Bird Flu :: Avian influenza – situation in Egypt – update 8
The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population has announced a new human case of avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection.
Laboratory
Bird Flu :: Avian influenza ? situation in Lao People’s Democratic Republic ? update 2
The Ministry of Health in Lao People’s Democratic Republic has reported a second human case of infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case was fatal.
Meningitis :: FDA clears rapid test for meningitis
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared for marketing a test that uses molecular biology to quickly detect the presence of viral meningitis.
Lung Cancer :: Blood pressure drug shows potential as lung cancer treatment
A hormone that is important in the control of blood pressure also shrinks lung cancer tumors in mice, suggesting a new way to prevent or treat the deadly cancer, according to scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
Autism :: Gene mutations may boost autism risk
Tiny gene mutations, each individually rare, pose more risk for autism than had been previously thought, suggests a study funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health, a component of the National Institutes of Health.
Learning :: Associative memory – Learning at all levels
“Green” means “go,” but what does “red” mean? Just about everybody says “stop” since we all have learned to imbue certain colors with meaning (or we would be road kill by now). Long thought to be limited to higher levels of information processing, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies successfully traced this type of associative learning to early stages of the visual processing pathway.
IBD :: Researchers identify molecular basis of inflammatory bowel disease
Inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn?s disease and Ulcerative Colitis, severely impair the lives of more than four million people worldwide. The development of effective therapies against these diseases requires an understanding of their underlying molecular mechanisms.
Cancer :: New cell type identified in cancer development
Scientists have discovered a new type of cell that appears to play a role in the development of cancer ? a highly volatile, precancerous stem cell that can either remain benign or become malignant, depending upon environmental cues.
Stem Cell :: Chemical cues turn embryonic stem cells into cerebellar neurons
In order to differentiate and specialize, stem cells require very specific environmental cues in a very specific order, and scientists have so far been unable to prod them to go through each of the necessary steps. But now, for the first time, a study in mice by Rockefeller University scientists shows that embryonic stem cells implanted in the brain appear to develop into fully differentiated granule neurons, the most plentiful neuron in the cerebellum.
Autism :: Using brain scans, researchers find evidence for a two-stage model of human perceptual learning
Using advanced brain imaging techniques, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have watched how humans use both lower and higher brain processes to learn novel tasks, an advance they say may help speed up the teaching of new skills as well as offer strategies to retrain people with perceptual deficits due to autism.