Studies and Analyses

Scientists have developed biodegradable polymers that can mimic the ability of white blood cells to target inflamed blood vessel walls, according to a new study led by Ohio University researchers. The finding could be the first step in developing drugs that suppress specific sites of inflammation in medical conditions such as arthritis, heart disease and inflammatory bowel disease.

Researchers found that biodegradable beads coated with targeting molecules can travel through the bloodstream

Doctors regularly inject stem cells into patients whose bone marrow has been destroyed by chemotherapy or radiation, but they haven’t known where these cells go after being injected. Research at the Stanford University School of Medicine has yielded an unexpected answer: when injected into mice, these cells may set up camp in one tissue early on but then move to another location or disappear entirely.

Published in the Dec. 15 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academies

A study published in the December issue of Archives of Neurology and currently available online shows that levetiracetam reduced phasic spasticity, which is marked by spasms and painful muscle cramps, in 100 percent of patients in a small clinical study.

“It’s amazing how many MS patients can’t walk, can’t move, and you treat their spasticity and they’re fine,” said Dr. Kathleen Hawker, assistant professor of neurology at UT Southwestern and lead author of the study. “Wh

Efficacy and tolerability of borage oil in adults and children with atopic eczema: randomised double blind, placebo controlled, parallel group trial BMJ Vol 327 pp 1385-7. Editorial: Evening primrose oil for atopic dermatitis BMJ Volume 327 pp 1358-9

Borage oil (sold as starflower oil in chemists and health food shops) does not improve symptoms of eczema, despite some studies suggesting a dose related benefit, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.

Purified borage oil contai

Thirty-five years after biologist Garrett Hardin issued his prophetic essay, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” which warned that human beings would ultimately destroy commonly shared resources, a re-examination of the state of common pool resources by three researchers, including Indiana University Bloomington political scientist Elinor Ostrom, offers an urgent yet hopeful message.

The authors of a new report, “The Struggle to Govern the Commons,” which will appear in a special Dec. 12 issue of

A research team at the University of Chicago has discovered a crucial signaling pathway that controls the growth of nascent nerves within the spinal cord, guiding them toward the brain during development.

The study, published in the Dec. 12, 2003, issue of the journal Science, solves a long-standing scientific mystery. It may also help restore function to people with paralyzing spinal cord injuries.

“This is the first guidance mechanism that regulates growth of nerve cells up and