Bio and Medicine
In recent years, the government has made moves to support making the results of taxpayer-funded research available to taxpayers for free. A new bill in Congress attempts to pull the plug.
There has not been much information forthcoming with regard to the CDC study concerning the investigation taking place. CDC has said that there "might" be information by the end of the year. Holding my breath....?
As I wrote recently, Stephen Quake has been writing about conflicts of interest in research over at The Wild Side blog. He proposes solving these problems with peer review. I like the article, and he has many thoughtful things to say on the topic, but I don't really understand this proposal.
Zinc is an essential element for a healthy body. Zinc is involved in numerous aspects of cellular metabolism (National Institute of Health). According to Food and Nutrition Board, zinc is also essential in for proper taste and smell. The recommended daily allowance for adult males is 11mg and 8mg for female adults. Adults are above the age 19 y.o.
microRNAs are a recently discovered class of small RNA molecules which have huge regulatory potential. There have been a large number of papers coming out recently showing evidence suggesting their widespread roles in basic biological processes ranging from host-pathogen interaction to oncogenesis.
The problem of conflicts of interest in science is not going to go away.
What's in the Stimulus Package for science?
Complex computer simulations have, for the first time, allowed scientists to examine in detail the processes that help to ensure the stability of DNA when exposed to UV light. The findings, achieved primarily in relation to DNA component 9H-adenine, have been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).
Researchers at Uppsala University have developed a new tool that makes it possible to study the signals in the body that control the generation of blood vessels.
A comprehensive set of insurance, payment, and system reforms could guarantee affordable health insurance coverage, improve health outcomes, and slow the growth of health spending by $3 trillion by the end of the next decade, according to a new report released today by the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System.
New research suggests vaccines that specifically target HIV in the initial stages of infection before it becomes a rapidly replicating, system-wide infection - may be a successful approach in limiting the spread of the disease.
For more than 40 years, the prevailing explanation of why we get old has been tied to what is called oxidative stress. This theory postulates that when molecules like free radicals, oxygen ions and peroxides build up in cells, they overwhelm the cells' ability to repair the damage they cause, and the cells age.
Vitamin supplements can prevent hearing loss in laboratory animals, according to two new studies, bringing investigators one step closer to the development of a pill that could stave off noise-induced and perhaps even age-related hearing loss in humans.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Rice University's precise new image of a virus' protective coat is seriously undervalued.
Only two years after launching an ambitious effort to save endangered crop species, the Global Crop Diversity Trust announced today it is on track to save from extinction 100,000 different varieties of food crops from 46 countries.
