Articles Posted October 2007
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New Treatment For Varicose Veins Uses Crochet Hooks
Dr. Peter Lawrence, UCLA’s chief of vascular surgery, picks up size 7 crochet hooks from a fabric store — not to make sweaters or scarves but to use in a new technique he has developed…
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Invasive Plant Secretes Acid To Kill Nearby Plants And Spread
The invasive strain of Phragmites australis, or common reed, believed to have originated in Eurasia, exudes from its roots an acid so toxic that the substance literally disintegrates the structural protein in the roots of…
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Invasion Is Backbreaking Work For Australia’s Cane Toads
For the first time researchers have turned their attention onto the health effects of invasion on our old friend the cane toad, revealing that they are suffering from severe spinal arthritis brought on by the…
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Genetically Engineered Poplar Plants Disarm Toxic Pollutants 100 Times Better Than Controls
Scientists since the early ’90s have seen the potential for cleaning up contaminated sites by growing plants able to take up nasty groundwater pollutants through their roots. Then the plants break certain kinds of pollutants…
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Structure Of Influenza B Virus Protein Gives Clues To Next Pandemic
Determining the structure of a protein called hemagglutinin on the surface of influenza B is giving researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University in Houston clues as to what kinds of mutations could…
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Giant Red Spinel Crystal Discovered in East Africa
An enormous red spinel crystal weighing over 52 kgs may be the largest red spinel ever unearthed. A significant number of stones ranging in weights between 5 and 30 carats have already been faceted and…
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Modafinil Is Effective In Treating Excessive Sleepiness, Study Suggests
A study published in the October 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine finds that modafinil is well-tolerated in the treatment of excessive sleepiness associated with disorders of sleep and wakefulness such as…
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Pathway Required For Normal Reproductive Development Identified
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) clinical researchers, in collaboration with basic scientists from the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) have identified a new molecular pathway required for normal development of the reproductive, olfactory and circadian…
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Weight Loss Before Bariatric Surgery Linked To Shorter Hospital Stay, Faster Weight Loss
High-risk morbidly obese patients who lose 5 to 10 percent of their excess body weight before undergoing gastric bypass surgery appear to have shorter hospital stays and more rapid postoperative weight loss, according to a…
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Storing Data On Atomic Roundabouts
There are right-handed and left-handed yoghurts, right-handed and left-handed snail shells, and right-handed and (occasionally) left-handed screws. Scientists at the University of Bonn have now demonstrated the existence of right-handed and left-handed “magnetic vortices”. Through…