http://www.sciencecentric.com/ Latest news in natural sciences and technology provided by Science Centric en-gb Copyright 2009, Science Centric contact@sciencecentric.com (Stanislav Abadjiev) Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:20:00 GMT Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:20:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss/ http://www.sciencecentric.com/images/sc_logo_news.jpg http://www.sciencecentric.com/ A new calibration tool was recently developed to help students and soil scientists calibrate their thumb and forefinger for the correct amount of pressure... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010513-describing-soils-calibration-tool-teaching-soil-rupture-resistance http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010513-describing-soils-calibration-tool-teaching-soil-rupture-resistance Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:20:00 GMT When there is a threat of disease during pregnancy, mothers produce less aggressive sons with more efficient immune systems, researchers at The University of Nottingham have discovered... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010512-mothers-pass-on-disease-clues-offspring http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010512-mothers-pass-on-disease-clues-offspring Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:20:00 GMT Brown dwarfs, objects that are less massive than stars but larger than planets, just got more elusive, based on a study of 233 nearby multiple-star systems by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble found only two brown dwarfs as companions to normal stars. This means the so-called 'brown dwarf desert' (the absence of brown dwarfs around solar-type stars) extends to the smallest stars in the Universe... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010511-brown-dwarfs-do-not-hang-out-with-stars http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010511-brown-dwarfs-do-not-hang-out-with-stars Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:20:00 GMT It's cold and flu season, which means misery for kids and the parents trying to help them. But doctors are asking parents to resist the urge to give children under the age of 6 over-the-counter cough and cold medication... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010510-caution-urged-when-giving-kids-cold-flu-meds http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010510-caution-urged-when-giving-kids-cold-flu-meds Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:18:00 GMT With the economy in a state of decline, it is difficult for many Americans to afford health care. Visits to doctors are down 10 percent to 15 percent and many individuals are not taking their medicines as prescribed. However, there are certain measures that can be taken to lessen the burden while facing tough economic times... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010509-staying-healthy-tough-economy http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010509-staying-healthy-tough-economy Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:18:00 GMT A new epidemiological study has found that among women who have never used menopausal hormone therapy, obese women are at an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer compared with women of normal weight. Published in the 15 February 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the research indicates that obesity may contribute to the development of ovarian cancer through a hormonal mechanism... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010508-study-links-obesity-elevated-risk-ovarian-cancer http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010508-study-links-obesity-elevated-risk-ovarian-cancer Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:18:00 GMT Adults with diabetes experience a slowdown in several types of mental processing, which appears early in the disease and persists into old age, according to new research. Given the sharp rise in new cases of diabetes, this finding means that more adults may soon be living with mild but lasting deficits in their thought processes... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010507-adult-onset-diabetes-slows-mental-functioning-several-ways http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010507-adult-onset-diabetes-slows-mental-functioning-several-ways Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:18:00 GMT Iowa State University's Martin Pohl is part of a research team that has developed the first complete map of the Milky Way galaxy's spiral arms. The map shows the inner part of the Milky Way has two prominent, symmetric spiral arms, which extend into the outer galaxy where they branch into four spiral arms... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010506-astrophysicist-helps-map-the-milky-way-4-spiral-arms http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010506-astrophysicist-helps-map-the-milky-way-4-spiral-arms Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:18:00 GMT With cold and flu season in full swing, the fact that viruses and bacteria rapidly evolve is apparent with every sneeze, sniffle, and cough. A new report in the January 2009 issue of The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), explains for the first time how humans keep up with microbes by rearranging the genes that make antibodies to foreign invaders. This research fills a significant gap in our understanding of how the immune system helps us survive... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010505-evolution-action-our-antibodies-take-evolutionary-leaps-fight-microbes http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010505-evolution-action-our-antibodies-take-evolutionary-leaps-fight-microbes Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:18:00 GMT UK astronomers are set to expand our knowledge of the history of our Universe with a new project to map the inception and formation of galaxies... