Mice bred to carry a gene variant found in a third of ALS patients have a faster disease progression and die sooner than mice with the standard genetic model of the disease, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. Understanding the molecular pathway of this accelerated model could lead to more successful drug trials for all ALS patients. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a degeneration of lower and upper motor neurons in the brainstem, spinal cord and the motor cortex. The disease, which affects 12,000 Americans, ...

Philadelphia, November 13, 2014 - Associations between opioid-related overdoses and increased prescription of opioids for chronic noncancer pain are well known. But some suggest that overdose occurs predominately in individuals who obtain opioids from nonmedical sources. In a new study published in the November issue of the journal PAIN®, researchers in Denmark found an increased risk of death associated with chronic pain without opioid treatment, as well as an even higher risk among those prescribed opioids for long-term use and a somewhat lower risk associated with ...

Scientists at the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and their collaborators have developed a scoring scheme that predicts the ability of cancer cells to spread to other parts of the body, a process known as metastasis. This system, which is the first of its kind, opens up the possibility to explore new treatments that suppress metastasis in cancer patients. The findings were published in EMBO Molecular Medicine in September. Led by Professor Jean Paul Thiery, Senior Principal Investigator, and Dr Ruby Huang, ...

Swedish materials researchers at Linköping and Uppsala University and Chalmers University of Technology, in collaboration with researchers at the Swiss Synchrotron Light Source (SLS) in Switzerland investigated the superconductor YBa2Cu3O7-x (abbreviated YBCO) using advanced X-ray spectroscopy. Their findings are published in the Nature journal Science Reports. YBCO is a well-known ceramic copper-based material that can conduct electricity without loss (superconductivity) when it is cooled below its critical temperature Tc=-183° C. Since the resistance and ...

People on the autistic spectrum may struggle to recognise social cues, unfamiliar people or even someone's gender because of an inability to interpret changing facial expressions, new research has found. According to the study by academics at Brunel University London, adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), though able to recognise static faces, struggle with tasks that require them to discriminate between sequences of facial motion or to use facial motion as a cue to identity. The research supports previous evidence to suggest that impairments in perceiving biological ...

Membranes are thin walls that surround cells and protect their interior from the environment. These walls are composed of phospholipids, which, due to their amphiphilic nature, form bilayers with dis-tinct chemical properties: While the outward-facing headgroups are charged, the core of the bilayer is hydrophobic, which prevents charged molecules from passing through. The controlled flow of ions across the membrane, which is essential for the transmission of nerve impulses, is facilitated by ion channels, membrane proteins that provide gated pathways for ions. Analogous ...

A cat always lands on its feet. At least, that's how the adage goes. Karen Liu hopes that in the future, this will be true of robots as well. To understand the way feline or human behavior during falls might be applied to robot landings, Liu, an associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing (IC) at Georgia Tech, delved into the physics of everything from falling cats to the mid-air orientation of divers and astronauts. In research presented at the 2014 IEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Liu shared her studies of mid-air ...

Weather, which changes day-to-day due to constant fluctuations in the atmosphere, and climate, which varies over decades, are familiar. More recently, a third regime, called "macroweather," has been used to describe the relatively stable regime between weather and climate. A new study by researchers at McGill University and UCL finds that this same three-part pattern applies to atmospheric conditions on Mars. The results, published in Geophysical Research Letters, also show that the sun plays a major role in determining macroweather. The research promises to advance ...

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common neuromuscular disease of children (affecting 1 boy in 3500-5000 births). It is caused by a genetic defect in the DMD gene residing on the X chromosome, which results in the absence of the dystrophin protein essential to the proper functioning of muscles. The treatment being developed by researchers at Atlantic Gene Therapies, Généthon and the Institute of Myology, is based on the use of an AAV vector (Adeno Associated Virus) carrying a transgene for the skipping of a specific exon which allows functional dystrophin ...

After graphene was first produced in the lab in 2004, thousands of laboratories began developing graphene products worldwide. Researchers were amazed by its lightweight and ultra-strong properties. Ten years later, scientists now search for other materials that have the same level of potential. "We continue to work with graphene, and there are some applications where it works very well," said Mark Hersam, the Bette and Neison Harris Chair in Teaching Excellence at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, who is a graphene expert. ...

High blood pressure - already a massive hidden killer in Nigeria - is set to sharply rise as the country adopts western lifestyles, a study suggests. Researchers who conducted the first up-to-date nationwide estimate of the condition in Nigeria warn that this will strain the country's already-stretched health system. Increased public awareness, lifestyle changes, screening and early detection are vital to tackle the increasing threat of the disease, they say. High blood pressure - also known as hypertension - is twice as high in Nigeria compared with other East ...

Researchers at The University of Texas have found that compared to Caucasian Americans, African Americans have impaired blood flow regulation in the brain that could contribute to a greater risk of cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke, transient ischaemic attack ("mini stroke"), subarachnoid haemorrhage or vascular dementia. These findings were published in Experimental Physiology, the journal of The Physiological Society. Cerebrovascular diseases can result from reduced blood flow in affected areas of the brain. It is still unclear why African Americans are at higher ...

