Philadelphia, PA, May 8, 2015 - An important function of the human placenta is to protect the fetus from detrimental substances in maternal blood, such as glucocorticoids or toxins. Placental membrane-bound transporter proteins, known as multidrug resistance proteins, protect the fetus by returning unwanted materials to the maternal circulation. A study in The American Journal of Pathology reports that bacterial and viral infections differentially influence these transporter proteins in early and late pregnancy, suggesting potential mechanisms underlying infection-related ...

The Sun is a huge source of energy. In just one hour planet Earth is hit by so much sunshine that humankind could cover its energy needs for an entire year if only we knew how to harvest and save it. But storing sunshine is not trivial. Now a student at Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen has researched his way to a breakthrough which may prove pivotal for technologies trying to capture the energy of the sun, and saving it for a rainy day. Anders Bo Skov has recently started studying for his Master's degree in chemistry at University of Copenhagen. Together ...

Switching from driving to work to using public transport, walking, or cycling might help commuters shed weight within a couple of years, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. Given that car use is high, the findings strengthen the case for incentivising walking or cycling to boost population health, suggest the researchers. They base their findings on the responses of 4000 people to three waves of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) in 2004-5, 2005-6, and 2006-7. The BHPS is a long term annual study of a representative ...

Frequent users of emergency care are more than twice as likely as infrequent users to die, be admitted to hospital, or require other outpatient treatment, concludes an analysis of the available evidence, published online in Emergency Medicine Journal. The available evidence suggests that frequent users account for up to one in 12 patients seeking emergency department care, and for around one in four of all visits. The authors base their findings on a thorough search of seven electronic databases of relevant research relating to the frequency and outcomes of emergency ...

Highlights Patients who received dexamethasone during heart surgery had about a 2.5-times lower risk of developing kidney failure requiring dialysis compared with those receiving a placebo. The greatest benefits of dexamethasone were seen in patients with pre-existing advanced chronic kidney disease. Acute kidney injury can be a serious complication following heart surgery. Washington, DC (May 7, 2015) -- The anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone helps prevent serious kidney complications that can arise following heart surgery, according to the results of a ...

Philadelphia, PA, May 7, 2015 - Current U.S. health policy requires Medicaid beneficiaries to wait 30 days before tubal sterilization. Ob/gyn experts argue that this violates health care justice as elective tubal sterilization is readily available to women with a private source of payment. Writing in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, they urge obstetricians to advocate for change to eliminate health care injustice in women's access to elective tubal sterilization. One of the most common forms of contraception in the U.S. is tubal sterilization after childbirth, ...

San Francisco, May 7, 2015 - Detailed gait analysis reveals that people with clogged leg arteries rely more on muscles in the back of the calf when they walk to compensate for weakness in certain hip muscles, according to a new study presented at the American Heart Association's Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology/Peripheral Vascular Disease Scientific Sessions 2015. This suggests that exercise training to strengthen hip flexor muscles may increase how far patients can walk without calf pain. Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a narrowing of the arteries ...

A group of leading soil scientists, including the University of Delaware's Donald L. Sparks, has summarized the precarious state of the world's soil resources and the possible ramifications for human security in a paper published Thursday, May 7, in the journal Science. In a review of recent scientific literature, the article, titled "Soil and Human Security in the 21st Century," outlines threats to soil productivity -- and, in turn, food production -- due to soil erosion, nutrient exhaustion, urbanization and climate change. "Soil is our planet's epidermis," said Sparks, ...

Crigler-Najjar syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the UGT1A1 gene, which result in the toxic accumulation of bilirubin, a substance made by the liver in the body. Indeed, when the UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1 isotype A1 (UGT1A1), the enzyme responsible for removing bilirubin, doesn't work, the substance accumulates, causing a severe and chronic jaundice, and becoming toxic for the brain and leading to lethality. Gene therapy has allowed the restoration of an equivalent level of bilirubin to those found in healthy animals Federico ...

Luring longtime and new customers to try online shopping, and retaining them in a competitive and crowded marketplace, is the challenge of the day for established offline retailers. A study of the multichannel UK grocery shopping environment recently yielded insights that will be useful for retailers with an online channel or considering adding one to their customers' options. A team of researchers from Belgium's KU Leuven (University of Leuven), led by doctoral candidate Kristina Melis, investigated purchasing behavior and the adoption of an online grocery shopping ...

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have determined the molecular structure of one of the proteins in the fine fibers of the brain plaques that are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. This molecule, called amyloid beta-42, is toxic to nerve cells and is believed to provoke the disease cascade. The study is online in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. Knowing the physical structure of the 42 amino acid-long form of amyloid beta in the fibers is key to understanding how it folds up improperly and aggregates into toxic plaques, says Yoshitaka ...

This news release is available in Spanish. (SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Researchers at UC Davis have developed a new intervention that identifies potentially depressed mothers and encourages them to seek treatment. The Motivating our Mothers (MOM) program takes a unique approach, relying on pediatricians rather than the mother's doctor for diagnosis. In the study, mothers were given a short survey to assess whether they needed additional care. Those who identified depression symptoms were then coached by a research assistant to seek further help. The program had a remarkable ...

