Archive for September, 2005



Real-time MRI Helps Doctors Assess Beating Heart In Fetus

Thursday, September 29th, 2005
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques can provide real-time measurements of volume in a fetal heart, and may better enable physicians to plan care for infants with heart defects, according to a new study. By producing three-dimensional measurements, functional MRIs may represent an advance over the current technology, fetal echocardiography.
- Article Source

New Lifespan Extension Genes Found

Thursday, September 29th, 2005
New genes tied to lifespan extension in yeast have been identified by researchers from UC Davis and Harvard Medical School.
- Article Source

Room-temperature Transistor Laser Is Step Closer To Commercialization

Thursday, September 29th, 2005
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated the room-temperature operation of a heterojunction bipolar transistor laser, moving it an important step closer to commercialization.
- Article Source

Evidence Of A New Hereditary Joint Disorder

Thursday, September 29th, 2005
In the October 2005 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, researchers report clinical and laboratory findings regarding a family with a highly unusual and extremely destructive syndrome, marked by fragile articular cartilage with a tendency to “bubble” and peel away from the underlying bone.
- Article Source

Myelin Suppresses Plasticity In The Mature Brain

Thursday, September 29th, 2005
Yale School of Medicine researchers report in Science this week genetic evidence for the hypothesis that myelination, or formation of a protective sheath around a nerve fiber, consolidates neural circuitry by suppressing plasticity in the mature brain.
- Article Source

‘Aesthetic Computing’ Turns Algebra Into Art; Teachers Intrigued

Thursday, September 29th, 2005
High school algebra teacher Bunny McHenry has her share of students who would rather be doing something else.
- Article Source

Satellites Continue To See Decline In Arctic Sea Ice In 2005

Thursday, September 29th, 2005
Researchers from NASA, the National Snow and Ice Data Center and others using satellite data have detected a significant loss in Arctic sea ice this year. On Sept. 21, 2005, sea ice extent dropped to 2.05 million sq. miles, the lowest extent yet recorded in the satellite record. Incorporating the 2005 minimum using satellite data going back to 1978, with a projection for ice growth in the last few days of this September, brings the estimated decline in Arctic sea ice to 8.5 percent per decade over the 27 year satellite record.
- Article Source

Spider Blood Found In 20 Million Year Old Fossil

Thursday, September 29th, 2005
A scientist from the University of Manchester has discovered the first identified droplets of spider blood in a piece of amber up to 20 million years old.
- Article Source

Hybrid Grass May Prove To Be Valuable Fuel Source

Thursday, September 29th, 2005
Giant Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus), a hybrid grass that can grow 13 feet high, may be a valuable renewable fuel source for the future, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say.
- Article Source

First Report Of Cancer Drug Gleevec As New Target Therapy For Pulmonary Hypertension

Thursday, September 29th, 2005
Today, German scientists of the University of Giessen Lung Center (UGLC) published a case study in the Sept. 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The study reveals that the cancer drug Gleevec (Imatinib) may represent a promising new targeted therapy for patients suffering from pulmonary hypertension.
- Article Source