August 13, 2006, 6:22 PM CT

Cause Of Neurodegenerative Disease

When a faulty protein wreaks havoc in cells and causes disease, researchers are usually quick to point the finger at a wayward gene. Now scientists are learning that some neurodegenerative diseases can develop even though a gene is perfectly normal. The diseases can be caused when the genetic instructions contained in the gene are not executed properly, leading to a lethal buildup of malformed proteins in brain cells.

The new studies by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator Susan L. Ackerman and colleagues at The Jackson Laboratory point to a novel mechanism behind the buildup of the toxic sludge that accumulates in neurons. Researchers have long known that neurodegenerative disorders can be caused by the gradual yet persistent accumulation of misfolded proteins in neurons that eventually triggers cell death. But this new mechanism points to errors in executing the genetic instructions, which are distinct from known causes of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases.

HHMI investigator Susan L. Ackerman and her colleagues reported their findings in an August 13, 2006, advance online publication of the journal Nature. Ackerman's group collaborated on the studies with co-author Paul Schimmel at The Scripps Research Institute.........

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August 13, 2006, 6:20 PM CT

Deformation Of Nanoscale Materials

Materials on the nanoscale don't always have the same properties they would in bulk; for one thing, nanomaterials are often a lot harder. Unlike most bulk materials, a crystal that is small enough can be perfect, free of defects, capable of achieving strength near its ideal theoretical limit.

Scientists have long assumed that a crystal needs to be perfect to sustain stress at its theoretical limit. Beyond this point dislocations in the crystal lattice occur, and the crystal undergoes a nonreversible change of shape, or plastic deformation.

Now a team from the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Purdue University, and Hysitron Incorporated in Minneapolis has found that things don't necessarily happen this way. Using special instrumentation with the JEOL 3010 In Situ Transmission Electron Microscope at the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM), the researchers were able to correlate high-resolution load-displacement measurements with individual video frames, showing how nanoscale volumes of aluminum deform under stress from a diamond "nanoindenter".

"Although it's been assumed that you need a perfect volume of material to reach the ideal strength, our results show this is not always true," says Andrew Minor of Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division, who led the research team. "The situation is more complex. We found that plenty of defects accumulate before the point that would usually be interpreted as the initial yield point".........

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August 13, 2006, 6:14 PM CT

How Religious Garment Defines a New Generation of Women

There's no argument that the hijab, a scarf that covers the head, hair, neck and ears, is a religious symbol that visibly separates young Muslim American women from their contemporary peers. But a number of who wear it say the covering is a boundary that's helping them carve out their own place in the Western world, yet it also bridges them with their family's traditions and values. The findings are from a paper by Rhys Williams, professor of sociology at the University of Cincinnati, and Gira Vashi, a research assistant at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Their paper, titled "Hijab and American Muslim Women: Creating the Space for Autonomous Selves," will be presented at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 13, at the 101st annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Montreal, Canada.

"There are multiple meanings to the hijab as a religious and social symbol; it often serves well those who wear it," states the paper. "It provides a clear identity marker at a life-course transitional time, and it provides culturally legitimate space for young women who are formulating new Muslim American identities and lives".

The research comes from the larger Youth and Religion Project - led by Williams and Stephen Warner, professor of sociology at the University of Illinois in Chicago. The sociologists started the project in 1999, conducting interviews and focus groups with Chicago area college-age students who represented an array of cultures and religious groups. The researchers' intent was to find out the young people's motivation in joining the organizations - how they utilized the organizations and how they benefited - which has been rarely studied, as per Williams.........

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August 13, 2006, 6:03 PM CT

No advantage for four-drug antiretroviral regimen

Adding a fourth drug to an antiretroviral regimen for the initial therapy of HIV-1 did not lead to significant differences in reducing HIV levels in the blood, time to virologic failure, adverse events or drug resistance over 3 years, as per a research studyin the August 16 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS.

