DURHAM, N.C. -- Some people can handle stressful situations better than others, and it's not all in their genes: Even identical twins show differences in how they respond. Researchers have identified a specific electrical pattern in the brains of genetically identical mice that predicts how well individual animals will fare in stressful situations. The findings, published July 29 in Nature Communications, may eventually help researchers prevent potential consequences of chronic stress -- such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other psychiatric disorders ...

A groundbreaking study from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) has found that African-American students in first grade experience smaller gains in reading when they attend segregated schools—but the students' backgrounds likely are not the cause of the differences. According to the Center for Civil Rights, although the United States is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse, segregation is still on the rise. To better understand segregation's impact on student performance, FPG scientists looked at nearly 4000 first graders in public schools ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Teach for America, known for recruiting teachers, is also setting its sights on capturing school board seats across the nation. Surprisingly, however, political candidates from the program aren't just pushing its national education agenda, they're advancing local issues as well, according to a new study. The findings, said Michigan State University's Rebecca Jacobsen, refute the argument that school boards have become ineffective and obsolete in the wake of national education reform. Teach for America, a nonprofit that enlists high-achieving college ...

The wildfires that have been plaguing the Northern Territories in Canada and have sent smoke drifting down to the Great Lakes in the U.S. continue on. NASA's Aqua satellite collected this natural-color image with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, MODIS, instrument on July 26, 2014. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS's thermal bands, are outlined in red. Copious amount of smoke are drifting northward in this image. Smoke is also creating havoc for residents of Yellowknife. Fire has caused power outages in the area and because of the smoke, line ...

A new stem-cell discovery might one day lead to a more streamlined process for obtaining stem cells, which in turn could be used in the development of replacement tissue for failing body parts, according to UC San Francisco scientists who reported the findings in the current edition of Cell. The work builds on a strategy that involves reprogramming adult cells back to an embryonic state in which they again have the potential to become any type of cell. The efficiency of this process may soon increase thanks to the scientists' identification of biochemical pathways ...

One might assume that a tropical storm moving through volcanic smog (vog) would sweep up the tainted air and march on, unchanged. However, a recent study from atmospheric scientists at the University of Hawai'i – Mānoa (UHM) revealed that, though microscopic, gasses and particles from Kilauea volcano exerted an influence on Tropical Storm Flossie – affecting the formation of thunderstorms and lightning in the sizeable storm. In July 2013, as Flossie approached the Hawaiian Islands, satellites steadily monitored lightning, rainfall, cloud cover, temperature and ...

Scientists investigating the herpes virus have been surprised to find an ongoing conflict in the cells of sufferers, even when the virus is apparently dormant. Herpes Simplex Type 1 is a virus that causes cold sores. It remains in the body's nervous system indefinitely after infection. Around 80 per cent of Australians carry the virus, although it is usually in a dormant state. "We thought when the disease was dormant, it was a truce," said Associate Professor David Tscharke from The Australian National University Research School of Biology. "It turns out that the virus ...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important regulatory role in the self-renewal and differentiation of stem cells. Dr. Defeng Zou and co-workers from the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, China focuses on the effect of miRNA overexpression on the differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells into neurons. In the study released on the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 12, 2014), researchers used GeneChip technology to analyze the expression of miRNAs in bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, neural stem cells and neurons. They constructed ...

Previous studies have shown that, anode block electrical stimulation of the sacral nerve root can produce physiological urination and reconstruct urinary bladder function in rabbits. However, whether long-term anode block electrical stimulation causes damage to the sacral nerve root remains unclear, and needs further investigation. In a recent study reported on the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 12, 2014), Dr. Peng Yan and co-workers from Jilin University, China established a complete spinal cord injury model in New Zealand white rabbits through T9-10 segment ...

Scientists believe some tropical species may be able to evolve and adapt to the effects of climate change. The new findings published in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggests some sensitive rainforest-restricted species may survive climate change and avoid extinction. But only if the change is not too abrupt and dramatically beyond the conditions that a species currently experiences. Previous research offered a bleak prospect for tropical species' adaptation to climate change, now researchers from Monash University believe the situation may not be ...

Giving parents access to a dedicated website on the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is the most cost-effective way to increase uptake, say experts. The study published in the British Journal of General Practice, recommends that a dedicated website be developed as part of guidelines on the MMR vaccine. Led by Dr Swati Shourie from Monash University and Dr Sandy Tubeuf from the University of Leeds in the UK, the research is the first to look at the economics of providing information about the MMR vaccine. As well as reducing parents' concern about immunising ...

Many different types of cell, including sperm, bacteria and algae, propel themselves using whip-like appendages known as flagella. These protrusions, about one-hundredth of a millimetre long, function like tiny oars, helping cells move through fluid. Similar, shorter structures called cilia are found on the surfaces of many cells, where they perform roles such as moving liquids over the cell. Flagella and cilia are remarkably versatile: they transport mucus and expel pathogens from our airways, they establish the left-right asymmetry in developing vertebrate embryos, ...

