Body

A new family of contrast agents that sneak into bacteria disguised as glucose food can detect bacterial infections in animals with high sensitivity and specificity. These agents -- called maltodextrin-based imaging probes -- can also distinguish a bacterial infection from other inflammatory conditions.

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass.--For the first time, Tufts University biologists have reported that bioelectrical signals are necessary for normal head and facial formation in an organism and have captured that process in a time-lapse video that reveals never-before-seen patterns of visible bioelectrical signals outlining where eyes, nose, mouth, and other features will appear in an embryonic tadpole.

The Tufts research with accompanying video and photographs will appear July 18 online in advance of publication in the journal Developmental Dynamics.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified a key immune system regulator, a protein that serves as a gatekeeper in the white blood cells that produce the "troops" to battle specific infections.

Researchers demonstrated the protein, Tsc1, is pivotal for maintaining a balanced immune system and combating infections. Loss of the Tsc1 protein was associated with a reduction in the number of certain immune cells and a weaker immune response. The work appears in the July 17 online edition of the scientific journal Nature Immunology.

With people often changing jobs and careers, organizations need to know how to help integrate and engage newcomers in order to retain them. A new University of Guelph study shows that new employees adjust better to their workplace with structured processes, such as orientation training and mentorship programs.

Monday, 18 July, 2011 (Rome, Italy) -- A special press conference at the 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2011) will today feature a panel consisting of researchers from the CDC TDF2 study, the Partners PrEP Study and the HPTN 052 study. They will be joined by Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Gottfried Hirnschall, Director of the HIV Department of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Elly Katabira, IAS 2011 International Chair and President of the International AIDS Society (IAS).

The amount of money that hospitals spend on environmental services, such as cleaning and maintenance service is not as important in influencing patient satisfaction scores as the way the money is spent, according to Penn State researchers.

"By focusing on improving the efficiency of operations, hospitals can contribute to hospital performance while also getting the most out of the financial investments they make toward support services," said Deirdre McCaughey, assistant professor of health policy and administration, who led the research team.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – A thalidomide analog is shaping up as a safe, worthy opponent of sickle cell disease, Georgia Health Sciences University researchers report.

Much like hydroxyurea, the only Food and Drug Administration-approved therapy for sickle cell, pomalidomide increases production of fetal hemoglobin which, unlike its adult counterpart, cannot take on the destructive sickle shape.

The Eucalantica genus belongs to the relatively primitive micro-moth group, Yponomeutidae. Six new species have been described by Mr. Jae-Cheon Sohn from the University of Maryland, College Park, USA and Mr. Kenji Nishida from Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica and published in the open access taxonomy journal Zookeys.

Mosquitoes die soon after a blood meal if certain protein components are experimentally disrupted, a team of biochemists at the University of Arizona has discovered.

The approach could be used as an additional strategy in the worldwide effort to curb mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever, yellow fever and malaria.

When the researchers blocked a cellular process known as vesicle transport, on which the mosquitoes rely to release digestive enzymes into the gut among other functions, it caused the affected animals to die within two days of blood feeding.

July 17, 2011 – (BRONX, NY) – Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed the first fluorescent protein that enables scientists to clearly "see" the internal organs of living animals without the need for a scalpel or imaging techniques that can have side effects or increase radiation exposure.

Monday, 18 July, 2011 (Rome, Italy) - Researchers speaking in the first plenary session of the 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2011) have today offered insights into current and future HIV prevention research and discussed how biomedical developments over the past two years are beginning to shape debate on the future of HIV prevention policy.

The presentations reflect the breadth of expertise among the more than 5,000 researchers, clinicians and community leaders attending the conference, which runs from 17-20 July in Rome.

As any rock-climber knows, trailing a long length of rope behind you is not easy. A dangling length of rope is unwieldy and hard to manoeuvre, and can get tangled up or stuck on an outcropping. Cells face the same problem when dragging chromosomes apart during cell division. The chromosomes are pulled by their middle – the centromere – their arms trailing along behind. Just like climbers carry their rope coiled up, cells make the chromosome arms easier to pull by folding them into short, stiffer structures.

When the language used by financial analysts and reporters becomes increasingly similar the stock market may be overheated, say scientists.

After examining 18,000 online articles published by the Financial Times, The New York Times, and the BBC, computer scientists have discovered that the verbs and nouns used by financial commentators converge in a 'herd-like' fashion in the lead up to a stock market bubble. Immediately afterwards, the language disperses.

PHILADELPHIA — The use of trastuzumab, chemotherapy and surgery among women with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer significantly improved survival from the time central nervous system metastases were diagnosed.

Based on these study results, lead researcher Adam Brufsky, M.D., Ph.D., said, "We clearly now know that these women should get trastuzumab and potentially chemotherapy, even if cancer spreads to the brain."

DALLAS – July 18, 2011 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center say there are at least 70 genetic mutations involved in the formation of colon cancer, far more than scientists previously thought.