Ascribe Higher Education News Service articles from January 2006

Ascribe Higher Education News Service archives from January 2006

Doctors at University of Virginia Health System Search for New Treatments for Diabetic Kidney Disease.
January 3, 2006... Byline: University of Virginia Health System CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Jan. 3 (AScribe Newswire) -- Kidney disease is a life-threatening complication of diabetes-- a disease marked by high levels of glucose in the blood because of defects in...

Mayo Clinic Reports New Option for Patients With Metastatic Melanoma.
January 3, 2006... Byline: Mayo Clinic ROCHESTER, Minn., Jan. 3 (AScribe Newswire) -- Patients with metastatic melanoma (MM) have new hope, says a recently published study by Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. The study, which shows the combination of paclitaxel and...

University of Maryland Engineers Offer Long-Term Relief for Heating and Cooling Costs.
January 3, 2006... Byline: University of Maryland, College Park COLLEGE PARK, Md., Jan. 3 (AScribe Newswire) -- As winter marches on, and with energy resources in question after a disastrous hurricane season, American homeowners are opening their energy bills...

Loosen Leash on Cancer Protein 'Watchdog,' Researchers Say.
January 4, 2006... Byline: Purdue University WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Jan. 4 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists may have found a way to keep a protein "watchdog" on high alert to stop hereditary cancers from overrunning our bodies - if they can keep it on a leash...

Scientists Develop First Genetic Mouse Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.
January 4, 2006... Byline: University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio SAN ANTONIO, Texas, Jan. 4 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have developed the first genetic mouse model for...

Johns Hopkins Researcher Links Gene Mutation With Poor Outcomes in People With Most Common Thyroid Cancer; Discovery Provides Molecular Marker to Assess Risk for Patients With Papillary Thyroid Cancer.
January 5, 2006... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, Jan. 5 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists at Johns Hopkins have found that a mutation in the gene that triggers production of a tumor growth protein is linked to poorer outcomes for...

Gender Gap on Troop Withdrawal From Iraq: 62 Percent of American Women Believe Troops Should Come Home by End of 2006.
January 6, 2006... Byline: Global Exchange SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- According to the most recent Gallup poll on Iraq, more women than men believe the U.S. should bring the troops home from Iraq within one year. Sixty-two percent of all...

Don't Blame the Big Bad Wolf: Hunting, Drought Cause Elk Decline in Yellowstone.
January 6, 2006... Byline: Michigan Technological University HOUGHTON, Mich., Jan. 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- In the decade since gray wolves were introduced to Yellowstone National Park, elk numbers have dropped by over 40 percent. But don't be too quick to...

Americans Strongly Support Academic Reforms in College Sports.
January 6, 2006... Byline: The Knight Foundation INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- Nearly eight out of ten Americans say an athlete's college experience should be about academics, not sports, according to a new poll conducted for the Knight...

Scientists Probe Black Hole's Inner Sanctum.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Rochester Institute of Technology ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- How does matter spiral its way to the center of a galaxy and into the mouth of a supermassive black hole? A new study provides the best glimpse yet at...

New Drug Lets Thyroid Cancer Patients Avoid Nasty Side Effects During Treatment, Johns Hopkins Study Shows.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, Jan. 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- A multicenter international study, including Johns Hopkins, has found that after surgery for thyroid cancer, giving genetically engineered human...

Massive Star Cluster Found in Milky Way; Rochester Institute of Technology/Space Telescope Science Institute Astronomer Presents at American Astronomical Society Meeting.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Rochester Institute of Technology ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- A massive cluster of red supergiants -- super-sized stars on the verge of exploding -- was recently discovered in the Milky Way by a group of...

In Bacterial Diversity, Amazon Is a 'Desert'; Desert Is an 'Amazon'.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Duke University DURHAM, N.C., Jan. 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- Ironically, in the diversity of soil bacteria, the otherwise species-rich Amazon is a more like a desert, while the arid desert is a teeming microbial Amazon, researchers...

Education and Enforcement Campaigns Needed to Reduce Snowmobile Injuries in Adolescents, According to Mayo Clinic Study.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Mayo Clinic ROCHESTER, Minn., Jan. 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- A Mayo Clinic study has found that snowmobile use is a significant source of multiple trauma for children and adolescents. The reinforcing study supports the American...

Author Explores CIA Connections to Torture Tactics From Cold War to Present.
January 9, 2006... Byline: University of Wisconsin - Madison MADISON, Wis., Jan. 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- A professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has authored a book available this month that explores evidence of a 50-year legacy of U.S....