Denmark attracted international attention in 2012 when archaeological excavations revealed the bones of an entire army, whose warriors had been thrown into the bogs near the Alken Enge wetlands in East Jutland after losing a major engagement in the era around the birth of Christ. Work has continued in the area since then and archaeologists and experts from Aarhus University, Skanderborg Museum and Moesgaard Museum have now made sensational new findings. "We have found a wooden stick bearing the pelvic bones of four different men. In addition, we have unearthed bundles ...

Aarhus University researchers have developed an easier method to create DNA–protein conjugates. The method can potentially strengthen the work involved in diagnosing diseases. DNA linked to proteins – including antibodies – provides a strong partnership that can be used in diagnostic techniques, nanotechnology and other disciplines. DNA–protein conjugates – which tag proteins with DNA – can be used for purposes such as the sensitive detection and visualisation of biological material. The method also provides easier access to handling proteins in nanotechnology, where ...

People who are blind can now read more than just words, such as graphs and graphics, following the development of an affordable digital reading system by Curtin University researchers. Opening up new career paths and educational opportunities for people with vision impairment, the system combines a number of pattern recognition technologies into a single platform and, for the first time, allows mathematics and graphical material to be extracted and described without sighted intervention. Senior Lecturer Dr Iain Murray and PhD student Azadeh Nazemi of Curtin's Department ...

LOS ANGELES (July 28, 2014) – A new technique for repairing the most common cardiac birth defect in newborns, commonly referred to as "a hole in the heart," has been used successfully to mend the condition in six premature infants without subjecting the tiny patients to open-heart surgery. The technique for repairing the condition, patent ductus arteriosus, also called PDA, was published online by the peer-reviewed medical journal Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions, the official journal of The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. The ...

New research from scientists at the University of Kent has shown for the first time how the structures inside cells are regulated – a breakthrough that could have a major impact on cancer therapy development. A team from Kent's School of Biosciences uncovered the mechanism whereby the physical properties of the internal structures within cells – known as actin filaments – are 'fine-tuned' to undertake different functions. While some of these actin filaments appear to completely stable, providing a framework for the cell, others are more dynamic, allowing the cell to ...

The Conjoint Analysis (CA) method is in principle suitable to find out which preferences patients have regarding treatment goals. However, to widely use it in health economic evaluations, some (primarily methodological) issues still need to be clarified. This is the result of a pilot project by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG). Following the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), CA is the second method tested by the Institute together with external experts. Summarize outcome-specific results to an overall value In its health economic ...

A new study from UC San Francisco is the first to show that while the impact of life's stressors accumulate overtime and accelerate cellular aging, these negative effects may be reduced by maintaining a healthy diet, exercising and sleeping well. "The study participants who exercised, slept well and ate well had less telomere shortening than the ones who didn't maintain healthy lifestyles, even when they had similar levels of stress," said lead author Eli Puterman, PhD, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at UCSF. "It's very important that we promote ...

About 100 drugs already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for other purposes can also prevent the growth of certain bacterial pathogens inside human cells, including those that cause Legionnaires' disease, brucellosis, and Mediterranean spotted fever. The findings, published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, demonstrate a new way of identifying non-antibiotic drugs that could one day help curb bacterial infections. A handful of drugs on the list inhibit the growth of at least three of the four bacterial ...

Two beneficial variants of a gene controlling red blood cell development have spread from Africa into nearly all human populations across the globe, according to a new study led by King's College London. The international team studied the genomes of world populations to look for the origin of changes in a key regulator gene which stimulate fetal haemoglobin production into adulthood. Fetal haemoglobin is normally found in fetuses and infants, but some patients with inherited blood disorders who are able to keep making it as adults experience milder symptoms of their condition. Sickle ...

Cancer cells are gluttons. We have long known that they monopolize large amounts of sugar. More recently, it became clear that some tumor cells are also characterized by a series of features such as mobility or unlikeliness to join in an ordered set. Researchers are calling this behavior "mesenchymal," and they suspect it promotes metastasis. At EPFL, Etienne Meylan's research team was able to demonstrate that the two observations – appetite for sugar and mesenchymal behavior – result from the same mechanism, at least in "non-small cell lung cancer." They also showed ...

New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) suggests that both higher levels of physical activity and lower levels of sitting in leisure time may be required to substantially reduce the risk of obesity. The research is by Joshua Bell and colleagues, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL (University College London), UK. Physical activity and sitting time (or 'sedentariness') are two common lifestyle-related behaviours associated with obesity and metabolic health, as well as with chronic diseases ...

Deerfield, Ill. (July 28, 2014) – An international research team today reports the first-ever clinical trial demonstrating controlled malaria infection in an African nation in the modern era. The study, published online in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (AJTMH) represents a significant milestone in the search for new malaria drugs and vaccines. The study establishes that in controlled laboratory conditions in Africa, a new product containing frozen, preserved whole sporozoites, an infectious stage of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum, ...

1. Early menopausal hormone therapy shows no effect on atherosclerosis progression Early initiation of menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) improves some markers of cardiovascular disease (CVD) but does not affect the progression of atherosclerosis, according to a study being published in Annals of Internal Medicine. CVD is the leading cause of death in women and incidence increases after menopause. Research suggests that cardiovascular benefits of MHT may be limited to women who begin treatment at a younger age, closer to menopause, or both. Researchers conducted a randomized ...