Common parasite overturns traditional beliefs about the evolution and role of hemoglobin
...onment, which it needs to live,"Stamler said. "By doing so, the Ascaris hemoglobin is really acting like a newenzyme, or a deoxygenase, using NO to detoxify the oxygen around it." It appears that structural differences have evolved in the Ascaris andhuman hemoglobin molecules that account for the...Symposium by ISPRS and the U-M College of Engineering
...ished? There are many people who are thinking and doing things in thisarea, but there needs to be a higher level of dialogue." The conference will have a distinctly different flavor each of its three days,Dobson said. The first day is a broad dialogue on what needs to be done,featuring scientists and pol...Sandia portable chemical sensor system promises new way of detecting underwater explosives
... and accurately classify explosive ordnance items, doing underwater whatdemining dogs [canines that sniff out explosives] do today on land, only usingelectronic and chemical technology," Rodacy says. Sandia is a multiprogram DOE laboratory, operated by a subsidiary of LockheedMartin Corp. With main facili...Argonne biochips may halt tuberculosis epidemic
...ples from active tuberculosis patients. "We'll be doing a full scale clinical diagnosis but it'll take years to get tothe market," Drucker said. "Considering that tuberculosis is becoming a globalepidemic, some urgent steps must be taken to speed up the process."...Cerebral cortex cells may pulse electrical rhythm through the brain
...unction," he said. "Most of the time it is not doing anything. But it becomes active when the brain's activity increases to a high level. This network of inhibitory neurons may act like the governor on the engine of the cortex, keeping excitability from running away and becoming an epileptic se...Wake Forest researchers ask: Can ginkgo prevent memory loss?
... studies have been inconclusive. "That's why we're doing the trial."CHS was selected for the ginkgo trial "because we have previously collected information about memory function on our participants and how that has changed over time," said Curt D. Furberg, M.D., Ph.D., head of the new study's national clin...UB establishes institute for research on lasers, photonics and biophotonics
...Prasad's leadership." "With this institute, UB is doing something that goes far beyond an academic exercis...ted using lasers for marking and labeling, and for doing nondestructive testing of dyed materials." Within the university, the institute already has ongoing...Understanding key protein in Fragile X syndrome
...fy the messages from the brain," said Warren, "and doing that should give us substantial new insights into the syndrome."...Your heart is being closely watched while you're asleep
...sting to compare them with the cosmonauts who were doing something different under differentconditions," says Luis Amaral of the Boston team. "But we still got the same results, so this isdefinitely picking up something intrinsic." In people with heart disease, the heart is under weaker control than in he...Penny wise and pound-foolish: Study shows need for second pathologist's opinion
... when HMOs and hospitals are looking to cut costs, doing a second look has come under attack. A second opinion is often viewed as an added administrative burden for overworked clinicians." But the root of the misdiagnoses, he explains, may be advances in technology -- the needle biopsies, PSAs a...Expect rapid, pervasive innovation in 21st century
...he parts that are not needed," Vijaykumar says. In doing so, power will be conserved andbatteries will last longer. The higher efficiency will make wireless communications more practical, as well. "You can't carry a hundred pounds of batteries with you if you want to go into the wilderness fora week and ...Genetic extremism overstates risks
...ed some damage to laboratories in Washington state doing gene research on trees. "Some opponents of this science, based on little or no scientific evidence or knowledge, have elevated gene research to Frankenstein proportions," Strauss said. "They suggest the sky is falling and do their best to scare and...Chemistry leaders expect longer lives, less pollution in the future
...onvert[s] chemical energy directly to electricity, doing so silently, at low temperature, and without production of nitrogen oxides." Gordon Thomson, chair of the Chemical Institute of Canada, says recycling will take off as it becomes "economically advantageous to produce new raw materials from used mate...Fossil mayflies can be used to 'weigh' ancient atmospheres
...the density of the atmosphere. And they have been doing it for millions of years." The idea didn't come to him while fly-fishing. Cisne doesn't fish....Younger people are at greater risk for alcohol problems
...h whether or not a person can keep themselves from doing whatever comes into their head." In other words, anti-social behavior involves a range of behaviors that tend to get people into trouble; early-onset alcoholism facilitates anti-social behavior in those individuals who already have impulse-control p...Laser light from Free-Electron Laser used for first time in human surgery
...he said. After making some basic measurements and doing some back-of-the-envelope calculations, Edwards andVanderbilt ophthalmologist Regan Logan tried the beam on some corneal tissue. It drilled a perfecthole. "We looked at it in disbelief. I have never had an experiment work the first time," he said. E...University of Pittsburgh research may lead to new therapies for diabetes
...ate over the long term in living animals, and that doing so can lead to overproduction of insulin and thereby lead to lower blood sugar levels." At present, the primary drug treatment for diabetes is to give drugs that increase pancreatic insulin production, or to give insulin itself. Both treatment...UNC-CH researchers to comb N.C. mountains for iron problem chiefly affecting Scots, Irish
...h that's unnecessary. "One of the reasons we're doing this work is because Medicare and Medicaid do not pay for many laboratory screening tests, including this one," Laudicina said. "We want to change the perception that hemochromatosis is a rare disease and one that affects chiefly men." Counties where...Genes pertaining to 'maleness' evolve more rapidly than their non-sexual counterparts
...itive selection indicates that the DNA changes are doing something better for the organism as opposed to something worse or nothing at all, which would be the case if the changes were just random mutations." The title of the paper, "Rapid Evolution of Male Reproductive Genes in the Descent of Man," m...Rate of sound impulses markedly affects ability to perceive volume
...s known to be proportional to the target size. By doing so, they can obtain a higher resolution of target size, which is useful for target discrimination. "We are getting the idea that the hearing system is dynamic and under active control," Feng said. "With this new revelation, we no longer think that t...