A new study shows that it is possible to use an imaging technique called cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to view, in near-atomic detail, the architecture of a metabolic enzyme bound to a drug that blocks its activity. This advance provides a new path for solving molecular structures that may revolutionize drug development, noted the researchers. The protein imaged in this study was a small bacterial enzyme called beta-galactosidase; the drug to which it was bound is an inhibitor called phenylethyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside (PETG), which fits into a pocket in the ...

Messenger RNA (mRNA) levels dictate most differences protein levels in fast-growing cells when analyzed using statistical methods that account for noise in the data, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Chicago and Harvard University. The research, published May 7, 2015 in the journal PLOS Genetics, counters widely reported studies arguing that the correlation between mRNA transcript levels and protein levels is relatively low, and that processes acting after mRNA transcription override mRNA levels. Instead, the authors argue, these conclusions ...

Boston, MA -- Researchers at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and the Broad Institute have identified a protein on the surface of human red blood cells that serves as an essential entry point for invasion by the malaria parasite. The presence of this protein, called CD55, was found to be critical to the Plasmodium falciparum parasite's ability to attach itself to the red blood cell surface during invasion. This discovery opens up a promising new avenue for the development of therapies to treat and prevent malaria. "Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites have ...

Hereditary blindness caused by a progressive degeneration of the light-sensing cells in the eye, the photoreceptors, affects millions of people worldwide. Although the light-sensing cells are lost, cells in deeper layers of the retina, which normally cannot sense light, remain intact. A promising new therapeutic approach based on a technology termed "optogenetics" is to introduce light-sensing proteins into these surviving retinal cells, turning them into "replacement photoreceptors" and thereby restoring vision. However, several factors limit the feasibility of a clinical ...

PRINCETON, N.J.--The measles virus is known to cast a deadly shadow upon children by temporarily suppressing their immune systems. While this vulnerability was previously thought to have lasted a month or two, a new study shows that children may actually live in the immunological shadow of measles for up to three years - leaving them highly susceptible to a host of other deadly diseases. Published in the journal Science, the study, led by researchers from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary ...

This news release is available in Spanish. Although the genetic blueprint of every cell is the same, each cell has the potential to become specific for a tissue or organ by controlling its gene expression. Thus, every cell "reads" or "switches on" a particular set of genes according to whether it should become a skin, heart, or liver cell. Launched by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2010, the GTEx Project aims to create a reference database and tissue bank for scientists to study how genomic variants affect gene activity and disease susceptibility. Following ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass--Researchers have succeeded in creating a new "whispering gallery" effect for electrons in a sheet of graphene -- making it possible to precisely control a region that reflects electrons within the material. They say the accomplishment could provide a basic building block for new kinds of electronic lenses, as well as quantum-based devices that combine electronics and optics. The new system uses a needle-like probe that forms the basis of present-day scanning tunneling microscopes (STM), enabling control of both the location and the size of the reflecting ...

For years, scientists have been puzzled by the presence of short stretches of genetic material floating inside a variety of cells, ranging from bacteria to mammals, including humans. These fragments are pieces of the genetic instructions cells use to make proteins, but are too short a length to serve their usual purpose. Reporting in this week's Cell, researchers at Rockefeller have discovered a major clue to the role these fragments play in the body -- and in the process, may have opened up a new frontier in the fight against breast cancer. Specifically, Sohail Tavazoie ...

Every inch of our body, inside and out, is oozing with bacteria. In fact, the human body carries 10 times the number of bacterial cells as human cells. Many are our friends, helping us digest food and fight off infections, for instance. But much about these abundant organisms, upon which our life depends, remains mysterious. In research reported May 7 in Cell, scientists at Rockefeller finally crack the code of a fundamental process bacteria use to defend themselves against invaders. For years, researchers have puzzled over conflicting results about the workings of a ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Much like a finger leaves its own unique print to help identify a person, researchers are now discovering that skull fractures leave certain signatures that can help investigators better determine what caused the injury. Implications from the Michigan State University research could help with the determination of truth in child abuse cases, potentially resulting in very different outcomes. Until now, multiple skull fractures meant several points of impact to the head and often were thought to suggest child abuse. Roger Haut, a University Distinguished ...

PULLMAN, Wash.--Washington State University researchers say the popularity of bamboo landscaping could increase the spread of hantavirus, with the plant's prolific seed production creating a population boom among seed-eating deer mice that carry the disease. Richard Mack, an ecologist in WSU's School of Biological Sciences, details how an outbreak could happen in a recent issue of the online journal PLOS One. Bamboo plants are growing in popularity, judging by the increased number of species listed by the American Bamboo Society. Some grow in relatively self-contained ...

WASHINGTON -- Can a true, robust global health framework be created to help prevent tragedies like Ebola while at the same time allow countries to meet everyday health needs? Georgetown University global health and law experts say it can be done, and in a special issue of "The Lancet" focusing on global health security, they propose specific priorities to transform a fragmented health system into a "purposeful, organized" framework with national health systems at its foundation and an empowered World Health Organization at its apex. "The Ebola epidemic in west Africa ...

The west African Ebola epidemic has rekindled interest in global health security, but it has also highlighted a troubling lack of political commitment to public health, and it is far from clear whether the crisis will be enough to rejuvenate global health security, say leading global health experts writing in The Lancet. Through a series of essays [1], the review, which is published as part of a special issue on global health security, explores different perspectives on the wider lessons that can be drawn from the outbreak, including how it has demonstrated the importance ...