The Times's James Ricci delves into the lives of a few men who have been infected by HIV for years, take few or no medications, yet remain free of AIDS. As one doc tells him, if whatever their immune systems are doing to keep the contagion in check could be bottled and given to others, "we sould...
The Times's James Ricci delves into the lives of a few men who have been infected by HIV for years, take few or no medications, yet remain free of AIDS. As one doc tells him, if whatever their immune systems are doing to keep the contagion in check could be bottled and given to others, "we sould solve the AIDS epidemic." It's not a new notion to HIV researchers, but realizing the hope to act on it has been elusive. People who live so easily with HIV are called "elite controllers." Now, it says here, organized efforts are underway to study them systematically.
Other AIDS News: NYTimes Donald G. McNeil Jr...
Yesterday's Washington Post got the news jump on a report from a National Center for Atmospheric Research report, also issued yesterday, warning of enormous biological havoc if acidification of...
Yesterday's Washington Post got the news jump on a report from a National Center for Atmospheric Research report, also issued yesterday, warning of enormous biological havoc if acidification of seawater continues. The report was embargoed, and the Post alluded to it, but the Post's story seems to be a case of enterprise journalism beating the rest of the pack. An NCAR press man says the Post story didn't even quote the report specifically, but anticipated its results with material already available. Anyway, the reason for acidifying oceans is the same as the reason for global warming: rising atmospheric CO2.
Other outlets have the story today. Some of the smaller papers give the story extra zip. The St. Petersburg Times's Craig Pittman localizes it somewhat, noting that the study arose from a meeting last year in his city and ties in the...
The Tracker hadn't time to get this in yesterday, but the Times had an interesting addition to its fine continuing, occasional series The Energy Challenge. Matthew L. Wald describes entrepreneurs who see that coal is cheap, and that gasoline and natural gas fetch high prices, and therefore that it...
The Tracker hadn't time to get this in yesterday, but the Times had an interesting addition to its fine continuing, occasional series The Energy Challenge. Matthew L. Wald describes entrepreneurs who see that coal is cheap, and that gasoline and natural gas fetch high prices, and therefore that it may be profitable to turn the former into the latter. Technically, such things have been done. Germany did it in WWII after it was cut off from oil fields. But, as Wald reports, enviros and others worried about greenhouse gases are horrified at the prospect that the practice could become common with little control over the extra carbon dioxide that would be released. Every unit of energy obtained from such coal-derived synfuels would release even more CO2 than would burning the coal directly (if one counts releases from the manufacture of the fuel). And coal is bad enough as it is. The article mentions sequestration and gets into some other ways to liquefy or gasify coal...
The FDA recently approved a Genentech drug, Lucentis, that when injected into the eye helps suppress the proliferation of blood vessels that can cause macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness. Other drugs may be on the way. Newsday's Delthia Ricks covers the story with a vignette of one...
The FDA recently approved a Genentech drug, Lucentis, that when injected into the eye helps suppress the proliferation of blood vessels that can cause macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness. Other drugs may be on the way. Newsday's Delthia Ricks covers the story with a vignette of one woman's improvement. It is a solid piece of clinical medical writing, including a description of the so-called wet form of the ailment's blood vessel growth behind the retina as like "snakes under the carpet." But The Tracker really perked up upon encountering a kicker quote from a patient that is beyond anything her paper's circulation manager or other ad-side execs could concoct: "I want to tell the world about this marvelous drug....I am subscribing to Newsday again." That's almost worth a bonus.
In Nature this week a European research team describes tests on samples from three outbreaks of H5N1 avian flu virus in Nigerian poultry. None were the exact same strain, and indicate that the virus entered the country multiple times....
In Nature this week a European research team describes tests on samples from three outbreaks of H5N1 avian flu virus in Nigerian poultry. None were the exact same strain, and indicate that the virus entered the country multiple times. Both migrating wild birds and trade may have brought it in. The upshot is that in many parts of the world, shutting down movement of the virus will be very difficult should versions that easily pass among people arise via mutation. Catherine Brahic, writing for the news service of the Science and Development Network, has an interesting angle: Nigerian authorities had been criticized for not controlling the nation's first outbreak of bird flu in local poultry with an effective quarantine and similar measures. Now, they are somewhat off the hook if, as looks likely, the seeming spread of the virus was actually due to independent arrivals.