Needles almost too small to be seen with the unaided eye could be the basis for new treatment options for two of the world's leading eye diseases: glaucoma and corneal neovascularization. The microneedles, ranging in length from 400 to 700 microns, could provide a new way to deliver drugs to specific areas within the eye relevant to these diseases. By targeting the drugs only to specific parts of the eye instead of the entire eye, researchers hope to increase effectiveness, limit side effects, and reduce the amount of drug needed. For glaucoma, which affects about 2.2 ...

(PHILADELPHIA) - Glioblastoma is the most common aggressive primary brain tumor, and despite advances in standard treatment, the median survival is about 15 months (compared to 4 months without treatment). Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University have been working on a cancer vaccine that would extend that survival by activating the patient's immune system to fight the brain tumor. A study published online November 13th in the journal Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy drilled down to the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind the vaccine, paving the way for further development ...

Hospitalized premature infants are exposed to unsafe levels of a chemical found in numerous medical products used to treat them, raising questions about whether critically ill newborns may be adversely affected by equipment designed to help save their lives. The chemical, di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), is used to increase flexibility of many plastic devices. These products, made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), include most intravenous tubing, catheters, endotracheal tubes, and fluid and blood product bags. DEHP doesn't bind chemically to PVC, and is able to leach into ...

In a new study, Use of Social Network Sites at Work: Does it Impair Performance?, Postdoctoral Fellow Cecilie Schou Andreassen and colleagues at the University of Bergen's (UiB) Department of Psychosocial Science looked at the consequences of the use of social media during working hours. Every day, more than one billion people worldwide use social media. This habit has also invaded the workplace, as some research reports that four out of five employees use social media for private purpose during working hours. Surprisingly, although this type of distraction may potentially ...

Scientists used mathematical models to show that analysing genetic data, alongside a range of other risk factors, could substantially improve the ability to flag up women at highest risk of developing breast cancer. Their study showed that prevention strategies could be improved by testing not only as currently for major cancer predisposition genes such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 - which identify a small percentage of women at very high risk - but also by factoring in data on multiple gene variants that individually have only a small effect on risk, but are more common in the ...

Researchers at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute of Bellvitge, the Catalan Institute of Oncology and the University Hospital of Bellvitge have participated in an international study published in the journal Cancer Cell that describes how exosomes secreted by tumor cells contain protein and microRNA molecules capable of transform neighboring cells into tumoral cells promoting tumor growth. What are exosomes? Exosomes are small vesicles which are secreted by all cells and contain proteins and messenger RNAs and microRNAs. At first it was thought that only functioned ...

Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) at James Cook University in Australia have found a way to predict illegal fishing activities to help authorities better protect marine reserves. Marine reserves are the most common strategy used to protect and maintain marine ecosystems around the world. The International Convention of Biological Diversity aims to have 10 per cent of the world's marine areas protected by 2020. Many countries are contributing to this target by protecting remote, offshore areas. For example, the United ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- This week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine features an article that highlights an unprecedented analysis of the nation's childhood head injuries. The study, authored by physicians at UC Davis School of Medicine and Washington University School of Medicine, analyzed more than 43,000 children who were evaluated for head trauma at 25 emergency departments around the United States. In the accompanying supplements, detailed information about these children, their presentations and results will be useful to doctors and helpful to policy makers ...

BOSTON, MA - Sleep disorders are independent risk factors for heart attacks and motor vehicle crashes, which are the two leading causes of death for firefighters in the United States. In a national sample of almost 7,000 firefighters, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) examined the prevalence of common sleep disorders and their association with adverse health and safety outcomes and found that sleep disorders are highly prevalent, and associated with substantially increased risk of motor vehicle crashes and cardio-metabolic diseases among firefighters. Findings ...

VIDEO: NC State researchers have developed a new way to transfer thin semiconductor films, which are only one atom thick, onto arbitrary substrates, paving the way for flexible computing or photonic... Click here for more information. Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new way to transfer thin semiconductor films, which are only one atom thick, onto arbitrary substrates, paving the way for flexible computing or photonic devices. The technique ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - In six out of 10 cases, ovarian cancer is diagnosed when the disease is advanced and five-year survival is only 27 percent. A new study suggests that a cancer-killing virus combined with a chemotherapy drug might safely and effectively treat advanced or recurrent forms of the disease. Researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James), led the cell and animal study. Reporting in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, the researchers showed that ...

Some people experience cold not only as feeling cold, but actually as a painful sensation. This applies even to fairly mild temperatures - anything below 20°C. A group of researchers from Lund University in Sweden have now identified the mechanism in the body that creates this connection between cold and pain. It turns out that it is the same receptor that reacts to the pungent substances in mustard and garlic. Professor of Pharmacology Peter Zygmunt and Professor of Clinical Pharmacology Edward Högestätt have long conducted research on pain and the connection ...

For several years the Danish health service has been moving towards increased centralisation and specialisation in large hospital departments based on the thesis that this provides better results for patients. A new study involving more than 12,000 Danish patients with hip fractures presents a different picture, however: "Our study shows that the mortality rate for this group of patients is lower in the smaller hospital departments compared to the larger departments. We can also see that the length of stay in hospital is shorter and the quality of care is generally better, ...