the influenza vaccine manufactured by the Chiron Corporation for the U.S. market is safe for use. This determination is based on FDA’s evaluation and inspection of Chiron’s influenza vaccine manufacturing plant in Liverpool, England, which concluded this afternoon. The purpose of the FDA inspection was both to evaluate Chiron’s investigation, testing and assessment of the defects detected in nine of the one hundred lots of their finished flu vaccine (Fluvirin) manufactured for this year’s flu season and also to evaluate their determination that the risk of defects was confined to those specific lots.

Knowledge hazardous to Web consumers’ health?

People who use their computers to find information about their chronic disease often wind up in worse condition than if they had listened to their doctor, according to a University College London review of studies on Internet health. Using interactive computer tools does improve the medical knowledge of people with diabetes, asthma or other chronic conditions, and does provide them with positive feelings of social support, according to researchers reviewing 28 randomized controlled trials involving 4,042 participants. But there was no evidence that cyber-medicine helps people change their behavior and startling evidence that it may leave them in worse health.

Lupus drug may also work against atherosclerosis

A drug that reduces symptoms of systemic lupus in mice may turn out to be effective against hardening of the arteries and thus prevent heart attacks. The drug, called Trichostatin A or TSA, ”may have a therapeutic benefit in atherosclerosis,” which causes coronary artery disease by blocking key arteries, leading to death and disability. Researchers tested TSA on experimental mice that were bred to lack a significant natural protection against atherosclerosis. For 12 weeks, these mice were fed a diet that was both high in cholesterol and in which 10 percent of calories came from palm oil, one of the vegetable oils most likely to cause atherosclerosis. In addition to the coronary arteries, atherosclerosis also occurred in the aortic arch, part of one of the body’s main blood vessels.

Hepatitis C virus linked to non-hodgkin’s lymphoma

Patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) are six times as likely to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) than individuals that are virus free, according to new research. HCV infected patients have a seventeen fold higher risk for developing diffuse large B-Cell lymphoma, researchers from British Columbia documented. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is the most common variety of NHL, comprising approximately 30 percent of all NHL patients.

Scare Tactics for Violence Prevention are Harmful

Programs that rely on ”scare tactics” to prevent children and adolescents from engaging in violent behavior are not only ineffective, but may actually make the problem worse, according to an independent state-of-the-science panel convened this week by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The panel, charged with assessing the available evidence on preventing violence and other health-risking behaviors in adolescents, announced today its assessment of the current research.

Scientists explain how morphogens work

Scientists believe they have answered some critical questions that address how signaling molecules, called morphogens, work. Morphogens are secreting signaling molecules that play a key role in the formation of the shape and size of organs. For example, these molecules play a role in determining the bean-like shape of human kidneys. But when these molecules malfunction, they can lead to organ defects and cancers. This study provides insights into the mechanisms of organogenesis and could have implications for treating organ defects and cancers.

Smarter ways to measure intelligence than IQ

Measuring a child’s IQ is an obsolete way to determine intelligence, and in fact, labels youngsters unfairly, according to a University of Alberta professor. Building on a theory he began researching almost 20 years ago, Dr. J.P. Das has developed ‘rules and tools of intelligence’ which point to factors other than IQ in measuring how ‘smart’ a child is. ”A child growing up in the slums or in a household with no literacy or books could be very street-smart, yet not have the school learning required for the traditional measurement of IQ,” says Das.