Brain disease ‘resistance gene’ evolves in Papua New Guinea community; could offer insights into CJD
A community in Papua New Guinea that suffered a major epidemic of a CJD-like fatal brain disease called kuru has developed strong genetic resistance to the disease, according to new research by scientists in the UK.
In a step toward using human saliva to tell whether those stiff joints, memory lapses, and other telltale signs of aging are normal or red flags for disease, scientists are describing how the protein content of women’s saliva change with advancing age. The discovery could lead to a simple, noninvasive test for better diagnosing and [...]
Scientists are reporting evidence that air pollution — a well-recognized problem at major airports — may pose an important but largely overlooked health concern for people living near smaller regional airports. Those airports are becoming an increasingly important component of global air transport systems. The study, one of only a handful to examine airborne pollutants [...]
Continue reading about Hidden threat: Elevated pollution levels near regional airports
The estimated 4.6 million Americans involved in the equine industry may be at risk of developing respiratory symptoms due to poor air quality in horse barns, according to a questionnaire study.
Continue reading about Barn personnel experience higher-than-average rates of respiratory symptoms
All too often the knowledge acquired by software architects is unnecessarily lost. Moreover, it is difficult to simply and quickly assess the quality of software. According to researchers these problems can, however, be easily resolved. They investigated how architectural knowledge can be better disseminated and retrieved.
Continue reading about Software knowledge unnecessarily lost
Drug dependency is a recurrent but treatable kind of addiction. However, not all people who are drug dependent progress in the same way once they stop taking drugs. A new study shows that, in the case of cocaine, a high score on the so-called ‘scale of craving’, an antisocial personality type and previous heroin abuse [...]
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A new technique using near-infrared images, obtained with ESO’s 3.58-metre New Technology Telescope (NTT), allows astronomers to see through the opaque dust lanes of the giant cannibal galaxy Centaurus A, unveiling its “last meal” in unprecedented detail — a smaller spiral galaxy, currently twisted and warped. This amazing image also shows thousands of star clusters, [...]
Bird flu viruses would have to make at least two simultaneous genetic mutations before they could be transmitted readily from human to human, according to new research.
Continue reading about Why bird flu has not caused a pandemic
Scientists have discovered a method of using nanoparticles to illuminate the cellular interior to reveal the slow, complex processes taking place in a living cell.
Continue reading about Small nanoparticles bring big improvement to medical imaging
Since the discovery in 2007 that a component of human semen called SEVI boosts infectivity of the virus that causes AIDS, researchers have been trying to learn more about SEVI and how it works, in hopes of thwarting its infection-promoting activity.
Continue reading about An atomic-level look at an HIV accomplice