A year-and-a-half after graduating from college in 1999, the last thing that Steve Smith, now 25, expected was for his kidneys to fail. Although the Nashville resident had always been active and healthy and had no family history of kidney disease, shortly after moving to Los Angeles, he began experiencing what he describes as “strange symptoms” that he thought might be associated with mononucleosis. When he went to the doctor, he learned that his kidneys had failed. He moved back to Nashvill

When a few weeds appear on your front lawn, you can easily pick them off one by one. But if they start taking over the yard, the picking becomes laborious, and you may need to turn to a chemical weed-killer to hold the invaders in check. After several applications of the herbicide, however, the weeds could become resistant, forcing you to use an even more powerful solution. Meanwhile, the survival of your lawn hangs in the balance.

Like weeds in a lawn, pathogenic fungi and yeasts (single-

Biologists have discovered what appear to be fundamental differences in the physical properties of the genetic material known as chromatin. Chromatin packages DNA into cells, and the scientists found the differences between chromatin that packages genes and the chromatin that packages DNA with regulatory or unknown functions.

The variation represents a previously unrecognized level of genomic organization and complexity, the scientists report, one that may exist in all cells with nuclei.

A new study from Johns Hopkins researchers shows the multiple anti-HIV drug regimen called highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) saves eyesight as well as lives. A second study led by Johns Hopkins researchers finds that among AIDS patients with longstanding vision problems, those who took HAART reported higher overall quality of life.

The Johns Hopkins team reported in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology that AIDS patients who received HAART had a 75 percent lower risk of v

Ambient intelligence is likely to be a novel concept for many but perhaps others will link it to advances in IC technologies. In fact, ambient intelligence wishes to create active environments capable of adapting at all times to the needs of the end-user. To achieve this aim, techniques based on context aware ubiquitous computing are used.

But, what are the needs of the end-user? And does a handicapped person have the same needs as others? Or an elderly person? The University of the Basque C

Findings may aid the development of drugs to treat thyroid disorders

Structural analysis has revealed for the first time how a key messenger in the body’s chemical communication system hooks up with one of the proteins that delivers it to sites of action in the body.

Using X-ray crystallography, scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Hawaii have identified the location of four binding sites on human serum albumin (HSA), the principal protein in blood pl