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6Jul 2006
The Journal Pediatrics this month has, as usual, an immense number of research articles (60, at rough count). Two, both on breastfeeding, seem to be getting most press attention. The AP's Carla K. Johnson picks up a report by researchers at Brown University, Indiana University, and elsewhere that...
The Journal Pediatrics this month has, as usual, an immense number of research articles (60, at rough count). Two, both on breastfeeding, seem to be getting most press attention. The AP's Carla K. Johnson picks up a report by researchers at Brown University, Indiana University, and elsewhere that found superior mental and physical development in very low birthweight babies fed human breastmilk. Johnson picks up a good quote as a kicker: "We're the only species on the planet that drinks another species' milk....Human milk is what these babies need." A second study, covered by Kathleen Doheny for HealthDay and distributed by Forbes, to wide pickup, links breastfeeding for three months or longer to a lower subsequent incidence of bedwetting. Reuters also uses this one. Doheny's account quotes one doc as cautioning that the results, from a study at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in NJ, are preliminary and need further exploration. That seems right...
The issue of ocean acidification has been bobbing up and down for several years in the research literature and in the press but hasn't found much traction with policy makers and even among many enviros....
The issue of ocean acidification has been bobbing up and down for several years in the research literature and in the press but hasn't found much traction with policy makers and even among many enviros. The Post's Juliet Eilperin may give it a push with a P.1 story today. It stems from a new report by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, from a briefing in Congress, and from interviews with several scientists who are becoming increasingly exercised over trends that already have the oceans more acid than in several million years. The ocean's steadily-dropping pH is due to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide. It could soon reverse the chemical balances that keep the calcium carbonate of many shelled marine animals from dissolving. If things go as badly as looks plausible, the impact could be staggering.
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In 2003, at age 39 and after nineteen years of semi-consciousness, an Arkansas man looked up and said "Mom." Today, although still seriously disabled from an accident that sent his pickup truck over a guardrail, he can carry on a...
In 2003, at age 39 and after nineteen years of semi-consciousness, an Arkansas man looked up and said "Mom." Today, although still seriously disabled from an accident that sent his pickup truck over a guardrail, he can carry on a sensible conversation. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York studied X-ray and other images and say it is a rare case of severed axonal connections regrowing in a brain after serious trauma. Not only can he now speak haltingly, but he has regained ability to move both legs and to point with one hand. The paper, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, got wide coverage. Most stories seem to have been written long distance via phone, journal material, etc. However, kudos to the NYTimes's Benedict Carey. He datelined it from the town of Harriet after spending time in the family's rural home. Carey has by far the most complete account of...
Recent research suggests that alcohol -- just like old bromides that each drink kills (fill in your favorite large number) brain cells -- really does hurt brains and particularly those of...
Recent research suggests that alcohol -- just like old bromides that each drink kills (fill in your favorite large number) brain cells -- really does hurt brains and particularly those of teenagers, reports Katy Butler in the lead article for the NYTimes's Science Times section Tuesday. The piece does a commendable job mentioning specific studies, although cryptically in most cases via such identifiers as the name of individual, quoted authors. Among apparent risks are decreased growth of neurons, less resistance to alcoholism, and trouble with memory and spatial skills (presumably even when not buzzed). The Tracker did not try to run down the specific studies, but there appears to be enough info here to find them with the aid of a few search engines. The pic here shows a drinker's brain on the bottom. The piece also ran with a huge,...
Some of the bigger names among US scientists who are engaged in conservation work believe global bird extinction is several times higher than usually calculated. In the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences they estimate that one bird species disappears yearly, a considerably faster rate than in...