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010504-uk-astronomers-gaze-back-time-map-the-history-the-universe http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010504-uk-astronomers-gaze-back-time-map-the-history-the-universe Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:18:00 GMT Two new studies led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, suggest that taking maternity leave before and after the birth of a baby is a good investment in terms of health benefits for both mothers and newborns... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010503-studies-link-maternity-leave-with-fewer-c-sections-increased-breastfeeding http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010503-studies-link-maternity-leave-with-fewer-c-sections-increased-breastfeeding Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:18:00 GMT Researchers from Case Western Reserve University and Yale University have made a significant advancement in understanding the cause behind why some pregnant women suffer from inflammations in the inner womb without any signs of an infection... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010502-uncultured-bacteria-found-amniotic-fluids-women-who-experience-preterm-births http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010502-uncultured-bacteria-found-amniotic-fluids-women-who-experience-preterm-births Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:18:00 GMT The National Museum of Natural History in Sofia (NMNHS) launched a new bilingual (in English and Bulgarian) website. The site is already available at www.nmnhs.com. It is expected that it will receive full functionality in the next two weeks... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010501-the-national-museum-natural-history-sofia-launches-new-website http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010501-the-national-museum-natural-history-sofia-launches-new-website Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:53:00 GMT Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have developed a versatile mouse model of glioblastoma - the most common and deadly brain cancer in humans - that closely resembles the development and progression of human brain tumours that arise naturally... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010404-researchers-at-the-salk-institute-develop-novel-glioblastoma-mouse-model http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010404-researchers-at-the-salk-institute-develop-novel-glioblastoma-mouse-model Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:36:00 GMT A major conference, scheduled for Bournemouth University next week, will feature a session on 'Volcanoes and Society' and, more specifically, 'Volcanoes and Tourism'... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010403-volcanic-magmatic-studies-group-vmsg-annual-meeting http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010403-volcanic-magmatic-studies-group-vmsg-annual-meeting Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:36:00 GMT MIT engineers have developed a new, highly efficient way to pair up cells so they can be fused together into a hybrid cell. The new technique should make it much easier for scientists to study what happens when two cells are combined. For example, fusing an adult cell and an embryonic stem cell allows researchers to study the genetic reprogramming that occurs in such hybrids... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010402-mit-develops-new-way-fuse-cells http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010402-mit-develops-new-way-fuse-cells Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:36:00 GMT An international team led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers has identified genetic markers associated with risk for ulcerative colitis. The findings, which appear today as an advance online publication of the journal Nature Genetics, bring researchers closer to understanding the biological pathways involved in the disease and may lead to the development of new treatments that specifically target them... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010401-new-genetic-markers-ulcerative-colitis-identified http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010401-new-genetic-markers-ulcerative-colitis-identified Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:36:00 GMT Researchers from Duke University Medical Centre have identified a variation in a particular gene that increases susceptibility to early coronary artery disease. For years, scientists have known that the devastating, early-onset form of the disease was inherited, but they knew little about the gene(s) responsible until now. The results are published 2 January in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010303-genetic-variation-may-lead-early-cardiovascular-disease http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010303-genetic-variation-may-lead-early-cardiovascular-disease Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:38:00 GMT In a study to determine the diagnostic value of molecular imaging in nodal staging of patients with thyroid cancer, researchers were able for the first time to accurately distinguish between cancerous cells in regional lymph nodes and normal residual thyroid tissue directly after surgery... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010302-molecular-imaging-enables-earlier-individualised-treatment-thyroid-cancer http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010302-molecular-imaging-enables-earlier-individualised-treatment-thyroid-cancer Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:38:00 GMT A single tumour-suppressing gene is a key to understanding, and perhaps killing, dormant ovarian cancer cells that persist after initial treatment only to reawaken years later, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Centre report in the December Journal of Clinical Investigation... