Volume 12 Issue 4, April 2006

Two reports in this issue use different approaches to repair the heart using engineered tissue in rat models of myocardial infarction. On page 452, Zimmermann et al. use engineered heart tissue derived from neonatal rat heart cells, and on page 459, Miyahara et al. use sheets of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue. The cover image is from the former study and shows the sarcomeric organization of cardiomyocytes within the graft 4 weeks after implantation (green, actin; blue, nuclei).

Editorial

Denying science

Editorial 01 Apr 2006

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News

Failed prevention trials leave behind bounty of samples

Data from the trials' databases might still link diet and disease.

Meredith Wadman
News 29 Mar 2006
With scores still infected, India declares leprosy 'eliminated'

Premature announcements could lead to complacency, experts warn.

T V Padma
News 29 Mar 2006
British trial disaster casts doubts on testing guidelines

Other countries might revise rules for early clinical trials.

Meredith Wadman
News 29 Mar 2006
Swedish students protest proposal to cut PhD terms

Shorter PhD programs threaten educational standards and employment prospects.

Charlotte Schubert
News 29 Mar 2006
US drug approval ignores science's subtleties, experts say

The FDA should be more flexible in reacting to safety concerns.

Emily Waltz
News 29 Mar 2006
Addictive drugs still best option for attention deficit disorder

Millions abuse the stimulant drugs, but other options are inffective.

Paroma Basu
News 29 Mar 2006
Spain takes aim at better clinical research schemes

Doctors in Spain will be allowed to spend half their time on research.

Xavier Bosch
News 29 Mar 2006
News In Brief

News 01 Apr 2006
News Feature: Drugs down the drain

Remnants of everything in your medicine cabinet can now be found in the water supply. Alan Dove asks, should you be worried?

Alan Dove
News 29 Mar 2006
Profile: Thomas Frieden

It's not often that the health official of a city makes global headlines—even when the city in question is New York. With his daring policies on HIV, diabetes and smoking, Thomas Frieden is putting New York on the map.

Apoorva Mandavilli
News 29 Mar 2006

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Correspondence

Reply to 'Side benefits sway developing nations to choose unneeded vaccines'

Steven T. Wiersma
Correspondence 01 Apr 2006
Reply to 'Hormone in the hot seat'

C. Dominique Toran-Allerand
Correspondence 01 Apr 2006

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Book Review

The wake-up call

Michael Stebbins
Book Review 01 Apr 2006

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News & Views

Stem cell aging: what bleach can teach

Intracellular oxidants may contribute to overall lifespan, in part by affecting stem cells. The connection between oxidants and aging now gains strength in a study of hematopoietic stem cells, which respond to oxidants by activating a pathway leading to stem cell exhaustion (pages 446–451).

Jie Liu
Toren Finkel
News & Views 01 Apr 2006
Streptococcus moves inward

A common bacterium, group A Streptococcus, mysteriously causes a range of diseases from benign strep throat to 'flesh-eating' wounds. The difference between pharyngeal and invasive disease is now traced to mutations in two regulatory genes.

P Patrick Cleary
News & Views 01 Apr 2006
Inserting optimism into gene therapy

A small clinical trial for an immunodeficiency disease provides a new way to think about gene therapy (pages 401–409).

Luigi Naldini
News & Views 01 Apr 2006
Fighting infections with vitamin D

Sunlight can treat tuberculosis, a phenomenon observed more than a century ago. The mechanism now becomes more clear, and it involves induction of a microbe-fighting peptide by vitamin D.

Michael Zasloff
News & Views 01 Apr 2006
Remodeling after stroke

A promising approach to treating ischemic stroke, inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), may need to be rethought. Previous work suggested that inhibitors of MMPs could protect the brain, but now it seems that such inhibitors might contribute to damage (pages 441–445).

Berislav V Zlokovic
News & Views 01 Apr 2006
Remodeling in the kidney

Charlotte Schubert
News & Views 01 Apr 2006
Protein twists and turns in Alzheimer disease

An enzyme that modifies protein structure seems to help keep Alzheimer disease at bay. The enzyme affects two proteins thought to be key to disease pathology: amyloid precursor protein (APP) and the microtubule-binding protein tau.

Stuart Maudsley
Mark P Mattson
News & Views 01 Apr 2006
Research Highlights

News & Views 01 Apr 2006