A review article in the New England Journal of Medicine explores the genetic variation of HIV-1 and its implications for preventing and treating the disease. Francine McCutchan, Ph.D., a researcher with the U.S. Military HIV Research Program, co-authored the article, which appeared in the April 10, 2008 edition.
HIV-1 is classified into several subtypes, or clades, which are denoted by letters. Subtype B is most prevalent in the Americas, whereas clades A, C and D are most prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa, the region that remains most severely affected by the pandemic.
Scientists have spent 70 years trying to predict the properties of nuclei, but have had to settle for approximate models because computational techniques were not equal to the task.
In the 1990s, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and elsewhere succeeded in breaking through the computational barrier to provide accurate predictions of light nuclei based on how individual neutrons and protons interact with each other. Now they are learning to compute what happens when nuclei collide.
RICHLAND, Wash. -- The pipes that rise from oil fields, topped with burning flames of natural gas, waste fossil fuels and dump carbon dioxide into the air. In new work, researchers have identified the structure of a catalytic material that can turn methane into a safe and easy-to-transport liquid. The insight lays the foundation for converting excess methane into a variety of useful fuels and chemicals.
Babies born preterm were more than twice as likely to have major birth defects as full-term infants, according to a new analysis of nearly seven million U.S. live births published online this week in the Springer journal Maternal and Child Health Journal.
Preterm birth (live birth before 37 completed weeks gestation) is a growing national health crisis, according to the March of Dimes. More than a half million babies are born too soon each year, and the rate continues to rise. Birth defects and preterm birth are the leading causes of infant death.
Fishery biologist Sandy Sutherland looks through the lens of the microscope at tiny sections of fish earbones, known as otoliths, each showing annual bands of growth. She carefully counts the bands to determine the age of the fish, then moves on to the next sample. Known as an age reader, Sutherland is one of a small team at NOAAs Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) whose aging work is critical to stock assessments needed to manage the nations fishery resources in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean.
Centrifuging astronauts for a lengthy period provided researcher Suzanne Nooij with better insight into how space sickness develops, the nausea and disorientation experienced by many astronauts. Nooij defended her PhD theses on this subject at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft, The Netherlands) on Tuesday 20 May.
Researchers will present findings on a variety of NASA-related Earth and heliophysics topics at the 2008 Joint Assembly of the American Geophysical Union. The meeting runs Tues., May 27 through Fri., May 30 at the Greater Fort Lauderdale-Broward County Convention Center, 1950 Eisenhower Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Sessions are open to registered news media.
Following are noteworthy NASA presentations, in chronological order:
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