Indiana University, EPA to study airborne PCBs
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The elevated PCB levels in U.S. lakes and rivers that led to hundreds of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fish consumption advisories in 2003 may be the result of not only the toxin's persistence underground but also its diffusion through the air....... To investigate the phenomenon, the EPA announced today (Sept. 27) that it would continue its collaboration with Indiana...K-State's National Agricultural Biosecurity Center receives $1.3 Million from Department of Defense
MANHATTAN, KAN. -- The Department of Defense has awarded a $1.38 million two-year contract to the National Agricultural Biosecurity Center at Kansas State University. ... ...Through efforts by the National Agricultural Biosecurity Center and its three subcontractors, the project will develop content and software to help the nation's emergency management personnel respond more effectively to an ag...Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, September 2004
... ...A synergistic effort between theory, modeling, computer simulations and experiments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has demonstrated that oriented fluorescent nanostructures with dramatically enhanced spectral and photophysical properties can be formed from single molecules of semiconducting organic polymers. Semiconductors based on organic materials such as polymers are more suited to...Protemix corporation announces discovery of way to repair hearts damaged by diabetes
Auckland, New Zealand (August 31, 2004): New Zealand biopharmaceutical company Protemix Corporation has announced the discovery of a treatment which appears to reverse heart disease in people suffering from diabetes and may lead to a more effective intervention in a major cause of death worldwide.... ...A study , brought about a significant reduction towards normal heart size in diabetic patient...Nerve cells 'guided' to repair spinal damage: Technique
University of Toronto researchers have designed a method to facilitate nerve cell repair that could ultimately lead to treating severed spinal cords. ......The technique, outlined in the July 6 online version of Biomaterials, involves imbedding a series of fibrous rods into a gel substance and then dissolving the rods, leaving a series of longitudinal channels. These channels are then injected w...Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, August 2004
To arrange for an interview with a researcher, please contact the Communications and Community Outreach staff member identified at the end of each tip....... ...... The way growing piles of sand behave -- with bursts of energy that result in large and small avalanches -- has served as a model for fusion researchers seeking insight into the way magnetically confined plasmas behave in fusion reacto...Yale scientists visualize details of how hepatitis C unwinds RNA
New Haven, Conn. -- Research led by Anna Marie Pyle, professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University reveals how a protein from Hepatitis C (HCV) unwinds RNA, potentially allowing it to be copied. ...... The work published in the journal Nature focuses on an enzyme, helicase NS3, that unwinds the RNA virus for replication inside cells. NS3 is one member of an extensive fami...It's a no-brainer: Prepare for West Nile virus
Since West Nile virus is expected to be prominent again this summer - especially on the West Coast - University of Toronto researchers are urging physicians to be on the lookout for its most common manifestations....... A U of T study, published in the May issue of the quarterly Canadian Journal of Neuroscience, found that among hospitalized patients in Toronto with West Nile virus (WNV), encepha...Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, July 2004
To arrange for an interview with a researcher, please contact the Communications and Community Outreach staff member identified at the end of each tip....... ...... This month's arrival at Saturn of the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft following a seven-year voyage was made possible partly by work done at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The spacecraft's instruments are powered by generators that convert...Zadaxin in triple therapy shows 61% response for hepatitis C non-responders
SAN MATEO, CA - October 27, 2003 - SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCLN) today reported positive data from a triple therapy pilot study showing ZADAXIN® in combination with pegylated interferon alpha and ribavirin produced a 12-week early virologic response (EVR) in 61% of hepatitis C non-responder patients who had failed to respond to prior therapy of interferon in combination with...UC Riverside's department of biology receives $953,000 GAANN grant
RIVERSIDE, Calif.-- May 13, 2003 -- UC Riverside biologists Rich Cardullo and Kim Hammond have received a $953,000 'Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need' (GAANN) grant from the Department of Education for three years beginning this fall. This is the second time the department of biology at UC Riverside has received the grant. While Cardullo and Hammond are the PI (principle investigato...Membrane separation technology produces myriad applications in numerous industries
... ... San Jose, Calif. April 18, 2003 Moving beyond early applications such as the clarification of wine, membrane separation's strong presence and successful application in the chemical and other industries seem to suggest that this revolutionary technology is here to stay.... ..."Because of widespread innovative engineering effort, membrane technologies have come a long way since they w...New drugs restore immune response blocked by hepatitis C virus in human cells
DALLAS April 17, 2003 A new generation of drugs restores the immune response blocked by the hepatitis C virus, reducing the virus to nearly undetectable levels in a matter of days, according to researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and UT Medical Branch at Galveston....... "We found that the new protease inhibitors could actually prevent the virus from blocking this immune res...Key to hepatitis virus persistence found
