| Factor in naked mole rat's cells enhances protein integrity Posted: 29 Aug 2014 02:54 PM PDT A factor in naked mole rat cells could be one of the secrets to how the rodent defies aging, researchers say. Naked mole rats, which burrow through underground tunnels in their native East Africa, are nearly hairless rodents. They live as long as 32 years. Naked mole rats maintain cancer-free good health and reproductive potential well into their third decade of life.  |
| Surprising discovery: HIV hides in gut, evading eradication Posted: 29 Aug 2014 02:54 PM PDT Some surprising discoveries about the body's initial responses to HIV infection have been made by researchers. One of the biggest obstacles to complete viral eradication and immune recovery is the stable HIV reservoir in the gut. There is very little information about the early viral invasion and the establishment of the gut reservoir. "We want to understand what enables the virus to invade the gut, cause inflammation and kill the immune cells," said the study's lead author.  |
| Antidepressants show potential for postoperative pain Posted: 29 Aug 2014 02:54 PM PDT Anesthesiologists examine studies where antidepressants were prescribed for pain after surgery. Clinical trials are often used to answer questions about the efficacy of the off-label uses of drugs. In the case of antidepressants, their effects on postsurgical pain continue to be an area of research interest.  |
| Preventing cancer from forming 'tentacles' stops dangerous spread Posted: 29 Aug 2014 02:54 PM PDT 'Invadopodia' play a key role in the spread of cancer, a team of researchers reports. The study shows preventing these tentacle-like structures from forming can stop the spread of cancer entirely.  |
| Efficacy of new gene therapy approach for toxin exposures shown in mouse study Posted: 29 Aug 2014 02:53 PM PDT Gene therapy may offer significant advantages in prevention and treatment of botulism exposure over current methods, new research shows. "We envision this treatment approach having a broad range of applications such as protecting military personnel from biothreat agents or protecting the public from other toxin-mediated diseases such as C. difficile and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infections," said the lead researcher.  |
| Pioneer strategy for creating new materials Posted: 29 Aug 2014 10:59 AM PDT Making something new is never easy. Scientists constantly theorize about new materials, but when the material is manufactured it doesn't always work as expected. To create a new strategy for designing materials, scientists combined two different approaches at two different facilities to synthesize new materials. This new strategy gives faster feedback on what growth schemes are best, thus shortening the timeframe to manufacture a new, stable material for energy transport and conversion applications.  |
| Revealing novel mode of action for osteoporosis drug Posted: 29 Aug 2014 10:54 AM PDT Raloxifene is a US Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for decreasing fracture risk in osteoporosis. While raloxifene is as effective at reducing fracture risk as other current treatments, this works only partially by suppressing bone loss. X-ray studies revealed an additional mechanism underlying raloxifene action, providing an explanation for how this drug can achieve equivalent clinical benefit.  |
| New biodiversity metric defined by researchers Posted: 29 Aug 2014 10:54 AM PDT To understand how the repeated climatic shifts over the last 120,000 years may have influenced today's patterns of genetic diversity, a team of researchers developed a new biodiversity metric called 'phylogeographic endemism.'  |
| Leading Ebola researcher says there's an effective treatment for Ebola Posted: 29 Aug 2014 10:54 AM PDT A leading US Ebola researcher has gone on record stating that a blend of three monoclonal antibodies can completely protect monkeys against a lethal dose of Ebola virus up to five days after infection, at a time when the disease is severe.  |
| MERS: Low transmissibility, dangerous illness Posted: 29 Aug 2014 07:33 AM PDT The MERS coronavirus has caused disease outbreaks across the Arabian Peninsula and spread to Europe several times. The severe pneumonia virus has claimed the lives of several hundred people since its discovery in 2012. For a long time, scientists have been puzzled over how easily the pathogen spreads from human to human. An international team of researchers has now come to the conclusion that the rate of human transmission is low.  |
| Intervention needed for survivors of childhood burns Posted: 29 Aug 2014 07:32 AM PDT Adults who have been hospitalized for a burn as a child experience higher than usual rates of depression and suicidal thoughts, according to new research. A 30-year follow up of childhood burns victims has found that 42% of people surveyed had suffered some form of mental illness and 30% suffered depression at some stage in their lives.  |
| New model predicts patients with type 1 diabetes who will go on to develop major complications Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:48 PM PDT A new model has been developed for predicting which patients with type 1 diabetes will go on to develop major complications, through easily and routinely measured risk factors. "The risk estimates can guide surveillance recommendations, inform patients and allow efficient design and analysis of clinical trials," the author say.  |
| Cellphone addiction harming academic performance is 'an increasingly realistic possibility' Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:47 PM PDT Women college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cellphones, with men college students spending nearly eight hours, according to a study on cellphone activity. "As cellphone functions increase, addictions to this seemingly indispensable piece of technology become an increasingly realistic possibility," researchers noted.  |
| Prions can trigger 'stuck' wine fermentations, researchers find Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:00 PM PDT A biochemical communication system that crosses from bacteria to yeast, making use of prions, has been discovered. It is responsible for a chronic winemaking problem known as 'stuck fermentation' and may also have implications for better understanding metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, in humans.  |
