Amsterdam, NL, 20 June 2014 – Although significant progress has been made over the last 25 years to identify genetic abnormalities associated with congenital myasthenic syndromes (CMS), many patients remain genetically undiagnosed. A report in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases identifies a gene defect in mitochondria, specifically the citrate carrier SLC25A1, that may underlie deficits in neuromuscular transmission seen in two siblings. "While mitochondrial gene defects can cause a myriad of neurological disorders including myopathies and neuropathies, ...

Researchers have discovered how a protein molecule in immune cells promotes the production of nitric oxide, a potent weapon in the cells' arsenal to defend the body from bacterial attack. The protein may offer a target for reining in the inflammatory response, which must be able to fight infection without damaging tissue. The study was published in the Journal of Innate Immunity. NFATc3 is one of several related protein molecules known to play a role in regulating genes in the T and B cells of the immune system. Ravi Ranjan, research scientist at the University of Illinois ...

VIDEO: IOM report out today demonstrates that the VA and US Department of Defense do not measure the effectiveness of treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Columbia University Mailman School of Public... Click here for more information. June 20, 2014 -- A report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) finds that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) do not measure the effectiveness of treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder ...

A new study led by the University of Minnesota offers new insights on the long-term future of emperor penguins by showing that the penguins may be behaving in ways that allow them to adapt to their changing environment better than we expected. Researchers have long thought that emperor penguins were philopatric, which means they would return to the same location to nest each year. The new research study used satellite images to show that penguins may not be faithful to previous nesting locations. Researchers involved in the new study found six instances in just three ...

June 20, 2014 – Patients with confirmed episodes of awareness during anesthesia and surgery don't seem to be at increased risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other problems with psychosocial well-being at long-term follow-up, reports a study in Anesthesia & Analgesia. "We found no indication that intraoperative awareness with recall had any long-term effects on patients' psychosocial outcome," concludes the new research by Dr Tanja Laukkala of the Centre for Military Medicine in Helsinki, Finland. Anesthesiologists "should respond to the findings…with a ...

This news release is available in German. In the past years, invisibility cloaks were developed for various senses. Objects can be hidden from light, heat or sound. However, hiding of an object from being touched still remained to be accomplished. KIT scientists have now succeeded in creating a volume in which an object can be hidden from touching similar to a pea under the mattress of a princess. The results are now presented in the renowned Nature Communications journal. Magicians and illusionists make things disappear by means of a skilled use of mental ...

Calling global mental health problems "acute and urgent," 37 leading medical authorities from 11 countries have published a joint declaration calling for basic mental health care in Africa. The experts also call for global mental health objectives to be included among the United Nations' post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, for a special UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on Mental Health by 2017, and for efforts to end the stigma and human rights violations inflicted on mental health patients. Published in the journal Global Health Action, the declaration was ...

Teens who use menthol cigarettes smoke more cigarettes per day than their peers who smoke non-menthols, says a new study. The findings from the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact at the University of Waterloo mark the first time that menthol cigarettes have been directly linked to elevated nicotine addiction among youth in Canada. "The appeal of menthol cigarettes among youth stems from the perception that they are less harmful than regular cigarettes. The minty taste helps mask the noxious properties, but the reality is that they are just as dangerous as any ...

New University of Minnesota research out this week is the first of its kind to show who is having early elective deliveries between 37 and 39 weeks gestation, and whether these deliveries happen following labor induction or cesarean. Labor induction or cesarean delivery without medical reason before a baby is considered full-term at 39 weeks, or an "early elective delivery," is associated with health problems for mothers and babies. The study, led by University of Minnesota School of Public Health Assistant Professor Katy Kozhimannil, Ph.D., M.P.A., in collaboration ...

New Rochelle, NY, June 20, 2014—The June issue of Monoclonal Antibodies in Immunodiagnosis and Immunotherapy is a special tribute issue for Hilary Koprowski, MD (1916-2013). The Festschrift papers are available online on the Monoclonal Antibodies in Immunodiagnosis and Immunotherapy website. An exclusive print copy of the Festschrift will be presented to all speakers at The Wistar Institute Symposium to honor Dr. Koprowski in Philadelphia on June 27, 2014, with support from CASIS™. "The contributors to this issue are internationally known scientists who were personally ...

Many pathogenic bacteria use special secretion systems to deliver toxic proteins into host cells. Researchers of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have determined the structure of a crucial part of one of these systems – which are possible targets for novel antibiotics. Bacteria secrete a broad range of specific proteins that can affect the behavior or survival of cells in their environment. Among the specialized transport systems responsible for the export of such factors are so-called Type VI secretion systems. In collaboration with Axel Mogk of the Center ...

Sudden allergic reactions can be fatal. The most common triggers of such reactions, also known as anaphylaxis, are wasp and bee venoms, legumes (pulses), animal proteins, and analgesics (painkillers). The incidence of anaphylaxis is age-dependent. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, Margitta Worm (Berlin) and her co-authors describe the causes and treatment methods for anaphylaxis, based on data from the anaphylaxis registry of the German-speaking countries (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2014; 111: 367�). Worm and co-authors analyzed the data from the ...

Shenzhen, June 15, 2014---An international team, composed of 11 institutions from six countries, including BGI, presented the whole-genome sequence of Trichuris suis, a parasitic worm in pig. Understanding the genetics mechanisms underlying the pig parasite may aid to modify the human immune response that could result in better treatments for autoimmune diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and multiple sclerosis. The latest research was published online in Nature Genetics. The human whipworm (Trichuris) infects around 1 billion people worldwide and causes ...