Some of the bigger names among US scientists who are engaged in conservation work believe global bird extinction is several times higher than usually calculated. In the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences they estimate that one bird species disappears yearly, a considerably faster rate than in the widely-circulated tally of 130 bird extinctions since 1500. Worse yet, they estimate the rate will go up ten-fold over the next century, eliminating as much as 12 percent of all bird species as climate change, habitat destruction, and competition from invasive species take tolls. The team is led by Stuart Pimm of Duke and includes Peter Raven of the Missouri Botanical Garden and Paul Erhlich of Stanford University.
Stories:
SF Chronicle Jane Kay; St. Louis Post-Dispatch...
Taking Tylenol -- known to trigger liver damage and even liver failure if taken in extreme quantities -- also causes signs of liver problems at the higher end of the recommended dosage scale, say doctors in a study at two medical centers. The results are in the current JAMA. Some docs are now saying that the...
Taking Tylenol -- known to trigger liver damage and even liver failure if taken in extreme quantities -- also causes signs of liver problems at the higher end of the recommended dosage scale, say doctors in a study at two medical centers. The results are in the current JAMA. Some docs are now saying that the present upper limit on recommended dosage, 4 grams a day, is too high. But even at that level, the study found, blood enzymes reached a level that usually is taken as a sign of a liver in trouble. The manufacturer says other studies show no such evidence of risk.
Stories:
LA Times Denise Gellene; AP Carla K. Johnson; USA Today...
The Post-Intelligencer's Tom Paulson dives into some detailed molecular biology here. A Seattle research team, he reports, is among world leaders in exploiting tetramers. They...
The Post-Intelligencer's Tom Paulson dives into some detailed molecular biology here. A Seattle research team, he reports, is among world leaders in exploiting tetramers. They are four-armed molecules with a talent for binding to immune system cells and labeling them with fluorescent dye. The result is a good profile of how research teams work and the circuitous routes by which the scientific process often goes from lab to public benefit.
A great trove of dodo bones has a team of Dutch and British scientists revved up. We all know they are dead, and 17th century sailors are usually blamed. But the new find includes not just the best skeletons of the big, flightless...
A great trove of dodo bones has a team of Dutch and British scientists revved up. We all know they are dead, and 17th century sailors are usually blamed. But the new find includes not just the best skeletons of the big, flightless birds that science has been able to study, but remains of much of the ecosystem in which they lived 2000 to 3000 years ago. There is evidence that at least one natural disaster did a lot of them in before any people showed up. Carl Zimmer wrote it for Tuesday's NYTimes Science Times section, and Tim Cocks had it for Reuters at about the same time. The Tracker can't tell who broke the story, or whether it really broke at all considering that press releases go back many months. It seems to have dribbled out. Several small items can be found here and there, and in the UK the Independent had a long piece (for purchase only) on the dodo project...
A federal judge on Monday ordered the US Navy and ships from seven other countries to keep their high-intensity sonar transmitters quiet during exercises off Kauai. Two AP reporters filed on it, ...
A federal judge on Monday ordered the US Navy and ships from seven other countries to keep their high-intensity sonar transmitters quiet during exercises off Kauai. Two AP reporters filed on it, Eric Berkowitz on July 3 from LA where the judge issued the order, and Audrey McAvoy a day later from Honolulu. Local dailies and the Washington Post also covered it. Two years ago when Navy ships used active sonar in the same waters 150 melon-headed whales got confused near Hanalei (see pic). Some stranded themselves before locals shooed them back to deep water. The scientific issue is whether the sonar caused the whales' distress. Legally, it appears to be whether the Navy can ignore the National Environmental Policy Act. The Navy, given a green light to do so by recent Congressional vote, had granted itself an exemption prior to the exercise. The...
With the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet handing out their billions for good causes, ordinary multimillionaires can look almost like pikers in the benefactor game. But a $10 million pledge to the University of California, Irvine, for embryonic stem cell research is still something, and yet another...
With the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet handing out their billions for good causes, ordinary multimillionaires can look almost like pikers in the benefactor game. But a $10 million pledge to the University of California, Irvine, for embryonic stem cell research is still something, and yet another sign that White House moral opposition to such work may slow but not squelch it. The money, reports the Register's Gary Robbins, is a boost for the campus's ambition to become a mecca for such work. It comes on top of a voter-approved program in California to support embryonic stem cell research with state grants.
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