| Socially-assistive robots help kids with autism learn by providing personalized prompts Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:00 PM PDT Children with autism spectrum disorders showed improved or maintained performance in learning imitative behavior by interacting with humanoid robots that provided graded cueing, an occupational therapy technique that shapes behavior by providing increasingly specific cues to help a person learn new skills.  |
| Breakthrough in RSV research with drug trial Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:00 PM PDT A new clinical trial of a drug was shown to safely reduce the viral load and clinical illness of healthy adult volunteers intranasally infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). RSV is the most common cause of lower respiratory tract infections in young children in the United States and worldwide. It hospitalizes 125,000 children in the United States each year, and was the cause for 1.5 million outpatient visits.  |
| New type of cell movement discovered Posted: 28 Aug 2014 11:27 AM PDT Scientists have used an innovative technique to study how cells move in a three-dimensional matrix, similar to the structure of certain tissues, such as the skin. They discovered an entirely new type of cell movement whereby the nucleus helps propel cells through the matrix like a piston in an engine.  |
| HIV Lessons from the Mississippi Baby Posted: 28 Aug 2014 11:26 AM PDT The news in July, 2014 that HIV had returned in a Mississippi toddler after a two-year treatment-free remission dashed the hopes of clinicians, HIV researchers and the public at large tantalized by the possibility of a cure. But a new commentary by two leading HIV experts argues that despite its disappointing outcome, the Mississippi case and two other recent HIV "rebounds" in adults, have yielded critical lessons about the virus' most perplexing — and maddening — feature: its ability to form cure-defying viral hideouts.  |
| Respiratory infection controls being used for Ebola patients are unnecessary, may contribute to public panic Posted: 28 Aug 2014 10:55 AM PDT Respiratory infection control measures -- which have been adopted by most health agencies to deal with the Ebola epidemic in west Africa -- are unnecessary, and may heighten panic and fear among the public, according to the authors of a new paper.  |
| How studying damage to prefrontal lobe has helped unlock the brain's mysteries Posted: 28 Aug 2014 10:55 AM PDT Until the last few decades, the frontal lobes of the brain were shrouded in mystery and erroneously thought of as nonessential for normal function. Now a review highlights groundbreaking studies of patients with brain damage that reveal how distinct areas of the frontal lobes are critical for a person's ability to learn, multitask, control emotions, socialize, and make decisions. The findings have helped experts rehabilitate patients experiencing damage to this brain region.  |
| Cicada study discovers two genomes that function as one Posted: 28 Aug 2014 10:55 AM PDT While studying cicadas, researchers discovered that Hodgkinia had subtly become more complex through a speciation event, in which the original lineage split to produce two separate but interdependent species of Hodgkinia. What was previously thought to be a tripartite, or a three-way symbiosis, is now proven to actually be a four-way symbiosis.  |
| Zombie bacteria are nothing to be afraid of Posted: 28 Aug 2014 10:52 AM PDT The first experimental evidence has been obtained that there are at least two fail-safe points in the bacterial cell cycle. If the fail-safes are activated, the cell is forced to exit the cell cycle forever. It then enters a zombie-like state and is unable to reproduce even under the most favorable of conditions. Drugs that trigger the fail-safes are already under development.  |
| Sensory-tested, woman-initiated drug-delivery vehicle could limit spread of HIV, AIDS Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:53 AM PDT A unique method for delivering compounds that could positively impact the global battle against HIV and AIDS may be possible, American researchers say. A semi-soft vaginal suppository made from the seaweed-derived food ingredient carrageenan and loaded with the antiviral drug Tenofovir provides a woman-initiated, drug-delivery vehicle that can protect against the spread of sexually transmitted infections during unprotected heterosexual intercourse, they report  |
| New analytical technology reveals 'nanomechanical' surface traits Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:53 AM PDT A new research platform uses a laser to measure the 'nanomechanical' properties of tiny structures undergoing stress and heating, an approach likely to yield insights to improve designs for microelectronics and batteries.  |
| Females ignored in basic medical research, experts say Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:53 AM PDT Surgical researchers rarely use female animals or female cells in their published studies, researchers say, despite a huge body of evidence showing that sex differences can play a crucial role in medical research.  |
| New solutions needed to recycle fracking water, experts say Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:53 AM PDT Scientists have produced a detailed analysis of water produced by hydraulic fracturing of three gas reservoirs and suggested environmentally friendly remedies are needed to treat and reuse it.  |
| Protected areas proven to protect biodiversity Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:09 AM PDT Protected areas conserve biodiversity, experts say, and more action is needed to ensure safeguards are in place to protect these areas. "Our work has now shown that protected areas have significant biodiversity benefits. In general, plant and animal populations are larger and more species are found inside rather than outside protected areas. In other words, protected areas are doing their job," they report.  |
| This is your brain's blood vessels on drugs Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:09 AM PDT A laser-based method has been used to produce the first-ever set of images clearly and directly detailing how cocaine shuts down blood flow in the brain. This could help doctors and researchers better understand how drug abuse affects the brain, which may aid in improving brain-cancer surgery and tissue engineering, and lead to better treatment for recovering drug addicts.  |
