Body

PHILADELPHIA – Well beyond the advice to drink enough H2O and not eat too much NaCl, the nation's chemists will get elemental with grapefruit, onions, peppers, tomatoes, carrots and watermelons this week at the American Chemical Society meeting.

The world's largest scientific society is observing the 100 anniversary of its Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division with a series of talks aimed at new discoveries in the health benefits from phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables.

RICHLAND, Wash. — Scientists can learn how advances in catalysis are addressing real-world energy problems and expanding research horizons at an upcoming symposium at the 236th American Chemical Society national meeting in Philadelphia, Penn. The scientific community is honoring the contributions of the late Mike White at the symposium, which will be held from August 19-21.

New York, August 19, 2008 – Men with signs of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) can be helped with a daily dose of erectile dysfunction drug tadalafil (Cialis®) to relieve associated lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), according to a new study published in the October 2008 issue of The Journal of Urology. Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Northwestern University and Lilly Research Laboratories report on a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of over 1000 men in ten countries.

Sanjiv Gambhir (Stanford University Medical Center) and colleagues describe a linear one-compartment mathematical model that allows estimation of minimal detectable tumor sizes based on blood tumor biomarker assays.Citation: Lutz AM, Willmann JK, Cochran FV, Ray P, Gambhir SS (2008) Cancer screening: A mathematical model relating secreted blood biomarker levels to tumor sizes. PLoS Med 5(8): e170.

Michal Schwartz (from the Weizmann Institute of Science) and colleagues describe the role of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan in the repair of injured tissue and in the recovery of motor function during the acute phase after spinal cord injury.

Citation: Rolls A, Shechter R, London A, Segev Y, Jacob-Hirsch J, et al. (2008) Two faces of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan in spinal cord repair: A role in microglia/macrophage activation. PLoS Med 5(8): e171. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050171

The burden of sepsis is greatest in developing countries and there is a need to translate modern management strategies for adults with severe sepsis to this context, says a team of authors in this week's PLoS Medicine. Sharon Peacock (Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand) and colleagues review the strategies that can be used to reduced deaths from bacterial sepsis in low income settings.

Ensuring the involvement of children in the evaluation of tuberculosis treatment is critical as we move forward in developing effective responses to active and drug-susceptible tuberculosis (TB), argues a new essay in this week's PLoS Medicine.

The mother-daughter relationship can be difficult to understand. Why are the two so different? In a new study published in PLoS Biology, Eric Weiss and colleagues show how this happens. In yeast cells, that is.

A research team has discovered a new mechanism for cell fate determination -- how one cell, the daughter, becomes dramatically different from the mother, even though they have the same genetic material. The study shows why mothers and daughters differ in how they express their genes.

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The mother-daughter relationship can be difficult to understand. Why are the two so different? Now a Northwestern University study shows how this happens. In yeast cells, that is.

A research team has discovered a new mechanism for cell fate determination -- how one cell, the daughter, becomes dramatically different from the mother, even though they have the same genetic material. The study shows why mothers and daughters differ in how they express their genes.

Cells obtained from menstrual blood, termed 'endometrial regenerative cells' (ERCs) are capable of restoring blood flow in an animal model of advanced peripheral artery disease. A study published today in BioMed Central's open access Journal of Translational Medicine demonstrates that when circulation-blocked mice were treated with ERC injections, circulation and functionality were restored.

PHILADELPHIA, August 19, 2008 – The long-term prognosis of patients infected with West Nile virus is good, according to a new study appearing in the August 19, 2008, issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, the American College of Physicians' flagship journal. This is the largest study of the long-term outcomes of West Nile virus infection.

STANFORD, Calif. - Human embryonic stem cells trigger an immune response in mice, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine report. The finding suggests that the effectiveness of human therapies derived from the cells could be limited unless ways are found to dampen the rejection response.

The researchers found the immune response in mice could be mitigated by the use of common antirejection medications. Overall, the work indicated that, contrary to previous suggestions, the immune system is not blind to the presence of foreign embryonic stem cells.

Many drugs once considered Charles Atlases of the pharmaceutical realm have been reduced to the therapeutic equivalent of 97-pound weaklings as the diseases they once dispatched with ease have developed resistance to them.

The problem is well documented for antibiotics, although not confined to them. Chemotherapy drugs that were once highly effective when first used against a particular cancer now are often rendered near powerless when a patient's cancer resurges.

A new study of the ribosome, the cell's protein-building machinery, sheds light on the oldest branches of the evolutionary tree of life and suggests that differences in ribosomal structure between the three main branches of that tree are "molecular fossils" of the early evolution of protein synthesis.

Different keys are not supposed to fit the same lock, but in biologicalsystems multiple versions of a catalyst all make a reaction go, according toa new study that explains the phenomenon.

Scheduled for online publication in PNAS Early Edition sometime after Aug.18, the study challenges entrenched ideas about the workings of catalysts.

The study also suggests a method for designing new catalysts.