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Nasa delays its next Mars mission
The US space agency Nasa has delayed the launch of its Mars Science Laboratory rover mission from 2009 to 2011.
2008-12-04 12:04:07
Government recommends Kansas for biodefense lab AP
AP - The government has recommended a site in Kansas for a new $450 million laboratory to study biological threats such as anthrax and foot-and-mouth disease, officials said Wednesday.
2008-12-04 02:47:05
Kaiser develops unique lab to test tech products' usefulness
With tech companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere offering a growing assortment of health-related gadgets, Kaiser Permanente executives have developed what they say is a unique laboratory to test the products' usefulness.
2008-12-04 02:22:22
National Health Laboratory Policy Validated
The draft policy of the Gambia National Health Laboratory was recently validated at a one-day consultative stakeholders' workshop held at the Baobab Holiday Resort in Bijilo.
2008-12-02 06:29:18
Government to Build Drug Control Laboratory
THE Government is to build a modern complex to house both the National Drug Authority NDA headquarters and a drug quality control laboratory, the health general duties state minister has said.
2008-12-02 00:39:19
Food crunch opens doors to bioengineered crops AP
AP - Zeng Yawen's outdoor laboratory in the terraced hills of southern China is a trove of genetic potential x97 rice that thrives in unusually cool temperatures, high altitudes or in dry soil; rice rich in calcium, vitamins or iron.
2008-11-30 10:51:04
Swiss Gov't Provides Addicts With Prescription Heroin
Patients gather around a table to shoot up, part of a pioneering Swiss program to curb drug abuse by providing addicts a clean, safe place to take heroin produced by a government-approved laboratory.
2008-11-30 04:25:21
Pesticide found in Bero samples
Ranchi, Nov. 25: The state forensic science laboratory FSL today confirmed that traces of a pesticide ' endosulfan ' was found in the milk and visceral samples collected after five students died at a Bero residential school.
2008-11-26 03:13:34
Scientists identify the best candidate genes for bipolar disorder
Washington, November 22 ANI: Indiana University researchers have for the first time developed a comprehensive map of genes that are likely to be involved in bipolar disorder.Reporting their work in the American Journal of Medical Genetics, the researchers revealed that they combined data from the latest large-scale international gene hunting studies for bipolar disorder with information from their own studies, which helped them identify the best candidate genes for the illness.Dr. Alexander B. Niculescu III, an assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the laboratory of neurophenomics at the IU School of Medicine, said that his team mined the data from the genome-wide association studies and other study results on the levels of gene activity in human blood samples and in animal models. He said that genes with the highest levels of prominence were determined to be the most active in contributing to the disorder. He added that analysing the working of those genes, the team were able to create a comprehensive biological model of bipolar disorder. "Based on our work, we now project that there will be hundreds of genes - possibly as much as 10 percent of the human genome - involved in this illness," said Dr. Niculescu. "Not all genetic mutations will occur in every individual with bipolar disorder. Different individuals will have different combinations of genetic mutations. This genetic complexity is most likely what made past attempts to identify genes for the disorder through genetic-only studies so difficult and inconsistent." Comparing the process adopted by his team with a Web search, Dr. Niculescu said: "The process was similar to a Google approach, the more links there are to a page on the Internet, the more likely it is to come up at the top of your search list. The more experimental lines of evidence for a gene, the higher it comes up on your priority list of genes involved in the disorder." The researcher highlighted the fact that there have been few statistically significant findings in searches of the human genome, as it applies to bipolar disorder, to date. "By integrating the findings of multiple studies, we were able to sort through, identify genes that were most likely to be involved in bipolar disorder, and achieve this major breakthrough in our understanding of the illness," he added. Bipolar disorder, sometimes called manic depression, is a serious illness that causes patients to experience mild or dramatic mood swings, shifts in energy, and a diminished capacity to function. Dr. Niculescu said that his team's work could open exciting avenues for psychiatric researchers and clinicians, as well as for patients and their families. "First and foremost, these studies