NSF gets new director

New NIH Director

In a previously reported investigation of 616 women with breast cancer included in a case-control study, we found an association between tumour stage at presentation and breast self examination (BSE) (Mant et al., 1987). Women who had both practised and been taught BSE had more favourably staged tumours than other women. A number of other studies, summarised in the meta-analysis by Hill et al. ...

Heart Repair Gets New Muscle

Average earth temperatures rose 0.6 oC over the last century, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But that increase pales in comparison to the 1.4–5.8 oC expected increase over this century. As temperatures climb, climate models predict that high-latitude, high-altitude regions like Yellowstone National Park will experience shorter winters and earlier snow melts. ...

FoxP3 gets a new gig

On page 1141, the one-trick transcription factor FoxP3 reveals a new function. According to Chang and colleagues, FoxP3 does more than just drive regulatory T (T reg) cell development; it also promotes the proliferation of developing thymocytes. FoxP3 is required for the development of CD4 CD25 T reg cells, which subdue the activation of conventional T cells and thus protect against chronic inf...

Utrophin gets a new look

In This Issue In This Issue trophin, a member of the spectrin superfamily of actin-binding proteins ubiquitously expressed in human cells, helps link the actin cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix. Galkin et al. report on page 231 that a newly developed image analysis method identifies two different modes of utrophin binding to F-actin. The findings contradict earlier studies on utrophin–ac...

New Faculty Orientation Gets a Facelift