BOSTON (June 11, 2014) — Researchers from Tufts have gained new insight into a protein associated with bipolar disorder. The study, published in the June 3 issue of Science Signaling, reveals that calcium channels in resting neurons activate the breakdown of Sp4, which belongs to a class of proteins called transcription factors that regulate gene expression. This study, led by Grace Gill, identifies a molecular mechanism regulating Sp4 activity. Her previous research had determined that reduced levels of Sp4 in the brain are associated with bipolar disorder. Her work ...

UPTON, NY—Scientists seeking ways to engineer the assembly of tiny particles measuring just billionths of a meter have achieved a new first—the formation of a single layer of nanoparticles on a liquid surface where the properties of the layer can be easily switched. Understanding the assembly of such nanostructured thin films could lead to the design of new kinds of filters or membranes with a variable mechanical response for a wide range of applications. In addition, because the scientists used tiny synthetic strands of DNA to hold the nanoparticles together, the study ...

Scientists investigating how one of the greatest shape shifters in the natural world is able to trick predators to avoid being eaten have identified the gene behind the fascinating feat. The African Swallowtail butterfly, also known as the 'Mocker Swallowtail' or the 'Flying Handkerchief,' can appear to change both colour and shape. Males of the species fly boldly around the tree tops, their rapid flight making them look like shaking handkerchiefs, however females lurk in the bushes and pretend to be examples of Monarch butterflies that are nasty to eat. The females ...

Previous studies have indicated that early exposure to complex foreign proteins, such as cow's milk proteins, increases the risk of type 1 diabetes in predisposed individuals. "Therefore, In 2002, we embarked on a large-scale study on more than 2100 infants with a family member affected by type 1 diabetes and with genetic disease susceptibility to find an answer to the question whether delaying the exposure to complex foreign proteins will decrease the risk of diabetes", tells Professor Mikael Knip from the University of Helsinki, the leader of the TRIGR Study. After ...

A new study presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2014) showed that, for the majority of lupus patients who are in remission, it is possible to successfully stop immunosuppressant therapy without triggering a flare of their disease.1 Within two years, it was possible to stop the immunosuppressant in about 70% of clinically stable patients. Half were successful within three years, and this proportion remained stable for up to five years.1 Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that can affect any organ system, but mainly involves ...

The results of a study presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2014) identify a correlation between the presence of biomarkers in the blood, known as micro RNAs (miRNAs), and the development of severe osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee or hip joint. The findings suggest that miRNAs may be used as biomarkers to predict severe OA disease in individuals.2 Preventative measures and early treatments are considered to be the most effective way of managing OA, but to date there has been no way of identifying the disease early on.2 "These ...

Two new studies presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2014) have helped clarify the relationship between the dietary intake of monounsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol with disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) respectively. In the TOMORROW study, daily intake of monounsaturated fatty acids as a component of the Mediterranean diet has been shown to be an independent predictor of remission in patients with RA; monounsaturated fatty acids might therefore be suppressing disease activity1 In another ...

Data presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2014) showed that a significant number of patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) were not receiving doses of the tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) inhibitor adalimumab necessary to achieve optimal clinical benefit.1 Further data revealed that, in the case of the TNFα inhibitor infliximab, nearly three-quarters of PsA patients were on doses lower than recommended in international guidelines. 2 In the first study, after 28 weeks of treatment one-third of PsA patients were ...

A new study presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2014) shows that in postmenopausal women with low bone mass, romosozumab significantly increased bone mineral density and bone content in both the spine and hip compared to baseline, and also compared with the commonly prescribed anabolic agent teriparatide and placebo.1 Romosozumab, administered subcutaneously at monthly intervals over a period of 12 months, resulted in gains in both the trabecular* and cortical† compartments of the spine and hip regions, with important differences ...

New data presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2014) show that the newly-approved infliximab biosimilar CT-P13 achieves statistically similar improvements in disease activity, disability and mobility in patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) compared to its original reference product infliximab (INX).1 CT-P13 is the world's first biosimilar monoclonal antibody to receive a positive opinion from an advanced and developed nations' regulatory body. According to Dr Won Park, Inha University Hospital, Korea, and lead investigator ...

Five different presentations at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2014) have introduced new patient empowerment and educational initiatives, which are predicted to bring significant benefits to the many thousands of patients worldwide who suffer from a rheumatic disease. These initiatives include: A new model of patient care involving self-monitoring and patient initiated follow-up1 An online learning resource to prepare patients and carers to actively engage in research, guideline development, advocacy and media activities2 A new patient ...

