An international, interdisciplinary team of researchers led by professor Xiangming Xiao of the University of New Hampshire is taking a novel scientific approach in an attempt to understand the ecology of the avian influenza, develop better methods of predicting its spread, and provide an accurate early warning system.
A powerful analysis from this month’s Vaccine highlights the huge gap between current vaccination coverage across Europe and the recommendations endorsed by the European U nion. Currently, only one-third of all high-risk populations are receiving seasonal influenza vaccine in Europe, resulting in avoidable morbidity, hospitalizations and mortality.
Dell announced two new high-performance technology platforms for gamers and enthusiasts: the company?s most powerful and expandable consumer desktop and its first 30-inch widescreen flat panel monitor featuring 92 percent color gamut.
An important first step in using new approaches to treating patients with heart failure – a condition that affects nearly 5 million Americans – requires scientific understanding of the relationship between the form of the heart and function, according to Bijoy K. Khandheria, M.D., FASE, FESC, FACC, chair of the Division of Cardiology at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.
The American Medical Association?s (AMA) House of Delegates unanimously and enthusiastically passed a resolution introduced by The Endocrine Society and other concerned organizations urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to increase its oversight and regulation of so-called bioidentical hormones.
A study of conflict resolution in siblings suggests it is beneficial for children to resolve past disagreements even after the conflict is over. This research was conducted with sixty four pairs of siblings ages 4 to 12. The study concludes that encouraging after-the-fact resolution of differences, parents can help their children develop conflict resolution skills. The study also addressed the factors most likely to affect how conflict is resolved between siblings of different ages.
Huge areas of sea floor (around 3,250 km?) have been freed up by the collapse 4 years ago of the Larsen B platform along the Antarctic Peninsula. Polarstern, the research flagship of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, will shortly conduct the first major biological research there. Forty-seven scientists from more than a dozen different nationalities will focus on the biological characteristics of this blank spot, from November 2006 to January 2007.
Proteins called H2AX act as “first aid” to DNA, among other roles. For the first time, scientists using the world’s most powerful light microscope (the only one of its kind in the Americas) have seen how H2AX is distributed in the cell nucleus: in clusters, directing the first aid/repair after DNA injuries to the region where it is really needed.
Working with dogs and using the latest in imaging software and machinery, also known as a 64-slice CT scanner, Johns Hopkins heart specialists have developed a fast and accurate means of tracking blood that has been slowed down by narrowing of the coronary arteries. Researchers say it took them less than half the time of exercise stress tests and echocardiograms currently used to find early warning of vessels more likely to become blocked and cause heart attack.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has seen something never before seen on another planet — a hurricane-like storm at Saturn’s south pole with a well-developed eye, ringed by towering clouds.