Scientists at two Texas universities have discovered how hepatitis C virus thwarts immune system efforts to eliminate it. The finding, published online today in ScienceExpress, could lead to more effective treatments for liver disease caused by hepatitis C virus, says author Michael Gale, Jr., Ph.D., of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Dr. Gale and coauthor Stanley Lemon...Stem-cell research and reproductive cloning laws should be separate
The author of a Public Policy article in this week's issue of THE LANCET discusses recent failures of international organisations to establish clear policies with regard to stem-cell research and reproductive cloning. This will have implications for research scientists who will not be clear about the type of research programmes that could be publicly funded or that are legally permissible in the...How DNA repair machinery is a 'Two-Way Street'
DURHAM, N.C. -- Biochemists at Duke University Medical Center have discovered key components that enable the cell's DNA repair machinery to adeptly launch its action in either direction along a DNA strand to strip out faulty DNA. Such flexibility exemplifies the power of the repair machinery, which guards cells against mutations by editing out errors that occur during the process of chromosome re...Chemical Society announces EPA awards for environmentally friendly technology
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recognized five research projects for creative chemistry that show promise for improving the environment. The award winners include scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Jeneil Biosurfactant Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Buckman Laboratories and Engelhard Corporation. ...Since 1996, the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards have a...Yale researchers receive $4.5 million grant to study spinal cord repair
New Haven, Conn. -- Yale researchers Stephen G. Waxman, M.D. and Jeffery D. Kocsis have received a $4.5 million grant from the Veterans Administration Rehabilitation Research and Development Service to continue their internationally recognized research training program focused on restoration of function in spinal cord injury (SCI) and multiple sclerosis (MS). ... ...The renewed five-year grant t...UC Riverside professor to spend year with US State Department
Dr. David A. Eastmond, a toxicologist and professor of cell biology at UC Riverside, was among five academics announced Wednesday, May 26, by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell as Jefferson Science Fellows at the U.S. Department of State. ...... Powell heralded the creation of the JSF program, named for the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, who was both ambassador and scient...Embryonic stem cell - based tissue engineering may help repair damaged heart muscle
NEW YORK--Embryonic stem cells may hold the key to regenerating damaged heart muscle, when transplanted within a 3-dimensional scaffold into the infracted heart, according to a new study coming out in June in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. In the study, embryonic stem cells were more successful in restoring heart muscle when transplanted within a 3-dimensional matrix into damaged...Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, April 2004
To arrange for an interview with a researcher, please contact the Communications and Community Outreach staff member identified at the end of each tip....... — High-tech for first responders . . ....... First responders could minimize the risk to themselves and do their jobs more effectively if they were wearing a protective suit proposed by a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. As e...How DNA copying enzyme 'stops the presses' for repair synthesizing enzyme
DURHAM, N.C. -- Biochemists have performed detailed structural studies that reveal for the first time how an enzyme key to DNA replication stalls when an error occurs, to allow it to be corrected. Without such instantaneous braking, such mistakes in DNA replication would wreak havoc on DNA replication, killing the cell. ...... To their surprise, the scientists observed how the enzyme, DNA polymer...National Academies news: Report on EPA's particulate matter research
WASHINGTON -- Particulate matter research conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other scientists in recent years has led to a better understanding of the health effects caused by the tiny airborne particles, says a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council. However, the committee that wrote the report said that even as EPA implements strategies to cont...Ribozyme package effective against hepatitis B virus
HERSHEY, PA-- Penn State College of Medicine researchers have developed a tiny package that searches for and destroys up to 80 percent of hepatitis B virus in the livers of mice. ... ..."This marks one of the few successful in vivo, or in-animal, models of an effective therapy to reduce the production of hepatitis B virus," said Gary Clawson, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology, biochemistry and...Failure of DNA repair mechanism precedes final stage of deadly leukemia, new Penn study shows
(Philadelphia, PA) Medical researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that the last stage of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a deadly blood cancer, is preceded by the unique blocking action of a blood cell's normal cycle of DNA production and repair. The researchers linked the blocking action to a known oncogene, BCR/ABL, and suspect it to be...Study suggests possible way to repair damaged nerve cells
COLUMBUS, Ohio The loss of fully functioning nerve cells is a hallmark of brain diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. But new evidence in rats and mice suggests that these neurons could be saved.... ...The results hold promise for designing treatments that might help not only people with brain diseases, but also victims of severe spinal cord and brain injuries.... ...Researchers re...Research suggests new way to repair cartilage damage
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke biomedical engineers have developed a technique to use a natural polymer to fill in and protect cartilage wounds within joints, and to provide supportive scaffolding for new cartilage growth. Their advance offers a potential solution for a central problem in generating new cartilage: providing a support for cartilage cells as they regenerate cartilage tissue. ......In tests...Cancer health risk significantly underestimated by EPA's ambient model estimates
