Archive for February, 2007



Biological Kinship: Nonconscious Mechanism In Human Brain Identifies Genetic Siblings On Basis …

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
A team of researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has found evidence of a nonconscious mechanism in the human brain that identifies genetic siblings on the basis of cues that guided our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Their findings will be published in the Feb. 15 issue of the science journal Nature.
- Article Source

NASA Spacecraft Gets Boost From Jupiter For Pluto Encounter

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft successfully completed a flyby of Jupiter early this morning (Feb. 28), using the massive planet’s gravity to pick up speed for its 3-billion mile voyage to Pluto and the unexplored Kuiper Belt region beyond.
- Article Source

‘Sticky’ Proteins Fuse Adult Stem Cells To Cardiac Muscle, Repairing Hearts

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
Cardiologists are increasingly using adult stem cells in clinical trials to repair hearts following heart attacks, but no one has understood how the therapy actually works. Now, in animal experiments, researchers at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have deconstructed the process, describing how the stem cells fuse with heart muscle cells to create new cells that repopulate the ailing organ.
- Article Source

Toward Genetically Guided Cancer Treatment: Gene Expression Test Reveals Critical …

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
Two critical characteristics of breast cancer that are important to treatment can be identified by measuring gene expression in the tumor, a research team led by scientists at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in Lancet Oncology online.
- Article Source

Teens May Lose Transplanted Organs When Insurance Runs Out

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
A new study shows that young transplant patients in the US who lose their insurance coverage are more likely to stop taking necessary anti-rejection drugs, which can increase the risk of losing the transplanted organs. The study appears in the latest issue of Pediatric Transplantation.
- Article Source

Early Europeans Unable To Stomach Milk

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
The first direct evidence that early Europeans were unable to digest milk has been found by scientists at UCL (University College London) and Mainz University.
- Article Source

Scientists Develop New Procedure To Differentiate Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
Molecular scientists at the UT Health Science Center at Houston have developed a new procedure for the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells, with which they have created the first transplantable source of lung epithelial cells. Findings are published by Dr. Rick Wetsel and others in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
- Article Source

Smoking May Be A Risk Factor For Tuberculosis

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
Smoking appears to increase the risk of becoming infected with tuberculosis and the risk for the development of active disease upon infection, according to an analysis of previously published research in the Feb. 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
- Article Source

Certain Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Appears Beneficial For Female Veterans With PTSD

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
Using a cognitive behavioral therapy called “prolonged exposure” appears more effective than “present-centered” therapy, a supportive intervention to treat female military veterans and active duty women with posttraumatic stress disorder, according to a study in the Feb. 28 issue of JAMA.
- Article Source

South Pole Telescope To Help Scientists Learn What The Universe Is Made Of And How It Got Here

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
Just days before nations around the world were set to begin a coordinated global research campaign called the International Polar Year (IPY), scientists at the South Pole aimed a massive new telescope at Jupiter and successfully collected the instrument’s first test observations.
- Article Source