Scientists at Emory University and the University of St. Andrews have solved the structure of a key protein from Lassa virus, which is endemic to West Africa and can cause a deadly hemorrhagic fever. The structure reveals how the virus evades its host's immune system, and how it hijacks infected cells' vital machinery in a process scientists call "cap-stealing." Details of the structure could guide future efforts at antiviral drug discovery and vaccine development. The results are published in this week's issue of Nature. Lassa virus represents a family of viruses ...

GOLDEN, Colo. (November 17, 2010) – HealthGrades, the nation's leading independent ratings organization, today made available to organ transplant patients a list of those hospitals with the best track record for survival and chances of receiving a donor organ. HealthGrades annual evaluation of the nation's top-performing hospitals in organ transplantation includes clinical quality data, based on patient outcomes, for each of the 210 adult acute care hospitals that perform transplants. This information is available, free to the public, at HealthGrades.com and is intended ...

PHILADELPHIA – A research team from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated Kimmel Cancer Center (KCC) at Jefferson has concluded – for the first time – that a multidisciplinary clinic approach to aggressive prostate cancer can improve survival in patients. The results from the 15-year study of the multidisciplinary clinic can be found in the November issue of Journal of Oncology Practice. Stats and Treatment Prostate cancer remains the most common non-skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States. In fact, about 218,000 ...

A new study found that patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee who also have pain in other joints were more likely to experience greater knee pain. Specifically, pain in the lower back as well as foot pain and elbow pain on the same side as the affected knee were associated with more severe knee pain. Full details appear in the December issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology. Knee OA is the leading cause of disability in the U.S., with nearly 4.3 million adults over age 60 having ...

VIDEO: Cells from a pig's cardiovascular system with different components are labeled simultaneously, using the new Multi-Label technology. Click here for more information. The cells in the different parts of this video are always the same, but, like actors using make-up to highlight different facial features, they have fluorescent labels that mark different cellular components in different colours: blue shows the nucleus, yellow shows tubulin (a component of the cell's scaffolding), ...

Ninety-six per cent of patients with back problems were satisfied with the assessment carried out by a specially trained nurse practitioner, according to a study in the December issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing. Seventy-four per cent were happy to see her rather than wait up to a year to see a surgeon, with less than a quarter of those who preferred to see a surgeon saying that the extra wait was acceptable. The pilot study at Toronto Western Hospital in Ontario, Canada, was judged a resounding success after nurse practitioner Angela Sarro came up with exactly ...

Researchers have trapped and held the atoms, the anti-matter counterpart of hydrogen, using an experiment called ALPHA at CERN in Switzerland. Anti-matter particles are instantly annihilated when they come into contact with matter and, until now, it has not been possible to study anti-hydrogen in any detail. The experiment has brought scientists closer to understanding the structure and composition of anti-matter. The ALPHA experiment was developed to cool and slow down the anti-particles that make up anti-hydrogen and mix them to produce antihydrogen. Some of the ...

Social factors can play a key role in whether or not a child is diagnosed as autistic, a new study has found. Boys were more likely to receive a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) than girls, even when symptoms were equally severe, according to researchers at the universities of Exeter and Bristol. "We wanted to find out what distinguishes those children without diagnosis but with autistic traits from those who have received a formal ASD diagnosis in the clinic," explained lead researcher Ginny Russell, from Egenis at the University of Exeter. "We thought ...

Scientists at the University of Cambridge are working on ways to improve the efficiency of the ammonia synthesis process. With between 3-5% of the world's natural gas used to create artificial fertilizers, the new research could have major implications for both the agricultural and energy sectors. Ammonia (NH3) is one of the most important chemicals in the modern world, due mainly to its use in the manufacture of artificial fertilisers. Ammonia synthesis (via the "Haber" or "Haber-Bosch" process) is vital to the production of 100 million tons of fertiliser per year, ...

Tiny particles used in a range of everyday products from computers to shampoo can adversely affect the lungs in very different ways, a study has shown. Research by the University of Edinburgh suggests that industrial manufacturers using nanoparticles should be aware of the risks that different types of nanoparticles pose to workers who handle them. Nanoparticles – which can be 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair – are potentially hazardous to workers handling the chemicals used to make products as they may be at risk of inhaling them. The particles ...

Several leading medical journals have come together to urge health professionals everywhere to put health at the heart of climate change negotiations. An editorial published simultaneously in the BMJ, the Lancet and the Finnish Medical Journal today, warns that the links between climate policy and health policy must not be overlooked. The editorial has also been made available for publication in all peer reviewed medical journals worldwide through the World Association of Medical Editors. Written by Robin Stott and Ian Roberts on behalf of the Climate and Health Council, ...

New research that provides potential for exciting new approaches to targeting diseases such as cancer has been announced by an international team of academics. They have also announced the potential for more targeted treatments following their identification of proteins that play a vital role in the life of a human cell. The research teams from Germany and the UK have published their work in the Advance Online Publication on Nature Cell Biology's website. The teams are from the Centre for Molecular Biology at the University of Heidelberg and from the Department of ...

Research from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) shows that children with severe congenital heart defects have twice the risk of anxiety at 18 months of age compared to healthy children. Children with mild and moderate heart defects, on the other hand, did not show an increased risk of anxiety. - These findings suggest that children with severe forms of congenital heart defects are prone to emotional problems at a very young age. The increased risk of anxiety could be related to the number of medical procedures and hospital admissions that characterise the ...

