An important, ground-breaking initiative is unfolding in the global critical care community in response to the H1N1 pandemic. While front-line health care workers and infectious disease experts around the world are working round the clock to control, treat and prevent H1N1 infection, those who deal with the most severely ill patients — physicians working in hospital intensive care units (ICU...

University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine researchers have identified the important role a protein plays in the body`s first line of defense in directing immune cells called neutrophils toward the site of infection or injury. Their results are described online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Neutrophils are white blood cells that are activated by chemical cues t...

Scientists have devised an innovative way to disarm a key protein considered to be "undruggable," meaning that all previous efforts to develop a drug against it have failed. Their discovery, published in the November 12 issue of Nature, lays the foundation for a new kind of therapy aimed directly at a critical human protein — one of a few thousand so-called transcription factors &#...

Researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have for the first time successfully reconstituted in the laboratory the enzyme responsible for producing the blockbuster cholesterol-lowering drug lovastatin. The research, published Oct. 23 in the journal Science, could potentially lead to the development of other compounds with similarly beneficial effects. The lo...

Companies that commit fraud can find innovative ways to fudge the numbers, making it hard to tell something is wrong by just looking at their financial statements. But research from North Carolina State University unveils a new warning system that sees through accounting tricks by evaluating things that are easily verifiable, such as the number of employees or the square footage that a company own...

A research collaboration led by biologists and neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania has found a molecular pathway in the brain that is the cause of cognitive impairment due to sleep deprivation. Just as important, the team believes that the cognitive deficits caused by sleep deprivation, such as an inability to focus, learn or memorize, may be reversible by reducing the concentration ...

People who watch forensic and crime dramas on TV are more likely than non-viewers to have a distorted perception of America`s criminal justice system, according to new research from Purdue University. "These kinds of shows, such as `CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,` `Law & Order,` `Cold Case` and `The Closer,` are some of the most popular programs on television today, so it`s important tha...

In a surprising reversal of long-standing scientific belief, researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have discovered that inflammation in the brain is not the trigger that leads to buildup of amyloid deposits and development of Alzheimer`s disease. In fact, inflammation helps clear the brain of these noxious amyloid plaques early in the disease development, as seen from studies in mice th...

The proportion of in vitro fertilization (IVF) multiple births was lower in the eight states that provide insurance coverage for couples seeking IVF treatment, primarily due to fewer embryos transferred per cycle, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in an abstract presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, October 17-21. IVF remains an expensive...

While more older adults than ever are using cell phones and computers, a technology gap still exists that threatens to turn senior citizens into second-class citizens, according to Florida State University researchers. Neil Charness, the William G. Chase Professor of Psychology, and Walter R. Boot, an assistant professor of psychology, found that both the attitudes and abilities of older adults po...