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GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- There's no magic bullet for wiping out malaria, but a new study offers strong support for a method that effectively delays the evolution of drug resistance in malaria parasites, a University of Florida researcher says.

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Seoul National University (SNU) have learned how to tweak a new class of polymer-based semiconductors to better control the location and alignment of the components of the blend. Their recent results—how to move the top to the bottom—could enable the design of practical, large-scale manufacturing techniques for a wide range of printable, flexible electronic displays and other devices.*

Where can you find some of the latest insights in designing earthquake-resistant buildings joined together with current information on building codes? As part of its support for the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a publication that provides guidelines for designing a special type of structural frame used in regions with high seismic activity.*

DALLAS – Sept. 4, 2008 – Blood pressure in low-birth-weight children younger than 3 years of age not only can be measured but should be, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

The findings appear in the September issue of Pediatrics.

Blood pressure has not been screened routinely in children with very low birth weights because the measurements were viewed as not feasible or unreliable in infants and toddlers; however, evidence has shown that low-birth-weight infants might develop hypertension later in life.

VIRGINIA KEY, Fla. – The development of powerful supercomputers capable of analyzing decades of data in the blink of an eye mark a technological milestone capable of bringing comprehensive changes to science, medicine, engineering, and business worldwide.

Australian researchers and a pathology company have joined forces to develop a world-firstcomputerised system which may reveal a way to predict premature birth with greater accuracy.

The University of Melbourne, the University of Newcastle and Symbion Pathology are combiningexpertise in medical research, engineering and pathology to develop a computer program to predictwomen at risk of a premature birth.

About 17,000 pre-term births occur in Australia each year. Premature birth is responsible for 70 percent of new born baby deaths and 50 per cent of cerebral palsy cases.

Cystic kidney disease, renal fibrosis, or renal cell carcinoma: Many diseases of the excretory organs are characterized by overproduction or – on the contrary – absence of characteristic proteins in the renal cells. An international research team under the leadership of scientists from DKFZ and Heidelberg University Hospitals has now developed an animal model to better investigate these conditions.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (September 4, 2008) – Doctors at the University of Virginia Health System have significantly reduced MRSA infections among surgical intensive care patients by using antibiotic cycling, a method of rotating drugs at regular intervals.

Unsatisfying drug for anxiety reveals scientists a promising novel anti-cancer drug target.

Cancer cells have multiple ways to avoid apoptosis, programmed cell death the means by which organisms deal with defective cells. One defense is to produce quantities of phosphatic acid, a phospholipid constituent of cellular membranes.

Echolocation may have evolved more than once in bats, according to new research from the University of Bristol published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Professor Gareth Jones of the University of Bristol and Dr Stephen Rossiter of Queen Mary University of London, in collaboration with colleagues from East China Normal University in Shanghai, investigated the evolution of a gene called Prestin in echolocating bats – mammals with the most sensitive hearing at high frequencies.

Victoria and New South Wales have put aside their competitive interstate rivalry to collaborate on a stem cell research project, as announced by Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings and NSW Minister for Science and Medical Research, Verity Firth, today.

Scientists from the Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR) and colleagues from New South Wales will compare two different methods of creating patient-specific stem cells: somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS).

Why is it that the origins of many serious diseases remain a mystery? In considering that question, a scientist at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has come up with a unified molecular view of the indivisible unit of life, the cell, which may provide an answer.

New York, NY (September 4, 2008) – The American Journal of Nursing (AJN) announced today results from a study, based on 23 years of data collection, identifying new trends in nonfamily infant abductions. The report, conducted in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, showed that while the number of abductions in hospital settings dramatically declined, those from private homes and public places have increased in incidence. Among private home and public place abductions, there has also been an increase in violence and lower infant recovery rates.

September 4, 2008 (Portland, Ore.) – Obese people who have asthma are nearly five times more likely to be hospitalized for the condition than non-obese people with asthma, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the September issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

(Philadelphia, PA –September 4, 2008) – The tumor suppressor gene pRb2/p130 may provide the first independent prognostic biomarker in cases of soft tissue sarcoma (STS), according to an international collaboration of researchers, including scientists at the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at the College of Science and Technology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, the Department of Human Pathology and Oncology, University of Siena and the Center of Oncological Research of Mercogliano (CROM) in Avellino, Italy.