Report Suggests Need to Rethink Licenses for School Principals to Better Support Learning Goals.
January 10, 2006... Byline: Pending NEW YORK, Jan. 10 (AScribe Newswire) -- As achievement gaps persist and academic results lag behind expectations, the public looks to principals to lead school improvement. States use licenses to control who becomes a...

Researchers at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Uncover Clue to Explain Invasive Brain Tumors.
January 10, 2006... Byline: Vanderbilt Medical Center NASHVILLE, Tenn., Jan. 10 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center have uncovered a clue to explain the invasive nature of an aggressive kind of brain tumor called...

New Technology Effectively Gauges Specificity of Influenza Strains, Including 1918 Spanish Flu; Scripps Scientists Solve Structure of a Critical Innate Immune System Protein.
January 10, 2006... Byline: The Scripps Research Institute LA JOLLA, Calif., Jan. 10 (AScribe Newswire) -- A team of researchers led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has used a new technology called a glycan array to survey samples of coat...

Scientists "Rave-ing" About Most Ambitious Star Survey Ever.
January 11, 2006... Byline: Johns Hopkins University BALTIMORE, Jan. 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- An international team of astronomers today announced the first results from the Radial Velocity Experiment, an ambitious all-sky spectroscopic survey aimed at...

Planet Finders Use New, Faster Instrument to Discover Distant Planet.
January 11, 2006... Byline: University of Florida GAINESVILLE, Fla., Jan. 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- Astronomers have discovered a planet orbiting a very young star nearly 100 light years away using a relatively small, publicly accessible telescope turbocharged...

Engineers Create Mathematical Method to Design Better Robots, Structures.
January 11, 2006... Byline: Purdue University WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Jan. 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- Mechanical and civil engineers have created a new mathematical method to design better structures, machines and versatile computer-controlled robots called...

UCLA Researchers Uncover Mechanism Underlying Response to Targeted Therapy for Kidney Cancer.
January 11, 2006... Byline: UCLA LOS ANGELES, Jan. 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- UCLA researchers knew - based on two clinical trials - that a subset of kidney cancer patients responded well to an experimental targeted therapy, but they didn't know why. If they...

Fossil Galaxy Reveals Clues to Early Universe.
January 12, 2006... Byline: Johns Hopkins University BALTIMORE, Jan. 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- A tiny galaxy has given astronomers a glimpse of a time when the first bright objects in the universe formed, ending the dark ages that followed the birth of the...

Berkeley Scientists Get First Detailed Look at Dicer.
January 12, 2006... Byline: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory BERKELEY, Calif., Jan. 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists have gotten their first detailed look at the molecular structure of an enzyme that Nature has been using for eons to help silence...

Protein 'Nanosprings' Most Resilient Found in Nature.
January 15, 2006... Byline: Duke University DURHAM, N.C., Jan. 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- A component of many proteins has been found to constitute one of the most powerful and resilient molecular "springs" in nature, researchers have discovered. The engineers...

Vertebroplasty Heals Fractures but May Cause Others, Mayo Clinic Study Finds; Investigators Still Recommend Procedure, Although They Want Patients Aware of Risks.
January 16, 2006... Byline: Mayo Clinic ROCHESTER, Minn., Jan. 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- A new Mayo Clinic study finds that vertebroplasty, a procedure used to treat painful compression fractures in the spinal vertebrae due to osteoporosis, appears to increase...

Survey: Businesswomen Do Negotiate (and It Pays Off, Big Time); Simmons School of Management, HP Survey Shows Successful Businesswomen Don't Hesitate to Ask for What They Want.
January 16, 2006... Byline: Simmons College BOSTON, Jan. 17 (AScribe Newswire) -- Women business leaders don't shy away from asking for what they want to be successful--and their negotiations pay off in a big way, according to a survey by the Simmons School...

Increased Sexual Competition Among Flowering Plants in Biodiversity Hotspots May Lead to Extinctions, Says Study.
January 17, 2006... Byline: University of California, Santa Barbara SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Jan. 17 (AScribe Newswire) -- The decline of birds, bees and other pollinators may be putting plants of the world[sup.1]s most diverse ecosystems at risk of extinction,...

New Book Celebrates Ben Franklin's Medical Legacy as Nation Observes His 300th Birthday, Jan. 17.
January 17, 2006... Byline: Washington University, St. Louis ST. LOUIS, Jan. 17 (AScribe Newswire) -- Benjamin Franklin's myriad contributions as scientist, inventor, publisher and statesman will be back in the spotlight in coming months as America celebrates...

