Long-standing public and political contention over the effects of the United States' economic embargo on the health of the Cuban people appears to be approaching a watershed. The proponents of a change in U.S. policy base their arguments on the results of scientific research over recent years that indicate the embargo has contributed to unhealthy shortages of food and medicine in Cuba. In both houses of Congress, bills are being considered that would exempt from the embargo the sale of food to

Date: May 11, 1998 Author: Steve Bunk Do apes have feelings? Do they recognize and understand emotions? Behavioral and biomedical scientists are beginning to put aside old differences concerning such questions and combine their efforts to shed new light on what nonhuman primates may reveal about human evolution. A national leader in this emerging interdisciplinary approach is the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta. In September of 1977, the university establ

The logical outcome of gene mapping is nigh. Biotechnology companies are using genetic information to design new drugs that may go beyond merely slowing or stopping a disease process to inducing the regeneration or repair of damaged tissue. Looking past the conventional drug targets of enzymes and gene-coupled receptors, researchers are seeking out molecules in the pathways along which biochemical signals are transferred. In some cases, their work has led to compounds--now in clinical trials or

Swiss anthropologist Jeremy Narby counts himself among the relatively thin ranks of scientists willing to publicly announce their conviction that nature is "minded," that an intelligence lies behind the development of life. Such a position is heresy to the prevailing scientific view of naturalism, which holds that nature is self-sufficient and the result of undirected processes. These two differing viewpoints usually are framed in the context of a debate between theology and science--creationis

What to make of estrogen? Does the female sex hormone's potential to protect women, and even men, against an array of illnesses foreshadow a research bonanza? Or will its use, in natural and synthetic forms, always be compromised by serious side effects, including an increased risk of cancer? A steady flow of academic articles and announcements from university research centers indicates widespread interest in such questions, but the asking seems much easier than the answering. "Estrogen" is a

Date: March 16, 1998 New Drug Development A regional lab visit highlights challenges of agency-wide change At the Food and Drug Administration's Central Region office in Philadelphia, cabinetsful of documentation offer only a vague notion of the paperwork involved in getting a new drug through FDA's review and approval process. Nicholas Falcone, the district office's coordinator of new drug applications (NDAs) and abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs)-the latter for generic compounds-hefts

IT ALL CONNECTS: Ohio State's Janice Kiekolt-Glaser believes that the more mind-body medicine is used in general medicine, the better. Research into the effects of molecular pathways on brain and body functions is reviving old questions Backed by solid research in molecular biology and fueled by consumer interest, the role of the mind in bodily health is entering the arena of serious scientific consideration. Evidence of communication between the central nervous system (CNS) and the immune sy

The federal government is beginning to take a close look at the accountability of programs designed to increase opportunities for minorities in science. Funding applications now require that grantee institutions set internal goals, fashion programs to meet those objectives, and become actively involved with government agencies in the evaluation process. Moves also are afoot to create an independently managed clearinghouse of data on such programs. But these changes are occurring under a shadow

Editor's Note: Scientists looking for a crash course in effective communication of their research findings should catch Alan Leshner in action. During recent months, the personable director of the Rockville, Md.-based National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has been moderating a series of "Town Meetings" in such metropolises as Philadelphia, Dallas, Chicago, and Atlanta. In the keynote talk he gives on the myths and realities of drug abuse and addiction, he juxtaposes graphs and cartoons with a

Edited by: Steve Bunk M.P. Boldin, T.M. Goncharov, Y.V. Goltsev, D. Wallach, "Involvement of MACH, a novel MORT1/FADD-interacting protease, in Fas/APO-1- and TNF receptor-induced cell death," Cell, 85:803-15, 1996. (Cited in more than 250 publications as of January 1998) Comments by David Wallach, Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel Photo: Mike Goldberg DIRECT ROUTE: David Wallach of the Weizmann Institute wrote a paper that he says provided the f

Edited by: Steve Bunk THERE THEY ARE: Harvard's Wilma Wasco and colleagues found the subcellular locales of the presenilins, in the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi complex. D.M. Kovacs, H.J. Fausett, K.J. Page, T.W. Kim, R.D. Moir, D.E. Merriam, R.D. Hollister, O.G. Hallmark, R. Mancini, K.M. Fstein, B.T. Hyman, R.E. Tanzi, W. Wasco, "Alzheimer-associated presenilins 1 and 2: Neuronal expression in brain and localization to intracellular membranes in mammalian cells," Nature Medicine, 2:2

Photo: John Wang ETHNOBOTANY: This Ava puhi Mohi plant will provide an ingredient for a Nu Skin cosmeticeutical to be launched in March. America's fascination with youth and physical beauty has prompted a rise in the development over recent years of "high-performance" cosmetics containing bioactive ingredients for skin damaged by the effects of sun and aging. Companies that produce personal-care products now are seeking new bioactive ingredients and new delivery system technologies. This deman