Nanoscale magnets in the form of iron-containing molecules might be used to improve the contrast between healthy and diseased tissue in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)—as long as the concentration of nanomagnets is carefully managed—according to a new report* by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and collaborators. Molecular nanomagnets are a new class of MRI contrast agents that may offer significant advantages, such as versatility in design, over the compounds used today.

It makes for bobbing balloons and squeaky voices, but now helium is also helping people with severe respiratory problems breathe easier.

Researchers believe they have discovered by chance a new way to fight colorectal cancer, and potentially cancers of the esophagus, liver and skin. Early work shows that a group of compounds called peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) inhibitors may have an unexpected cancer-fighting effect, according to research published today in the journal International Cancer Research. Furthermore, the new studies suggest that PPARgamma inhibitors act through some of the same mechanisms as the blockbuster chemotherapy Taxol, but with key differences.

Two recently discovered genes from an ancient wheat variety have led to a major advance in breeding new salt-tolerant varieties.

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative's (IAVI) January 2007 Annual Issue of VAX, an editorially independent bulletin on AIDS vaccine research published by IAVI, reports that 13 new preventive AIDS vaccine trials were initiated in eight countries around the world in 2006. There are now more than 30 trials ongoing in 24 countries, across every continent.

Fluctuations in sex hormone levels during women's menstrual cycles affect the responsiveness of their brains' reward circuitry, an imaging study at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has revealed. While women were winning rewards, their circuitry was more active if they were in a menstrual phase preceding ovulation and dominated by estrogen, compared to a phase when estrogen and progesterone are present.

Although no two brains are alike, they can display a comparable pattern of neural activity when exposed to similar sensory input. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen have now developed a mathematical method to design networks from neural cells which exhibit a predefined pattern dynamics. The researchers hope that their method will assist them in getting closer to understanding which of the possible network configurations was privileged by evolution - and why (Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, December, 2006).

Can't hear? Turn up the white noise, says a team of Rutgers-Camden professors who have produced a mathematical explanation for the benefits of noise. Their findings could lead to major improvements in hearing aid technology.

Some people appear to be genetically predisposed to developing severe depression, but researchers have yet to pin down the genes responsible. Now, a specific region rife with promise has been located on one chromosome by a consortium of researchers working under Douglas Levinson, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Medical Center have, for the first time, identified human pancreatic cancer stem cells. Their work indicates that these cells are likely responsible for the aggressive tumor growth, progression, and metastasis that define this deadly cancer.

Genetic fingerprints that reveal where a brain cell came from remain distinct even after the cell becomes a brain tumor, an international coalition of scientists will report in the February 1 issue of Cancer Research.