130-year-old mysteries solved: how nitroglycerin works; why patients develop tolerance
...the blood vessels supplying the heart musclerelax, allowing oxygen-rich blood to nourish the heart and relieve the pain. While it is knownthat nitric oxide -- a breakdown product of nitroglycerin -- plays a critical role regulatingblood vessel relaxation, scientists still did not know the mechanism by which n......with higher affinity than does YEAK (copolymer 1), allowing them to compete successfully against an endogenous autoantigenic peptide. These formulations were more effective than Copolymer 1 at suppressing the activation of T cells bearing DR2-restricted, MS patient?derived T cell receptors. Crucially, the nov...$5.3-million grant to disseminate best treatments for eyes and vision
...tion to both eye care professionals and consumers, allowing them to make the best decisions concerning treatment choices," said Paul A. Sieving, M.D., director of the National Eye Institute....University of Pittsburgh research shows combined PET/CT finds cancerous lesions standard CT misses
...combined PET/CT scanner are particularly useful in allowing a radiologist to see cancerous activity at a metabolic level and pinpoint its exact location in the tissue so a biopsy can be performed and proper treatment begun. These results, though gained from a relatively small sample, are significant because t...Sugar on the brain: Study shows sugar dependence in rats
...t it provides an animal model of sugar dependency, allowing scientists to probe more deeply the connections between food cravings and brain physiology. As far as the plight of the many people who feel powerless in the face of sugar, it also is not clear how the findings will help, he noted. "Unfortunately, it...Innovative 'soap opera' project aimed at teaching Spanish to health professionals
...n Romance languages. "It also enhances learning by allowing students to see, hear and participate in 'real' interactions, something a textbook alone cannot accomplish." Casting calls were held and 26 actors hired from Miami, Mexico City, Raleigh, Durham and the Charlotte area. Filming on the larger project b...Cervical tissue changes may explain false negative pap smears
... special light used during the pelvic examination, allowing physicians to actually see suspicious lesions on the cervix. The remaining 13 women had abnormal Pap smears. Researchers were able to analyze E-cadherin distribution in 10 of these samples. Eight of 10 of these samples showed normal distribution of E...A computer-based, self-help system for the space age
...choose a response. The choice is then played out, allowing the user to determine whether it was the best response or to go back and make a different decision. In this way, users can learn from their actions. Once developed, each module will undergo testing by current and former astronauts, ground-crew person...Saint Louis University researcher: 'Pet therapy' works
...ess in long-term care facilities." The benefits of allowing patients who love animals to spend time with them might be even greater than quantified in the study, Banks added. Pets tend to bring people together and encourage them to socialize. "Have you ever walked a dog in the park? Even without doing anythin...Breakthrough! UNC scientists' research promises improved X-ray machines using carbon nanotubes
...uld have more major benefits, Zhou said, including allowing technicians to take X-rays inside or outside ambulances before ever leaving the scenes of accidents. No major technical obstacles remain in their way. In addition, the new X-ray technology will allow manufacturing of large-scale X-ray scanning machin...... designed for each reconstructive surgery problem, allowing the surgeon to model a face by breaking the different parts of the face into units and custom build a new face from those units. Krantz and his colleagues, using wavelets, can actually take two faces and construct a 'difference' face. "It's like sub...Platelet molecule regulates blood coagulation, study finds
...biochemically "cuts" prothrombin properly, thereby allowing conversion to an effective thrombin molecule, not a dead-end bi-product. In addition, Lentz and co-authors Drs. Rinku Majumder, Gabriel Weinreb and Xin Zhai suggest that platelet membrane PS can be thought of as a "second messenger" in regulating bl...Market potential exists for superconductivity in medical, energy, transportation sectors
...body, aiding in the early detection of disease and allowing for detailed diagnostic imaging. Transportation Magnetic levitation, or maglev trains that float above strong superconducting magnets could travel at more than 300 miles per hour. Communications Superconductors could improve capacity, coverage a...Time-release stimulant effective for once-daily treatment of ADHD
...dition, symptom control persists into the evening, allowing coverage of homework and other after-school activities. "By making ADHD treatment easier, less cumbersome and more private, long-acting stimulants can help improve patient compliance, resulting in better symptom control and an improved overall outco...Discovery may lead to new HIV drugs, says Jefferson virologist
...earning how to stymie Vif's activity is crucial to allowing CEM15 to affect HIV. "The next step is to understand how Vif inhibits this cell protein," says Dr. Pomerantz, and what CEM15 normally does....U-M professor develops faster way to test beach water for E. coli levels
...lifeguard could test the water each morning before allowing the public to swim at a beach that day. The challenge with testing beach water, as opposed to pool or drinking water, is to work through the great amount of natural debris near the shore. An effective test needs to filter out enough debris to keep ...Women with PCOS and their siblings with hormone problems have same gene defect
...e insulin receptor gene, which plays a key role in allowing insulin to enter cells and metabolize sugar. This marker, called allele 8 of D19S884, was associated with risk factors for diabetes in PCOS women and their brothers. In recently published studies, approximately 50 percent of the sisters of PCOS wome...DARPA to support development of human brain-machine interfaces
...ecording from multiple areas of the brain and then allowing the computer to "learn" brain signal patterns that... skin. Also, they are providing visual feedback by allowing the animal to watch the movement of the arm. Such feedback studies could also potentially improve th...Cancer revealed: New $10M grant establishes cancer imaging center
...gene, causing the glowing substance to be made and allowing it to be detected by scanners. Now, they will try to insert the luciferase gene next to the p53 gene that acts as the "guardian of the genome" in its role of detecting and leading the repair of damaged DNA. The p53 protein builds up in cells whose ...Transplants in HIV patients should proceed, but drug interactions a concern
...ighly active anti-retroviral therapies (HAART) are allowing patients with HIV tolive longer with fewer HIV-related complications. Yet for HIV patients who also have liver disease, such as hepatitis B or hepatitis C, longer life expectancy also may allow progression of their chronic liver disease to end-stage ...