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Researchers in Taiwan are designing a computer for pedal cyclists that tells them when to change gear to optimize the power they develop while maintaining comfort. The system is described in the latest issue of the International Journal of Human Factors Modelling and Simulation.

Chevy Chase, MD—Cigarette smoking during pregnancy is associated with potentially harmful changes in both maternal and fetal thyroid function, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

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Antibodies produced within the joints themselves may be responsible for joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis, according to new research published in PLoS Medicine.

A policy promoting "cross-border" health programs could contribute to reducing maternal and child mortality in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, says an international team of health experts in this week's PLoS Medicine.

One of the major challenges in modern vaccinology is to engineer vectors that are highly infectious, yet don't cause illness. Trickier still is to ensure that such weapons against infectious disease can be safely disarmed, once their immunogenic work is done. Roy Curtiss, an investigator of vaccines and infectious diseases at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, has pursued these goals for 30 years.

January 13, 2009 – In 1902, the National Zoo in Washington D.C. arranged to have a unique and endangered animal called the thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, brought to the United States from Tasmania. Later that year, a female and her three cubs arrived at the zoo. However, by the mid-1930s, the thylacine was extinct, leaving behind only preserved museum specimens.

All the genes that the exotic Tasmanian Tiger inherited only from its mother will be revealed by an international team of scientists in a research paper to be published on 13 January 2009 in the online edition of Genome Research. The research marks the first successful sequencing of genes from this carnivorous marsupial, which looked like a large tiger-striped dog and became extinct in 1936. The research also opens the door to the widespread, nondestructive use of museum specimens to learn why mammals become extinct and how extinctions might be prevented.

In experiments that pave the way for tiny mobile surgical tools activated by heat or chemicals, Johns Hopkins researchers have invented dust-particle-size devices that can be used to grab and remove living cells from hard-to-reach places without the need for electrical wires, tubes or batteries. Instead, the devices are actuated by thermal or biochemical signals.

"The key to changing that is catching the disease early through screening," says Dr. Thad Wilkins, a family medicine physician in the MCG School of Medicine. "With slightly more than 12,000 board-certified gastroenterologists, who perform endoscopy procedures like colonoscopies, the capacity for a national screening program is limited. Resources to screen every eligible person for colorectal cancer do not currently exist in the U.S. medical system and, as a result, less than one-third of those who are eligible for colonoscopies are screened."

Cloaked in the clouds of emissions and exhaust that hang over the city are clues that lead back to the polluting culprits, and a research team led by the University of Houston is hot on their trails.

Investigator Shankar Chellam is heading up the case, which hinges on unique identifiers found in fine particulate matter, a mixture of organic, inorganic or metal material. This material is given off by natural sources, such as sea spray and grassfires, and manmade sources, such as vehicles and industrial operations, and then suspended in the air.

Outdoor temperature and blood pressure appear to be correlated in the elderly, with higher rates of hypertension in cooler months, according to a report in the January 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Japanese men in high-stress jobs appear to have an increased risk of stroke compared with those in less demanding positions, according to a report in the January 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Patients who develop multiple sclerosis before age 18 appear to experience more relapses of symptoms than those diagnosed with the disease as adults, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Glaucoma appears to be associated with slower spoken reading and increased reading impairment in older adults, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

"Glaucoma [a common eye condition, which can damage the eye and cause loss of vision] affects 2 percent of U.S. adults older than 40 years, and as many as 10 percent have suspected glaucoma," according to background information in the article. "Determining who should be treated requires that we understand when and how glaucoma produces disability."