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Health & Medicine

Digital X-Ray Microtomography Reveals Newt Limb Regeneration

Employing high-tech, digital X-ray microtomography (microCT), Northwestern University scientists have discovered the way in which newts form new bone and cartilage during limb regeneration. Newts are a type of salamander, the only vertebrates capable of rebuilding lost structures such as limbs throughout their lifetimes.

Reporting in the January issue of Developmental Dynamics, Northwestern researchers Hans-Georg Simon and Stuart Stock showed that bone formation in a regenerated forelimb co

Social Sciences

Restricting TV viewing at home may only lead teens to watch favorite programs at friends’ homes

Teenagers who say their parents restrict their television viewing of certain programs are likely to watch the restricted shows at friends’ houses, a study suggests.

These teens also reported less positive attitudes toward their parents, according to the research.

“Unfortunately, parents’ good intentions in restricting television viewing may actually backfire and contribute to them watching more of the programs they shouldn’t see,” said Amy Nathanson, author of the study and assista

Life & Chemistry

Researchers Identify Anxiety and Aggression Gene in Mice

Opens new door to study of mood disorders in humans

Researchers report finding a gene that is essential for normal levels of anxiety and aggression. Calling it the Pet-1 gene, researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Department of Neurosciences say that when this gene is removed or “knocked out” in a mouse, aggression and anxiety in adults are greatly elevated compared to a control (also called wild type) mouse.

(Videos displaying aggressive beha

Health & Medicine

Iron Supplements Boost Health in Anemic Kids with Colds

In a recent study, giving iron supplements to anemic children when they have a cold or other upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) significantly improved their iron status without increasing stomach upset or other side effects, says a Penn State nutritionist.

Dr. Namanjeet Ahluwalia, associate professor of nutrition and principle investigator on the research team, says, “Because of conflicting results from previous studies, physicians preferred to be cautious and generally withhold iron

Life & Chemistry

Molecular Trojan Horse: How Viruses Hijack Host Cells

In the latest January 10th issue of Cell, a discovery is published by Barends et al. of Leiden University about the artful way by which an infecting plant virus succeeds in conquering the protein factories (ribosomes) of a host cell for subsequent enforced production of viral proteins. To this aim, the virus uses a molecular ’Trojan Horse’ mimicking the shape of transfer RNA, the regular molecular ’van’ for the delivery of amino acids as protein building-stones into those factories.

In the

Health & Medicine

Rethinking Osteoporosis: New Insights on Bone Loss

Binghamton University researcher fractures myths around osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is not a disease, and neither weight-bearing exercise nor calcium supplements-not even a combination of the two-is capable of triggering the growth of new bone, says Kenneth McLeod, chair of the bioengineering department at Binghamton University and a leading researcher in the field of tissue development, healing and adaptation.

But don’t throw in the towel and plan your wardrobe and life a

Physics & Astronomy

First US-Built Superconducting Magnet for Large Hadron Collider

In a milestone for global science collaboration, CERN took delivery today of the first US-built contribution to what will be the world’s highest-energy particle accelerator. The superconducting magnet, built at the US Brookhaven National Laboratory will become a key component of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

It is the first of several advanced accelerator elements the US will provide for the LHC under the terms of a 1998 agreement between CERN and the US Department of Energy (DOE)

Life & Chemistry

New Chemistry Applications Enhance Reaction Mechanism Studies

Scientists at the University of Leicester are on the way to solving a problem that has long beset chemists trying to study chemical reactions.

To establish reaction mechanisms the observation of reaction intermediates is vital, but they are incredibly short-lived under normal conditions, and therefore difficult to detect. Freezing the reaction – known as matrix isolation – has been employed for many years, but produces rigid solids in which molecules are trapped and therefore motionle

Life & Chemistry

Female Hormones May Shield Against Fructose Risks

Groundbreaking study in female mice links estrogen, lower blood pressure, and insulin resistance, despite a high fructose diet

Bethesda, MD – High-fructose corn syrup replaced sucrose (table sugar) as a sweetener in most grocery products some 20 years ago. Today, about nine percent of the average dietary energy intake in the U.S. comes from fructose. However, a number of nutritionists are alarmed by the amount of the public’s consumption, as previous research has demonstrated that a

Earth Sciences

Long-Lost Records Provide Evidence of Rising Sea Levels

The discovery of 160 year old records in the archives of the Royal Society, London, has given scientists further evidence that Australian sea levels are rising.

Observations taken at Tasmania’s Port Arthur convict settlement 160 years ago by an amateur meteorologist have been compared with data from a modern tide gauge.

“There is a rate of sea level rise of about 1mm a year, consistent with other Australian observations,” says Dr David Pugh, from the UK’s Southampton Ocean

Health & Medicine

Atugen AG Identifies New Cancer Target to Block Tumor Growth

atugen AG, a private company focused on the elucidation of disease pathways, today announced the identification of a novel cancer target that appears to play an important role in tumor growth and metastasis. atugen’s research group has demonstrated that inhibition of the novel target, Atu027, which has homology to protein kinases, results in blockage of tumor growth of human prostate carcinoma cells in orthotopic mouse models. atugen has demonstrated that human prostate tumor cells engineered to expr

Interdisciplinary Research

MelTec Partners with Fraunhofer FIT for Topological Proteomics

Next-Generation IT Platform for Topological Proteomics to be Created

MelTec GmbH and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT today signed a collaboration agreement to develop an information technology platform for the management and interpretation of high-throughput experiments analysing protein networks of whole cells in situ, also known as topological proteomics or toponomics. MelTec continuously generates large data sets to decipher the toponome of cells an

Life & Chemistry

Enzyme Linked to Artery Hardening: New Research Insights

An enzyme found only in the liver and intestines may play a crucial role in the development of hardening of the arteries — or atherosclerosis, a research team from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The narrowing of arteries through atherosclerosis is a major contributor to heart attacks and strokes.

The confirmation of the relationship between the enzyme, AC

Health & Medicine

Immune System Suppression Cures Untreatable Blood Disease

Treatment with two medications that suppress the immune system, rituximab and cyclophosphamide, appears to have cured one woman of an otherwise untreatable case of the blood disease known as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). The findings support the theory that TTP is an autoimmune disease, and not only provide insight into diagnosis and treatment, but also reveal clues about blood clotting and autoimmune diseases in general.

“In this particular patient who did not respond to stand

Health & Medicine

Mouse Study Links Alcohol Intake to Marijuana-Like Compounds

New pathway presents target for medication development

Brain molecules similar to the active compound in marijuana help to regulate alcohol consumption, according to new reports by scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Bethesda, Maryland, and a separate NIAAA-supported group at several New York state research institutions.

In studies conducted with a strain of mice known to have a high preference for alcohol, the scientists found great

Health & Medicine

Radiation helps drugs ’zero in’ on tumor blood vessels

Technique used to shrink tumors, delay their growth

A team of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center scientists shrunk tumors or delayed their growth in animal studies by using radiation to enable a drug to “zero in” and block the tumor blood vessels.

The work, reported in the January issue of the journal Cancer Cell, is a model for what might be achieved in patients by using radiation to activate drug targets in tumors. “We can now use combinations of chemotherapy and radiation to

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