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010301-dormant-cancer-cells-rely-on-cellular-self-cannibalisation-survive http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010301-dormant-cancer-cells-rely-on-cellular-self-cannibalisation-survive Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:38:00 GMT Neurologists have observed for decades that Lewy bodies, clumps of aggregated proteins inside cells, appear in the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010206-toxicity-mechanism-identified-parkinson-disease http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010206-toxicity-mechanism-identified-parkinson-disease Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:30:00 GMT Arizona State University researchers Hao Yan and Yan Liu imagine and assemble intricate structures on a scale almost unfathomably small. Their medium is the double-helical DNA molecule, a versatile building material offering near limitless construction potential... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010205-researchers-use-nanoparticles-make-3-d-dna-nanotubes http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010205-researchers-use-nanoparticles-make-3-d-dna-nanotubes Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:30:00 GMT A network of emotion-regulating brain regions implicated in the pathological worry that can grip patients with anxiety disorders may also be useful for predicting the benefits of treatment... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010204-expectant-brains-help-predict-anxiety-treatment-success http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010204-expectant-brains-help-predict-anxiety-treatment-success Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:30:00 GMT In a first of its kind study, a first-degree family history of prostate cancer has no impact on the treatment outcomes of prostate cancer patients treated with brachytherapy (also called seed implants), and patients with this type of family history have clinical and pathologic characteristics similar to men with no family history at all, according to a 1 January study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010203-family-history-prostate-cancer-does-not-affect-some-treatment-outcomes http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010203-family-history-prostate-cancer-does-not-affect-some-treatment-outcomes Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:30:00 GMT Aquaculture production of seafood will probably remain the most rapidly increasing food production system worldwide through 2025, according to an assessment published in the January 2009 issue of BioScience. The assessment, by James S. Diana of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, notes that despite well-publicised concerns about some harmful effects of aquaculture, the technique may, when practised well, be no more damaging to biodiversity than other food production systems. Moreover, it may be the only way to supply growing demand for seafood as the human population increases... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010202-aquaculture-growth-seen-as-continuing http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010202-aquaculture-growth-seen-as-continuing Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:30:00 GMT Lots of experts disagree over the seemingly obvious notion of keeping weight off by trying to eat less - a debate that centres on whether the practice backfires, leading to binging and weight gain... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010201-trying-eat-less-becomes-more-important-fend-off-middle-age-weight-gain http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010201-trying-eat-less-becomes-more-important-fend-off-middle-age-weight-gain Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:30:00 GMT Abundant tiny particles of diamond dust exist in sediments dating to 12,900 years ago at six North American sites, adding strong evidence for Earth's impact with a rare swarm of carbon-and-water-rich comets or carbonaceous chondrites, reports a nine-member scientific team... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010126-six-north-american-sites-hold-12900-year-old-nanodiamond-rich-soil http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010126-six-north-american-sites-hold-12900-year-old-nanodiamond-rich-soil Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:00:00 GMT New computer visualisation technology developed by the Harvard Initiative in Innovative Computing has helped astrophysicists understand that gravity plays a larger role than previously thought in deep space's vast, star-forming molecular clouds... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010125-new-visualisation-techniques-yield-star-formation-insights http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010125-new-visualisation-techniques-yield-star-formation-insights Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:00 GMT Pre-operative screening of patients for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) may be an effective way to reduce infection rates following otolaryngic surgeries, according to new research published in the January 2009 issue of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010124-mrsa-pre-screening-effective-reducing-otolaryngic-surgical-infection-rates http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010124-mrsa-pre-screening-effective-reducing-otolaryngic-surgical-infection-rates Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:00 GMT A study in the 1 January issue of the journal Sleep demonstrates that the frequent arousals from sleep that occur in heart failure patients with central sleep apnea (CSA) may reflect the presence of another underlying arousal disorder rather than being a defensive mechanism to terminate apneas... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010123-arousal-frequency-heart-failure-found-be-unique-sleep-problem http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010123-arousal-frequency-heart-failure-found-be-unique-sleep-problem Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:00 GMT In a finding that could significantly influence the way type 1 diabetes is treated, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed a technique for transplanting insulin-producing pancreatic cells that causes only a minimal immune response in recipients... