A new study from MIT in the March 4 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience explains some of the neural mechanism involved in the brain remapping seen in macular degeneration. Macular degeneration affects just 1.75 million people in the United States.

Macular degeneration is the most prevalent form of adult blindness. Patients lose vision progressively in the center of their visual field, thus depriving the equivalent part in the visual cortex of input. Previous research has shown that the deprived neurons start responding to visual input from another spot on the retina; this is evidence of plasticity in the adult cortex Until now it was unknown just how such plasticity occurred.

UK’s Cambridge-based Rapid Biosensor Systems (RBS) has developed a new screening test for early stage tuberculosis infection that is low cost, non-invasive and can be used in remote locations, since it does not require electricity or running water. The TB Breathalyser detects infected subjects capable of transmitting TB to others, giving a result in minutes with up 95% to accuracy.

The device, the result of six-year research and development program, consists of a collection tube, at the bottom of which is a glass bio-sensor coated with a patented bio-chemical coating that reacts with the TB bacilli. After the patient coughs into the tube, it is sealed with a simple twist action, and then inserted into a portable reader unit.

The higher estradiol levels that are seen during pregnancy are more prominent in pregnant women who have restless legs syndrome (RLS) than in those without, a recent study shows.

Authors of the study, published Feb. 1 2009 in the journal Sleep, say the data suggests that estrogens play a significant role in RLS during pregnancy. This also supports earlier reports of high RLS incidence in the last trimester of pregnancy (when estradiol is at its highest elevation).

Mononucleosis, or mono for short, is a viral disease affecting certain blood cells. It’s cause is the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), actually a member of the herpes virus family. EBV has also been associated with certain cancers, including Burkitt lymphoma, immunoblastic lymphoma, and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

40–50% of the average adult male is muscle, as is 30–40% of the average adult female. Muscles are so named because sometime around the early 1500’s, the rippling of bicep muscles while they flexed were observed to resemble small mice scampering under the skin. (The word musculus means “little mouse” in Latin.) It is easy to understand the workings of mouse-like muscles in an arm or leg. But what about one deep inside your back that looks more like a pencil?