Body

Scientists are reporting what they say is compelling evidence that some powerful non-heritable, environmental factor likely plays a key role in the development of multiple sclerosis.

Their finding, the cover article in the April 29, 2010 issue of Nature, results from the most advanced genomic analysis ever conducted on identical, or "monozygote," twins where one sibling has multiple sclerosis and the other does not.

When the human body becomes infected with new influenza viruses, the immune system rapidly activates an inborn protective mechanism to inhibit the intruding pathogen. A protein known as Mx plays an important role in this process, keeping the spread of viruses in check. Exactly how Mx accomplishes this task was previously unknown.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – In studies on cancer, heart disease, neurological disorders and other degenerative conditions, some scientists are moving away from the "nature-versus-nurture" debate and are finding you're not a creature of either genetics or environment, but both – with enormous implications for a new approach to health.

A 95 million-year-old fossilized jaw discovered in Texas has been identified as a new genus and species of flying reptile, Aetodactylus halli.

Aetodactylus halli is a pterosaur, a group of flying reptiles commonly referred to as pterodactyls.

A University of Alberta-led research team has taken a major step forward in understanding how T cells are activated in the course of an immune response by combining nanotechnology and cell biology. T cells are the all important trigger that starts the human body's response to infection.

The gypsy moth, a highly destructive insect that has damaged millions of acres of forests and urban landscapes, continues to slowly spread throughout the country despite the use of safer, more effective pesticides, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

Thanks to an interdisciplinary team of researchers, scientists now have a more complete understanding of one of the human body's most vital structures: the red blood cell.

Led by University of Illinois electrical and computer engineering professor Gabriel Popescu, the team developed a model that could lead to breakthroughs in screening and treatment of blood-cell-morphology diseases, such as malaria and sickle-cell disease. The group published its findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Many of the colon cancer cells that form tumors can be killed by genetically short-circuiting the cells' ability to absorb a key nutrient, a new study has found. While the findings are encouraging, the test tube study using human colon cancer cells also illustrates the difficulty of defeating these cells, known as cancer stem cells (CSCs).

Chemists with the United States military have developed a set of ultra-strength cleaners that could be used in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. The new formulas are tough enough to get rid of nerve gas, mustard gas, radioactive isotopes, and anthrax. But they are also non-toxic, based on ingredients found in foods, cosmetics, and other consumer products. A detailed evaluation of the cleansers appears in ACS' Industrial Engineering and Chemistry Research, a bi-monthly journal.

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has released its Emerging Technology Committee's report evaluating the use of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in lung cancer treatment.

A $145-million Federal Government effort to harness the power of nanotechnology to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer is producing innovations that will radically improve care for the disease. That's the conclusion of an update on the status of the program, called the National Cancer Institute Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer. It appears in ACS Nano, a monthly journal published by the American Chemical Society.

In an editorial in the May 2010 issue of the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Tulane University malaria researchers urge action to eliminate malaria from Hispaniola, the last island in the Caribbean where the disease occurs regularly.

On Hispaniola, home to the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, malaria is caused by a single mosquito-borne parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.

Could one of South America's greatest military figures have died from a deadly poison, rather than the tuberculosis assumed at the time of his death in 1830? The mysterious illness and death of Simon Bolivar — known as "El Libertador" or "The Liberator" — is the medical mystery in question at this year's Historical Clinicopathological Conference (CPC), sponsored by the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Maryland Health Care System in Baltimore.

Doctors may soon be able to diagnose lung cancer more effectively thanks to research performed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where scientists have found ways both to increase the accuracy of computed tomography (CT) scans and to lessen the amount of time necessary to perceive telltale changes in lung tissue.*