Roy M. Gulick, M.D., M.P.H., of Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, presented the findings of the study today at a JAMA media briefing at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

The current standard of care for initial therapy of human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) infection is a three-drug antiretroviral regimen, which can suppress viremia (presence of HIV in the blood), increase CD4 cell counts, delay clinical progression, and improve survival, as per background information in the article. Some scientists have suggested that adding drugs to the 3-drug regimens could improve antiretroviral activity. However, additional drugs increase complexity, the potential for toxicity, and costs, and previous studies comparing 3- and 4-drug antiretroviral regimens have shown inconsistent results.

Dr. Gulick and his colleagues conducted a study to determine whether a 4-drug regimen would demonstrate better antiretroviral activity than the standard 3-drug regimen. The AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) A5095 study included 765 HIV-1infected patients who had not previously received therapy for HIV-1. The trial was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, with enrollment and follow-up conducted from March 2001 to March 2005. The study participants received either the medications zidovudine/lamivudine plus efavirenz (3-drug regimen) or zidovudine/lamivudine/abacavir plus efavirenz (4-drug regimen).........

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August 13, 2006, 5:57 PM CT

Rapid expansion of HIV treatment

A massive scale-up of HIV/AIDS therapy programs at urban primary care sites in Zambia has produced favorable patient outcomes, demonstrating that expansion of such programs in sub-Saharan Africa is feasible, with good results, as per a research studyin the August 16 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS.

Jeffrey S.A. Stringer, M.D., of the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, presented the findings of the study today at a JAMA media briefing at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

Zambia's 11.5 million residents are among the world's poorest and most severely affected by acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), as per background information in the article. About 16 percent of the adult population is infected with human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV 1), including 22 percent in the capital city Lusaka. In 2003, more than 90,000 Zambians died of HIV disease. Historically, only the wealthiest citizens have had access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV through private medical practices.

The Zambian Ministry of Health, aiming to provide public access to therapy, in 2002 started pilot ART distribution programs at two of the country's largest hospitals. The program filled almost immediately and in May 2004 expanded to four clinics in the Lusaka Urban District, which were staffed primarily by clinical officers and nurses. In the following 18 months, all fees for patients seeking care were eliminated, ART and laboratory tests were offered for free and the program expanded to 14 additional urban sites. "At the time of program initiation, there was widespread uncertainty that complex, long-term HIV care could be delivered in a setting with so few physicians and so little physical and technical resources," the authors write.........

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August 13, 2006, 12:04 AM CT

Inside Views: Time To Rethink TRIPS?

In the aftermath of the late July collapse of the Doha Development Round negotiations at the World Trade Organization, some are looking for reasons and next steps. Much focus has been placed on the agriculture stalemate, but intellectual property issues also are a factor, particularly for developing countries struggling with the 1994 WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Fernando Barrio, a professor at London Metropolitan University, argues that reconsideration of the TRIPS agreement, and developed countries living up to the agreement, could go a long way in helping to save the larger WTO round.

"During the informal meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee held on July 24th in Geneva, the WTO Director-General, Mr Pascal Lamy told heads of delegations in the informal meeting that he was going to recommend a "time out" and the suspension of the negotiations of the Doha Round. The Doha Round, the Doha Development Round, was started in November 2001 with the declaration of the Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, and included negotiations on agriculture and services, both of interest for developing and developed countries. But, it can be argued that by focusing on development, the Doha Round was supposed to correct the asymmetries and inequities embedded in the result of the Uruguay Round, particularly evident in the spirit, text and implementation of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, or TRIPS.........

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August 13, 2006, 11:57 AM CT

Has E3 been Comdex'ed?

As per the exclusive story from Next Generation, in the next 48 hours there will be an announcement on the cancellation of E3, which "in its present form, has been cancelled for next year and the foreseeable future." As per ARS Technica, the show is not being cancelled but rather downsized, due to the show-within-a-show that E3 was becoming: it was the back channel meetings that were the real events.

