Hans Larsson, a McGill University palaeontologist (located in Montreal, Canada), has found physical proof that Canada’s Arctic regions once had a Jurassic era. Scientists have suspected that dinosaurs lived in Canada’s great north eons ago, yet it remained an unproven theory, since no bones had ever been uncovered.

Not anymore. Larsson has discovered tyrannosaurus dinosaur bones, which until now, had only been located in Canada’s Prairie Provinces, as well as in

Certain genes are expressed differently in people with depression

Researchers have found altered gene activity in people who suffer from major depression, a discovery that may one day help doctors better diagnose and treat the condition. The research, conducted by a consortium of four universities, appears this week in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS). Scientists found that the fibroblast growth factor system, which is a family o

Rapid and chronic tolerance appear to operate via different neurobiological mechanisms and genes
Alcohol tolerance both promotes and facilitates the increasing consumption of alcohol. New research uses fruitflies to examine the mechanistic and genetic underpinnings of different forms of tolerance. Findings suggest that rapid and chronic tolerance are partially distinct in mechanistic terms, as well as genetically distinguishable, from one another. “Alcohol

Following nutritional guidelines and not losing weight too fast key to prevention

Mayo Clinic researchers have found a significant number of patients who undergo “stomach stapling” or gastric bypass surgery for weight reduction develop peripheral neuropathy, damage to any of the body’s nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord. The development of nerve damage is associated with malnutrition, and so the researchers contend may be largely preventable with proper nutritio

Similar recommendations issued from the CDC based on benefits of early diagnosis

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation today issued a recommendation for the implementation of routine cystic fibrosis (CF) screening in all newborns. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a recommendation in its October 15 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Reports and Recommendations that all states should consider routine screening for CF in all newborns. CF Fo

Muscle wasting is associated with aging and a serious consequence of different diseases, including cancer and diabetes. Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center, with the assistance of other collaborating researchers, have discovered an important biochemical pathway for muscle wasting–as well as a potential target for drug therapy. The study will be published in the Oct. 15 issue of the journal Cell.

Muscle wasting is a hallmark of a number of diseases, including cancer, bacteri

Review of agents used for the eye finds multiple adverse reactions

An estimated 42 percent of Americans use herbal medicines or nutritional supplements. Many people taking these products and their physicians are unaware of the adverse reactions they can cause. An Oregon Health & Science University researcher reviewed reported cases of ocular side effects associated with these products. His findings are published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology this month.

The

Scientists at the University of Virginia Health System have helped solve the mystery of how the human ear converts sound vibrations and balance stimuli into electrical impulses the brain can interpret. Their research is detailed in the October 13 advance online edition of the journal Nature, found at www.nature.com/nature .

Neuroscience researchers Jeffrey Holt and Gwenaëlle Géléoc, working in collaboration with scientists elsewhere, discovered a long-sought protein called TRP

Two groups of researchers have independently discovered the long sought dual body clocks in the brain of fruit flies that separately govern bursts of morning and evening activity.

Both research groups published their findings in the October 14, 2004, issue of the journal Nature. Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher Michael Rosbash at Brandeis University led one group; François Rouyer at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France led the second group. Grad

A drug that jams a key enzyme regulating cholesterol drastically reduces the levels of brain-clogging amyloid plaque in mice engineered to have a human form of the amyloid protein. According to Dora Kovacs and her colleagues, the findings suggest that such inhibiting drugs could be used to treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

CP-113,818 mimics a cholesterol molecule that the enzyme, called “acyl-coenzyme A: cholesterol acyltransferase” (ACAT), converts into a form of

Researchers have identified a molecule that can transform the mechanical stimulus of a sound wave into an electrical signal recognizable by the brain. The protein forms an ion channel that opens in response to sound, causing electrical impulses that communicate the pitch, volume, and duration of a sound to the brain.

Scientists have long suspected that such a molecule must exist in the tiny cilia extending from receptor cells in the inner ear. Now, researchers led by Howard Hughes M

Using a specially designed robotic microscope to study cultured cells, researchers have found evidence that abnormal protein clumps called inclusion bodies in neurons from people with Huntington’s disease (HD) prevent cell death. The finding helps to resolve a longstanding debate about the role of these inclusion bodies in HD and other disorders and may help investigators find effective treatments for these diseases. The study was funded primarily by the NIH’s National Institute of Ne

Women who give birth after 40 run a greater risk of experiencing pregnancy complications than younger women. Moreover, there is an increased risk of the child dying in the womb or in close connection with delivery. This is shown in a study carried out by the Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University in Sweden.

Women in Sweden, as in many other countries, are giving birth later and later in life. Today the average age of the mother at the birth of the first child is 29, and it

You might want to toss those iron-fortified vitamins, because absent a diagnosed deficiency too much of a good thing can be bad.

Dietary iron imbalances either way spell trouble for healthy cells, triggering a chain of cellular events in the brain that increases the odds of developing Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative condition affecting movement and balance in more than 1 million Americans each year. But excessive iron levels are worse — much worse.

The finding

Burn victims may soon have face restored with minimal scarring in a single procedure

Hundreds of thousands of people are burned in fires each year with many suffering from facial burns as a result. These burn victims not only have severe physical scars, but deep emotional scars, too. A team of plastic surgeons has successfully combined several reconstructive techniques to help burn victims regain some sense of self without undergoing multiple painful procedures and huge scarring

A new approach to controlling blood cholesterol levels that is already being investigated to prevent cardiovascular disease also may be a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. In their report in the October 14 issue of Neuron, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) show that blocking a pathway that controls the distribution of cholesterol in cells dramatically reduces the number of amyloid plaques in the brains of transgenic mice. Some of the treated mice were much