Researchers are using a herpes virus that produces a firefly enzyme to illuminate the virus’s course of infection in mice and to help monitor the infection’s response to therapy. The work is published by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in the December issue of the Journal of Virology.

“This study demonstrates the feasibility of monitoring microbial infections in living animals in real time,” says study leader David A. Leib, Ph.D., associate prof

A new technique enables doctors to directly examine the lining of milk ducts in the breast for early signs of cancer and other abnormalities, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers used the technique, known as ductoscopy, to detect breast abnormalities in women with a condition called pathologic nipple discharge (PND).

The findings are published in the October issue of the journal Surgery.

“This technique is more successful

Computer prescriptions are three times less likely to contain errors than handwritten prescriptions

Have you ever received a drug prescription from a physician that looked like chicken scratch? You’re not alone. Pharmacists sometimes have a hard time reading prescriptions and in some cases they also are incomplete. To avoid errors, pharmacists have to spend precious time tracking down prescribers to clarify illegible or possibly inaccurate prescriptions. A new study by researcher

Mechanical engineers at Purdue University have discovered a simple and speedy method for pinpointing and fixing design flaws in new cars.

Douglas E. Adams, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue, said he stumbled across a mathematical solution to a design bottleneck in automotive engineering. Engineers now have to rely on complex, time-consuming mathematical models to solve design problems in new cars that are soon to begin rolling off the assembly line.

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Indiana resident Luke Pascale runs two pizza restaurants and had worked out three times a week. He also enjoyed long bike rides with his wife, but last year, the pain in his hip became so severe he couldn’t stay on a bike for more than five minutes.

“I’m very active so the thought of having hip surgery was not pleasant,” said the 53-year-old father of four from St. John, Ind.

Instead of receiving the traditional hip replacement surgery, which uses a metal ball bearing in a polyeth

A group of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a novel DNA vaccine that helps the body resist the growth of cancerous tumors by choking off the tumors’ blood supply.

“We stimulate the immune system to recognize proliferating blood vessels in the tumor vasculature and to recruit killer T cells to destroy these vessels,” explains TSRI Immunology Professor Ralph Reisfeld, Ph.D., who conducted the study with Research Associate Andreas G. Niethammer, M.D., an