Attenuated live vaccines that protect poultry against Newcastle Disease may be altering the genetic makeup of the wild virus strains, which could make future outbreaks unpredictable and difficult to tackle, according to biologists.
Newcastle Disease is an economically devastating poultry disease that costs the industry millions of dollars.
A normal healthy heart beats at a variable rate with extraordinarily complex fluctuations across a wide range of time scales. Reduced complexity of heart rate has both clinical and dynamical significance – it may provide warning of impending illness, or clues about the dynamics of the heart's pacemaking system.
University of Missouri School of Medicine scientists explain a potentially new early cancer detection and treatment method using nanoparticles created at MU in an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The article illustrates how engineered gold nanoparticles tied to a cancer-specific receptor could be targeted to tumor cells to treat prostate, breast or lung cancers in humans.
Many cancers detected by screening tests are not destined to cause symptoms or death and therefore represent a phenomenon known as overdiagnosis. And because overdiagnosis leads to unnecessary treatment and other harms, it is important to develop clinical and research strategies to quantify, recognize, and manage it, according to a review published online April 22 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
An investigation into unpublished stroke research data has revealed that 19.6% of completed clinical trials, which could potentially influence patient care, are not published in full. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Trials describe how these unpublished studies included more than 16,000 participants and tested 89 different interventions.
PITTSBURGH, April 22 – How much weight obese women should safely gain during pregnancy is often controversial, with current guidelines suggesting a single range of 11 to 20 pounds. A new study, published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and the University of California, Berkeley, suggests instead that optimal weight gain for obese mothers-to-be depends on level of obesity. Also, weight loss or very minimal weight gain may be detrimental to newborn health, except in the case of extremely obese women.
An international team of scientists from Brazil and the United States have completed the draft genome sequences of two strains of the Xanthomonas bacteria that cause citrus canker. Citrus canker, a belligerent disease that has plagued plant growers in parts of the United States, South America, and Asia, causes millions of dollars in lost revenue every year for farmers of citrus crops such as oranges, limes, and grapefruit.
Researchers at King's College London's Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, based at St Thomas' Hospital have discovered new ways of measuring biological markers in the blood which could be used to diagnose osteoarthritis earlier.
Osteoarthritis is a condition that affects the joints and is the most common type of arthritis in the UK. It mostly occurs in the knees, hips and small joints of the hands, but almost any joint can be affected.
WASHINGTON -- The changing chemistry of the world's oceans is a growing global problem, says the summary of a congressionally requested study by the National Research Council, which adds that unless man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are substantially curbed, or atmospheric CO2 is controlled by some other means, the ocean will continue to become more acidic. The long-term consequences of ocean acidification on marine life are unknown, but many ecosystem changes are expected to result.
Ecological scientists in Ireland recently used DNA barcoding to identify species of fish labeled as either "cod" or "haddock" in fish and chip shops, fresh fish counters and supermarkets in 10 postal districts in Dublin. They found that 39 out of 156 (25%) randomly sampled "cod" and "haddock" were genetically entirely different species and, therefore, mislabeled under European Union (EU) regulations.
In a report published today in the journal Genome Research, scientists report finding strong genetic evidence supporting the theory there are several species of killer whales (Orcinus orca, also known as orcas) throughout the world's oceans.
Viruses have evolved a broad range of strategies that enable them to evade the immune systems of their hosts. A team of researchers led by LMU virologist Professor Jürgen Haas has been studying a novel, recently discovered mechanism that pathogenic viruses exploit for this purpose, and their latest results could point the way to new antiviral therapies. The mechanism is based on the production of short RNA molecules, called microRNAs, by the virus.
DURHAM, N.C. -- A group of scientists who have studied the life history of primates for decades got to thinking about their own life histories and decided they had better do something to preserve their work for posterity.
April 22, 2010 – (BRONX, NY) – Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have determined the crystal structures of two key fluorescent proteins – one blue, one red – used to "light up" molecules in cells.
In the battle against cancer and other diseases, precise analysis of specific proteins can point the way toward targeted treatments. Scientists at theTechnische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM), together with Fujitsu Laboratories of Japan, have developed a novel biosensor chip that not only recognizes proteins that are characteristic for specific diseases, but also can show if these proteins are changed through the influence of disease or drugs.