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Treating all U.S. prisoners who have hepatitis C with the standard therapy of pegylated-interferon and ribavirin would be cost-effective, says a new study in the November issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com).

Sandia scientists are helping train Iraqi scientists and technicians to clean up radioactively contaminated sites and safely dispose of the radioactive wastes as part of the Iraqi Nuclear Facility Dismantlement and Disposal Program.

The Sandia work is a technical transfer of skills and knowledge that the Labs use day to day, says Sandia principal investigator John Cochran. As an example of this, Sandia has transferred its Rad Worker II training materials to the government of Iraq.

A new UC Davis study says that people trying to help nature bydesigning corridors for wildlife need to think more naturally.

"Human beings tend to think in terms of regular, symmetricalstructures, but nature can be much more irregular," said UC Davispostdoctoral researcher Matthew Holland, the study's lead author. "Wefound that symmetrical systems of corridors may actually do less goodfor natural communities than designs with some randomness orasymmetry built in."

BERKELEY, CA – Because they are riddled with defects, bulk crystalline materials never achieve their ideal strength; nanocrystals, on the other hand, are so small there's no room for defects. ("Nano" is short for nanometer, a billionth of a meter.) Yet while nanocrystalline materials may approach ideal strength in their resistance to stress, most nanostructures have shown only a limited ability to withstand large internal strains before they fail. Overcoming this limitation could lead to great advances in engineered materials on all scales.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Reducing the number of deer in forests and parks may unexpectedly reduce the number of reptiles, amphibians and insects in that area, new research suggests.

A recent study by researchers at Ohio State University and National Park Service found that higher deer activity is modifying forest ecosystems in unexpected ways. Out of several species of snakes, salamanders, and invertebrates studied, a greater diversity of animals were found in areas with deer populations than were in areas with no deer activity.

Creating a unique patient identification number for every person in the United States would facilitate a reduction in medical errors, simplify the use of electronic medical records, increase overall efficiency and help protect patient privacy, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Although creating such an identification system could cost as much as $11 billion, the effort would likely return even more in benefits to the nation's health care system, according to researchers from RAND Health.

The breathing and heart rates and cortisol levels of women with metastatic breast cancer can be used to predict if they'll suffer from chronic insomnia and sleep disruptions, a common complaint from patients who want to maintain their quality of life, according to a study by scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Hamilton, ON. Oct. 20, 2008 – The most advanced and powerful electron microscope on the planet—capable of unprecedented resolution—has been installed in the new Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy at McMaster University.

Drug molecules seldom act simply on one protein but on protein complexes and networks. A deeper understanding of these 'cooperative assemblies' should lead to better targeting of drugs

New research into how proteins in human cells interact and 'talk' to each other is leading to a better understanding of how drug molecules work and should result in more effective therapies, according to a leading European scientist.

Social environment may play a greater role in the disparity between the numbers of African Americans living with hypertension compared to non-Hispanic whites with the disease. A study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that the disparity was substantially reduced when comparing groups of African Americans and non-Hispanic whites living in similar social environments. The results are published in the November 2008 print edition of Social Science and Medicine.

Melanoma patients infused with a special type of tumor-fighting T cell are more likely to survive without relapse, suggests a new study by researchers in France. Their report will be published online on October 20 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

A recently identified cancer-causing protein makes the anti-leukemia drug imatinib, less effective. By blocking the protein, an international team of researchers was able to slow the spread of leukemia cells in culture. The study, which will appear online on October 20 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, suggests that the most effective treatment for leukemia may rely on a combination of targeted drugs, rather than a single miracle drug.

Ripe bananas are of course yellow. However, under black light, the yellow bananas are bright blue, as discovered by scientists at the University of Innsbruck (Austria) and Columbia University (New York, USA). The team, headed by Bernhard Kräutler, reports in the journal Angewandte Chemie that the blue glow is connected to the degradation of chlorophyll that occurs during ripening. In this process, colorless but fluorescing breakdown products of chlorophyll are concentrated in the banana peel.

Contact lenses increase the risk of infection with pathogenic protozoa that can cause blindness. New research, published in the November issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology, shows that a high percentage of contact lens cases in Tenerife are contaminated with Acanthamoeba that cannot be killed by normal contact lens solution.