National DNA Day is celebrated on April 25. Although this holiday was declared as one-time observance, it is still celebrated annually. DNA Day commemorates the day in 1953 when James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and colleagues published papers in the journal Nature on the structure of DNA. It celebrates the discovery and understanding of DNA and the scientific advances that understanding has made possible. In the United States, DNA Day was first celebrated … [Read more...]
NIH Scientists Discover How HIV Kills Immune Cells
NIH Scientists Discover How HIV Kills Immune Cells Findings Have Implications for HIV Treatment WHAT: Untreated HIV infection destroys a person’s immune system by killing infection-fighting cells, but precisely when and how HIV wreaks this destruction has been a mystery until now. New research by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, reveals how HIV triggers a signal telling an infected immune cell to die. … [Read more...]
BREAST CANCER, How Many Women are getting this disease?
How many women get breast cancer? The American Cancer Society’s most recent estimates for breast cancer in the United States are for 2012: About 226,870 new cases of invasive breast cancer in women About 63,300 new cases of carcinoma in situ (CIS) will be found (CIS is non-invasive and is the earliest form of breast cancer). About 39,510 deaths from breast cancer (women) Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States, other than skin cancer. It is the … [Read more...]
‘Mitochondrial Eve’ ~ To be or not to be?
Mitochondrial Eve is estimated to have lived around 200,000 years ago, most likely in East Africa, when Homo sapiens sapiens (anatomically modern humans) were developing as a population distinct from other human sub-species. On the first day of 1987, a scientific “discovery” seized the attention of the popular press. The original scientific article that caused all the commotion — “Mitochondrial DNA and Human Evolution”— appeared in the January 1, 1987 issue of Nature, and was authored by … [Read more...]