Okay, I came back from the last E3 all full of fun and excitement. Nothing is more exciting that seeing a big show, a la Comdex. The buzz, the excitement, the press. it's like CES is.

But, the other flipside is that working at the last CES, it became apparent that the show has become too big - and, that is pretty much what killed Comdex. Not that that is going to stop me from going to CES, but it will be for client work again. Just not that into Vegas to go for my own enjoyment.

Did I get that vibe at E3? No, because if I can walk a show floor in a day, it's not too big. :) And, while I was there for work, it was a different vibe. The PR people I ran into where busy - as a whole - and I did catch a few TV crews. Joystiq has a interesting take on the news - from a journalist standpoint, gamer standpoint and sorta corporate standpoint. Plus, E3 is not in the bowels of Vegas, but rather downtown LA. It's a more entertainment show feel, celebrity and product driven.........

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August 13, 2006, 11:54 AM CT

Stranger in a Strange Land

This past weekend was BlogHer. I only was able to make it down for the Saturday sessions, but overall, I think it was a great event. In a sentence, it was the most valuable blogging-related event I have attended in the past year.

Now, some might think this is a little overblown, but, well, let them choke on their own bile. The event was how such blogging events should be: the newbies and the veterans getting together to discuss blogging and blogging practices. This is the only time that I have not seen the newbies attacked as idiots or undeserving the veterans attention, but rather working together to make the community better. Let me ask you: is that such a bad thing?

As others have noted, there was hugging and kissing and giggling - but that was pretty much just me, as I tend to hug and kiss people I know hello. And, well, I got to meet a lot of people that I read, but have not seen yet in person, or people that I met at the conference or people that are friends: Nellie Lide, Teresa Valdez Klein, Toby Bloomberg, Susan Getgood, Amy Gahran, Josh Hallett, Erin Caldwell, Robert Scoble, Stacy Libby. the list goes on and on, and the people that I forgot, I apologize.

And, well, Lisa and Elisa and Jory did a great job - and that's not a shock. Yep, me talking to Jory and Elisa.........

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August 13, 2006, 11:47 AM CT

OneWebDay: September 22, 2006

The Web has changed millions of lives. Just two months from now, on September 22, we'll be celebrating the first OneWebDay. OneWebDay is one day a year when we all - everyone around the physical globe - can celebrate the Web and what it means to us as individuals, organizations, and communities. In short, it's like an Earth Day for the Internet-a day to stop and think about what the Internet means to us.

Add the OneWebDay Button to your site and get together with friends in your town to plan an outdoor celebration with an online component that people elsewhere on the Web can appreciate. Put a link on the OneWebDay wiki In New York's Bryant Park, San Francisco's Union Square, in London with the Lord Mayor, near City Hall in Austin, in downtown Chicago, in downtown Portland, Maine, all over Canada, and in Naples (Italy), and Canberra (Australia), OneWebDay will be celebrated for the first time on Sept. 22 - and those are just the celebrations we know about.

The goal of OneWebDay is to make the Web, and our individual connection to it, visible - so that we don't take it for granted. We make progress when we make things visible.........

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August 13, 2006, 9:13 AM CT

Routine Screening Not Always Beneficial

Doing more is not always better. Improving the quality of medical care does not necessarily dictate providing additional care. And in the case of children with Down syndrome, routine screening for celiac disease in children without symptoms of the disease, as recommended by at least one medical professional organization, does more harm than good according to a study by Indiana University School of Medicine researchers published in the recent issue of Pediatrics.

"Although there are tests to find out whether a child with Down syndrome has celiac disease before the child develops symptoms, early treatment does not appear to improve the child's quality of life or improve outcomes from one of the long-term consequences of celiac disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma," said Nancy Swigonski, M.D., M.P.H., the study's first author and an associate professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and affiliated scientist of the Regenstrief Institute, Inc.

Celiac disease is a genetic autoimmune disorder that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. Individuals with celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Untreated celiac disease is thought to increase the risk of intestinal lymphoma.........

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