Researchers from the Cochrane Infectious Disease Group, co-ordinated through the editorial base in LSTM, conducted an independent review into the effectiveness of rapid diagnostic tests in diagnosing patients with visceral leishmaniasis (VL), published in The Cochrane Library today. VL (or kala-azar) is caused by a parasite and results in fever, a large spleen and other health problems. It occurs in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, east Africa, the Mediterranean region and Brazil. Without treatment it can be fatal, and proper treatment can result in cure, so diagnosis is ...

DETROIT — Recent research findings from Wayne State University show that the physical presence of romantic partners in intergroup friendships – friendships with different racial and ethnic groups, religious groups, or sexual orientations – positively influences interactions with people who are perceived to be different from themselves. The study, "Creating positive out-group attitudes through intergroup couple friendships and implications for compassionate love," currently available online in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, found that couples that interacted ...

Science has recently published a study carried out by researchers at ICFO in collaboration with the Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which demonstrates the capability of detecting non-locality in many-body quantum systems by constructing multipartite Bell inequalities involving only two-body correlations. In Quantum Theory, interactions among particles create fascinating correlations that cannot be explained by any means known to the Classical World. These correlations, usually known to be nonlocal, prove that the Quantum and Classical Worlds ...

Global warming is generally expected to bring spring forward but, as a new study at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich shows, a concomitant influx of plant species from warmer southern latitudes could counteract this effect. Climate change is already clearly discernible in our part of the world. Data from local weather stations indicate that the average temperature in the Munich region has risen by 1.5°C over the past century. LMU biologist Professor Susanne Renner and her research group have now looked at the effects of this warming trend on the timing ...

(Millbrook, NY) People who get bitten by a blacklegged tick have a higher-than-expected chance of being exposed to more than one pathogen at the same time. The new research, published online today in the journal PLOS ONE, was conducted by scientists at Bard College, Sarah Lawrence College, and the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. "We found that ticks are almost twice as likely to be infected with two pathogens—the bacterium that causes Lyme disease and the protozoan that causes babesiosis—than we would have expected," said Felicia Keesing, a professor of biology ...

Cancer care has a new side effect. Along with the distress that comes with a cancer diagnosis and the discomforts of treatment, more patients now have to deal with "financial toxicity," the expense, anxiety and loss of confidence confronting those who face large, unpredictable costs, often compounded by decreased ability to work. In the July issue of Cancer, a team of University of Chicago cancer specialists describe the first tool — 11 questions, assembled and refined from conversations with more than 150 patients with advanced cancer — to measure a patient's risk for, ...

(Phoenix Ariz. June 19, 2014) -- Doctors at the University of Arizona Cancer Center at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix reported today in Lancet Oncology that a new treatment for ovarian cancer can improve response rates (increase the rate of tumor shrinkage) and prolong the time until cancers recur. In addition, this breakthrough showed a trend in improving survival although these data are not yet mature. Trebananib (formally known as AMG 386; Amgen) is a first-in-class peptide-Fc fusion protein (or peptibody) that targets angiogenesis (the growth ...

Einstein's theory of relativity envisions time as a spatial dimension, like height, width, and depth. But unlike those other dimensions, time seems to permit motion in only one direction: forward. This directional asymmetry — the "arrow of time" — is something of a conundrum for theoretical physics. But is it something we can see? An international group of computer scientists believes that the answer is yes. At the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition this month, they'll present a new algorithm that can, with roughly 80 percent accuracy, determine ...

DALLAS – June 19, 2014 – A new driver of atherosclerosis has been identified by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. This molecule, known as 27HC (27-hydroxycholesterol), has been found to exacerbate the development of the condition, and may prove to be a promising therapeutic target. Atherosclerosis is characterized by the build-up of lesions (or plaques) formed from lipids, such as cholesterol and fatty acids. Ruptured plaques can partially or completely block blood flow, potentially leading to a heart attack or stroke. A member of a larger family of molecules ...

In late May, NASA's Swift satellite imaged comet Siding Spring, which will brush astonishingly close to Mars later this year. These optical and ultraviolet observations are the first to reveal how rapidly the comet is producing water and allow astronomers to better estimate its size. "Comet Siding Spring is making its first passage through the inner solar system and is experiencing its first strong heating from the sun," said lead researcher Dennis Bodewits, an astronomer at the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP). "These observations are part of a two-year-long ...

They may be little, but they pack a big star-forming punch. New observations from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show small galaxies, also known as dwarf galaxies, are responsible for forming a large proportion of the universe's stars. Studying this early epoch of the universe's history is critical to fully understanding how these stars formed and how galaxies grew and evolved 3.5 to 6 billion years after the beginning of the universe. The result supports a decade-long investigation into whether there is a link between a galaxy's mass and its star-forming activity, and ...

Georgia Tech researchers have identified a weakness in one of Android's security features and will present their work at Black Hat USA 2014, which will be held August 6-7 in Las Vegas. The research, titled Abusing Performance Optimization Weaknesses to Bypass ASLR, identifies an Android performance feature that weakens a software protection called Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), leaving software components vulnerable to attacks that bypass the protection. The work is aimed at helping security practitioners identify and understand the future direction of such ...