Although women normally have androgens – so-called “male” hormones – circulating in their bloodstreams, excessive levels can cause a variety of symptoms including acne, weight gain, excessive hair growth (hirsutism), menstrual dysfunction, and infertility.
Hirsutism – the growth of coarse hair in patterns similar to those of men – has long been considered the key marker for androgen excess. Physicians have had difficulty providing a firm diagnosis and identifying underlying causes, however,
New research findings from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center (MUHC) provide hope for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), one of the most common and devastating diseases of the nervous system. These findings, published in today in Neuron, characterize an enzyme that plays a central role in the onset and progress of MS.
” We have identified a key enzyme that triggers MS-like disease in an animal model,” says MUHC neuroscientist and Professor of Medicine at McGi
The planets of the solar system, including the Earth, formed about four and a half billion years ago from a swirling disk of gas and dust that was left over from the newly formed Sun. However, we do not understand, why the Earth ended up being different from other Earth-like or «terrestrial» planets and how the earliest features, like the metallic core, developed. Research at ETH Zurich by Professor Alex Halliday, to be published in this week’s edition of Nature, claims to have found some answers.
The deep layers of the Earth’s crust and the upper part of its mantle have been the target for investigation by a number of research groups at the EHU/UPV. This deep zone, and the processes that have taken place there in the past, can be investigated by means of studying those rocks which today are lying on the surface but which in past geological periods were at great depths.
On the Iberian Peninsula there are few places where one can find rocks which have been submerged at such depths (gr
As winter rains come, thousands of square kilometres of territory across Europe’s heart face a looming threat: steep slopes and waterlogged soils combine to trigger landslides.
A build-up of groundwater within a slope increases its weight and decreases its cohesiveness, weakening the slope’s ability to resist the remorseless pull of gravity. The heavy earth flows downward. For all in the path of a landslide the results are devastating, and frequently lethal.
“In Italy, landslides
A preliminary study suggests that persistent inflammation, as indicated by increased levels of C-reactive protein in the blood, is a risk factor for the development of colon cancer.
However, according to an editorial by Northwestern University researcher Boris Pasche, M.D., the link between chronic inflammation and colon cancer must be further explored before C-reactive protein is confirmed as a risk predictor.
The study and the editorial appear in the Feb. 4 issue of The Journal o
Undergraduates’ work blames comet for 6th-century ’nuclear winter’
Scientists at Cardiff University, UK, believe they have discovered the cause of crop failures and summer frosts some 1,500 years ago – a comet colliding with Earth.
The team has been studying evidence from tree rings, which suggests that the Earth underwent a series of very cold summers around 536-540 AD, indicating an effect rather like a nuclear winter.
The scientists in the School of Physics and
Ruby deposits are the primary gem source in Central and South-East Asia. They are highly prized and have a special character: the rubies always occur as inclusions in marble. Geologists from the IRD and CRPG/CNRS (1) have investigated the tectonic and geochemical mechanisms involved in their formation and established a new model of how they generated. It involves feeder fluids resulting from solution of layers of salts present in the marble formations. These hot fluids were brought into circulation a
Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the University of Rome “La Sapienza” have found a way to restore some of the “regenerative” ability of tissues, which happens naturally in animals at the embryonic stage of development, but is lost shortly after birth. The scientists’ work, published this week in PNAS, gives new insight into how stem cells can be mobilized across the body, and how they take on specialized functions in tissue.
“Many labs have reported th
RIT professor researches black-hole mergers
When black holes collide, look out! An enormous burst of gravitational radiation results as they violently merge into one massive black hole. The “kick” that occurs during the collision could knock the black hole clear out of its galaxy.
A new study describes the consequences of such an intergalactic collision.
Astrophysicist David Merritt, professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, and co-authors Milos Milosavljevic
Wart-like bumps of stinging cells cover the feeding arms and bell of a newly described deep-sea jelly, published by MBARI biologists in this month’s issue of the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. This softball-sized, translucent jelly moves through the water like a shooting star, trailing four fleshy oral arms–but no tentacles–behind it. This and other unique features resulted in the jelly’s categorization as a new genus and species.
The MBARI researcher
A Purdue University researcher has successfully engineered plants that may not only lead to the production of anti-carcinogenic nutritional supplements, but also may be used to remove excess selenium from agricultural fields.
By introducing a gene that makes plants tolerate selenium, David Salt, professor of plant molecular physiology, has developed plants capable of building up in their tissues unusually high levels of a selenium compound. His interest in selenium stems in part from recent
UMHS, Altarum study finds sleep apnea disrupts sleep throughout night
Patients who snore or have other symptoms of sleep apnea often undergo testing in a sleep laboratory to measure the number of breathing pauses and arousals that occur while they slumber. But doctors find these tests do not effectively predict daytime consequences suspected to arise from sleep apnea, such as sleepiness in adults or hyperactivity in children.
Now, neurologists at the University of Michigan
NASA scientists have the first evidence more regional pollution lurks in clouds than in clear skies off the Asian coastline. This finding has implications for space-based attempts to monitor global pollution and for other populated regions around the world.
Scientists estimate that roughly two-thirds of Asian pollution from the Pacific Rim flows to the western, North Pacific Ocean under cloudy conditions. They based the study on direct measurements taken in and around clouds by aircraft ins
A group of scientists and wildlife health experts from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) say that closing Asia’s wild bird markets would reduce the spread of Avian flu. The markets place tens of thousands of wild and domestic birds in close quarters, allowing diseases to make the jump between wild animals, livestock, and ultimately humans, WCS says. The group also expressed concern that policies calling for widespread killing of birds living in the wild to prevent disease wo
Long considered an ivory-tower technology, virtual reality (VR) is beginning to fulfil its promise. VR tools are becoming accessible to everyone, thanks in part to hardware and software advances driven by the computer gaming industry. The result is mainstream-applications that range from entertainment to information delivery and even medical rehabilitation.
“Virtual reality technology has progressed considerably over recent decades,” says Hungarian-born Dr Barnabás Takács, founder/President
Feedback
