Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have identified a key neuronal pathway that makes learning to avoid unpleasant situations possible. Published online in the November 20 issue of Neuron, the work shows that avoidance learning requires neural activity in the habenula representing changes in future expectations. Learning to avoid threats is an essential survival skill for both humans and animals. To do so, animals must be able to predict a danger and then update their predictions based on their actions and new outcomes. Until now, the neural mechanisms ...

Scientists have created the largest-scale map to date of direct interactions between proteins encoded by the human genome and newly predicted dozens of genes to be involved in cancer. The new "human interactome" map describes about 14,000 direct interactions between proteins. The interactome is the network formed by proteins and other cellular components that 'stick together.' The new map is over four times larger than any previous map of its kind, containing more high-quality interactions than have come from all previous studies put together. CIFAR Senior Fellow ...

PHILADELPHIA - Human existence is basically circadian. Most of us wake in the morning, sleep in the evening, and eat in between. Body temperature, metabolism, and hormone levels all fluctuate throughout the day, and it is increasingly clear that disruption of those cycles can lead to metabolic disease. Underlying these circadian rhythms is a molecular clock built of DNA-binding proteins called transcription factors. These proteins control the oscillation of circadian genes, serving as the wheels and springs of the clock itself. Yet not all circadian cycles peak at the ...

Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital have found the cellular origin of the tissue scarring caused by organ damage associated with diabetes, lung disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and other conditions. The buildup of scar tissue is known as fibrosis. Fibrosis has a number of consequences, including inflammation, and reduced blood and oxygen delivery to the organ. In the long term, the scar tissue can lead to organ failure and eventually death. It is estimated that fibrosis contributes to 45 percent of all deaths in the developed ...

Liver cancer is one of the most frequent cancers in the world, and with the worst prognosis; according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2012, 745,000 deaths were registered worldwide due to this cause, a figure only surpassed by lung cancer. The most aggressive and frequent form of liver cancer is hepato-cellular carcinoma (HCC); little is known about it and there are relatively few treatment options. Researchers from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), have produced the first mouse model that faithfully reproduces the steps of human HCC development, ...

Mouse cells and tissues created through nuclear transfer can be rejected by the body because of a previously unknown immune response to the cell's mitochondria, according to a study in mice by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and colleagues in Germany, England and at MIT. The findings reveal a likely, but surmountable, hurdle if such therapies are ever used in humans, the researchers said. Stem cell therapies hold vast potential for repairing organs and treating disease. The greatest hope rests on the potential of pluripotent stem cells, which ...

A recently discovered protein complex known as STING plays a crucial role in detecting the presence of tumor cells and promoting an aggressive anti-tumor response by the body's innate immune system, according to two separate studies published in the Nov. 20 issue of the journal Immunity. The studies, both from University of Chicago-based research teams, have major implications for the growing field of cancer immunotherapy. The findings show that when activated, the STING pathway triggers a natural immune response against the tumor. This includes production of chemical ...

Say you ignored one of those "this website is not trusted" warnings and it led to your computer being hacked. How would you react? Would you: A. Quickly shut down your computer? B. Yank out the cables? C. Scream in cyber terror? For a group of college students participating in a research experiment, all of the above were true. These gut reactions (and more) happened when a trio of Brigham Young University researchers simulated hacking into study participants' personal laptops. "A lot of them freaked out--you could hear them audibly make noises from our observation ...

November 20, 2014, Chicago, IL - A team of researchers led by Ludwig Chicago's Yang-Xin Fu and Ralph Weichselbaum has uncovered the primary signaling mechanisms and cellular interactions that drive immune responses against tumors treated with radiotherapy. Published in the current issue of Immunity, their study suggests novel strategies for boosting the effectiveness of radiotherapy, and for combining it with therapies that harness the immune system to treat cancer. "Much of the conversation about the mechanisms by which radiation kills cancer cells has historically focused ...

BOSTON -- Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most lethal cancer of the female reproductive organs, with more than 200,000 new cases and more than 125,000 deaths each year worldwide. Because symptoms tend to be vague, 80 percent of these cancers are not recognized until the disease has advanced and spread to other parts of the body. The standard treatment for advanced ovarian cancer includes high-dose chemotherapy, which often results in debilitating side effects and for which the five-year survival rate is only 35 percent. Now new research in an animal model finds that ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Researchers from Oregon State University and other institutions have developed a new biomarker called "SDMA" that can provide earlier identification of chronic kidney disease in cats, which is one of the leading causes of their death. A new test based on this biomarker, when commercialized, should help pet owners and their veterinarians watch for this problem through periodic checkups, and treat it with diet or other therapies to help add months or years to their pet's life. Special diets have been shown to slow the progression of this disease once ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - How do galaxies like our Milky Way form, and just how do they evolve? Are galaxies affected by their surrounding environment? An international team of researchers, led by astronomers at the University of California, Riverside, proposes some answers. The researchers highlight the role of the "cosmic web" - a large-scale web-like structure comprised of galaxies - on the evolution of galaxies that took place in the distant universe, a few billion years after the Big Bang. In their paper, published Nov. 20 in the Astrophysical Journal, they present observations ...

