Based on laboratory research, scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have a new theory as to why people with Alzheimer’s disease have trouble performing even the simplest memory tasks, such as remembering a family member’s name.
That’s because they discovered a physical link between apolipoprotein E (APOE), the transport molecules known to play a role in development of the disease, and glutamate, a brain chemical necessary for establishing human memory.
In
Ocean temperatures might have risen even higher during the last century if it weren’t for volcanoes that spewed ashes and aerosols into the upper atmosphere, researchers have found. The eruptions also offset a large percentage of sea level rise caused by human activity.
Using 12 new state-of-the-art climate models, the researchers found that ocean warming and sea level rise in the 20th century were substantially reduced by the 1883 eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indones
The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) — a project developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — is seeking 800 older adults to participate in a study aimed at identifying biological markers of memory decline and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Ultimately, scientists hope that brain and biological changes can be detected before memory decline and other symptoms appear, allowing the effectiveness of drugs to be evaluated at the earliest possible time.
The $6
The Department of Energy’s Spallation Neutron Source, located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has passed another milestone on the way to completion this year–the commissioning of the proton accumulator ring. The accumulator ring is the final step in a proton’s journey through the accelerator before it strikes the SNS’s mercury target, “spalling” away neutrons to be used for research.
The DOE Office of Science facility will produce the world’s most inten
A Florida State University scientist used a gene transfer technique to block the expression of a gene associated with clinical depression in a new study of mice that could lead to better treatment of human beings with this condition.
Carlos Bolanos, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, was among a team of researchers that identified the role of a gene called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) in the development of social aversion. Mice treated with a tra
Rising global temperatures over the past two decades may be responsible for a shortened season of a serious respiratory illness in the United Kingdom, according to an article in the March 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause particularly severe lower respiratory tract infections in infants and young children, sometimes resulting in pneumonia. Like the flu, RSV has a seasonal pattern, infecting the majority of people
An important part of the decades-old assumption thought to be essential for quantum statistical physics is being challenged by researchers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and colleagues in Germany and Italy.
In a journal article to be published in Physical Review Letters and now available online, the researchers show that it is not necessary to assume that large collections of atomic particles are in a random state in order to derive a mathematical formula tha
Indiana University School of Medicine has begun unique clinical trial
Indiana University School of Medicine scientists have begun a unique clinical trial using stem cell injections as a treatment that could offer hope to tens of thousands of people who face sores, ulcers and even amputations due to severe peripheral artery disease.
An estimated 10 million Americans are affected by the poor blood circulation — generally in the legs — of peripheral artery disease (PAD). It i
The number of adverse reactions reported by UK doctors to the antidepressant paroxetine – often know by its brand name Seroxat – rose by 61 per cent after three editions of the BBC’s award-winning current affairs programme Panorama explored increasing concerns about the drug.
Research just published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology shows a sudden increase in reports immediately after each of the three programmes were aired in the UK in October 2002, May 2003 and Oct
Bournemouth University’s School of Conservation Sciences has been awarded a major research grant to study the restoration of forest landscapes in Latin America.
The £1.2 million (1,720,000 Euro) grant from the European Commission’s INCO-DEV programme is one of the largest awards ever received by the University. The project will bring researchers from Bournemouth together with colleagues from organisations in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Spain and Italy over the next three years
UK SCIENTISTS have questioned the use of partial smoking bans in pubs and clubs, following alarming new figures about how much non-smokers actually breathe in.
Researchers from an alliance of universities found that customers sitting in non-smoking areas of pubs were, on average, exposed to as much as two-thirds of the smoke that circulated in smoking areas.
Staff behind the bar were exposed to even higher levels – between 87-95% of smoke in smoking areas.
Furth
A new study to examine facial preference, has found that people are attracted to facial characteristics indicative of personality traits similar to their own.
Biological scientists at the University of Liverpool launched the study to investigate the reasons why many couples tend to look similar to each other. The team, in collaboration with the University of Durham and the University of St Andrews, asked participants to judge perceived age, attractiveness, and personality traits
The latest issue of The Biochemist looks at stem cells, their potential in medicine and the ethical questions to which they give rise.
As part of the Biochemical Journal centenary, the issue carries an exclusive interview with Mike Berridge and Bob Michell and a review of signalling. We interview Sir Philip Cohen, the new president of the Society, on his career in biochemistry and the role of science.
Contents include:
Stem cell research: ethics and geography
At the Campus Vienna Biocenter research has begun into environmental stress-induced changes to the plant genome supported by the Austrian genome program (GEN-AU). A EUR 1.3 million budget has been allocated to the three-year project. Two task groups at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences and five at the Campus will investigate how extreme environmental conditions impact on the plant genome. It is also hoped that evidence will be found to support the hypothesis that inheri
Two schools in Leipzig are taking part in a new EU project called “Play with Water – From Waste to Resource”. Scientists from the Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig-Halle (UFZ) are involved, along with partners from a wide range of research establishments in Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Slovenia. The concept was developed as part of the EU’s Science and Society Action Plan.
The target group for this project from the Training and Demonstration Centre for Decentralised Sewa
Rainmakers and civil servants, specialists and farmers understand water policies in markedly different ways. This is why international policy instruments for managing water resources do not succeed, and the consequence is water shortage. This is shown in a dissertation in political science from Göteborg University in Sweden.
Every year five million people die because of the lack of clean water. This is not because we lack the knowledge to manage water or even because there is not
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