The most commonly used medications for osteoporosis worldwide, bisphosphonates, may also prevent certain kinds of lung, breast and colon cancers, according to two studies led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Bisphosphonates had been associated by past studies with slowed tumor growth in some patients but not others, and the mechanism behind these patterns was unknown. In the studies published today, an international research team showed that bisphosphonates ...

Any science textbook will tell you we can't see infrared light. Like X-rays and radio waves, infrared light waves are outside the visual spectrum. But an international team of researchers co-led by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that under certain conditions, the retina can sense infrared light after all. Using cells from the retinas of mice and people, and powerful lasers that emit pulses of infrared light, the researchers found that when laser light pulses rapidly, light-sensing cells in the retina sometimes get a double ...

INDIANAPOLIS and NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Imperceptible variations in movement patterns among individuals with autism spectrum disorder are important indicators of the severity of the disorder in children and adults, according to a report presented at the 2014 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in November. For the first time, researchers at Indiana University and Rutgers University report developing a quantitative way to assess these otherwise ignored variations in movement and link those variations to a diagnosis. "This is the first time we have been able to explicitly ...

Two years ago, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) engineered Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria to convert glucose into significant quantities of methyl ketones, a class of chemical compounds primarily used for fragrances and flavors, but highly promising as clean, green and renewable blending agents for diesel fuel. Now, after further genetic modifications, they have managed to dramatically boost the E.coli's methyl ketone production 160-fold. "We're encouraged that we could make such a large improvement in methyl ketone ...

In a remarkable collaborative effort between human and veterinary clinicians, a 29-year-old bottlenose dolphin recently underwent therapeutic bronchoscopy to treat airway narrowing, or stenosis, that was interfering with her breathing. The dolphin, a therapy animal for mentally and physically challenged children at Island Dolphin Care in Key Largo, Florida, is doing well one year after the procedure. "Many of the medical treatments and procedures used in humans were developed and tested in animals, and many are used in the care of both," said lead author Andrew R. Haas, ...

MADISON, Wis. -- In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue computer beat chess wizard Garry Kasparov. This year, a computer system developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison equaled or bested scientists at the complex task of extracting data from scientific publications and placing it in a database that catalogs the results of tens of thousands of individual studies. "We demonstrated that the system was no worse than people on all the things we measured, and it was better in some categories," says Christopher Ré, who guided the software development for a project while a UW ...

MADISON, Wis. -- If Brad Singer knew for sure what was happening three miles under an odd-shaped lake in the Andes, he might be less eager to spend a good part of his career investigating a volcanic field that has erupted 36 times during the last 25,000 years. As he leads a large scientific team exploring a region in the Andes called Laguna del Maule, Singer hopes the area remains quiet. But the primary reason to expend so much effort on this area boils down to one fact: The rate of uplift is among the highest ever observed by satellite measurement for a volcano that ...

ANN ARBOR--As much as two-thirds of Earth's carbon may be hidden in the inner core, making it the planet's largest carbon reservoir, according to a new model that even its backers acknowledge is "provocative and speculative." In a paper scheduled for online publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week, University of Michigan researchers and their colleagues suggest that iron carbide, Fe7C3, provides a good match for the density and sound velocities of Earth's inner core under the relevant conditions. The model, if correct, could help ...

LA JOLLA, CA - December 1, 2014 - Researchers can now explore viruses, bacteria and components of the human body in more detail than ever before with software developed at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). In a study published December 1 in the journal Nature Methods, the researchers demonstrated how the software, called cellPACK, can be used to model viruses such as HIV. "We hope to ultimately increase scientists' ability to target any disease," said Art Olson, professor and Anderson Research Chair at TSRI who is senior author of the new study. Putting cellPACK ...

MADISON, Wis. - In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue computer beat chess wizard Gary Kasparov. This year, a computer system developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison achieved something far more complex. It equaled or bested scientists at the complex task of extracting data from scientific publications and placing it in a database that catalogs the results of tens of thousands of individual studies. "We demonstrated that the system was no worse than people on all the things we measured, and it was better in some categories," says Christopher Ré, who guided the software ...

LEXINGTON, KY. (Dec. 1, 2014) -- A group of physiologists led by University of Kentucky's Tim McClintock have identified the receptors activated by two odors using a new method that tracks responses to smells in live mice. Their research was published in the latest edition of The Journal of Neuroscience. Using a fluorescent protein to mark nerve cells activated by odors, McClintock and his coworkers identified the receptors that allow mouse nerve cells to respond to two odors: eugenol, which is a component of several spices, most notably cloves, and muscone, known ...

When people hear about the dangers of the ozone hole, they often think of sunburns and associated health risks, but new research shows that ozone depletion changes atmospheric and oceanic circulation with potentially devastating effects on weather in the Southern Hemisphere weather. These could include increased incidence of extreme events, resulting in costly floods, drought, wildfires, and serious environmental damage. The ecosystem impacts documented so far include changes to growth rates of South American and New Zealand trees, decreased growth of Antarctic mosses, ...