The cancer risk from exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is vastly underestimated by current models that rely solely on ambient emissions. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health showed that cancer risk figures based on actual measured exposure for communities in Baltimore, Md. were as much as three-fold greater than estimates given by models. Their study is...ESA prepares mission to search for life on Mars
Through its long-term Aurora Programme of solar system exploration, ESA is already preparing a series of robotic missions that will reveal the Red Planet's secrets and pave the way for a human expedition in decades to come. ...A major step towards the realisation of this ambitious robotic programme was completed this week with the selection of two industrial teams to carry out the detailed desig...Stem cells found in adults may repair nerves
It used to be considered dogma that a nerve, once injured, could never be repaired. Now, researchers have learned that some nerves, even nerves in parts of the brain, can regenerate or be replaced. By studying the chemical signals that encourage or impede the repair of nerves, researchers at the University of Washington, the Salk Institute, and other institutions may contribute to eventual treatm...Department of Energy's Office of Science unveils 20-year vision for the future of basic research
WASINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science today unveiled its Strategic Plan, which charts a course for science over the next two decades that promises dramatic increases in knowledge and scientific achievements. The DOE's Office of Science is the nation's largest supporter of the physical sciences and a major contributor to other vital areas of basic research that underp...Story tips from the Department of Energys Oak Ridge National Laboratory, February 2004
SPACE -- Life beyond Earth . . . ......Techniques to find microbial life in the depths of our planet may be useful for determining whether there is life on Mars. At least that's the idea behind a five-year $5 million NASA project that taps the expertise of Tommy Phelps of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Susan Pfiffner of the University of Tennessee. The project, headed by Indiana University, al...AGI publishes 42nd edition of Directory of Geoscience Departments
The latest annual edition of the (DGD) -- providing key information about college and university geoscience departments in the United States and in 21 countries -- has been published by the American Geological Institute (AGI). This valuable reference, produced by AGI since 1952, is the most comprehensive directory of its kind for the geoscience community and is a "must have" for both personal a...Largest brain repair initiative in MS will speed strategies to restore nerve function
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has launched a new initiative to speed research on nervous system repair and protection in MS, a disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord. The Society has invited proposals from research teams to compete for grants of up to $5.5 million each to pave the way for clinical testing of repair and protection strategies in people with MS. ......"The pace of...Medical students inadequately prepared for clinical rotations, caring for chronically ill
Limitations in the curricula of American medical schools may be preventing students from getting enough basic skills training to succeed in clinical settings, according to two Johns Hopkins studies published in the January issue of the journal Academic Medicine....... The first study indicates that medical students do not receive enough training during the first two years of medical school to ade...Story tips from the Department of Energys Oak Ridge National Laboratory, January 2004
To arrange for an interview with a researcher, please contact the Communications and Community Outreach staff member identified at the end of each tip....... ...... It cost a family of four living in a next-generation Habitat for Humanity house just 82 cents a day in total energy bills, and the project continues to gain momentum. The house boasts impressive air tightness in addition to an advance...Separation day arrives for Mars Express and Beagle 2
After a joint journey of 250 million miles (400 million km), the British-built Beagle 2 spacecraft and the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter should now have parted and gone their separate ways. ...... At 8.31 GMT, software on Mars Express was scheduled to send the command for the Beagle 2 lander to separate from the orbiter. This would fire a pyrotechnic device that would slowly releas...Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Story ideas from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. To arrange for an interview with a researcher, please contact the Communications and Community Outreach staff member identified at the end of each tip. ...... ......Production of prototype sensors that combine living cells with integrated circuits could begin within a few months. Micro Systems Technologies, a startup compa...Breast cancer susceptibility genes play role in DNA repair
PHILADELPHIA A study led by scientists at The Wistar Institute defines a functional role for the tumor suppressor proteins BRCA1 and BRCA2 in breast cancer. The findings, presented in November issue of the journal Molecular Cell, also identify a number of novel proteins that work alongside BRCA1 and BRCA2 and might also play a part in breast cancer. These proteins offer an important set of new t...Department of Energy 20-Year science facility plan announced
In a speech at the National Press Club today, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham outlined the Department of Energy's Office of Science 20-year science facility plan, a roadmap for future scientific facilities to support the department's basic science and research missions. The plan prioritizes new, major scientific facilities and upgrades to current facilities....... The 28 facilities cover t...