A paper to be published in the journal Biology of Reproduction offers evidence that a protein circulating in the blood of mammals delivers the dietary micronutrient selenium to germ cells, enabling these cells to develop into normal sperm.
Previously, the function of this protein, selenoprotein P, was unknown, although it was believed to play a role as an antioxidant and to transport selenium throughout the body.
Dietary selenium is essential for normal sperm developmen
New light on a complex mechanism
A cluster of brain cells less than half the size of a pencil eraser tells you when to wake up, when to be hungry and when it’s time to go to sleep. The same cells also cause you to be disoriented after you’ve flown across multiple time zones. The human circadian clock, comprised of about 20,000 time-keeping cells, has mystified scientists since it was pinpointed in the brain about 30 years ago. Now, a researcher at the University of Calgar
The use of motorbikes among children and adolescents is dangerous, on the rise and leading to a greater number of injuries, according to a new Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center study. In addition, the study shows that children often ride motorbikes on public roads and, most of the time, without wearing helmets, leading to significantly increased severity of injury.
The study, published in the March issue of Pediatrics, concludes that children should not operate m
A new study explains how a diet high in oily fish like salmon and mackerel improves inflammatory conditions, particularly in combination with low doses of aspirin. In a study in the March 7 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Arita and colleagues identify an anti-inflammatory lipid in humans that is derived from an essential fatty acid in fish oil.
Fatty fish contain large amounts of omega-3 fatty acids–diet-derived essential fatty acids known to benefit patients with cardiov
Three drugs, each of which works in a different way, are used in anti-platelet therapy to help prevent restenosis (the reclogging of blood vessels after they have been cleared with percutaneous coronary intervention or PCI) or thrombosis (obstruction of an artery or vein by a blood clot). The use of these platelet inhibitory drugs — cilostazol, clopidogrel and aspirin — has resulted in a significant reduction of thrombotic complications in the primary and secondary prevention of heart attacks.
Brain tests at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggest that autistic children shy from eye contact because they perceive even the most familiar face as an uncomfortable threat.
The work deepens understanding of an autistic brain’s function and may one day inform new treatment approaches and augment how teachers interact with their autistic students.
Tracking the correlation between eye movements and brain activity, the researchers found that in autistic subjects, t
Uncoupling the clock
A biologist at Washington University in St. Louis is giving the VIP treatment to laboratory mice in hopes of unraveling more clues about our biological clock. VIP is not “very important person,” but vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), a neuropeptide originally found in the gut, that is also made by a specialized group of neurons in the brain.
Erik Herzog, Ph.D., Washington University assistant professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences, has discover
Does having a low socioeconomic status (SES) lead to depression or does depression lead a person into poverty? According to a study that examined a database of 34,000 patients with two or more psychiatric hospitalizations in Massachusetts during 1994-2000, unemployment, poverty and housing unaffordability were correlated with a risk of mental illness. This finding is reported on in the current issue of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
UCLA AIDS Institute study
A UCLA AIDS Institute study has discovered that two chemical compounds may help the immune systems of HIV-infected persons fight the disease without invasive gene therapy. Presented March 5 at the 2005 Palm Springs Symposium on HIV/AIDS, the new research demonstrates that the new chemicals activate telomerase — a protein that boosts immune cells’ ability to divide, enabling them to continue destroying HIV-infected cells.
“The immune cells that
Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have shown that surgery combined with inserting heated chemotherapy drugs directly into the abdomen can improve survival rates and quality of life in patients with several cancers that historically have a poor prognosis.
Results of four separate studies are being presented at the Society of Oncology Surgeons national meeting March 3-5 in Atlanta. The types of cancer reported at the meeting that have been treated with a c
Duke University Medical Center investigators have found a strong association between depression and the incidence of irregular and rapid beating of the heart’s main pumping chambers in patients who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. This finding is important, the researchers said, because this heart beat irregularity, known as ventricular tachycardia, can be a precursor of sudden cardiac death .
Interestingly, the researchers found this association between depression an
Livermore scientists are working to solve a 50-year-old question: Can neutrinos – a particle that is relatively massless, has no electric charge yet is fundamental to the make-up of the universe – transform from one type to another?
Scientists are using two giant detectors, one at Fermi Lab and another in a historic iron mine in northern Minnesota, to work on the answer.
As part of the international team working on the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) proj
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and the University of Utah have developed a mouse model of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in people over age 55, and Stargardt Macular Degeneration (STGD), a form of the disease that affects children and young adults.
The mouse model*, which was reported in the March 4, 2005 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “now permits th
A study published in the February issue of the journal Radiology shows that a positron emission mammography (PEM) device designed and built by Jefferson Lab scientists is capable of imaging breast cancer tumors. In the pilot study, conducted by Duke University Medical Center researchers, the unit imaged 18 malignant tumors in 23 patients receiving additional screening due to suspicious mammograms.
For many women, regular mammograms allow physicians to spot breast cancer tumor
Impaired function of a receptor that regulates release of a mood elevating hormone in the brain may be responsible for causing depression, anxiety and cardiovascular disorders, according to a Yale study in Pharmacogenetics and Genomics.
The genetic variant that causes this malfunction is nearly 15 times as prevalent in African-Americans as Caucasians and might explain why African-Americans have a higher rate of congestive heart failure, according to the first author, Alexander N
Nematodes comprise a worm family so large it literally covers the earth. They range in size from less than a micron in length to as much as 26 feet. Worldwide interest has begun to focus on microscopic nematodes that live with symbiotic bacteria.
“We study these nematodes – which are actually insect killers – not only to understand how diverse they are, but also to use them as biological control alternatives,” says Patricia Stock, a nematomologist in the University of Arizona C
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