| Breaking News (Life Sciences) | updated Friday September 3, 2010 |
Queen's study exposes cognitive effects of Parkinson's disease
Researchers at Queen's University have found that people with Parkinson's disease can perform automated tasks better than people without the disease, but have significant difficulty switching from easy to hard tasks.
September 3, 2010
AgriLife research hibiscus breeder comes up with the blue
Dr. Dariusz Malinowski is seeing blue, and he is very excited. For four years, Malinowski, an AgriLife Research plant physiologist and forage agronomist in Vernon, has been working with collaborators Steve Brown of the Texas Foundation Seed and Dr. William Pinchak and Shane Martin with AgriLife Research on a winter-hardy hibiscus breeding project.
September 3, 2010
NASA hurricane researchers eye Earl's eye
Three NASA aircraft carrying 15 instruments are busy criss-crossing Earl as part of the agency's Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes mission, or GRIP, which continues through Sept. 30. GRIP is designed to help improve our understanding of how hurricanes such as Earl form and intensify rapidly.
September 3, 2010
GOES-13 satellite sees Hurricane Earl's clouds covering the US Northeast
Hurricane Earl lashed the North Carolina coast last night and this morning, September 3, and is now headed for Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This morning's image from the GOES-13 satellite saw Hurricane Earl's clouds covering most of the northeastern US.
September 3, 2010
Publication of World Health Report 2000 'an act of remarkable courage,' says school expert
Martin McKee, Professor of European Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has contributed one of three commentaries appearing today in the journal Health Policy and Planning, each of which take a different perspective on the World Health Report 2000 on health systems.
September 3, 2010
Americans struggle with long-term weight loss
Only about one in every six Americans who have ever been overweight or obese loses weight and maintains that loss, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.
September 3, 2010
Rutgers-Camden professor engineers E. coli to produce biodiesel
Desmond Lun, an associate professor of computer science at Rutgers University-Camden, is researching how to alter the genetic makeup of E. coli to produce biodiesel fuel derived from fatty acids.
September 3, 2010
Earth from space: Giant iceberg enters Nares Strait
ESA's Envisat satellite has been tracking the progression of the giant iceberg that calved from Greenland's Petermann glacier on August 4, 2010.
September 3, 2010
First clinical trials successfully completed on potent new hepatitis C drug
The first clinical trials on a new investigational drug being developed to treat infections caused by hepatitis C virus have been successfully completed.Completion of the initial phase (phase 1a) of trials of INX-189, discovered and first prepared by researchers at Cardiff University's Welsh School of Pharmacy in 2008, means the chances of it becoming an approved medicine have significantly improved.
September 3, 2010
Satellite data reveal why migrating birds have a small window to spread bird flu
In 2005 an outbreak of the H5N1 "bird flu" virus in South East Asia led to widespread fear with predictions that the intercontinental migration of wild birds could lead to global pandemic. Such fears were never realized, and now research published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology reveals why the global spread of bird flu by direct migration of wildfowl is unlikely, while also providing a new framework for quantifying the risk of avian-borne diseases.
September 3, 2010
Rochester leads international effort to improve muscular dystrophy treatment
A large international study aimed at improving the care of muscular dystrophy patients worldwide is being launched by physicians, physical therapists, and researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center, along with counterparts at 41 other institutions around the world. The study will compare treatments for boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the most common form of the disease that affects children.
September 3, 2010
US neurologists agree on protocols for treatment of infantile spasms
Researchers from across the US, as part of the Infantile Spasms Working Group, established guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of infantile spasms. The goal of the ISWG is to improve patient outcomes by creating protocols that educate pediatricians on early diagnosis and treatment options. Full details of this study appear online in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy.
September 3, 2010
Researchers identify how bone-marrow stem cells hold their 'breath' in low-oxygen environments
UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have identified unique metabolic properties that allow a specific type of stem cell in the body to survive and replicate in low-oxygen environments.