will lead to a better understanding of bipolar and related disorders. Second, the researchers now plan to study individuals to see which combination of genes is present in individuals to come up with a genetic risk score," he said.He revealed that the purpose behind the study was to be able to apply the risk score to test individuals even before the illness manifests itself for preventive measures - such as lifestyle changes, counselling, low-dose medications - or to delay or stop the illness from developing. "Third, in individuals who already have the illness, genetic testing in combination with blood biomarkers for the disease, could help determine which treatments works best so personalized treatments could be developed," Dr. Niculescu said. ANI
2008-11-22 03:00:00
'Fish technology' developed to draw affordable renewable energy from water currents
Washington, Nov 22 ANI: The day is not far when slow-moving ocean and river currents may become new, reliable and affordable alternative energy source, all thanks to VIVACE - a machine designed by an engineer at University of Michigan that works like a fish to turn potentially destructive vibrations in fluid flows into clean, renewable power.VIVACE is the first known device that could harness energy from most of the water currents around the globe because it works in flows moving slower than 2 knots about 2 miles per hour. Most of the Earth's currents are slower than 3 knots. Turbines and water mills need an average of 5 or 6 knots to operate efficiently.Expanded as Vortex Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy, VIVACE doesn't depend on waves, tides, turbines or dams. It's a unique hydrokinetic energy system that relies on "vortex induced vibrations."Vortex induced vibrations are undulations that a rounded or cylinder-shaped object makes in a flow of fluid, which can be air or water. The presence of the object puts kinks in the current's speed as it skims by. This causes eddies, or vortices, to form in a pattern on opposite sides of the object. The vortices push and pull the object up and down or left and right, perpendicular to the current."For the past 25 years, engineers-myself included-have been trying to suppress vortex induced vibrations. But now at Michigan we're doing the opposite. We enhance the vibrations and harness this powerful and destructive force in nature," said VIVACE developer Michael Bernitsas, a professor in the U-M Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.Fish excel in how to put the vortices that cause these vibrations to good use."VIVACE copies aspects of fish technology. Fish curve their bodies to glide between the vortices shed by the bodies of the fish in front of them. Their muscle power alone could not propel them through the water at the speed they go, so they ride in each other's wake," said Bernitsas. The working prototype in his lab is just one sleek cylinder attached to springs. The cylinder hangs horizontally across the flow of water in a tractor-trailer-sized tank in his marine renewable energy laboratory. The water in the tank flows at 1.5 knots.Now, the VIVACE cylinder in the current causes alternating vortices to form above and below the cylinder. The vortices push and pull the passive cylinder up and down on its springs, creating mechanical energy. Then, the machine converts the mechanical energy into electricity.Bernitsas said that only a few cylinders might be enough to power an anchored ship, or a lighthouse. These cylinders could be stacked in a short ladder. He estimated that array of VIVACE converters the size of a running track and about two stories high could power about 100,000 houses. Such an array could rest on a river bed or it could dangle, suspended in the water. But it would all be under the surface.It is believed that the system would not harm marine life like dams and water turbines can, because the oscillations of VIVACE would be slow.Bernitsas said VIVACE energy would cost about 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour. "There won't be one solution for the world's energy needs. But if we could harness 0.1 percent of the energy in the ocean, we could support the energy needs of 15 billion people," said Bernitsas. The study is published in the current issue of the quarterly Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering. ANI
2008-11-22 03:00:00

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Nasa delays its next Mars mission

Government recommends Kansas for biodefense lab AP

Kaiser develops unique lab to test tech products' usefulness

National Health Laboratory Policy Validated

Government to Build Drug Control Laboratory

Food crunch opens doors to bioengineered crops AP

Swiss Gov't Provides Addicts With Prescription Heroin

Pesticide found in Bero samples

Scientists identify the best candidate genes for bipolar disorder

'Fish technology' developed to draw affordable renewable energy from water currents