| Antigua worth knowing
ENGLISH HARBOUR, ANTIGUA: The island with 365 powdery-sand beaches, one for each day of the year, is one of the least-known Caribbean islands to most Americans. But two Brits, Adm. Horatio Nelson and guitarist Eric Clapton, were and are very familiar with Antigua, a former British colony that is popular with yachters and the the nautical crowd. Nelson commanded the British naval base and shipyard at English Harbour on the island's southern coast in the 1780s. His dockyard no longer caters to naval ships. Instead, it serves sailing ships and yachts. Clapton has built his $8 million house along the rocky southern shore not far from English Harbour, as well as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. Antigua has been a second home to Clapton. English Harbour is one of the top tourist hubs on Antigua, along with Dickenson Bay on the north coast.
Science News in Brief
Scientists at Harvard have dramatically expanded the list of potential drug targets for AIDS with an announcement yesterday of the discovery of 273 proteins required for survival of the AIDS virus in humans.
Prior to the study, researchers had identified only a few dozen molecules needed by the virus to infect human cells. Because AIDS progression hinges on their presence, targeting them could slow infection.
The authors found the proteins by using an emerging research method called RNA interference that eliminates individual proteins and elucidates their role by measuring the effect of their absence.
The eight Harvard researchers urged use of the technique for other human pathogens as well, writing that their experiment had demonstrated the “power" of RNA interference to find new forms of treatment.
Potential To Restore Range Of Motion, Accelerate Healing Using Freeze ...
Donated, freeze-dried tendon grafts loaded with gene therapy may soon offer effective repair of injured tendons, a goal that has eluded surgeons to date. According to study data published in the journal Molecular Therapy, a new graft technique may provide the first effective framework around which flexor tendon tissue can reorganize as it heals. Such tissue-engineering approaches could significantly improve repair of anterior cruciate ligaments and rotator cuffs as well, researchers said. The study was in a mouse model designed to resemble hard-to-repair flexor tendons in human hands, and the results should provide an impetus for future clinical trials.
Tendons are elastic cords that anchor muscle to bone and enable flexing muscle to move limbs. Related injuries represent nearly half of 33 million U.S.
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