Unlike humans, bears seem to recover from bone loss caused by inactivity
Wild black bears may hold some secrets to preserving bone in humans.

Researchers at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Michigan Technological University recently studied the animal’s unique ability to rebound from significant bone loss suffered each year during hibernation. Their study, published in the March 2003 issue of Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research, shows that wild black bea

Mathematical models have given physicists a new look at DNA’s chemical counterpart, RNA.

The models – showing that RNA behaves differently depending on the temperature of its environment – may help biologists better understand how life evolved on Earth.

The models suggest that high temperatures give twisted strands of RNA the flexibility to fold into many different shapes, while low temperatures cause it to collapse into a single shape.

Ralf Bundschuh, assistant pro

Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have identified a protein that leads to the development of preeclampsia, a serious and potentially life-threatening complication of pregnancy.

These findings, which could help lead to the development of diagnostic tools and therapies for this baffling condition, appear in the March 2003 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Also known as toxemia, preeclampsia occurs in an estimated 5 percent of all pregnancies, a

New research into the origin of kidney stone formation published in the March 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation may well change the direction of the most basic level of research in that area.

The study, conducted at Indiana University School of Medicine, Clarian Health Partners and the University of Chicago, will dispel the current beliefs of where stone formation begins, said Andrew P. Evan, Ph.D., the article’s lead author. Dr. Evan, who is a professor of anatomy and c

Arf gene became more effective in stemming cell growth when it joined forces with p53

Researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have looked back in evolutionary time and identified what may be a gene that was once only moderately effective in slowing down cellular reproduction, until it linked up with a more efficient set of genes to create a powerful anti-cancer response.

The gene, called Arf, was already known to have cancer-suppressing activity. Arf respon

Using a simple intervention, clinicians and health scientists working in Haiti successfully cut the incidence of congenital syphilis in a rural region of that impoverished nation by 75 percent — meaning that far fewer babies will inherit the dangerous illness from infected mothers.

The scientists decentralized prenatal syphilis screening, shifting blood testing from a regional hospital out to 14 community dispensaries. Those dispensaries enjoy almost none of the amenities people in develo