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010122-researchers-engineer-pancreatic-cell-transplants-evade-immune-response http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010122-researchers-engineer-pancreatic-cell-transplants-evade-immune-response Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:00 GMT Everybody is familiar with the stereotypes of medical education from the student perspective: gruelling hours, little recognition, and even less glory. Now a novel Brandeis study published in Academic Medicine this month pulls back the curtain on the dominant environment of academic medicine from the perspective of faculty, the providers of medical education in medical schools... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010121-new-research-says-academic-medicine-is-critical-condition http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010121-new-research-says-academic-medicine-is-critical-condition Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:00 GMT University of British Columbia researchers are offering the first compelling evidence to explain regular tremors under Vancouver Island... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010120-trapped-water-cause-regular-tremors-under-vancouver-island http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010120-trapped-water-cause-regular-tremors-under-vancouver-island Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:00 GMT Using a beam of light shunted through a tiny silicon channel, researchers have created a nanoscale trap that can stop free floating DNA molecules and nanoparticles in their tracks. By holding the nanoscale material steady while the fluid around it flows freely, the trap may allow researchers to boost the accuracy of biological sensors and create a range of new 'lab on a chip' diagnostic tools... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010119-nano-tractor-beam-traps-dna http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010119-nano-tractor-beam-traps-dna Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:00 GMT A new study shows that people who are smokers and have a family history of brain aneurysm appear to be significantly more likely to suffer a stroke from a brain aneurysm themselves. The research is published in the 31 December 2008 online issue of Neurology(R), the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology and will appear in the January 6, 2009, print issue of Neurology(R)... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010118-smokers-with-stroke-the-family-6-times-more-likely-have-stroke-too http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010118-smokers-with-stroke-the-family-6-times-more-likely-have-stroke-too Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:00 GMT A study in the 1 January issue of the journal Sleep indicates that the indirect costs of untreated insomnia are significantly greater than the direct costs associated with its treatment. The study estimates that the total annual cost of insomnia in the province of Quebec is 6.5 billion Canadian dollars, representing about one percent of the province's $228.5 billion in gross domestic product for 2002... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010117-study-shows-that-the-societal-economic-burden-insomnia-is-high http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010117-study-shows-that-the-societal-economic-burden-insomnia-is-high Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:00 GMT Scientists have new information about the complex genetic signature associated with Alzheimer's disease, the leading cause of cognitive decline and dementia in the elderly. The research, published by Cell Press in the January issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, uses a powerful, high-resolution analysis to look for genes associated with this devastating neurodegenerative disorder... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010116-scientists-make-strides-toward-defining-genetic-signature-alzheimer-disease http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010116-scientists-make-strides-toward-defining-genetic-signature-alzheimer-disease Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:00 GMT Researchers at the University Of Southern California, School Of Dentistry release results of clinical data that links oral bisphosphonates to increased jaw necrosis. The study is among the first to acknowledge that even short-term use of common oral osteoporosis drugs may leave the jaw vulnerable to devastating necrosis, according to the report appearing in the 1 January Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA)... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010115-usc-dentist-links-fosomax-type-drugs-jaw-necrosis http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010115-usc-dentist-links-fosomax-type-drugs-jaw-necrosis Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:28:00 GMT The Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society announced today that its efforts to protect a wildlife-rich coastal region in South America have paid off in the form of a new coastal marine park recently signed into law by the Government of Argentina... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010114-a-happy-new-year-penguins http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010114-a-happy-new-year-penguins Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT When researchers look inside human cancer cells for the whereabouts of an important tumour-suppressor, they often catch the protein playing hooky, lolling around in cellular broth instead of muscling its way out to the cells' membranes and foiling cancer growth... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010113-johns-hopkins-scientists-pull-protein-tail-curtail-cancer http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010113-johns-hopkins-scientists-pull-protein-tail-curtail-cancer Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT The hormone deprivation therapy that prostate cancer patients often take gives them only a temporary fix, with tumours usually regaining their hold within a couple of years. