News & Views

Electrical stimulation of the globus pallidus alleviates the symptoms of Parkinson's disease by increasing activity of brain areas involved in movement (pages 671–674).

Mutations in myosin VIIA and connexin 26 lead to hereditary non-syndromic hearing loss

A recent meeting highlights the progress and the challenges of gene therapy.

A mutant adenovirus capable of preferentially destroying cancer cells shows promise in preclinical studies (639–645).

Implants of polymer-encapsulated cells producing CNTF protect neurons of the striatum and cortex from drug-induced destruction in a monkey model of Huntington's disease.

Inactivation of the APC tumor suppressor gene in melanoma and colon cancer results in increased transcriptional activity mediated by β-catenin.

New evidence implicates salt-sensitive, natural antibiotics in lung mucosal defenses and may explain how a defective chloride channel leads to lung infections.

A review of more than 25,000 neoplasms with chromosomal abnormalities should facilitate our understanding and treatment of cancer.

Studies in chimpanzees provide preliminary evidence that DNA vaccines may protect against experimental infection with HIV-1 (pages 526–532).

Analyses of prion protein deposits in patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease contribute to the controversy over the nature of the transmissible agent (pages 521–525).

Recent findings in mice hint that ERβ and not ERα may mediate some of the cardiovascular benefits of estrogen (pages 545–548).

Bladder abnormalities in mice deficient in neuronal nitric oxide synthase may model idiopathic voiding disorders in humans (pages 571–574).

The finding of a common receptor for coxsackievirus and adenovirus should help improve strategies for drug design and gene therapy.

The finding that cardiac fibrillation is a chaotic process may help in the design of new anti-arrhythmic drugs and pacemakers.

Fas-mediated programmed cell death contributes to the pathology of thyroiditis and hepatitis (pages 409–413).

Adenoviral transfer of NT-3 and CNTF genes provides therapeutic benefit to mice with motor neuron disease (pages 429–436).

Baseline airway responsiveness is mediated by T cells in mouse models of asthma (pages 460–462).

Specific receptor subunits expressed in localized regions of the brain confer anesthetic insensitivity to GABA_A receptors.

Evidence suggests that expression of the MDR1 gene in human tumors is associated with malignancy in a tissue-dependent fashion (pages 447–450).

Certain progestins may oppose the favorable effects of estrogen on the cardiovascular system of postmenopausal women (pages 324–327).