Pregnant women who seek prenatal diagnostic testing to identify genetic or chromosomal abnormalities have a lower risk of miscarriage than previously believed, according to a UCSF study. - Article Source
MIT researchers have confirmed the first sighting of a Dungeness crab in the Atlantic Ocean. The male, whose species is common on North America’s West Coast, was caught off Thatcher Island, Massachusetts, on July 19 by Lou Williams, captain of the fishing vessel Orin C. The origin of the crab is not known. - Article Source
Researchers set out to investigate the association between treatment with TNF blockers and occurrence of cancer in a large sample of patients with RA. Their results indicate that biologic DMARD therapy poses no greater risk for cancer than therapy with a standard prescription DMARD, methotrexate (MTX). - Article Source
University of Alberta researchers are touting the use of liquid crystalline polymers as a viable tool for use in devices such as the sought-after lab-on-a-chip technology. - Article Source
Although human genes contribute significantly to a person’s health and behavior, these two kinds of traits aren’t closely linked at all. In fact, a study appearing this month in the Public Library of Science found absolutely no connection between the hard-driving personality and heart disease, contrary to previous studies and conventional wisdom. - Article Source
Bacteria have hair-like protrusions with a sticky protein on the tip that lets them cling to surfaces. The coiled, bungee cord-like structure of the protrusions helps the bacteria hang on tightly, even under rough fluid flow inside the body, researchers report in the journal PLoS Biology. - Article Source
A team of researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has demonstrated sustained regression of advanced melanoma in a study of 17 patients by genetically engineering patients’ own white blood cells to recognize and attack cancer cells. - Article Source
A former astronaut and researcher at the San Francisco VA Medical Center will be traveling to the Cosmodrome space-launch site at Baikonur, Kazakhstan, this Saturday, Sept. 2, 2006, to prepare a crucial experiment designed to demonstrate how human immune response is suppressed in the weightless environment of space. - Article Source
A newly discovered enzyme inhibitor, identified by researchers originally looking for biological pest controls, may lead to pain relief for sufferers of arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, say researchers at the University of California, Davis. The finding, hailed by a noted inflammatory disease expert “as the most important discovery in inflammation in more than a decade,” may also reduce side effects associated with the painkiller, Vioxx. - Article Source