BOSTON (Nov. 20, 2014) Investigators at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology and colleagues reported the development and characterization of a comprehensive genetic test for inherited eye disorders in the online version of the Nature journal Genetics In Medicine today. The Genetic Eye Disease (GEDi) test includes all of the genes known to harbor mutations that cause inherited retinal degenerations, optic atrophy and early onset glaucoma. These disorders are important causes of vision loss, and genetic treatments such as gene ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Displaced political aides looking for a new, nonpartisan job in the wake of the midterm power shuffle may fare better if they tone down any political references on their resumes, finds a new study from Duke University. The study found that applicants who shared the minority partisan view of voters where a resume was sent were less likely to receive a callback from an employer than a candidate with a neutral resume. Sharing information in line with the majority partisan view didn't give candidates an advantage, however. "Our results showed that individuals ...

A new study from UNC's Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) reveals that disruptions in child care negatively affect children's social development as early as age 4. However, the study also shows that the effects of child care instability are not unduly large--and some types of instability appear to have no negative impact on children. "Our findings showed that when young children moved between child care settings, these transitions negatively affected their social adjustment," said FPG investigator Mary Bratsch-Hines. "But when children had a history ...

The research found that incisor teeth grow quickly in the early stages of the second trimester of a baby's development, while molars grow at a slower rate in the third trimester. This is so incisors are ready to erupt after birth, at approximately six months of age, when a baby makes the transition from breast-feeding to weaning. Weaning in humans takes place relatively early compared to some primates, such as chimpanzees. As a result, there is less time available for human incisors to form, so the enamel grows rapidly to compensate. This research can increase our understanding ...

New Rochelle, NY, November 20, 2014-Women are more sensitive to the effects of cocaine and more susceptible to cocaine abuse than men. Cocaine's ability to disrupt a woman's estrus cycle may explain the sex differences in cocaine addiction, and new evidence that caffeine may be neuroprotective and able to block cocaine's direct effects on the estrus cycle reveals novel treatment possibilities, according to an article published in Journal of Caffeine Research: The International Multidisciplinary Journal of Caffeine Science, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, ...

Birds that are related, such as Darwin's finches, but that vary in beak size and behavior specially evolved to their habitat are examples of a process called speciation. It has long been thought that dramatic changes in a landscape like the formation of the Andes Mountain range or the Amazon River is the main driver that initiates species to diverge. However, a recent study shows that speciation occurred much later than these dramatic geographical changes. Researchers from LSU's Museum of Natural Science have found that time and a species' ability to move play greater parts ...

The higher your level of education, the greater your earnings and your sense of "personal mastery" or being in control of your fate, University of Toronto researchers say. But wait: there's a downside. Professor Scott Schieman, Canada Research Chair in the Social Contexts of Health, and PhD student Atsushi Narisada investigated the adverse effects associated with attaining a high degree of mastery. Using the Canadian Work, Stress, and Health Study (CANWSH), a national sample of Canadian workers, the researchers measured proficiency, or mastery, by asking study participants ...

Thanks to the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, some of the most mysterious cosmic residents have just become even more puzzling. New observations of globular clusters in a small galaxy show they are very similar to those found in the Milky Way, and so must have formed in a similar way. One of the leading theories on how these clusters form predicts that globular clusters should only be found nestled in among large quantities of old stars. But these old stars, though rife in the Milky Way, are not present in this small galaxy, and so, the mystery deepens. Globular clusters ...

Modern hand dryers are much worse than paper towels when it comes to spreading germs, according to new University of Leeds research. Scientists from the University of Leeds have found that high-powered 'jet-air' and warm air hand dryers can spread bacteria in public toilets. Airborne germ counts were 27 times higher around jet air dryers in comparison with the air around paper towel dispensers. The study shows that both jet and warm air hand dryers spread bacteria into the air and onto users and those nearby. The research team, led by Professor Mark Wilcox of the ...

PharmaMar results for antitumoral compounds and their mechanism of action at EORTC-NCI-AACR emphasize an innovative pipeline of targeted therapies Targeting of eEF1A2 by antitumor drug Aplidin® reveals novel mechanism of action driving therapeutic efficacy A newly developed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) combining a marine-derived agent with trastuzumab shows potent antitumoral activity in breast tumors overexpressing HER2 grown in mice Antitumoral activity of investigational drugs with different molecular targets in the pipeline highlights their potential ...

Almost one third of male adolescents inaccurately perceive their weight. This can influence their eating habits and, consequently, their health, according to a study led by the UAB and conducted with 600 teenage boys from Barcelona and surrounding areas. Up to 25% of the boys reported trying to lose or control their weight in the past year. The research, conducted in collaboration with the Mental Health Unit of the Parc Taulí Health Corporation (CSPT), analysed the effects weight perception had on the boys' behaviour when trying to lose or maintain their weight. ...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) scientists, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Manchester, U.K.; Imperial College, London; University of California San Diego; and the National Institute of Material Science (NIMS), Japan, have demonstrated that confined surface phonon polaritons within hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) exhibit unique metamaterial properties that enable novel nanoscale optical devices for use in optical communications, super-resolution imaging and improved infrared cameras and detectors. Metamaterials are artificial composites ...

Las Médulas in León is considered to be the largest opencast goldmine of the Roman Empire, but the search for this metal extended many kilometres further south-east to the Erica river valley. Thanks to a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) laser system attached to an aircraft, the ancient mining works of the area and the complex hydraulics system used by the Romans in the 1st century BC to extract gold (including channels, reservoirs and a double river diversion) have been discovered. "The volume of earth exploited is much greater than previously thought and ...