New patenting guidelines are needed for biotechnology
2014-04-22
HOUSTON – (April 22, 2014) – Biotechnology scientists must be aware of the broad patent landscape and push for new patent and licensing guidelines, according to a new paper from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Published in the current issue of the journal Regenerative Medicine, the paper is based on the June 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) v. Myriad Genetics that naturally occurring genes are unpatentable. The court case and rulings garnered discussion in the public about patenting biological materials.
"The ...
Mantis shrimp stronger than airplanes
2014-04-22
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Inspired by the fist-like club of a mantis shrimp, a team of researchers led by University of California, Riverside, in collaboration with University of Southern California and Purdue University, have developed a design structure for composite materials that is more impact resistant and tougher than the standard used in airplanes.
"The more we study the club of this tiny crustacean, the more we realize its structure could improve so many things we use every day," said David Kisailus, a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Science and the Winston ...
NASA gets 2 last looks at Tropical Cyclone Jack
2014-04-22
VIDEO:
This 3-D flyby from NASA's TRMM satellite of Tropical Cyclone Jack on April 21 shows that some of the thunderstorms were shown by TRMM PR were still reaching height of...
Click here for more information.
Tropical Cyclone Jack lost its credentials today, April 22, as it no longer qualified as a tropical cyclone. However, before it weakened, NASA's TRMM satellite took a "second look" at the storm yesterday.
The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite had two ...
High-performance, low-cost ultracapacitors built with graphene and carbon nanotubes
2014-04-22
WASHINGTON D.C., April 22, 2014 -- By combining the powers of two single-atom-thick carbon structures, researchers at the George Washington University's Micro-propulsion and Nanotechnology Laboratory have created a new ultracapacitor that is both high performance and low cost.
The device, described in the Journal of Applied Physics, capitalizes on the synergy brought by mixing graphene flakes with single-walled carbon nanotubes, two carbon nanostructures with complementary properties.
Ultracapacitors are souped-up energy storage devices that hold high amounts of energy ...
International team sequences rainbow trout genome
2014-04-22
PULLMAN, Wash.—Using fish bred at Washington State University, an international team of researchers has mapped the genetic profile of the rainbow trout, a versatile salmonid whose relatively recent genetic history opens a window into how vertebrates evolve.
The 30-person team, led by Yann Guiguen of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, reports its findings this week in Nature Communications.
The investigators focused on the rate at which genes have evolved since a rare genome doubling event occurred in the rainbow trout approximately 100 million years ...
Wildlife response to climate change is likely underestimated, experts warn
2014-04-22
AMHERST, Mass. – Analyzing thousands of breeding bird surveys sent in by citizen scientists across the western United States and Canada over 35 years, wildlife researchers report that most of the 40 songbird species they studied shifted either northward or toward higher elevation in response to climate change, but did not necessarily do both.
This means that most previous studies of potential climate change impacts on wildlife that looked only at one factor or the other have likely underestimated the effects of environmental warming, say research wildlife biologists ...
Vacuum ultraviolet lamp of the future created in Japan
2014-04-22
WASHINGTON D.C., April 22, 2014 -- A team of researchers in Japan has developed a solid-state lamp that emits high-energy ultraviolet (UV) light at the shortest wavelengths ever recorded for such a device, from 140 to 220 nanometers. This is within the range of vacuum-UV light -- so named because while light of that energy can propagate in a vacuum, it is quickly absorbed by oxygen in the air.
This fact makes vacuum UV light extremely useful for industrial applications from sterilizing medical devices to cleaning semiconductor substrates because when it strikes oxygen-containing ...
Applying math to biology: Software identifies disease-causing mutations in undiagnosed illnesses
2014-04-22
(SALT LAKE CITY)–A computational tool developed at the University of Utah (U of U) has successfully identified diseases with unknown gene mutations in three separate cases, U of U researchers and their colleagues report in a new study in The American Journal of Human Genetics. The software, Phevor (Phenotype Driven Variant Ontological Re-ranking tool), identifies undiagnosed illnesses and unknown gene mutations by analyzing the exomes, or areas of DNA where proteins that code for genes are made, in individual patients and small families.
Sequencing the genomes of individuals ...
