People who have suffered partial paralysis from spinal-cord injury show increased activity in the part of the brain responsible for muscle movement and motor learning after 12 weeks of training on a robotic treadmill, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

Their study, which is currently online and will be published in the December issue of the journal Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, is the first to demonstrate that locomotor training can promote act

A UCLA/VA study found that irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients under age 50 who undergo a colonoscopy with normal results aren’t reassured about their condition or seem to have an improved quality life due to the procedure ruling out a more serious condition.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that 10 percent of all colonoscopies in the U.S. are performed for evaluation of IBS symptoms. Irritable bowel syndrome affects 15 percent of the population and is a chro

Using sunlight to power our homes and offices is an unaccomplished dream due to the still inefficient technology for a better use of solar energy. The study of photosynthesis in plants could provide new clues by explaining how they absorb almost 100% of the sun-light reaching them, and how they transform it into other forms of energy. Researchers Michael Haumann and Holger Dau, from the Freie Universität Berlin, used the X-ray source of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) to invest

Researchers at Stockholm University have found a substance that quickly knocks out the anthrax bacterium. The bacterium has been used in terrorist attacks in the US and Japan, for example.

The scientists have identified the enzyme in the bacterium that makes it multiply. The substance N-hydroxylamine arrests the enzyme, and the bacterium stops growing.

“An anthrax infection in the lungs develops very rapidly and must be stopped as quickly as possible. This can be done by co

Gene is associated with increased risk of precursor of macular degeneration

A variant in a gene called Complement Factor H (CFH) appears to contribute to the increased risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) largely or entirely through its impact on the development of a precursor of advanced AMD called soft drusen (small yellowish, extracellular deposits of lipid, protein and cellular debris in the back of the eye), according to a multinational team of researchers.

With species around the world disappearing faster than biologists can identify them, many scientists pinned their hopes on DNA barcoding, a recently proposed strategy that treats a short fragment of DNA as a sort of universal product code to identify species. But this approach generated controversy from the start, with skeptics bristling at the notion that a single gene fragment could perform such a tall task. In a new study published in PLoS Biology, Christopher Meyer and Gustav Paulay revisi

People suffering generalised social phobia experience increased brain activity when confronted with threatening faces or frightening social situations, new research shows.

The finding could help identify how severe a person’s generalised social phobia is and measure the effectiveness of pharmacological and psychological treatments for the condition.

Up to one million Australians suffer from social phobia at any one time, making it the most common anxiety disorder,

Bacterial leaf scorch is severely affecting urban shade trees grown not only to provide shade, but to help clear the air, reduce noise, and improve the aesthetics in many U.S. communities, say plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS).

According to Ann Brooks Gould, associate extension specialist at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, bacterial leaf scorch (BLS) affects many shade tree species such as American elm, red maple, sweet gum, sycamore an

Exploiting biology’s own chemical toolbox, researchers have developed a new technique that will allow them to modify specific sequences within a DNA molecule. The approach will not only help reveal the impact of biochemical alterations to DNA, but could have far-reaching implications for DNA-based medical diagnosis and nanobiotechnology.

Combining chemistry with biotechnology, Saulius Klimasauskas, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) international research scholar

Feeling thin or fat is an illusion constructed in the brain, according to a new study published in the journal Public Library of Science Biology. The collaborative study led by UCL (University College London) used a trick called the Pinocchio illusion to scan people’s brains while they experienced the sensation that their waists were shrinking. The study reveals which parts of the brain are involved in body image and may shed some light on anorexia and body dysmorphic disorder, where suffere

“The treatment of breast cancer when the patient is pregnant does not increase the risk of congenital anomalies”, assures Dr. Guillermo López, director of the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics at the University Hospital of the University of Navarra.

Breast cancer and pregnancy

The University has had wide experience in this field, in fact, one of the widest in Europe. It is estimated that some 13% of breast cancers appears in women of fertile age. Moreover, the

People exposed to high levels of persistent organochlorine pollutants (POPs), which are most likely to come from eating fatty fish such as salmon, might be at risk of developing diabetes.

A study published today in the open access journal Environmental Health reveals that exposure to high levels of POPs, a family of toxic chemicals that includes polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the insecticide DDT, is associated with a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in a popula

Women may not be getting the most out of vaccines and other injections, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

“Our study has demonstrated that a majority of people, especially women, are not getting the proper dosage from injections to the buttocks,” said lead author Victoria O. Chan, M.B., registrar in the clinical medicine department of The Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Dublin, Ireland.

“There is no ques

Digital tomosynthesis shows promise over conventional film mammography as a more specific breast screening technique and a more accurate diagnostic technology, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

“The results of our preliminary trial suggest that tomosynthesis may decrease false-positive screening mammography findings by half, thereby reducing the number of women who are recalled after screening mammog

Computed tomography (CT) colonography with computer-aided detection (CAD) is highly effective for finding colon polyps, according to a large-scale, multi-center study conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

CT colonography, commonly called virtual colonoscopy, is a minimally invasive exam that physicians hope will encourage more people to be screened for colon cancer. Vir

Recent studies conducted at the San Francisco VA Medical Center suggest two possible mechanisms for the widely recognized link between depression and adverse outcomes in patients with coronary heart disease: lack of adherence to medication regimens and increased levels of norepinephrine, a stress hormone.

“Patients with depression are more likely to suffer heart attacks and heart failure, and more likely to die of heart disease, and no one knows why,” notes Mary Whooley, MD, a st