Doc Blog

Canadian researchers have found more evidence that older adults aren’t able to filter out distracting information as well as younger adults. In an interesting twist, this latest discovery was made because of - rather than in spite of -the noisy environment that research participants must tolerate when having their brains scanned inside a donut-shaped magnet [...]

Roche and Memory Pharmaceuticals has announced that the two companies have signed a definitive merger agreement for Roche to acquire all the outstanding shares of Memory Pharmaceuticals in an all-cash transaction for an aggregate price of approximately USD 50 million. Memory Pharmaceuticals develops innovative drug candidates for the treatment of debilitating central nervous system (CNS) [...]

Following introduction of a new system in 2002 to determine the allocation of donated livers, black patients no longer are less likely to receive a liver transplant, but disparities for women remain, according to a study in the November 26 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. The Model for End-Stage Liver [...]

Sickle cell anaemia is a genetic disease characterised by the sickling of red blood cells in patients suffering from hypoxia (around 100,000 cases in Europe and North America). The red blood cells then adopt a sickle shape, obstruct the blood vessels and cause repeated and very painful crises. Current treatment involves frequent and substantial exchange [...]

In human relationships, a certain “spark” often governs whether we prefer one person to another, and critical first impressions can occur within seconds. A team lead by Johns Hopkins researchers has found that cell-to-cell “friendships” operate in much the same way and that dysfunctional bonding is linked to the spread of cancer. The research was [...]

“Time poor” single mothers come surprisingly close in the number of hours they spend caring for their children compared to married mothers, and the difference is explained almost entirely by socio-economic factors and the kind of jobs they hold, say University of Maryland sociologists in a new study. The researchers conclude public policy focuses too [...]

For older adults who have lived through the Great Depression, news stories comparing present circumstances to the harsh realities of food lines, few jobs, and extreme poverty of the 1930’s may be panic-producing. Add that to the fact that an economic crisis disproportionately affects older adults who need access to retirement funds, and it’s not [...]

Scientists here and in France have made a new theoretical advance in atomic behavior that could lead to sharper magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) pictures. The discovery could one day help enable the development of portable MRI machines. In the November 25 online issue of the Journal of Chemical Physics, they explain why scientists couldn’t completely [...]

SARS - severe acute respiratory syndrome - alarmed the world five years ago as the first global pandemic of the 21st century. The coronavirus (SARS-CoV) that sickened more than 8,000 people - and killed nearly 800 of them - may have originated in bats, but the actual animal source is not known. In an effort to understand [...]

Scientists at Penn State have shed light on some of the processes that regulate genes — such as the processes that ensure that proteins are produced at the correct time, place, and amount in an organism — and they also have shed light on the evolution of the DNA regions that regulate genes. The team [...]