Biologists Map First Gene For Age-Related Hearing Loss In Mice
...ad very significanthearing losses. They eventually become deaf in old age." Most important, Willott found that the year-old congenic miceretained cell densities of a young, normally hearing B6 mouse. Other genes which cause hearing loss have also been mapped.The only genes cloned so far are from the "shaker...MRI Scans Following Heart Attack Could Determine Future Health
... clinical studiesthat show us how MRI is likely to become the dominant method for imaging theheart in the near future," says Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., a co-author of thepaper. Zerhouni, professor and director of radiology at Hopkins, is a developerof the MRI techniques used in this study. The study...Virulent Fungus Devastating Potato Crops
... of virulent spores, harvested potatoes can easily become diseased in storage. Bacteria that cause soft-rot diseases often invade potato tubers infected with late blight, literally resulting in a "meltdown" of stored potatoes. Under severe infection, entire storages have to be discarded. Scientists began ...Rare Mutation Find May Offer Clues To Treating Osteoporosis
...velop little or no enamel on their teeth,which can become painful and very unsightly." "If we can understand how the mutation stimulates bone density, we mightbe able to take advantage of it to help older patients." A report the findings appears in the March issue of Human MolecularGenetics....Will Global Change Increase Fire Activity In The Mediterranean Basin?
...nthe region of Valencia, E. Spain, conditions have become more favourable forwildfires because water stress increases plant flammability. Dr. J. Piol andcoworkers (CREAF, Spain) will show that the number of wildfires increased in NESpain over the last 30 years, the summer of 1994 being the worst fire season......fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) has become an attractive analytical tool for the investigation of biomolecular processes. Due to the interplay of modern confocal optics, new dyes as efficient fluorescent probes, sensitive photodetectors, and fast data processing, FCS allows the ob...Non-Surgical Treatment Ends Pelvic Pain In Women
...e at the end of their rope," says Venbrux."They've become dependent on narcotics to ease the pain, and had multiplesurgeries and psychiatric treatment. And their sex lives are significantlydisrupted." The problem is made worse in part because many doctors are unfamiliarwith the condition and fail t...Allergies To Rubber Affect 12.5 Percent Of Health Care Workers
...atory distress or death. "These reactions become progressively worse with repeated exposures, soit'... were positive, meaning that a full 10 percenthave become sensitized but are not symptomatic yet. Performance data for the extract Hamilton used in th...Late Blight Battle Goes Online, Marking 150 Year Struggle Since Irish Potato Famine
...the potato disease fungusarrived. What soon would become know historically as the Irish Potato Famine,was the result of the first major late blight outbreak which turned the vigorousgreen crops into seas of blighted, decaying vegetation in just a few weeks. "Throughout Europe the potato crops failed," say...Jefferson Researchers Use Gene Therapy To Treat Rare, Inherited Brain Disease
... enlarged head. As time progresses, sufferers also become paralyzed, blind, and lose hearing and their interaction with the outside world. "Children fail to meet normal developmental milestones," Dr. Freese explains. "Within a few years, they cannot feed themselves, walk, or see well." Dr. Freese says that ...Heart and Soul: The Blood Vessels And Brain Use Common Guide
...ent, muchlike it repels neurons, he says, it might become a candidate angiogenesisinhibitor for cancer therapy. Klagsbrun seems to have a knack for growth factors that play dual rolesin the brain and blood vessels. The only other example known is fibroblastgrowth factor (FGF), which his lab first pu...New Gene Therapy Technique Results In 60 Percent Tumor Regression Rate
...xpressed using this method aretransient and do not become part of the cell's chromosomes. Also, T7 allowsgenes to be expressed outside the nucleus of a cell, which means it can be usedon cells that aren't dividing. "We think this is why we had such positive results of total andpermanent regression of...Research Finds That Watching TV Helps Kids Put On Pounds
...cernbecause overweight children are more likely to become overweight adults. Andersen notes that "more research is clearly indicated to help usidentify effective strategies to keep children physically active as they movethrough adolescence." He encourages all health care providers, teachers,communit...Yale Announces New Biotech Firm
...hnology Transfer In recent years, Yale has become a national leader in technologytransfer. In fact, Yale expects to earn $35 million this year from itsscientific discoveries -- a dramatic tenfold increase in the last twoyears -- which could place Yale among the top five American universitiesin roya...... DALLAS, March 29 -- When normal cells start to become cancerous, they develop anenormous appetite for glucose (the basic energy substrate of the body), saysMichael Phelps, Ph.D., of the UCLA School of Medicine. After injection with aglucose analog tagged with fluorine-18, a radiotracer, a patient can b...Rapid Progress Reported On New Class Of Anti-Cancer Drugs
... "Such long-term therapy means that cancers could become resistant to theinhibitors, which makes it especially advantageous that many companies areworking on many different types of inhibitors," Casey said. He added thatstudies at other institutions are also underway on combinations of FTaseinhibitors with...Study Finds Some People Are 'Born To Smoke'
...unting evidence that some people are "destined" to become smokers because theyare inherently more sensitive ...ggest one in three kids who sample acigarette will become lifetime tobacco customers, and vulnerable to tobacco'sadverse health effects. For that reason, he ...How Did Life Begin? Biochemical Evolution On Chemical Surfaces
...n place of silica, loses aluminum at itssurface to become silica-rich through weathering, Smith said. A small amountof remaining aluminum would provide the catalytic centers for assembling organic molecules into polymers. "For many years, I've wondered if such a material could occur in nature," said...... BOSTON--March 27, 1998--The tiny worm that has become a darling of developmentalbiologists has revealed ...tudies suggesting that most embryoniccells tend to become neurons by default. Specific signaling events are necessaryto coax cells to mature into other cell t...