Haze Dynasty: In China, Cloud-Free Days Do Not Mean Sunshine; Smog Is to Blame.
January 17, 2006... Byline: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory RICHLAND, Wash., Jan. 17 (AScribe Newswire) -- China has darkened over the past half-century. Where has all the sunshine gone? The usual suspect, at least to a climatologist, would be cloud...

Tiny RNA Molecules Fine-Tune the Brain's Synapses: A New Mechanism for Regulating Brain Function.
January 18, 2006... Byline: Children's Hospital Boston BOSTON, Jan. 18 (AScribe Newswire) -- Non-coding regions of the genome - those that don't code for proteins - are now known to include important elements that regulate gene activity. Among those elements...

Survey Finds Large Racial Differences in Response to Katrina.
January 18, 2006... Byline: University of Chicago CHICAGO, Jan. 18 (AScribe Newswire) -- The process of deciding how to rebuild New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is undermined by sharp racial gaps between blacks and whites about what should be done,...

Study Sets New Gold Standard for Initial Antiretroviral Treatment of HIV Infection; Once-Daily Antiretroviral Combination More Effective, Better Tolerated Than Traditional Drug 'Cocktail'.
January 18, 2006... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, Jan. 18 (AScribe Newswire) -- An international team of AIDS researchers at Johns Hopkins and other institutions has found that a once-daily combination of three antiretroviral drugs...

Drug Combination Shows Promise for Treatment of Advanced Neuroendocrine Tumors.
January 19, 2006... Byline: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute BOSTON, Jan. 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- A combination of an oral chemotherapy agent and a drug to prevent blood vessel growth has shown encouraging results in advanced neuroendocrine tumors, rare cancers...

Mayo Clinic Collaboration Discovers Protein Amplifies DNA Injury Signals, Cues Genetic Repair Mechanism to Prevent Tumors.
January 19, 2006... Byline: Mayo Clinic ROCHESTER, Minn., Jan. 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- A Mayo Clinic-led research collaboration has discovered that the protein MDC1 amplifies weak DNA injury signals so genetic repair can begin. Once amplified, even low-level...

Purdue University Engineers Solve Chaos Mystery in Use of High-Tech Microscope.
January 19, 2006... Byline: Purdue University WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Jan. 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- Mechanical engineers at Purdue University have proven that the same sort of "deterministic chaos" behind the baffling uncertainties of the stock market and...

University of Illinois at Chicago Surgeons First to Use Robot for Living-Donor Kidney-Pancreas Transplant.
January 19, 2006... Byline: University of Illinois at Chicago CHICAGO, Jan. 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- Surgeons at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago are the first in the world to use robotic surgery to successfully remove a kidney and pancreas...

Magnetic Misfits: South-Seeking Bacteria in Northern Hemisphere.
January 20, 2006... Byline: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution WOODS HOLE, Mass., Jan. 20 (AScribe Newswire) -- Magnetotactic bacteria contain chains of magnetic iron minerals that allow them to orient in the earth's magnetic field much like living compass...

Malaria Parasites Develop in Lymph Nodes.
January 22, 2006... Byline: Howard Hughes Medical Institute CHEVY CHASE, Md., Jan. 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- In the first quantitative, real-time imaging study of the travels of the malaria parasite Plasmodium through mammalian tissue, researchers at the...

Chemists Design, Create Nano Motor Powered by Solar Energy.
January 24, 2006... Byline: UCLA LOS ANGELES, Jan. 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- Chemists at Italy's University of Bologna, UCLA and the California NanoSystems Institute have designed and constructed a molecular motor of nanometer size that does not consume fuels;...

Boy With Rare Swallowing Disorder Has Robotic Surgery at University of Illinois at Chicago.
January 24, 2006... Byline: University of Illinois at Chicago CHICAGO, Jan. 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- Surgeons at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago performed robotic-assisted surgery on a 12-year-old Chicago boy with a rare swallowing...

Race/Ethnicity Differences in Gene Predict Lipid Disorder and Heart-Disease Risk in HIV-1 Infected Patients Taking Protease Inhibitors; Findings Could Help Physicians Tailor Antiretroviral Regimens.
January 24, 2006... Byline: University of Pennsylvania Health System PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts, have found that small...

Pair of Studies Offer New Clues to Combat Antibiotic Resistance.
January 24, 2006... Byline: American Chemical Society WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- In the continuing battle against antibiotic resistance, two new studies shed light on the complex defense mechanisms pathogenic bacteria use to evade antibiotic...

