Community-based treatment of TB can save hundreds of thousands of lives

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis no longer must be considered a death sentence for infected individuals living in resource-poor nations, according to a study by a consortium of researchers led by Harvard Medical School’s Program in Infectious Disease and Social Change. The study, which appears in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, provides the first hard evidence that outpatient community care in poor, urban shantytowns can work for this most difficult to treat form of tuberculosis. The multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment model could ultimately help save hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.

Newly identified enzyme reduces bitterness in cheese

A Wisconsin scientist is using new technology to tackle an old problem in cheesemaking – and the solution could mean both a bigger market for the state’s dairy producers and reduced costs for cheesemakers. One of the major expenses in cheesemaking is the cost of storing cheeses as they age and develop their distinctive flavors, says Jim Steele, a food scientist with the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Cheddar takes six months to a year to mature, while Parmesan takes a full year. During that time off-flavors and bitterness, the most common Cheddar defects, may develop. “We’ve identified an enzyme that plays a critical role in reducing bitterness in cheese,” says Steele. “If the bacteria in the starter culture produced this enzyme cheesemakers would save money and ensure a more consistent product.”

Nation’s brightest increasingly shun science

America’s top college graduates increasingly reject careers in science and engineering, researchers have found, raising concerns about America’s technological future. Faced with the prospect of low-paid apprenticeships and training lasting a decade or more ? and constricted job opportunities even after that ? more of the brightest young Americans are instead pursuing the quicker and surer payoffs offered by business and certain professions, according to the Washington study. “With the notable exception of biological sciences, many of the top U.S. students with potential to become scientists are turning toward other career paths,” said one of the study’s co-authors.

When self-image takes a blow, many turn to television as a distraction

Whether you fancy yourself a jet-setting sophisticate or a down-to-earth outdoorsy type, a fast-track corporate star or an all-around nice guy, new research indicates that you probably tune out information that challenges your self-image by tuning in to television. “We each have ways in which we like to perceive ourselves,” said one of the lead researchers. “In many cases self-image is carefully constructed and zealously guarded, and it’s difficult to experience a conflict between who we are and who we would like to be. Television appears to be an effective means of reducing awareness of how we are falling short of our own standards.”

Black holes form first, galaxies follow

A new study has uncovered more evidence that black holes form before the galaxies that contain them. The finding could help resolve a long-standing debate, says the study’s lead scientist. Marianne Vestergaard, a postdoctoral fellow in astronomy at Ohio State, came to this conclusion when she studied a collection of very energetic, active galaxies known as quasars as they appeared some 12 billion years ago, when the universe was only one billion years old. While the quasars were obviously young — they contained large stellar nurseries in which new stars were forming — each also contained a very massive, fully formed black hole.

Gulf War chemicals can damage testes, study shows

A combination of chemicals given to protect Gulf War soldiers against deadly diseases and nerve gas may have inadvertently damaged their testes and sperm production, according to animal experiments at Duke University Medical Center. The new study could explain why some veterans have experienced infertility, sexual dysfunction, and other genitourinary symptoms, said Mohamed Abou Donia, Ph.D., a Duke pharmacologist.

Astronomers identify new type of star

A new type of star has been discovered lurking as a low mass component in a very compact binary star system. Astronomers announced today at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Seattle, Wash., that they have confirmed the existence of a new variety of stellar end-product. This previously unknown type of star has some properties similar to brown dwarf stars and may help astronomers understand some of the recently discovered extra-solar planets in close proximity to their suns.

NASA technology could help treat anxiety, migraine and hypertension

An technology developed by NASA to help its astronauts combat motion sickness during space flight will be available in March for a much wider range of human health and performance uses. The technology, which helps an individual control aspects of their autonomal nervous system — which regulates involuntary bodily functions, such as breathing, heartbeat, sweating, blood vessel dilation and glandular secretions — could have use in treating conditions as varied as migraine headache, high blood pressure and panic attacks.

Polar bear headed for extinction, says University of Alberta scientist

Unless the pace of global warming is abated, polar bears could disappear within 100 years, says a University of Alberta expert in Arctic ecosystems. While it has been known for some time that the polar bear is in trouble, new research shows that Arctic ice–the polar bear’s primary habitat–is melting much faster than scientists had believed, says U of A biologist Dr. Andrew Derocher. “The climate predictions coming out are showing massive changes in sea-ice distribution,” said Derocher, who follows polar bears to see how they adapt to changing conditions. If the predictions are correct, he says, “we’ll certainly lose polar bears in a lot of areas where we currently have them.” Ice conditions in the Beaufort Sea, for example, are already changing dramatically.

Astronomers Detect a Faint Debris Trail in the Andromeda Galaxy

The discovery of a faint trail of stars in the nearby Andromeda galaxy offers new evidence that large spiral galaxies have grown by gobbling up smaller satellite galaxies. Andromeda (also known as M31) is the nearest large galaxy to our own Milky Way and is very similar to it in appearance. Studying Andromeda gives astronomers an external perspective on a galaxy much like our own–it’s like looking at a bigger sibling of our galaxy.

Need for social support deters HIV patients from taking their drug ‘cocktails’

Social support may play a small but potentially important role in helping HIV-positive people adhere to the complicated schedules for taking their drug “cocktails” to control the virus that causes AIDS. A pilot study of primarily indigent black and Puerto Rican men and women at an HIV clinic in New York City suggested that individuals who had the social support they needed were more likely to take their medications. The pilot project was part of a larger study to assess the efficacy of peer support to enhance people’s adherence to their cocktail or Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy.

Study confirms Caesarian best way to prevent herpes transmission at birth

For over 30 years, physicians have assumed that any expectant mother with genital herpes lesions at delivery must deliver her baby by Caesarian section to minimize chances of transmission of the disease to the infant, although there was no clinical or research information supporting that practice. A study by University of Washington physicians confirms that Caesarian section is indeed the way to go to prevent transmission of HSV (herpes simplex virus).