Body

An experimental compound repaired a defective alcohol metabolism enzyme that affects an estimated 1 billion people worldwide, according to research supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The findings, published Jan. 10, 2010 in the advance online edition of Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, suggest the possibility of a treatment to reduce the health problems associated with the enzyme defect.

Work done in part by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston has led to the discovery of two new genes that are implicated in ankylosing spondylitis (AS), an inflammatory and potentially disabling disease. In addition, the international research team pinpointed two areas along stretches of DNA that play an important role in regulating gene activity associated with the arthritic condition.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A strip of paper infused with carbon nanotubes can quickly and inexpensively detect a toxin produced by algae in drinking water.

Engineers at the University of Michigan led the development of the new biosensor.

The paper strips perform 28 times faster than the complicated method most commonly used today to detect microcystin-LR, a chemical compound produced by cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae. Cyanobacteria is commonly found on nutrient-rich waters.

Researchers at Oregon State University and the University of Georgia have developed an improved, more efficient method to test for the most serious of the parasitic worms in sheep, a problem that causes hundreds of millions of dollars in losses every year to the global sheep and wool industry.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A cell type that causes significant scarring in lung disease appears to have a similar effect in Graves' disease, University of Michigan Health System researchers have found. The cells, called fibrocytes, are present at a higher than normal frequency in patients with Graves' disease, according to a new study, the first to associate fibrocytes with this autoimmune disease.

The discovery is a major step forward in explaining how and why the orbit of the eye is subject to scarring and inflammation in Graves' disease.

Calcium may not come to mind when you think of tasty foods, but in a study appearing in the January 8 issue of JBC, Japanese researchers have provided the first demonstration that calcium channels on the tongue are the targets of compounds that can enhance taste.

In addition to molecules that directly trigger specific taste buds (salty, sweet etc.), there are other substances which have no flavor of their own but can enhance the flavors they are paired with (known as kokumi taste in Japanese cuisine).

Research released in the January 2010 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology sought to determine and validate the efficacy of the recent reclassification of the T category in the IASLC's Staging Manual in Thoracic Oncology.

A research published in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences rejects the theory that the origin of life stems from a system of self-catalytic molecules capable of experiencing Darwinian evolution without the need of RNA or DNA and their replication.

EUREKA project E! 3184 – Odysseus has developed systems to construct 3D images of individual patients' livers, with their tumours or other pathologies, from MRI or CT-scans. The reconstructions can be transmitted to external experts in any location, for consultation in real time just before surgery. Collaborative decisions can be made and optimal therapy planned with the best possible diagnostic support, before real surgery is attempted.

The maximum time an athlete is able to continue climbing to exhaustion may be the only determinant of his/her performance. A new European study, led by researchers from the University of Granada, the objective of which is to help trainers and climbers design training programmes for this type of sport, shows this to be the case.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — University of Michigan researchers have identified the first biomarker of graft-versus-host disease of the skin. The discovery makes possible a simple blood test that should solve a treatment dilemma facing doctors with patients who frequently develop rashes after bone marrow transplants. The biomarker also makes it possible to predict who is at greatest risk of dying of graft-versus-host disease, or GVHD.

An international team of scientists from EPFL (Switzerland), INRIA (France), NTT (Japan), CWI (The Netherlands) and Bonn University (Germany), has obtained the prime factors of the RSA challenge number RSA-768, using the Number Field Sieve. The calculation tookless than 2000 core years on modern CPUs. Extrapolating the trend from previous records in this area (512-bit in 1999, 663-bit in 2005, and the current 768-bit in 2009), it is reasonable to expect that 1024-bit keys will exhibit a similar degree of vulnerability within the next decade.

Chinese researchers have become the world's fifth most prolific contributors to peer-reviewed scientific literature on clock-reversing regenerative medicine even as a skeptical international research community condemns the practice of Chinese clinics administering unproven stem cell therapies to domestic and foreign patients.

Abnormally high or low blood calcium levels are linked to an increased chance of premature death in non-dialysis kidney disease patients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The findings indicate the potential importance of finding drugs or other treatments that maintain normal blood calcium levels in non-dialysis patients.

Nanoscience has the potential to play an enormous role in enhancing a range of products, including sensors, photovoltaics and consumer electronics. Scientists in this field have created a multitude of nano scale materials, such as metal nanocrystals, carbon nanotubes and semiconducting nanowires.