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UPTON, NY - One major goal on the path toward making useful superconducting devices has been engineering materials that act as superconductors at the nanoscale — the realm of billionths of a meter. Such nanoscale superconductors would be useful in devices such as superconductive transistors and eventually in ultrafast, power-saving electronics.

Institutions from around the world join forces in the Global Fight Against Malaria. While most research into controlling malaria has focused on the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which is responsible for the most virulent form of the disease, there are other parasites of the same genus which, despite producing a milder form of malaria, are gaining notoriety. This is the case of Plasmodium vivax, to which is attributed almost 300 million cases of malaria each year, severe forms of the disease and resistance to some drugs.

As international health authorities step up efforts to fight malaria, leading scientists say the stealthy and increasingly debilitating Plasmodium vivax parasite deserves more attention.

The complete sequence of the P. vivax genome, reported in the Oct.9, 2008 journal Nature, could help scientists unlock its secrets.

P. vivax is responsible for at least 25 percent of the roughly 500 million cases of malaria worldwide and is the major cause of malaria outside Africa, mainly afflicting Asia and the Americas.

Professor Alan Cowman, Professor Brendan Crabb, Dr Paul Gilson and Dr Toby Sargeant are WEHI members of international research teams that have made significant discoveries about two deadly malaria parasites, Plasmodium knowlesi and Plasmodium vivax.

Scientists have deciphered the complete genetic sequence of the parasite Plasmodium vivax, the leading cause of relapsing malaria, and compared it with the genomes of other species of malaria parasites. The findings shed light on distinctive genetic features of P. vivax, and may lead to new tools to prevent and treat P. vivax malaria. Results of the study, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), appear in the Oct. 9 issue of Nature.

Tampa, FL (Oct. 8, 2008) – Women, the elderly, and patients admitted to the emergency department on weekends are all less likely to receive same-day coronary angioplasty for a life-threatening heart attack in Florida, University of South Florida researchers found. Their study was published this month (Oct. 1) in the American Journal of Cardiology.

A new study uncovers a previously unrecognized, species-specific impact of circadian rhythms on the production of mobilized stem cells. The research, published by Cell Press in the October 9th issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, suggests that when it comes to collecting human stem cells for clinical transplantation, picking the right time of day to harvest cells may result in a greater yield.

STANFORD, Calif. - A family of cancer-fighting molecules helps blood stem cells in mice decide when and how to divide, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Blocking the molecules' function spurs the normally resting cells to begin proliferating strangely - making too much of one kind of cell and not enough of another. Many types of human blood cancers involve a similar disruption in the expression of that same family of molecules.

CHAPEL HILL – More people suffer from pain than from heart disease, diabetes and cancer combined, but many of the drugs used to relieve suffering are not completely effective or have harmful side effects.

Now researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the University of Helsinki have discovered a new therapeutic target for pain control, one that appears to be eight times more effective at suppressing pain than morphine.

Montréal, October 9, 2008 – A research team at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montreal (IRCM), funded by the Foundation Fighting Blindness – Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), discovered a novel mechanism that regulates how neural stem cells of the retina generate the appropriate cell type at the right time during normal development. These findings, published today in the renowned journal Neuron, could influence the development of future cell replacement therapies for genetic eye diseases that cause blindness.

AUSTIN, Texas – A novel delivery system that could lead to more efficient and more disease-specific vaccines against infectious diseases has been developed by biomedical engineers at The University of Texas at Austin.

The findings use specific ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules to significantly bolster a vaccine's effectiveness while tailoring it based on the type of immune response that is most desirable for a particular disease, says Krishnendu Roy, associate professor of biomedical engineering and lead investigator on the study.

MADISON — An anticipated increased incidence of climate-related extreme rainfall events in the Great Lakes region may raise the public health risk for the 40 million people who depend on the lakes for their drinking water, according to a new study.

Austin, TX – October 8, 2008 – A new study in the journal Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy explored elementary-school-age children's views about the role of race and gender in the U.S. presidency, Results indicated that most children are aware that women and people of color have been excluded from the presidency. Further, many children attributed the lack of female, African American, and Latino presidents to gender and racial discrimination.

Reston, Va.—Two things happen following a heart attack—necrosis (normal cell death) and apoptosis (programmed cell death)—and both are bad. Now researchers in Japan have found that a single intravenous dose of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) immediately after myocardial infarction (heart attack) can drastically reduce or eliminate apoptosis and thereby limit the amount of damage to the heart, according to an article in the October issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

CINCINNATI—Exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments, say University of Cincinnati (UC) scientists.

The research study, led by UC's Nira Ben-Jonathan, PhD, says that BPA—a man-made chemical found in a number of plastic products, including drinking bottles and the lining of food cans—actually induces a group of proteins that protect cancer cells from the toxic effects of chemotherapy.

The findings are reported in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives and appear online Oct. 8, 2008, ahead of print.