New electric fish genus and species discovered in Brazil's Rio Negro
2014-04-22
AMHERST, Mass. – Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Brazil, this week report that they have discovered a new genus and species of electric knifefish in several tributaries of the Negro River in the Amazonia State of Brazil.
Professor Cristina Cox Fernandes at UMass Amherst, with Adília Nogueira and José Antônio Alves-Gomes of INPA, describe the new bluntnose knifefish in the current issue of the journal Proceedings of the Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Their paper offers details about ...
Neurotics don't just avoid action: They dislike it
2014-04-22
PHILADELPHIA (April 22, 2014) – That person we all seem to know who we say is neurotic and unable to take action? Turns out he or she isn't unable to act but simply doesn't want to.
A study of nearly 4,000 college students in 19 countries has uncovered new details about why neurotic people may avoid making decisions and moving forward with life. Turns out that when they are asked if action is positive, favorable, good, they just don't like it as much as non-neurotics. Therefore persuasive communications and other interventions may be useful if they simply alter ...
More than two-thirds of Americans support mandated coverage of birth control in health plans
2014-04-22
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Nearly 7 in 10 Americans support mandated coverage of birth control medications, according to a new national survey by researchers at the University of Michigan Health System.
Women, blacks, Hispanics, parents with children under the age of 18 at home, and adults with private or public insurance were significantly more likely than other adults to support universal coverage of birth control medications, according to the findings that appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Individuals from all 50 states and the District of ...
First size-based chromatography technique for the study of livi
2014-04-22
Using nanodot technology, Berkeley Lab researchers have demonstrated the first size-based form of chromatography that can be used to study the membranes of living cells. This unique physical approach to probing cellular membrane structures can reveal information critical to whether a cell lives or dies, remains normal or turns cancerous, that can't be obtained through conventional microscopy.
"We've developed membrane-embedded nanodot array platforms that provide a physical means to both probe and manipulate membrane assemblies, including signaling clusters, while they ...
Scientists alter fat metabolism in animals to prevent most common type of heart disease
2014-04-22
Working with mice and rabbits, Johns Hopkins scientists have found a way to block abnormal cholesterol production, transport and breakdown, successfully preventing the development of atherosclerosis, the main cause of heart attacks and strokes and the number-one cause of death among humans. The condition develops when fat builds inside blood vessels over time and renders them stiff, narrowed and hardened, greatly reducing their ability to feed oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle and the brain.
In a series of experiments, described April 7 in the journal Circulation, ...
Routine blood glucose measurements can accurately estimate hemoglobin A1c in diabetes
2014-04-22
New Rochelle, NY, April 22, 2014—Hemoglobin A1c is the standard measurement for assessing glycemic control over time in people with diabetes. Blood levels of A1c are typically measured every few months in a laboratory, but now researchers have developed a data-based model that accurately estimates A1c using self-monitored blood glucose (SMBG) readings, as described in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics (DTT), a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the DTT website at http://www.liebertpub.com/dtt.
In "Accuracy ...
Study: People pay more attention to the upper half of field of vision
2014-04-22
A new study from North Carolina State University and the University of Toronto finds that people pay more attention to the upper half of their field of vision – a finding which could have ramifications for traffic signs to software interface design.
"Specifically, we tested people's ability to quickly identify a target amidst visual clutter," says Dr. Jing Feng, an assistant professor of psychology at NC State and lead author of a paper on the work. "Basically, we wanted to see where people concentrate their attention at first glance."
Researchers had participants fix ...
Inserm and the Institut Pasteur identify a new variant of Ebola virus in Guinea
2014-04-22
This news release is available in French.
Performed in less than a month, sequencing of the complete genome and subsequent phylogenetic analysis show that the virus present in Guinea forms a clade (variant) that is distinct from strains previously identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Gabon. Epidemiological investigations also linked the laboratory confirmed cases with the initial deaths recorded during the December 2013 outbreak.
Ebola virus is a lethal, highly contagious virus for which there is presently no treatment. The symptoms are somewhat ...
