Propose new approach for better treatment of deadly condition

A Mayo Clinic research team has challenged the accepted theory on the cause of sepsis — a condition in which the body’s cells generate fever, shock and often death. Sepsis is thought to occur when poisons from bacterial infection interfere with the cells. The Mayo researchers challenge that long-held concept with a new theory in an opinion piece in the current issue of Trends in Molecular Medicine. Their findings su

Brain scans may detect neurological changes in people who exhibit no outward signs of cognitive decline but who later develop dementia or mental impairment, according to the results of a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

The study, to be published Feb. 8 in the journal Annals of Neurology, provides encouraging evidence that positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could eventually be used to detect preclinica

A 25-year-old man will undergo Western Australia’s first ever simultaneous bilateral cochlear implant operation on Thursday 9 February at St John of God Hospital in Subiaco.

Danny Clarke will have two cochlear hearing devices implanted in both his ears at the same time.

Danny, who became a successful search and rescue helicopter air crewman despite losing his hearing in his right ear due to a fall at the age of 11, became permanently deaf last year after being at

Vitamin D can inhibit the spread of prostate cancer cells by limiting the activity of two specific enzymes, University of Rochester Medical Center scientists report.

The finding means that vitamin D could provide beneficial treatment to prostate cancer patients with high levels of the enzymes, the scientists said.

“We wanted to know the targets of vitamin D so we would know which patients would respond better,” said Yi-Fen Lee, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Urology a

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh have shown that the protein Mbd3 plays a crucial role in the process by which embryonic stem cells become specialised cells, such as brain or skin cells. These findings make significant advances in understanding how embryonic stem cells can be made to become all the different types of cell in the body, ultimately to be used in replacement therapies for specific diseases and injuries. This research is published online this week in the leading scientifi

The cellular “pumps” associated with multi-drug resistance in bacteria may also be involved in exporting signals responsible for cell-cell communication, a process known as quorum sensing, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“We believe that the drugs exported by these pumps may actually be similar in structure to molecules involved in communicating,” said Dr. Lynn Zechiedri

Fifty years after MIT researchers pioneered the use of electron microscopy to study viruses, MIT scientists have helped produce the most detailed images yet of the tiny infectious agents .

The images, which show for the first time a virus poised to inject its genetic material into a host cell, grace the cover of the Feb. 2 issue of Nature.

Scientists have known for decades that viruses infect cells by injecting their genetic material, either DNA or RNA, into host cells, b

A protein that binds to bile in the small intestine may hold the key to preventing infection and intestinal breakdown in people with conditions such as obstructive jaundice or irritable bowel syndrome, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered.

“What we’ve identified is one of the mechanisms for how the body keeps the number of bacteria low in the small intestine, and how it prevents them from getting into other organs,” said Dr. Steven Kliewer, professo

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered an alternative way to produce heparin, a drug commonly used to stop or prevent blood from clotting. The findings could enable the current supply of the drug – now extracted from animal tissue – to be replaced or supplemented by the synthetic version. The new process also can be applied as a tool for drug discovery, according to the researchers.

Heparin is a complex carbohydrat

Sharks, people have electric connection in their lineage

Sharks are known for their almost uncanny ability to detect electrical signals while hunting and navigating.

Now researchers have traced the origin of those electrosensory powers to the same type of embryonic cells that gives rise to many head and facial features in humans.

The discovery, reported by University of Florida scientists in the current edition of Evolution & Development, identifies neural

Hormone discovered in bird brains also plays major role in mammalian reproductive system

University of California, Berkeley, researchers have discovered a new actor in the mammalian reproductive system, a hormone that fills a role long suspected, but until now undetected.

The hormone, a small protein, or peptide, called gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH), puts the brakes on reproduction by directly inhibiting the action of the central hormone of the reproductive sys

Cancer researchers at the University of Helsinki, in trying to find a novel tumor suppressor gene, instead found an important evolutionary change that occurred in a key developmental signalling pathway. The finding suggests a potential mechanism for evolution of complex intercellular signalling pathways.

A relatively small number of evolutionary conserved genes are responsible for controlling the development of the diverse range of animal species. Most of these genes have been o

The brain as command center for bodily movement was too simple an idea, thought the Russian physiologist Nicolas Bernstein some 60 years ago. After studying human movements for years, Bernstein pointed out in 1940 that the great flexibility of the body, coupled with unexpected events in the world, meant that the nervous system had to prepare the body in advance for what might happen next.

If Bernstein were right, it would affect the design of prosthetic devices and biologically inspi

A new tool to predict epidemics of malaria up to five months in advance has been developed by a scientist at the University of Liverpool.

The model uses predictions of climate variability to indicate the level of risk of an epidemic up to five months in advance of the peak malaria season – the earliest point at which predictions have ever been made. The model will assist doctors and health care providers in preventing and controlling the disease.

Malaria is one of the

In a unique double discovery, researchers at the University of Leeds have shown that massive bursts of ultrasound are generated during the first second of biting into crunchy food – and are simultaneously analysed by the ears and mouth.

Food physicist Professor Malcolm Povey explains: “Food is, in effect, talking to us and we innately understand what it’s saying about texture by interpreting the sensations through our ears and mouths. Our research shows that the sound and feel

A new study from Imperial College London shows that robot assisted knee surgery is significantly more accurate than conventional surgery.

The team of surgeons tested whether Acrobot, a robotic assistant, could improve surgical outcomes for patients undergoing partial knee replacement. Acrobot works by helping the surgeon to line up the replacement knee parts with the existing bones.

The surgeons looked at 27 patients undergoing unicompartmental knee replacement. The patie