Life Sciences and Chemistry

Over the past decade genomics has revolutionized our understanding of how microorganisms cause disease. However, genomic studies need to be extended to a more diverse array of microorganisms and research tools improved to gain additional insights into pathogenesis, according to a new report released by the American Academy of Microbiology.

Genomic studies have placed a comprehensive understanding of pathogenesis in sight, but much work lies ahead, according to the report, The Geno

The secret to cowbird success is to join your nestmates in making noise, then hog the food

America’s brown-headed cowbird and the European cuckoo are the classic parasitic birds, laying their eggs in the nests of other bird species and leaving the chick-rearing to another parent.

But while a cuckoo hatchling thrives by muscling its host’s eggs out of the nest and hogging all the food, a new study by biologists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University

Penn researchers pinpoint identity of early-stage t-cells circulating in blood

T cells are critically important for human immunological defenses against pathogens, yet little is known about their early development. T cells are made in the thymus, but ultimately come from hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow, from which all blood-cell types begin. A progenitor cell must leave the bone marrow to seed the thymus, eventually giving rise to T cells. The identity of this cell has

Researchers have made a significant advance in the understanding of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) by identifying new genetic factors associated with clearing the virus spontaneously without the necessity for additional treatment. Their findings are set out in a paper published in Science magazine today (6 August 2004).

Hepatitis C virus infects the liver and leads to serious permanent liver damage. The infection affects about 170 million people worldwide and up to 500,000 people in th

Nearly 1% of the population is celiac, i.e. they suffer from intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye and oats. The problem obliges sufferers to follow a diet based on natural foodstuffs such as legumes, meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit and rice.

Gluten, in sufferers, produces atrophy of the villi of the intestinal lining, and thus there is insufficient absorption of nutrients. Moreover celiac disease is a pathology that has no known cure, specialists point

An estimated 41,000 new cases of primary brain tumors are expected to be diagnosed in 2004, according to the American Brain Tumor Association. To further narrow the gap between diagnosis and effective therapy, physicians at the University of Pennsylvania Health System now offer several promising approaches to brain tumor treatment, including novel imaging for oncologic neurosurgery and refined genetic testing for tumors to better target treatment.

Through enhanced magnetic resonanc