In obesity, a micro-RNA causes metabolic problems

CAMDEN — These days, gamers aren't just saving the virtual world, they're creating it. Video games have evolved into a fully immersive, customizable experience in which gamers not only play, but also create new content. Players are encouraged to contribute their creativity by designing their own maps, customizing characters, and adding new material to games. But user-generated content has the potential to infringe upon copyright law, which is casting a shadow on the legality of gamer authorship. Rutgers–Camden law professor Greg Lastowka is mapping the intersection ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- For nearly 260 years -- since Carl Linnaeus developed his system of naming plants and animals -- researchers classified species based on visual attributes like color, shape and size. In the past few decades, researchers found that sequencing DNA can more accurately identify species. A group of single-celled algae -- Symbiodinum -- that live inside corals and are critical to their survival -- are only now being separated into species using DNA analysis, according to biologists. "Unfortunately with Symbiodinium, scientists have been hindered by a ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Many public safety-net hospitals are likely to face increasing financial and competitive pressures stemming in part from the recent Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act, according to researchers at Penn State and the Harvard School of Public Health. "The issue for these hospitals going forward is that the Affordable Care Act promises to change how care for low-income and uninsured populations is funded, potentially reshaping the competitive landscape," said Jonathan Clark, assistant professor of health policy and administration, Penn ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (September 20, 2012) – A new virtual reality simulator—including sophisticated 3-D graphics and tactile feedback—provides neurosurgery trainees with valuable opportunities to practice essential skills and techniques for brain cancer surgery, according to a paper in the September issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part ofWolters Kluwer Health. The prototype system, called "NeuroTouch," uses 3-D graphics and haptic (sense of touch) technology to ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (September 20, 2012) – For patients undergoing neurosurgery at teaching hospitals, there's no "July phenomenon" of increased death and complication rates when new residents start their training, reports a study in the September issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. The risk of adverse outcomes after common brain and spinal procedures are no different in July compared to any other month, according to the research by Dr. ...

Montreal, September 20, 2012 – Even on the playground, our friends know us better than we know ourselves. New research has revealed that your childhood peers from grade school may be able to best predict your success as an adult. Lisa Serbin of the Department of Psychology at Concordia University and Alexa Martin-Storey, a recent Concordia graduate and a current post-doctoral student at the University of Texas – both members of the Concordia-based Centre for Research in Human Development – recently published a study online, which reveals that childhood peer evaluation ...

Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. – During embryonic development in humans and other mammals, sperm and egg cells are essentially wiped clean of chemical modifications to DNA called epigenetic marks. They are then held in reserve to await fertilization. In flowering plants the scenario is dramatically different. Germ cells don't even appear until the post-embryonic period – sometimes not until many years later. When they do appear, only some epigenetic marks are wiped away; some remain, carried over from prior generations – although until now little was known about how or to what ...

Just as women are advised to get plenty of folic acid around the time of conception and throughout early pregnancy, new research suggests another very similar nutrient may one day deserve a spot on the obstetrician's list of recommendations. Consuming greater amounts of choline – a nutrient found in eggs and meat – during pregnancy may lower an infant's vulnerability to stress-related illnesses, such as mental health disturbances, and chronic conditions, like hypertension, later in life. In an early study in The FASEB Journal, nutrition scientists and obstetricians ...

Findings from the Research and Development Data Link Project showed that both parent companies of U.S. multinational companies and U.S. affiliates of foreign multinational companies devoted about three-fourths of their R&D expenditures to development activities in 2007. This newly developed information is from the Research and Development Data Link Project--a joint project of the National Science Foundation, U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis. In linking surveys from these three agencies, the Data Link Project provided more comprehensive information ...

The Sweet Oasis nursing pillow, designed to help mothers nurse more comfortably, is now available via the web and in select baby boutiques throughout the Denver area. Designed by a breastfeeding mom, the Sweet Oasis pillow makes nursing more comfortable for mother and baby by ergonomic and secure positioning every feeding. The Sweet Oasis nursing pillow's patent-pending design, intended for nursing or bottle-feeding on the caregiver's lap, aligns baby in a healthy, inclined position; provides greater stability and safety; and washes and carries easily. Mother and ...