Men behave in certain ways to retain their partner and to continue their relationship with her. Sometime it’s sweet, like holding hands or giving flowers, and sometimes it’s a harbinger of danger. A study published in the latest issue of Personal Relationships identifies several specific acts and tactics that lead to the possibility of violence. Vigilance over a partner’s whereabouts was the highest-ranking tactic predicting violence across the researchers’ three-study investigati
Faster Computation of Haplotypes Provides Insight into Genetic Basis of Human Disease
High-throughput sequencing of an individual’s DNA yields a map of genetic variation which can give clues to the genetic underpinning of human disease. The current technologies collect genotypes, or information from the individual’s two chromosomes. Yet many scientists believe that drilling down to the variations between individuals’ DNA at the level of each chromosome — so-ca
Research with cichlid fish offers support for a gene that regulates craniofacial diversity
Researchers at the Forsyth Institute have discovered that the genes that influence the jaws of cichlid fish, tropical freshwater fish renowned for head shape diversity, offer insight into overall vertebrate diversity. The scientific studies led by R. Craig Albertson, PhD., Staff Associate, show that the growth factor gene, bmp4, is both associated with and has the potential to alter jaw morpho
Discovery could lead to room temperature quantum computing
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have potentially opened up a new avenue toward room temperature quantum information processing. By demonstrating the ability to image and control single isolated electron spins in diamond, they unexpectedly discovered a new channel for transferring information to other surrounding spins — an initial step towards spin-based information processing.
Quantum information processing us
In a recently published study, Mayo Clinic researchers determined Math Learning Disorder (LD) is common among school-age children. Results show that boys are more likely to have Math LD than girls. The research also indicates that although a child can have a Math LD and a reading LD, a substantial percentage of children have Math LD alone. In fact, the cumulative incidence of Math LD through age 19 ranges from 6% to as high as 14%, depending on the Math LD definition. LD is used to describe t
A carbohydrate isolated from the liver lowers blood sugar levels after it is injected into diabetic rats, according to research carried out by a team of experts at the University of Virginia Health System. The UVa team believes this compound, called D-chiro-Inositol-Galactosamine, or INS2, acts as a messenger inside cells to switch on enzymes that regulate blood sugar, taking glucose from the bloodstream into the liver and muscles where it is stored. INS2 is naturally occurring in the body and
French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot first described amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 1869, but, nearly 140 years later, little is known about the cause of the devastating neurodegenerative disease, and there is no cure.
What is known about Lou Gehrig’s disease, as it is commonly called, is that misfolded and damaged proteins clump together in cells to form aggregates and motor neurons die. But scientists have long debated whether or not the protein aggregates actually
Minor and major depression linked to higher death rate for people with type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes and depression can be a fatal mix. Patients whose type 2 diabetes was accompanied by minor or major depression had higher mortality rates, compared to patients with type 2 diabetes alone, over the three-year period of a recent study in Washington state. The results appear in the November 2005 edition of Diabetes Care, published by the American Diabetes Association.
Research
First study of its kind extends linkage beyond North America and Europe
Even in an Asian nation where people generally have higher levels of physical activity on the job than is typical in North America or Europe, those who walk more or engage in regular sports activity tend to have lower levels of ischemic stroke and coronary heart disease, according to a new study in the Nov. 1, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
“The strength of the p
Researchers studying how proteins called helicases travel along strands of DNA have found that when the proteins hit an obstacle they snap back to where they began, repeating the process over and over, possibly playing a preventative role in keeping the genome intact.
Taekjip Ha, a professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, likens the biological scenario to Boston Red Sox baseball; the team rolls along
Preliminary trial offers encouragement for definitive tests of cardiac regeneration technique
Left ventricular function and exercise capacity increased, while the area of heart muscle damage shrank, in 18 patients given infusions of their own bone marrow stem cells up to eight years after a heart attack, according to a new study in the Nov. 1, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
“This new therapy is able to treat until now irreversible heart
New findings from members of the Cassini imaging team show that certain prominent features in Saturn’s narrow and contorted F ring can be understood in terms of a simple gravitational interaction with the small moon Prometheus. The results are published in today’s issue of the journal “Nature.”
The F ring is notorious for exhibiting unusual structures, like “knots,” “kinks,” and “clumps” that continue to puzzle astronomers. Cassini images have shown that the gravitati
Saint Louis University research finds trend isn’t temporary
Between 13 and 20 percent of wives out-earn their husbands, according to recent Saint Louis University research.
“We had become so used to the Leave It to Beaver household, and not all households fit into that,” said Timothy McBride, Ph.D., director of health policy at Saint Louis University School of Public Health and a study author.
Researchers had noticed years ago that some women were out-ear
When it comes to focusing on a task amid distractions, some folks more than 60 years old are as mentally sharp as 22-year-olds. Others struggle. Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have shed some light on why that is.
Reporting in the current issue (September) of the quarterly journal Psychology and Aging, the scientists say there is less white matter in the frontal lobes of those who struggle
Rice team mitigates toxicity of tiny cylinders with chemical changes
In follow-on work to last year’s groundbreaking toxicological study on water-soluble buckyballs, researchers at Rice University’s Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) find that water-soluble carbon nanotubes are significantly less toxic to begin with. Moreover, the research finds that nanotubes, like buckyballs, can be rendered nontoxic with minor chemical modifications.
Highest lifetime risk shifts from younger population to middle-aged adults
Findings from the largest survey ever conducted on the co-occurrence of psychiatric disorders among U.S. adults indicates a sharper picture than previously reported of major depressive disorder (MDD) in specific population groups. Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) also indicate a strong relationship of MDD to alcohol use disorders, drug disorders a
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