Inundation of nitrogen into the atmosphere and terrestrial environments, through fossil fuel combustion and extensive fertilization, has risen tenfold since preindustrial times according to research published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles. Excess nitrogen can infiltrate water tables and can trigger extensive algal blooms that deplete aquatic environments of oxygen, among other damaging effects. Although scientists have extensively studied the effects of excess nitrogen in terrestrial habitats, the effect on the open ocean remains unknown. Altieri et al. point out that ...

Through research in mice, scientists have found that proteins at the blood-brain barrier pump out riluzole, the only FDA-approved drug for ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, limiting the drug's effectiveness. However, when the investigators blocked these proteins, the effectiveness of riluzole increased and the animals experienced improved muscle function, slower disease progression, and prolonged survival. The findings suggest that blocking these transporter proteins at the blood-brain barrier might improve delivery, and ultimately, efficacy, of drugs used to treat ALS and ...

The first long-term clinical trial on the use of Lung Volume Reduction (LVR-) Coil treatment in patients with severe emphysema has found that the minimally-invasive therapy, which enables the lung to function more effectively, is safe over a 3-year period. The results are published in Respirology. The trial revealed that half of the patients continued to improve their lung function capacity, feelings of breathlessness, and overall quality of life after 3 years, with no unexpected safety issues. "This trial reports only the first ever treated patients in the world with ...

December 1, 2014 -- A study just released by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health compared the use of prescription opioids and stimulants among high school graduates, non-graduates, and their college-attending peers, and found that young adults who do not attend college are at particularly high risk for nonmedical prescription opioid use and disorder. In contrast, the nonmedical use of prescription stimulants is higher among college-educated young adults. Results of the study are published online in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. Non-medical ...

Diagnosing HIV and other infectious diseases presents unique challenges in remote locations that lack electric power, refrigeration, and appropriately trained health care staff. To address these issues, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed a low-cost, electricity-free device capable of detecting the DNA of infectious pathogens, including HIV-1. The device uses a small scale chemical reaction, rather than electric power, to provide the heat needed to amplify and detect the DNA or RNA of pathogens present in blood samples obtained ...

Researchers have found a possible underlying genetic susceptibility to being dependent on UV tanning. After interviewing young people about their indoor and outdoor tanning history and using questionnaires to classify people as being dependent on UV tanning or not, the investigators conducted a large scale scan of approximately 319,000 rare and common genetic variants in the participants' genomes. "We observed that inherited variation in one gene - known as patched domain containing 2 (PTCHD2) - was significantly associated with whether or not young people, all of ...

Various guidelines for caring for patients infected with Ebola virus are being issued from different national and state public health authorities, professional societies, and individual hospitals. Experts are questioning aspects of some of the guidelines that go beyond current CDC recommendations, especially those that call for suspending certain routine lab tests. The authors of a Transfusion commentary note that most individuals with suspected Ebola virus disease will have a fever due to another cause, and forgoing such testing may compromise patients' health more ...

Among survivors of the 2011 Utøya Island terrorist attack in Norway, most perceived contact with media as a positive experience. Among those who allowed themselves to be interviewed by the media, 13% found the experience distressing and 11% regretted participating. Taking part in media interviews was not associated with post-traumatic stress reactions among survivors, but negative evaluations and regrets about participation were. "Media representatives need to understand that they may add to the burden of survivors if they are not sufficiently careful, and clinicians ...

When private prices for health care services decrease, Medicare spending increases, according to a new study. The finding raises the possibility that physicians and hospitals may be shifting some services to Medicare when they stand to make more money by doing so -- though further research will be needed to clearly identify the cause, according to the study's authors. The study, conducted by the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, is the first in a series of attempts to mine reams of health care spending data gathered by the Institute of Medicine ...

VIDEO: Nader Engheta, the H. Nedwill Ramsey professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering in Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science, explains the basic premise behind metamaterials, and how they achieve... Click here for more information. Metamaterials, precisely designed composite materials that have properties not found in natural ones, could be used to make light-bending invisibility cloaks, flat lenses and other otherwise impossible devices. Figuring out the ...

An egg much smaller than a common grain of sand and found in a tiny piece of fossilized dung has helped scientists identify a pinworm that lived 240 million years ago. It is believed to be the most ancient pinworm yet found in the fossil record. The discovery confirms that herbivorous cynodonts -- the ancestors of mammals -- were infected with the parasitic nematodes. It also makes it even more likely that herbivorous dinosaurs carried pinworms. Scott Gardner, a parasitologist and director of the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology ...

This news release is available in German. Microbial partners are important for the nutrition of many insects. They help detoxify and digest food, but also provide essential nutrients that insects need in order to survive. The European firebug Pyrrhocoris apterus and the African cotton stainer Dysdercus fasciatus feed mainly on plant seeds that are poor sources of essential B vitamins. Scientists of the Max Planck Research Group Insect Symbiosis at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, together with colleagues at the Friedrich Schiller University, ...

This news release is available in German. The neocortex is the part of the brain that enables us to speak, dream, or think. The underlying mechanism that led to the expansion of this brain region during evolution, however, is not yet understood. A research team headed by Wieland Huttner, director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, now reports an important finding that paves the way for further research on brain evolution: The researchers analyzed the gyrencephaly index, indicating the degree of cortical folding, of 100 mammalian brains ...