Taking steroids is a definite no-no for human athletes, but treating plants with steroids could offer performance enhancement of a more desirable nature by boosting the biomass and seed yields of crops. Unfortunately, plant steroids are complex, expensive chemicals, and the biological mechanisms by which they alter plant growth and development have remained largely a mystery.

Now, however, two research articles by Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Joanne Chory and her c

Herstatin blocks signaling inside cells that leads to deadly glioblastoma growth

A protein developed by scientists at Oregon Health & Science University blocks the growth of glioblastoma, an aggressive and deadly brain tumor, in laboratory rats, a new study shows. Herstatin inhibits the activation of a family of enzymes responsible for signaling inside tumor cells that tells the cells to proliferate and display other malignant properties, said Gail Clinton, Ph.D., professor of bio

One of the most exciting developments in clinical research in decades is taking place at the University of Leeds, led by our professor of cancer medicine Peter Selby in collaboration with the Medical Research Council. The creation of a new network for world-class researchers in subjects such as medicines for children, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, mental health and strokes will benefit patients through translating cutting-edge research into new forms of treatment and the best possible chance of recov

The results of a major international Medical Research Council (MRC) trial, undertaken in collaboration with the Stroke Association, show that early surgery is not always the best treatment for one of the commonest and most lethal forms of stroke. The results of the trial, published in this week’s edition of The Lancet, will help doctors decide the best way to care for patients with the condition.

Supratentorial intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) is a type of stroke caused by the spont

Wiggle, walk, tap your toes, shop, dance, clean your basement, play the guitar to boost your NEAT – or if you’re a scientist, your “non-exercise activity thermogenesis.” Mayo Clinic researchers report in today’s issue of the journal Science that NEAT — more powerful than formal exercise — determines who is lean, and who is obese. Obese persons sit, on average, 150 minutes more each day than their naturally lean counterparts. This means obese people burn 350 fewer calories a day than do lean

Cooling the brains of babies deprived of oxygen at birth can reduce the risk of brain damage and cerebral palsy, according to an international study published today (January 28) in the Lancet on-line.

To achieve cooling, the body temperature of babies in the trial was lowered by 3-4 degrees for 72 hours after birth using a water-filled cap.

The research was undertaken in hospitals in North America, New Zealand and the UK, and the UK arm of the trial was carried out i

Universal screening of newborns’ hearing at large public hospitals, which annually deliver tens of thousands of babies, can be done more effectively when infants are not only tested four hours after birth – as required by many states – but also by rescreening those with a suspected problem before discharge and, if necessary, retesting infants at 10 days old, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers reported.

A four-year study at Parkland Memorial Hospital, published in the Jan

Mouse studies yield cause and potential cure, with human studies in progress

Scientists at The Rockefeller University have determined that the autoimmune disease lupus results from a combination of genetics that likely varies from person to person, and that a common “gatekeeper” gene called FCRgIIB is critical to the prevention of this devastating disease.

What’s more, the same scientists have determined that reversing the defect of that gatekeeper gene can restore

Telemedicine is healthcare’s new frontier, a means of facilitating the distribution of human resources and professional competences. It can speed up diagnosis and therapeutic care delivery and allow peripheral and primary healthcare providers to receive continuous assistance from specialised centres.

The European Space Agency has decided to prepare the ground for a Telemedicine Programme to be presented at the next ESA Ministerial Conference. This is in response to the need to f

U of MN research shows calcium can help prevent colorectal cancer

A University of Minnesota Cancer Center study found that women consuming more than 800 milligrams of calcium each day reduced their risk of colorectal cancer by as much as 26 to 46 percent. A 26 percent reduction in risk of colorectal cancer occurred regardless of whether the calcium intake was from diet or supplement. Among women who consumed high levels of calcium from both diet and supplements, the risk reduc

Swimming endurance improvement comes from equivalent of four cups of tea a day over 10 weeks

Now that even baseball players may need to seek new, more natural performance aids, will Japanese green tea sets become standard in dugouts and athletic training tables around the world? A new study tested the effect of regularly taking green tea extract (GTE) and found that over 10 weeks, endurance exercise performance was boosted up to 24% with 0.5% GTE supplementation, and 8% with 0.

Researchers have discovered a way to make light sensitive cells in the eye by switching on a single gene.

According to research published online today in Nature, the team from Imperial College London and the University of Manchester, have discovered that activating the melanopsin gene in the nerve cells causes them to become light responsive, or photoreceptive.

Using mouse cells, the researchers found that melanopsin could be used to make neurones light responsive. T

A team of applied mathematicians, physicists, and biologists has discovered how the Venus flytrap snaps up its prey in a mere tenth of a second by actively shifting the curved shape of its mouth-like leaves. Their study, published in the Jan. 27 issue of the journal Nature, investigates the series of events that occur from the time the plant’s leaves are stimulated to the time the trap is clamped shut.

“Our work complements prior research,” says Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, G

Coming full circle has new meaning for researchers who demonstrated a promising new approach integrating scientific experimentation and mathematical modeling to study a key signaling pathway that helps cells decide whether to grow or die.

With implications for disease characterization, biotechnology and drug design, the approach tested by researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the Georgia Institute of Technology offers an efficient way of gaining useful

A Brown University team has found that a protein called melanopsin plays a key role in the inner workings of mysterious, spidery cells in the eye called intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, or ipRGCs.

Melanopsin, they found, absorbs light and triggers a biochemical cascade that allows the cells to signal the brain about brightness. Through these signals, ipRGCs synchronize the body’s daily rhythms to the rising and setting of the sun. This circadian rhythm contro

Research published in leading nanotechnology journal

UC Riverside researchers from the Departments of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Botany and Plant Sciences have worked together to discover a way to utilize Quantum Dot bio-conjugates to uncover new knowledge about the binding of a protein at the growing pollen tube tip. This protein plays a critical role along with another protein (chemocyanin) in guiding sperm-laden pollen tubes to the eggs fo