Ohio – Researchers at Ohio State University have developed a method for mass-producing embryonic stem cells.
That’s important because traditional laboratory methods used to grow these cells are costly and don’t produce cells fast enough to respond to increasing demands for human embryonic stem cells, said Shang-Tian Yang, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State University.
Federal rules forbid the federal funding of research on hum
Initial results from an ongoing study evaluating the benefit of prostate cancer screening practices demonstrate that the combined use of both standard tests–the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and the digital rectal exam (DRE)–is optimal for detecting cancer.
The initial results also confirm that the design of the massive study, which will continue until 2019, will indeed allow researchers to determine whether current screening practices reduce death from prostate
Erik Thiessen’s research also sheds light on why adults may struggle to learn a second language
Adults may feel silly when they talk to babies, but those babies will learn to speak sooner if adults talk to them like infants instead of like other adults, according to a study by Carnegie Mellon University Psychology Professor Erik Thiessen published in the March issue of the journal Infancy.
Most adults speak to infants using so-called infant-directed speech: short, s
Virginia’s soybean growers are worried that a devastating problem — Asian Soybean Rust — will strike Virginia’s crop, valued at $81 million in 2003. Agricultural leaders, including those in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, have been working with Virginia growers to ensure they are well prepared to deal with the disease if it occurs.
The disease, which extensively reduced soybean yields in Brazil, was identified in Louisiana last fa
A team in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is leading the development of the Pastureland Management System (PLMS), a free, practical, and portable computer-based aid program that helps livestock farmers compare different strategies for managing their land and livestock.
The system’s goal is to seasonally balance forage produced on the farm and forage needed by livestock. John Galbraith, assistant professor of crop and soil environmental sciences,
Virginia Tech’s Small Grains Breeding Program is developing a new type of barley that lacks the fibrous covering. This new hulless barley offers producers an alternative grain for both traditional and new markets, including food, feed, and ethanol.
The price for winter barley has declined since 1996. Even though winter barley was an integral component of the region’s cropping system, growers stopped producing it because it was not profitable. The Small Grains Breeding P
A study in the April issue (currently available online) of Nature Genetics establishes a model that may take scientists closer to understanding how cells in the human body determine their own fate.
Researchers, led by Anthony Firulli, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics and of medical and molecular genetics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, investigated the interaction of proteins responsible for Saethre-Chotzen Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder associated wit
Greater levels of selenium, vitamin E and the tomato nutrient lycopene have been shown to reduce prostate cancer in one out of every four Caucasian males — those who inherit a specific genetic variation that’s particularly sensitive to oxidative stress.
Conversely, if carriers of this genetic variant have low levels of these vitamins and minerals, their risk of aggressive prostate increases substantially, as great as 10-fold, over their cohorts who maintain higher levels of t
A molecule that usually protects the body’s infection-fighting cells might also contribute to fatty buildups that coat arteries and lead to heart disease, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.
The molecule, called apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage or AIM, inhibits cell death in macrophages, which circulate in the bloodstream and help the body fend off infection and foreign substances. The AIM-protected macrophages go on to encourage buildup of fats on the i
Benefit may be confined primarily to those with certain genetic variants, more research needed
The association between regular aspirin use and a reduced risk of precancerous colon polyps may be strongest in those with particular genetic variants. In the March 16 Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers report that aspirin use appears to reduce the incidence of colon polyps more strongly in women with alternative forms of a gene involved in the metabolism of aspirin th
In the largest and most comprehensive prospective study of its kind, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have concluded that the risk of ischemic heart disease and, ultimately, cardiac death following radiation treatment for breast cancer has steadily declined over the last quarter century, according to a new study published in the March 16 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
This study offers scientific evidence to what was long
Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute have found evidence in laboratory studies that the immune system may be able to recognize methamphetamine and boost tolerance to the drug through an unusual vaccine-like mechanism. Their finding, if confirmed in human studies, could help explain why chronic users go on long binges with the illicit drug, also known as speed. The study could lead to new treatments for the drug’s addiction, they say.
Recent studies by others have docume
Experiments on ceria (cerium oxide) nanoparticles carried out at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory may lead to catalytic converters that are better at cleaning up auto exhaust, and/or to more-efficient ways of generating hydrogen — a promising zero-emission fuel for the future. Brookhaven chemist Jose Rodriguez will present results from two studies exploring the composition, structure, and reactivity of these versatile nanoparticles during the 229th National Mee
You have to learn to crack eggs if you’re going to cook an omelet. You have to jump in the water if you’re going to learn to swim. And you have to get your hands on telescopes that can search for signs of life beyond Earth if you’re going to study extraterrestrial biology. That’s why 14 University of Washington graduate biology students will be at Kitt Peak National Observatory this week (March 17 – 21) to learn observing techniques from University of Arizona and N
A detailed and extensive new analysis of the fossil records of marine animals over the past 542 million years has yielded a stunning surprise. Biodiversity appears to rise and fall in mysterious cycles of 62 million years for which science has no satisfactory explanation. The analysis, performed by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley, has withstood thorough testing so that confide
Although hypnosis has been shown to reduce pain perception, it is not clear how the technique works. Identifying a sound, scientific explanation for hypnosis’ effect might increase acceptance and use of this safe pain-reduction option in clinical settings.
Researchers at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and the Technical University of Aachen, Germany, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to find out if hypnosis alters brain
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