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered critical differences in the hormone receptors on prostate cancer cells in patients who no longer respond to this therapy. The findings, reported in the 1 January issue of Cancer Research, could lead to a way to track disease progression, as well as new targets to fight prostate cancer... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010112-why-prostate-cancer-patients-fail-hormone-deprivation-therapy http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010112-why-prostate-cancer-patients-fail-hormone-deprivation-therapy Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT Variants of numerous DNA repair genes initially appeared to be statistically significantly associated with cancer risk in epidemiological studies. When the data from individual studies are pooled, however, few DNA repair gene variants appear truly associated with increased cancer risk, according to a field synopsis published in the 30 December online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010111-few-dna-repair-genes-maintain-association-with-cancer-field-synopsis http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010111-few-dna-repair-genes-maintain-association-with-cancer-field-synopsis Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT Using tiny gold particles and infrared light, MIT researchers have developed a drug-delivery system that allows multiple drugs to be released in a controlled fashion... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010110-gold-nanoparticles-controlled-drug-delivery http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010110-gold-nanoparticles-controlled-drug-delivery Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT Researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Centre have discovered that a molecule implicated in leukaemia and lung cancer is also important in muscle repair and in a muscle cancer that strikes mainly children... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010109-study-links-molecule-muscle-maturation-muscle-cancer http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010109-study-links-molecule-muscle-maturation-muscle-cancer Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT Seven percent of adults and 19 percent of children taking chemotherapy drugs in outpatient clinics or at home were given the wrong dose or experienced other mistakes involving their medications, according to a new study led by Kathleen E. Walsh, MD, assistant professor of paediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and published in the 1 January 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010108-errors-involving-medications-common-outpatient-cancer-treatment http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010108-errors-involving-medications-common-outpatient-cancer-treatment Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT Medicinal plants have been used as traditional remedies for hundreds of years. Among them, S. barbata has been traditionally used in treatment of hepatitis, inflammation, osteomyelitis and gynaecological diseases in China. Studies indicate that extracts from S. barbata have growth inhibitory effects on a number of human cancers... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010107-a-new-light-on-the-anti-tumour-mechanisms-scutellaria-barbata http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010107-a-new-light-on-the-anti-tumour-mechanisms-scutellaria-barbata Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT Liver biopsy is still considered the gold standard for grading, staging and 'stad-ging' the chronic liver disease. In addition, it remains a primary source for acquiring new knowledge on the liver pathology... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010106-a-rigourous-method-liver-biopsy http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010106-a-rigourous-method-liver-biopsy Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT Bismuth compounds have been used for centuries in medicine. The discovery of H. pylori in 1983 led to renewed interest in bismuth compounds, because these were found to successfully treat the infection in combination with antibiotics. However, in the 1970s bismuth salts, used at high doses for prolonged periods, were found to lead to neurotoxicity. There has been no summary of evidence for the toxicity of bismuth when used for short periods as part of H. pylori eradication therapy... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010105-is-bismuth-safe-medicine-the-treatment-peptic-ulcer-disease http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010105-is-bismuth-safe-medicine-the-treatment-peptic-ulcer-disease Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT Campylobacters are small Gram-negative spiral rods. Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni), a foodborne organism contracted from untreated water, milk and meat, especially chicken, is one of the most important causes of bacterial diarrhoea worldwide. However, its mode of pathogenesis is not clear... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010104-what-is-the-pathogenesis-c-jejuni-related-disease http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010104-what-is-the-pathogenesis-c-jejuni-related-disease Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT Independent security researchers in California and researchers at the Centrum Wiskunde and Informatica (CWI) in the Netherlands, EPFL in Switzerland, and Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands have found a weakness in the Internet digital certificate infrastructure that allows attackers to forge certificates that are fully trusted by all commonly used web browsers... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010103-experts-uncover-weakness-Internet-security http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010103-experts-uncover-weakness-Internet-security Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT Women who took beta carotene or vitamin C or E or a combination of the supplements had a similar risk of cancer as women who did not take the supplements, according to data from a randomised controlled trial in the 30 December online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010102-vitamins-c-e-beta-carotene-again-fail-reduce-cancer-risk-randomised-controlled-trial http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010102-vitamins-c-e-beta-carotene-again-fail-reduce-cancer-risk-randomised-controlled-trial Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT An extract from grape seeds forces laboratory leukaemia cells to commit cell suicide, according to researchers from the University of Kentucky. They found that within 24 hours, 76 percent of leukaemia cells had died after being exposed to the extract... