The 15th Annual Discover Awards for Innovation.
A cool, well-organized mind may be essential for parsing data. but sighting--and clearing--a new scientific frontier depends on a kind of stubborn, dreamy get-up-and-go. Cynthia Kenyon, for example, defied convention by believing that a tiny worm could hold clues to human aging. * Napoleone Ferrara persisted when others doubted--in...

Inflammatory bowel disease part II: Crohn's disease--pathophysiology and conventional and alternative treatment options.
Abstract Crohn's disease, a subcategory of inflammatory bowel disease, contributes to significant morbidity, particularly in industrialized nations. It can affect people of any age, but is more commonly diagnosed in adolescence and young adulthood. Inflammation and ulceration occur primarily in the terminal ileum and colon, although any...

Mental tools for thinking about DNA technologies in new ways. (Advances in the Science of Pathology).
This symposium on "DNA Technology in the Clinical Laboratory" is understandably focused on the physical tools used by medical practitioners to diagnose and treat disease. What gets overlooked here, as in most discussions of science and technology, are the mental tools necessary to invent and use these physical tools...

The promise of gene therapy.
In recent years, research on gene therapy has yielded successes that offer much hope to patients suffering from a spectrum of diseases. I expect great advances in the coming years, but researchers still face obstacles. One sign of the field's development is the growth of related professional societies. The...

Guest editorial: the promise of gene therapy.
In recent years, research on gene therapy has yielded successes that offer much hope to patients suffering from a spectrum of diseases. I expect great advances in the coming years, but researchers still face obstacles. One sign of the field's development is the growth of related professional...

Pancreatic cancer--the promise of a vaccine: Johns Hopkins researchers are enthusiastic about a promising new weapon in the battle against pancreatic cancer.
Johns Hopkins University researcher Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee has spent the past decade developing a vaccine that offers hope for people facing pancreatic cancer. Employing a strategy known as immunotherapy, Dr. Jaffee and colleagues are using a patient's own genes as weapons to destroy--and possibly prevent recurrence of--one of the...

Clinical trials in vascular gene therapy: the missing piece of the puzzle. (Advances in the Science of Pathology).
In spite of many preclinical studies demonstrating the efficacy of vascular gene transfer strategies to prevent neointimal formation following arterial injury, the long-term clinical success of such strategies is dependent on the demonstration of safe and effective delivery of vectors into diseased target vessels. In the case of atherosclerotic...

Prader-Willi syndrome. (ask the doctor).
Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) includes a collection of signs or symptoms characterized by hypotonia in infancy, obesity in early childhood, mental retardation, small hands and feet, underdevelopment of the sex organs, and a particular facial appearance. Prader-Willi syndrome is due to a chromosome 15 abnormality, usually a deletion...

Molecular mechanisms for altered glucose homeostasis in HIV infection.
Abstract: A complete understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to HIV-associated insulin resistance remains elusive. Complex interrelationships between genetic predisposition, disease-related body changes and multidrug therapy all contribute to alterations in glucose homeostasis. These abnormalities can be differentiated between acute and reversible changes directly induced by HAART medications and...

Contributing gene finally found.
Scientific research has discovered that a specific gene contributes to autism and that autistic people have fewer receptors for the brain messenger acetylcholine, as well as more tightly packed columns of neurons in the cerebral cortex. Another study found that autistic children were less able to discriminate similar sounds...