Hunt for Planets Outside Solar System Uncovers a Small One.
January 25, 2006... Byline: University of Florida GAINESVILLE, Fla., Jan. 25 (AScribe Newswire) -- Perhaps edging closer to finding planets that harbor life, astronomers have discovered the smallest planet yet identified outside our solar system. ...

Internet Game Provides Breakthrough in Predicting Spread of Epidemics, Scientists Report.
January 25, 2006... Byline: University of California, Santa Barbara SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Jan. 25 (AScribe Newswire) -- Using a popular internet game that traces the travels of dollar bills, scientists have unveiled statistical laws of human travel in the...

Mystery of Metallic Glass Is Cracked by Johns Hopkins Engineers; Researchers Discover How Atoms Are Arranged in This Unusual Material.
January 26, 2006... Byline: Johns Hopkins University BALTIMORE, Jan. 26 (AScribe Newswire) -- Using state-of-the-art lab techniques and powerful computer simulations, Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered how atoms pack themselves in unusual materials...

Wyoming Cloud Seeding Experiment Begins This Month.
January 26, 2006... Byline: National Center for Atmospheric Research BOULDER, Colo., Jan. 26 (AScribe Newswire) -- A five-year, $8.8 million pilot project to examine whether seeding clouds with silver iodide produces a measurable increase in snowfall over...

Hurricane Katrina: Who Was Hit? Who Will Return? First In-Depth Demographic Analysis of Strike Zone.
January 27, 2006... Byline: Brown University PROVIDENCE, R.I., Jan. 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- The Gulf Coast's African Americans and poorest residents were disproportionately impacted by Hurricane Katrina, according to new findings from Brown University...

Penn Study Identifies Patients Most at Risk for Secondary Strokes; Findings Set Stage for Clinical Research Into Stroke Prevention.
January 27, 2006... Byline: University of Pennsylvania Health System PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- Among patients who have suffered a single stroke, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, along with colleagues at other...

Simple Test Identifies Best Candidates for Implanted Cardiac Defibrillator, Screens Out Those Unlikely to Be Helped; Study Shows One Third of Candidates Are Unlikely to Benefit From ICD.
January 27, 2006... Byline: Columbia University Medical Center NEW YORK, Jan. 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- Last year, about 170,000 people in North America had devices surgically implanted to stop potentially fatal arrhythmias. For many, these were life-saving,...

Missing Steps of Jumping-Gene Replication Discovered; Findings Illuminate How 'Junk' DNA Accumulates in Human Genome.
January 31, 2006... Byline: University of Pennsylvania Health System PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- In experiments with transgenic mice, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers discovered the remaining steps in the complicated...

Book: Nations Must Build Trust to End Feuds.
January 31, 2006... Byline: Purdue University WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Jan. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- A new book by a Purdue University political science professor argues that it is possible to establish trust among the world's oldest and most bitter enemies. ...

UCLA Scientists See and Analyze 650-Million-Year-Old Fossils Inside Rocks in Three Dimensions: A First, With Implications for Finding Life on Mars.
January 31, 2006... Byline: UCLA LOS ANGELES, Jan. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- University of California, Los Angeles paleobiologist J. William Schopf and colleagues have produced 3-D images of ancient fossils -- 650 million to 850 million years old -- preserved...

St. Lawrence University Prof Explores 'Exotic Dance' in Two New Books.
January 31, 2006... Byline: St. Lawrence University CANTON, N.Y., Jan. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- In two new books, a sociology professor at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, explores an aspect of American culture that is both out in the open and...

Protein Found to Control Tumor Growth in Certain Breast Cancers; Unexpected Discovery May Help Spark Search for New Treatments.
January 31, 2006... Byline: The Scripps Research Institute LA JOLLA, Calif., Jan. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the Xiamen University School of Life Sciences, Fujian, People's Republic of China, have uncovered a...

The Science Behind Groundhog Day: Undergraduate Researcher Turns Up Heat on Hibernation.
January 31, 2006... Byline: Howard Hughes Medical Institute CHEVY CHASE, Md., Jan. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- If doctors could put people in hibernation and pull them out at will, scientists think they could minimize damage from strokes, help recipients' bodies...

Scientists Discover Genetic Pathway That Could Lead to Drug Therapy for Kidney Disease.
January 31, 2006... Byline: University of California, Santa Barbara SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Jan. 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara have reported a discovery at the cellular level that suggests possibilities for...