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010101-grape-seed-extract-kills-laboratory-leukaemia-cells-proving-value-natural-compounds http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09010101-grape-seed-extract-kills-laboratory-leukaemia-cells-proving-value-natural-compounds Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT A research team from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has identified a protein produced by cancerous lung epithelial cells that enhances metastasis by stimulating the activity of inflammatory cells. Their findings, to be published in the 1 January issue of the journal Nature, explain how advanced cancer cells usurp components of the host innate immune system to generate an inflammatory microenvironment hospitable for the metastatic spread of lung cancer. The discovery could lead to a therapy to limit metastasis of this most common lethal form of cancer... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123103-lung-cancer-cells-activate-inflammation-induce-metastasis http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123103-lung-cancer-cells-activate-inflammation-induce-metastasis Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:00:00 GMT A team of Johns Hopkins neuroscientists has worked out how some newly discovered light sensors in the eye detect light and communicate with the brain. The report appears online this week in Nature... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123102-bright-lights-not-so-big-pupils http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123102-bright-lights-not-so-big-pupils Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:00:00 GMT From troubled beginnings nearly 18 years ago, the Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionised astronomy and its stunning images have stirred the imaginations of people around the globe. But as the International Year of Astronomy dawns, the renowned telescope is preparing for its final chapter, starting with the scheduled 12 May launch of the space shuttle Atlantis for NASA's fifth and final service mission to the telescope... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123101-hubble-get-last-tune-up-during-2009 http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123101-hubble-get-last-tune-up-during-2009 Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:00:00 GMT NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity may still have big achievements ahead as they approach the fifth anniversaries of their memorable landings on Mars. Of the hundreds of engineers and scientists who cheered at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., on 3 January 2004, when Spirit landed safely, and 21 days later when Opportunity followed suit, none predicted the team would still be operating both rovers in 2009... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123022-nasa-mars-rovers-near-five-years-science-discovery http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123022-nasa-mars-rovers-near-five-years-science-discovery Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:18:00 GMT Researchers have discovered that grazing animals such as deer and rabbits are actually helping to spread plant disease - quadrupling its prevalence in some cases - and encouraging an invasion of annual grasses that threaten more than 20 million acres of native grasslands in California... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123021-grazing-animals-help-spread-plant-disease http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123021-grazing-animals-help-spread-plant-disease Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:18:00 GMT For risk-takers and impulsive people, New Year's resolutions often include being more careful, spending more frugally and cutting back on dangerous behaviour, such as drug use. But new research from Vanderbilt finds that these individuals - labelled as novelty seekers by psychologists - face an uphill battle in keeping their New Year's resolutions due to the way their brains process dopamine... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123020-risk-takers-drug-abusers-driven-by-decreased-ability-process-dopamine http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123020-risk-takers-drug-abusers-driven-by-decreased-ability-process-dopamine Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:18:00 GMT In a recently conducted study, a multidisciplinary French-American research team with expertise in archaeology, past climates, and ecology reported that Neanderthal extinction was principally a result of competition with Cro-Magnon populations, rather than the consequences of climate change... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123019-study-shows-competition-not-climate-change-led-neanderthal-extinction http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123019-study-shows-competition-not-climate-change-led-neanderthal-extinction Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:18:00 GMT UC Davis Cancer Centre researchers report today the discovery of a molecule that targets glioblastoma, a highly deadly form of cancer. The finding, which is published in the January 2009 issue of the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, provides hope for effectively treating an incurable cancer... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123018-uc-davis-researchers-find-molecule-that-targets-brain-tumours http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08123018-uc-davis-researchers-find-molecule-that-targets-brain-tumours Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:18:00 GMT