How the body fights against viruses
2014-04-22
This news release is available in German. Scientists of the Max F. Perutz Laboratories of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna, together with colleagues of the ETH Zurich, have now shown how double stranded RNA, such as viral genetic information, is prevented from entering the nucleus of a cell. During the immune response against viral infection, the protein ADAR1 moves from the cell nucleus into the surrounding cytoplasm. There it modifies viral RNA to inhibit reproduction of the virus. But how is the human genome protected from inadvertent ...
What gave us the advantage over extinct types of humans?
2014-04-22
Jerusalem, April 22, 2014 -- In parallel with modern man (Homo sapiens), there were other, extinct types of humans with whom we lived side by side, such as Neanderthals and the recently discovered Denisovans of Siberia. Yet only Homo sapiens survived. What was it in our genetic makeup that gave us the advantage?
The truth is that little is known about our unique genetic makeup as distinguished from our archaic cousins, and how it contributed to the fact that we are the only species among them
to survive. Even less is known about our unique epigenetic makeup, but it ...
Turoctocog alfa in patients with hemophilia A: Added benefit not proven
2014-04-22
Turoctocog alfa (trade name: NovoEight) has been approved since November 2013 for the prevention and treatment of bleeding in patients with haemophilia A. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the "Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products" (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether this new active ingredient offers an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy.
According to the findings, an added benefit of turoctocog alfa is not proven. As no relevant study is available for comparison ...
Life stressors trigger neurological disorders, researchers find
2014-04-22
Washington, DC -- When mothers are exposed to trauma, illness, alcohol or other drug abuse, these stressors may activate a single molecular trigger in brain cells that can go awry and activate conditions such as schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and some forms of autism.
Until now, it has been unclear how much these stressors have impacted the cells of a developing brain. Past studies have shown that when an expectant mother exposes herself to alcohol or drug abuse or she experiences some trauma or illness, her baby may later develop a psychiatric disorder, ...
Ask yourself: Will you help the environment?
2014-04-22
This news release is available in French. Whether it's recycling, composting or buying environmentally friendly products, guilt can be a strong motivator — not just on Earth Day.
Now, research from Concordia University's John Molson School of Business published in the Journal of Business Ethics, proves that even just asking ourselves, or predicting, whether we will engage in sustainable shopping behaviour can increase the likelihood of following through — especially when there's an audience.
Lead author, marketing professor Onur Bodur explains that, "this is because ...
Brain size matters when it comes to animal self-control
2014-04-22
Chimpanzees may throw tantrums like toddlers, but their total brain size suggests they have more self-control than, say, a gerbil or fox squirrel, according to a new study of 36 species of mammals and birds ranging from orangutans to zebra finches.
Scientists at Duke University, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Yale and more than two-dozen other research institutions collaborated on this first large-scale investigation into the evolution of self-control, defined in the study as the ability to inhibit powerful but ultimately counter-productive behavior. They found that the species ...
Male health linked to testosterone exposure in womb, study finds
2014-04-22
Men's susceptibility to serious health conditions may be influenced by low exposure to testosterone in the womb, new research suggests.
A study has revealed how men's testosterone levels may be determined before they are born.
Understanding why some men have less of the hormone than others is important because testosterone is crucial for life-long health. Low levels of the hormone have been linked to obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Researchers have shown that the cells responsible for producing testosterone in adults – known as Leydig cells – are derived from ...
FASEB releases updated NIH state factsheets
2014-04-22
The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) has released updated factsheets for fiscal year (FY) 2013 highlighting how funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) benefits each of the 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico. "FASEB is pleased to make these factsheets available to help citizens and policymakers understand the significance of NIH to their state," said FASEB President, Margaret K. Offermann, MD, PhD. NIH is the nation's leading source for biomedical research funding, investing $29.2 billion in FY 2013 in medical research, 80 percent ...
Report recommends insurers use prescription monitoring data to reduce opioid abuse, deaths
2014-04-22
WALTHAM, Mass. – The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Center of Excellence at Brandeis University has issued a ground-breaking report recommending that medical insurers use prescription monitoring data to reduce the overdoses, deaths and health care costs associated with abuse of opioids and other prescription drugs.
"At a time when the misuse and abuse of prescription opioids has reached epidemic levels, it's important that third party payers be able to use states' prescription monitoring data to make sure these drugs are prescribed appropriately," said Peter Kreiner, ...
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