Channel 42
Science is the answer to everything.

Scientists working to develop a vaccine for the human immunodeficiency virus report they have created the first antigen that induces protective antibodies capable of blocking infection of human cells by genetically diverse strains of HIV. The new antigen differs from previously-tested vaccines by virtue of its chemically activated property that enables close sharing of electrons and produces strong covalent bonding. Researchers used a mouse model to generate the antibodies.

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Private cord blood banking is not cost-effective because it costs an additional $1,374,246 per life-year gained, according to a new analysis by UCSF researchers. The research team also concluded that private cord blood banking is cost-effective only for families with a child with a very high likelihood of needing a stem cell transplant.

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Childbearing is associated directly with future development of the metabolic syndrome — abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, insulin resistance and other cardiovascular disease risk factors — and for women who have had gestational diabetes, the risk is more than twice greater, according to a study co-authored by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

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Physical therapist-directed exercise counseling combined with fitness center-based exercise training can improve muscular strength and exercise capacity in people with type 2 diabetes, with outcomes similar to those of supervised exercise, according to a randomized clinical trial published in the September issue of Physical Therapy, the scientific journal of the American Physical Therapy Association.

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Researchers in the Memory Disorders Program at Georgetown University Medical Center are now recruiting volunteers for a national gene therapy trial — the first study of its kind for the treatment of patients with dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.

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An article in September 2009 Genetics shows that about 3 percent of the air we breathe gets converted into harmful superoxides, which ultimately harm our muscles by leading to the creation of a toxic molecule called “reactive oxygen species” or ROS, shown to be harm muscle tissue, and may lead to problems ranging from aging and frailty to Parkinson’s disease and cancer.

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It is well documented that brown (grizzly) bears prey on major runs of salmon, charr and trout. In 2007, researchers were surprised to spot a brown bear caching whitefish near a stream in the Mackenzie Delta region of the Northwest Territories. This sighting has researchers advising increased care in petroleum extraction and infrastructure development within the area.

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A new Web-based, computer-assisted tool may reduce halve the time currently required for agricultural terrace design, making it feasible, for the first time, to develop more than one design, so that contractors, landowners and resource conservation personnel can compare and select the most efficient and cost-effective layout options.. The new tool is intended to facilitate terrace installation on complex fields, to satisfy conservation goals and make better use of federal and state cost-share dollars.

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Understanding precisely how fluid boils in tiny “microchannels” has led to formulas and models that will help engineers design systems to cool high-power electronics in electric and hybrid cars, aircraft, computers and other devices.

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TCRS at Scottsdale Healthcare is starting a clinical trial for a drug designed to combat adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), a rare but deadly cancer that attacks the adrenal glands. Researchers hope the new compound, OSI-906, which is administered orally, will stop ACC tumor growth — perhaps even promote tumor shrinkage — without the toxic side effects of current chemotherapies. The trial will focus on patients with inoperable tumors who have relapsed or failed to respond to conventional therapies.

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