Amsterdam, November 17th, 2010¬ -- Black holes, or the remnants of hyper-or supernova explosions, have intrigued scientists since the concept was first introduced in 1967. Astronomers have only ever been able to observe gamma-ray bursts, considered the births of young black holes, at far distance. Researchers have now found compelling evidence for the birth of a black hole in the so-called local Universe--representing the youngest black hole ever discovered in our cosmic neighborhood. The results of this research have been published in the most recent issue of the Elsevier ...

Nov. 16, 2010 — The numerous technical and operational breakdowns that contributed to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and spill from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico suggest the lack of a suitable approach for managing the inherent risks, uncertainties, and dangers associated with deepwater drilling operations and a failure to learn from previous "near misses," says an interim report of preliminary findings from a committee of the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. The events also suggest insufficient checks and balances for critical ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — One of biggest factors promoting the diversity of coastal ocean life is how fast the water flows, according to new research by ecologists at Brown University. Experiments and observation in Palau, Alaska, and Maine showed that the faster the flow, the greater the number of invertebrate species that live on rocks under the water. The findings, published the week of Nov. 15 in the journal Ecology Letters, could help improve management of delicate and complex coastal ecosystems, said James Palardy, a former Brown doctoral student and ...

Scientists at the University of Southampton have developed a new kind of underwater sonar device that can detect objects through bubble clouds that would effectively blind standard sonar. Just as ultrasound is used in medical imaging, conventional sonar 'sees' with sound. It uses differences between emitted sound pulses and their echoes to detect and identify targets. These include submerged structures such as reefs and wrecks, and objects, including submarines and fish shoals. However, standard sonar does not cope well with bubble clouds resulting from breaking waves ...

Cells in the brain called pericytes that have not been high on the list of targets for treating diseases like Alzheimer's may play a more crucial role in the development of neurodegenerative diseases than has been realized. The findings, published Nov. 4 in Neuron, cast the pericyte in a surprising new role as a key player shaping blood flow in the brain and protecting sensitive brain tissue from harmful substances. By manipulating pericyte levels, scientists were able to re-create in the brains of mice an array of abnormalities that mirror in striking fashion the brain ...

Medical websites like WebMD provide consumers with more access than ever before to comprehensive health and medical information, but the sites' utility becomes limited if users use unclear or unorthodox language to describe conditions in a site search. However, a group of Georgia Tech researchers have created a machine-learning model that enables the sites to "learn" dialect and other medical vernacular, thereby improving their performance for users who use such language themselves. Called "diaTM" (short for "dialect topic modeling"), the system learns by comparing multiple ...

CINCINNATI—Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found a potential genetic target for heart disease, which could lead to therapies to prevent the development of the nation's No. 1 killer in its initial stages. These findings will be presented for the first time at the American Heart Association's (AHA) Scientific Sessions in Chicago Nov. 17. The study, led by WenFeng Cai, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow under the direction of Litsa Kranias, PhD, AHA distinguished scientist and Hanna Chair in Cardiology in the department of pharmacology and cell biophysics, ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Medications do not have a chance to fight health problems if they are taken improperly or not taken at all. Non-adherence to medications costs thousands of lives and billions of dollars each year in the United States alone, according to the New England Healthcare Institute. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have developed an intervention strategy that is three times more effective than previously studied techniques at improving adherence in patients. Cynthia Russell, associate professor in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing, found that patients ...

Results of a Toronto Western Hospital study show that patients suffering back pain get quicker diagnosis and treatment when a Nurse Practitioner conducts the first examination. Traditionally, patients face long and anxiety-ridden wait times - up to 52 weeks – before an initial examination by a spine surgeon. Results from the year long TWH study showed wait times for patients examined by a Nurse Practitioner were significantly shorter, ranging from 10 to 21 weeks. "Waiting times for specialty consultations in public healthcare systems worldwide are lengthy and impose undue ...

Sunlight represents the cleanest, greenest and far and away most abundant of all energy sources, and yet its potential remains woefully under-utilized. High costs have been a major deterrant to the large-scale applications of silicon-based solar cells. Nanopillars - densely packed nanoscale arrays of optically active semiconductors - have shown potential for providing a next generation of relatively cheap and scalable solar cells, but have been hampered by efficiency issues. The nanopillar story, however, has taken a new twist and the future for these materials now looks ...

Scientists are looking for answers — including commercial bathroom disinfectants and over-the-counter fungicides used to fight athlete's foot — to help in the battle against a strange fungus that threatens bat populations in the United States. That's the topic of an article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine. C&EN Senior Correspondent Stephen K. Ritter notes that despite their poor public image, bats are beneficial. They pollinate plants, spread seeds, and eat vast numbers of insects that otherwise could destroy food ...

Scientists have identified a mysterious culprit that threatens headaches, stuffy noses, skin rash and other allergy symptoms when more than 500 million people worldwide drink wine. The discovery could help winemakers in developing the first low allergenic vintages — reds and whites with less potential to trigger allergy symptoms, they say. The new study appears in ACS' monthly Journal of Proteome Research. Giuseppe Palmisano and colleagues note growing concern about the potential of certain ingredients in red and white to cause allergy-like symptoms that range from stuffed ...