Body

The anti-herpes drug acyclovir can also directly slow down HIV infection by targeting the reverse transcriptase (RT) enzyme, researchers report in this week's JBC. This beneficial effect does pose a risk though, as HIV-infected cells treated with acyclovir promote the emergence of multi-drug resistant HIV variants.

Columbus, OH – November 5, 2008 – It is a common belief that girls tend to internalize their problems, becoming depressed or anxious, while boys externalize their problems, turning to violence against people or property. A new study in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy found that this idea did not hold for African-American youth who were in the juvenile justice system. For them, whether they internalized or externalized depended not on gender but on what was happening within their families.

Charlottesville, VA – November 5, 2008 –Recent changes – including new laws and new routes into teaching with lowered cost for individuals to enter the profession – have dramatically changed the characteristics of teachers, particularly in large urban districts. A new study in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management explores how these changes affect who enters teaching and where they teach in large urban districts. Results show that teacher qualifications are much more equally distributed across New York City public schools now than they were previously.

Ithaca, N.Y. – November 5, 2008 – A new study in the Journal of Marriage and Family found that serial cohabiters are less likely than single-instance cohabiting unions to result in marriage. Similarly if serial cohabiters marry, divorce rates are very high.

Daniel T. Lichter of Cornell University and Zhenchao of Ohio State University used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to track the experiences of serial cohabiters, or women who have cohabited with more than one partner.

How 'molecular machines' inside cells swing into action to activate genes at different times in a cell's life is revealed today (6 November) in new research published in Molecular Cell.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- MIT biologists have discovered that the organization of DNA's packing material plays a critical role in directing stem cells to become different types of adult cells.

The work, to be published in the journal Cell on Nov. 14, could also shed light on the possible role of DNA packaging in cancer development.

Led by Laurie Boyer, assistant professor of biology at MIT, the researchers examined the role of chromatin — the structure that forms when DNA is wound around a core of proteins called histones.

Athens, Ga. – New research, just published by researchers from the University of Georgia, provides the first evidence that a key gene may be crucial to maintaining the production of the thymus and its disease-fighting T-cells after an animal's birth.

CHICAGO – Increasing numbers of American adults are aware of the importance of nutrition and physical activity and are taking steps to eat a healthy diet and engage in exercise, according to the American Dietetic Association's nationwide consumer opinion survey, Nutrition and You: Trends 2008.

In each ADA survey since 1991, ADA has used respondents' answers to a number of different questions to segment consumers into three groups representing people's overall attitudes toward maintaining a healthy diet and getting regular exercise:

Our mothers told us that true beauty is more than skin deep — but researchers from Tel Aviv University are now challenging Mom.

They've built a beauty machine that, with the press of a button, turns a picture of your own ordinary face into that of a cover model. While its output is currently limited to digitized images, the software may be able to guide plastic surgeons, aid magazine cover editors, and even become a feature incorporated into all digital cameras.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Many studies have shown that media images of female models have had a negative impact on how woman view their own bodies, but does this same effect hold true when men view male models? A leading researcher of media effects on body image at the University of Missouri looked at the effect of male magazines on college-age men.

Montreal, November 6, 2008 – From the sun's UVA rays to tobacco smoke, our environment is chock-full of DNA-damaging agents that can lead to cancer. Thanks to our body's DNA repair mechanisms, however, the effects of many carcinogens can be reversed thereby preventing the formation of tumours.

DURHAM, N.C. – Rods, cones, cubes and spheres – move aside. Tiny gold stars, smaller than a billionth of a meter, may hold the promise for new approaches to medical diagnoses or testing for environmental contaminants.

While nanoparticles have been the rage across a wide spectrum of sciences, a new study by Duke University bioengineers indicates that of all the shapes studied to date, stars may shine above all the rest for certain applications.

A 19th-century historian traveling in southern Ohio later wrote about his first glimpse of Union Village, a Shaker community located near Harrison, Ohio: "When I caught sight of the first house, my opinion was confirmed that I was on the lands of the Shakers, for the …style of architecture, solid appearance and want of decorative art was before me."

The style of architecture and the construction methods used by the Shakers throughout Middle America and New England were unusual – reflecting an ascetic living and working structure that was both communal and gender-segregated.

Two Durham University scientists are to play a key part in a 6000km trip following the migration route of ancient Pacific cultures.

Drs Keith Dobney and Greger Larson, both from the Department of Archaeology, will be joining the voyage, which will be the first ever expedition to sail in two traditional Polynesian boats - ethnic double canoes - which attempts to re-trace the genuine migration route of the ancient Austronesians.