The caspase-8 gene plays a critical role in suppressing metastasis (spread) of neuroblastoma, and the expression of this gene is frequently absent in cancer cells that are aggressively metastasizing, according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). Neuroblastoma is a tumor of the nervous system and is the most common tumor in infants younger than 1 year of age; it accounts for 7-10 percent of childhood cancers.
Purdue University engineers have developed a wind tunnel that is the only one of its kind in the world capable of running quietly at “hypersonic” speeds, helping researchers to design advanced aircraft and missiles.
No other wind tunnel runs quietly while conducting experiments in airstreams traveling at Mach 6 – six times the speed of sound, said Steven Schneider, an aerospace engineer and professor in Purdue’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Researchers will
Study shows dogs ability to distinguish breast and lung cancer in people compared to healthy controls
In a society where lung and breast cancers are leading causes of cancer death worldwide, early detection of the disease is highly desirable. In a new scientific study, researchers present astonishing new evidence that man’s best friend, the dog, may have the capacity to contribute to the process of early cancer detection.
In this study which will be published in the
Down Syndrome and cleft lip and/or palate most prevalent defects studied
Cleft lip is a treatable birth defect, but for the families of the estimated 6,800 U.S. infants born with one, it’s a heartbreaking experience – not only because of the associated health problems, but because friends and family may ignore the condition or because of social stigma associated with facial defects.
Among the 18 major birth defects included in this study, cleft lip and/or palate
A new study done in the area burned in the catastrophic Biscuit Fire in Southwestern Oregon in 2002 found that allowing trees to naturally regenerate works about as well or better than logging and replanting, and that undisturbed areas may be at lower fire risk in the future.
The research will be published Friday in Sciencexpress and later presented in the journal Science, by scientists from Oregon State University and the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry in Hawaii. It pr
It may be no surprise that marine reserves protect the fish that live in them, but now scientists from the University of Exeter have shown for the first time that they could also help improve the health of coral reefs.
In a paper in the prestigious journal Science, Dr Peter Mumby and colleagues looked at how a marine park in the Bahamas was affected by the return of the reef’s top predator, the Nassau Grouper. Researchers were concerned that an increase in groupers could
Ants that tend and harvest gardens of fungus have a secret weapon against the parasites that invade their crops: antibiotic-producing bacteria that the insects harbor on their bodies.
Writing today in the journal Science, an international team led by University of Wisconsin-Madison bacteriologist Cameron Currie illustrates the intricate and ancient nature of this mutualistic relationship. The researchers found that the ants house the bacteria in specialized, highly adapted cavi
Chemists have calculated the structure of a very unusual molecule, one whose hyperactive atoms have earned it the nickname “the scrambler.”
This highly caustic “protonated methane,” or CH5+, is also called a “super acid,” and it is a short-lived player in the chemical reactions that make petroleum products.
CH5+ should also be present in interstellar clouds where stars and planets form, said Anne B. McCoy, professor of chemistry at Ohio State University. McCoy hopes that th
Sediment cores collected from the seafloor off Southern California reveal that plankton populations in the Northeastern Pacific changed significantly in response to a general warming trend that started in the early 1900s. As ocean temperatures increased, subtropical and tropical species of small marine organisms called foraminifera (forams) became more abundant. Forams that live in cooler waters decreased, especially after the mid-1970s. These changes are unlike anything seen during the previous 1,4
University of Iowa researchers have found a star orbiting a “medium-sized” black hole — about 1,000 times more massive than the sun — in the nearby starburst galaxy M82, a development that may help explain how medium-sized black holes form and evolve, according to a paper to be published in the Jan. 5 issue of Science Express, the online version of the journal Science.
Philip Kaaret, associate professor in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of Physics and Astron
A protein that seems to be pivotal in lifting depression has been discovered by a Nobel Laureate researcher funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
“Mice deficient in this protein, called p11, display depression-like behaviors, while those with sufficient amounts behave as if they have been treated with antidepressants,” explained Paul Greengard, Ph.D., a Rockefeller University neuroscientist who received the 2000 Nobel Pri
A laboratory method developed for making and analyzing cold, concentrated samples of a mysterious “floppy” molecule thought to be abundant only in outer space has revealed new data that help explain the molecule’s properties.
The advance, described in the Jan. 6 issue of Science,* is a step toward overcoming a decades-old challenge in chemistry–explaining reactions that occur within very cold clouds among the stars, and perhaps for developing new chemical processes. The paper
The diversity of marine life in the Gulf of Maine region is much greater than previously thought
The Gulf of Maine Program of the Census of Marine Life, with the Huntsman Marine Science Center of St. Andrews, New Brunswick, announced today the first count of known marine species in the Gulf of Maine region — more than 50% larger than previous estimates. The count is 3,317 species and includes both year-round species and those that migrate to the region seasonally. The Canadian-US p
Unlike their cousins, rods and cones, newly discovered retinal cells don’t aid sight in a traditional sense. Instead, they constrict the eye’s pupil and set the body’s circadian clock. But new research from Brown University – where the photoreceptors were discovered by David Berson and colleagues – shows that these cells are sensitive to lighting conditions in a manner similar to rods and cones. Results appear in Neuron.
A new retinal photoreceptor adjusts its sensitivity in differe
Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have discovered that a phenomenon called carrier multiplication, in which semiconductor nanocrystals respond to photons by producing multiple electrons, is applicable to a broader array of materials that previously thought. The discovery increases the potential for the use of nanoscrystals as solar cell materials to produce higher electrical outputs than current solar cells.
In papers published recently in the journals Nature Physics and
Researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix have developed a new method that allows technicians to obtain clearer Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans with less sensitivity to patient motion.
PROPELLER is an acronym for “Periodically Rotated Overlapping ParallEL Lines with Enhanced Reconstruction.” This method acquires data in a unique way that allows one to track the motion of the patient during the MRI scan. The motion can then be removed.
“While PR
Feedback