September 3, 2010
Hair provides proof of the link between chronic stress and heart attack
Researchers at the University of Western Ontario have provided the first direct evidence using a biological marker, to show chronic stress plays an important role in heart attacks. Drs. Gideon Koren and Stan Van Uum developed a method to measure cortisol levels in hair providing an accurate assessment of stress levels in the months prior to an acute event such as a heart attack. The research is published online in the journal Stress.
September 3, 2010
Tropical forests slashed for farmland
A new study led by a Stanford researcher shows that more than 80 percent of the new farmland created in the tropics between 1980 and 2000 came from felling forests, which sends carbon into the atmosphere and drives global warming. But the research team also noted that big agribusiness has largely replaced small farmers in doing most of the tree cutting in Brazil and Indonesia, which may make it easier to rein in the trend.
September 2, 2010
Imaging reveals key metabolic factors of cannibalistic bacteria
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have revealed new details about how cannibalistic bacteria identify peers suitable for consumption. The work, which employed imaging mass spectrometry, is a first step toward a broader effort to map all signaling molecules between organisms.
September 2, 2010
Verbal snippets offer insights on well-being amid separation, divorce
UA psychology doctoral student Ashley Mason's study of romantically separated people shows they offer clues to their emotional status in just a few seconds of conversation.
September 2, 2010
UCLA chemists, engineers achieve world record with high-speed graphene transistors
A UCLA team led by Xiangfeng Duan has developed a new fabrication process for high-speed graphene transistors using a nanowire as the self-aligned gate. This new technique does not produce any appreciable defects in the graphene during fabrication, so the carrier mobility is retained. Also, by using a self-aligned approach with a nanowire as the gate, the group was able to overcome alignment difficulties previously encountered and fabricate short channel devices with unprecedented performance.
September 2, 2010
Non-invasive therapy significantly improves depression, UCLA researchers say
A unique new therapy that applies electrical stimulation to a major nerve emanating from the brain is showing promise for major depression. In a recently completed clinical trial at UCLA, trigeminal nerve stimulation achieved an average of a 70 percent reduction in symptom severity over an 8-week study.
September 2, 2010
Yale develops new animal model for hemophilia A
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have developed a new animal model for studying hemophilia A, with the goal of eventually treating people with the disorder. Hemophilia A, a hereditary defect that prevents blood from clotting normally, is caused by a variety of mutations in the factor VIII gene.
September 2, 2010
Race, insurance status cited in uneven death rates among pedestrians hit by cars
Uninsured minority pedestrians hit by cars are at a significantly higher risk of death than their insured white counterparts, even if the injuries sustained are similar, new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.
September 2, 2010
Induced pluripotent stem cell retain an inactivated X chromosome
Female induced pluripotent stem cells, reprogrammed from human skin cells into cells that have the embryonic-like potential to become any cell in the body, retain an inactive X chromosome, stem cell researchers at UCLA have found.
September 2, 2010
Novartis and collaborators discover novel antimalarial drug candidate
Published this week in Science the findings demonstrate that the antimalarial candidate, spiroindolone NITD609, is effective against both strains of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium (P.) falciparum and P. vivax. Through a novel mechanism NITD609 rapidly clears plasmodium in a malaria mouse model and shows pharmacological properties compatible with a once-daily dosing regimen.
September 2, 2010
NASA satellite sees Tropical Storm Kompasu transitioning over Korea and China
NASA's Terra satellite captured the changing Tropical Storm Kompasu over Korea and China very early today, as it makes its way east to northern Japan. It is becoming extratropical.
September 2, 2010
Children who eat vended snack foods face chronic health problems, poor diet
School children who consume foods purchased in vending machines are more likely to develop poor diet quality -- and that may be associated with being overweight, obese or at risk for chronic health problems such as diabetes and coronary artery disease, according to research from the University of Michigan Medical School.
September 2, 2010
