Rebuilding the road to cancer

Article Abstract:

The route to tumour formation is a multi-step journey involving accumulated genetic alterations. Researchers have effectively turned human cells into tumour cells in the laboratory, to determine the minimum amount of genetic events needed for tumour formation. The researchers predicted that if telomere erosion could be prevented, this would cooperate with additional oncogenes and enable direct progression to cancer.The telomerase enzyme's catalytic subunit (hTERT) was artificially expressed and the approach was shown to immortalize human cells. Such cells were then transformed by the addition of two familiar oncogenes. A combination of three genetic elements was enough to cause efficient tumour growth.

Research, Observations, Tumors, Cell research, Cytological research

---

Uncertain road to ozone recovery

Article Abstract:

There are a number of barriers to ozone recovery. These include emissions of refrigerant chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), of halons (bromocarbons) as fire-fighting chemicals and of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as interim CFC replacements. It is clear that emissions of halocarbons must be reduced more rapidly than is apparent from current investigations of the atmosphere if real progress is to be made towards ozone recovery. It is possible that ozone depletion can be halted by the end of the first decade of the 21st century, but this will demand high levels of global stewardship.

Prevention, Environmental aspects, Halocarbons, Ozone layer depletion, Chlorofluorocarbons

---

The end of the road for silicon?

Article Abstract:

The roadmap for silicon technology indicates that the end of silicon dioxide as a gate insulator will come in 2012. It will be necessary for scientists and semiconductor experts to develop new technologies if silicon-based microchips are to continue becoming smaller and more powerful. It may prove possible to use an insulating film with a dielectric constant higher than that for silicon dioxide. This would permit the use of a thicker insulating layer for the gate electrode.

Product development, Semiconductor chips, Integrated circuits

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Flawed understanding of the scientific process. The ends of understanding. Pity poor understanding
• Abstracts: Not everything is in the genes. The value of everything. What price ergonomics?: Ergonomists have a say in the design of almost everything in the modern world, but there is little evidence that their methods actually work
• Abstracts: Lending a hand to Maine's island birds. A wish takes wing
• Abstracts: The burst, the burster and its lair. Thermally activated transitions in a bistable three-dimensional optical trap
• Abstracts: Evaluating the biotic integrity of watersheds in the Sierra Nevada, California. Coevolutionary implications of an endemic Pleistocene megaherbivore fauna for insular floras of the California Channel Islands

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.