News & Opinion Articles | The Scientist Magazine®| Page 544

A dictionary for genomes

By William Wells(wells@biotext.com) | August 31, 2000

With sequence information in hand, the search for regulatory sites in promoters can be done by computers rather than cloning. But the primary tools for analysis, multiple-alignment algorithms, can only handle a small amount of sequence data. In the August 29 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Bussemaker et al. introduce an alternative algorithm that they dub 'MobyDick' (Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 2000, 97: 10096-10100). MobyDick treats DNA sequence as text in which allthewordshavebeenru

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European life scientists to have new congress and lobby group

By Robert Walgate | August 31, 2000

The new European Life Sciences Organization (ELSO) is starting with great hopes but a shoestring budget and few members.

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Statins may promote angiogenesis in animals

By (medwire@sciencenow.com) | August 31, 2000

Capillary formation in ischemic limbs may be a beneficial side effect for normocholesterolemic patients.

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Universal cancer vaccine being developed

By (medwire@sciencenow.com) | August 31, 2000

Inhibiting the telomerase enzyme, present in most cancers, may prevent cell division but some scientists warn of "more harm than good."

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BSE carriers may pass it on unknowingly

By (medwire@sciencenow.com) | August 30, 2000

Sub-clinical infections in mice suggest that the food chain could be affected.

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Ticked off the list

August 30, 2000

Botulinum toxin A injections provide relief from tics in patients with Tourette syndrome.

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VEGF gene achieves angiogenesis

By (medwire@sciencenow.com) | August 30, 2000

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor restores blood flow to areas of cardiac tissue previously hibernating.

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A step too far for asthmatics

August 29, 2000

NEW YORK, Aug 28 (Praxis Press). Despite similar degrees of airflow obstruction, patients with past or present asthma, either with or without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), walk more slowly than patients with COPD. Laszlo and colleagues studied twelve-minute walking speed (hurrying) and lung function in twenty-four patients with COPD, ten patients with asthma, four patients with both COPD and asthma, and eighteen healthy controls. Most of the difference (70%) in walking speeds bet

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