The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) has announced today at its Annual Congress major successes in driving the public agenda for addressing the escalating burden of RMDs in Europe. These advances include: Recognition for Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases (RMDs) from major European Commission research initiative, Horizon 2020 'FOREUM', Foundation for Research in Rheumatology, grants research funding for four osteoarthritis projects in its first year. "It is with great satisfaction that we have seen a progressive dedication of EU research funds for RMDs ...

New data presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2014) show that ultrasound-guided injections of growth factors-containing platelet-rich plasma (PRP) are no more effective in treating recently developed epicondylitis than injections of saline.1 Lead researcher, Patrick Le Goux of the Hôpitaux Universitaires Paris Ile-de-France Ouest, France, commented, "while PRP injections were shown to have no inherent benefit in the treatment of epicondylitis, what is exciting is that pain scores in both treatment groups decreased significantly ...

A new study presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2014) showed that obese patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have higher DAS (disease activity) scores than non-obese patients, irrespective of their disease stage.1 With clinical remission as the ultimate therapeutic goal in RA,2 several studies have demonstrated that treatment to target – a treatment approach guided by its impact on reducing DAS scores – is more effective in lowering disease activity and, ultimately, reaching remission than usual care.3-7 Because obese patients ...

Trackways formed on an ancient seabed have shed new light on how nothosaurs, ancient marine reptiles that lived during the age of the dinosaurs, propelled themselves through water. The evidence is described by a team from Bristol and China in Nature Communications today. During the Mesozoic, 252-66 million years ago, the seas were ruled by a variety of marine reptiles. One of the earliest groups were the nothosaurs, voracious semi-aquatic hunters with elongate bodies and paddle-like limbs. They were the top predators of the Triassic coasts, some 245 million years ago. Their ...

Debris from forests that washes into freshwater lakes supplements the diets of microscopic zooplankton and the fish that feed off them – creating larger and stronger fish, new research shows. The researchers warn that, as forests are eroded through human activities such as logging, the impacts will be felt in aquatic as well as terrestrial food chains. In fact, the study was conducted at a Canadian lake chosen because it had suffered ecological disaster during the mid-20th century: acid rain as a result of the local nickel smelting industry. Despite moves to reduce ...

As the FIFA World Cup kicks off and the NBA finals "heat" up, new research suggests that there is such a thing as having too much talent on a sports team. The research indicates that, after a certain point, the addition of more superstar talent to a team can actually be detrimental, resulting in poorer team performance. The findings are forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research, led by INSEAD Professor Roderick Swaab, showed that the presence of too many individuals with top talent can undermine players' ...

Satellite dwarf galaxies at the edges of the Milky Way and neighboring Andromeda defy the accepted model of galaxy formation, and recent attempts to pigeon-hole them into the model are flawed, an international team of scientists reports. The mismatch raises questions about the accuracy of the standard model of cosmology, which is the widely accepted paradigm for the origin and evolution of the universe, the astrophysicists say. A preprint of the research paper, accepted for publication by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, is online at http://arxiv.org/abs/1406.1799. The ...

Dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxies defy the accepted model of galaxy formation, and recent attempts to wedge them into the model are flawed, reports an international team of astrophysicists. David Merritt, professor of astrophysics at Rochester Institute of Technology, co-authored "Co-orbiting satellite galaxy structures are still in conflict with the distribution of primordial dwarf galaxies," to be published in an upcoming issue of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. A pre-print of the paper is available online at http://arxiv.org/abs/1406.1799. The ...

LIVERMORE, Calif. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories, along with collaborators from Rice University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, are developing new terahertz detectors based on carbon nanotubes that could lead to significant improvements in medical imaging, airport passenger screening, food inspection and other applications. A paper in Nano Letters journal, "Carbon Nanotube Terahertz Detector," debuted in the May 29 edition of the publication's "Just Accepted Manuscripts" section. The paper describes a technique that uses carbon nanotubes to detect ...

Scientists from the University of Leeds have found a way to restore the function of damaged blood vessel repairing cells, in a potentially important step for the future treatment of heart disease. The research, part-funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), could also pave the way for new targets for drug development in the fight against heart disease. The findings have also identified a potential reason why South Asian men in the UK experience an increased risk of heart disease. Led by Dr Richard Cubbon in the School of Medicine, the research team studied cells ...

Dublin, Ireland, June 11th, 2014 – Scientists from the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin have made a significant discovery of a new biomarker which may help overcome resistance to newer and more targeted anti-cancer drugs, such as Herceptin, for HER2 positive cancers. These findings may also help the early identification of patients who will benefit more from these treatments. The researchers, led by Professor Lorraine O'Driscoll, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Trinity, studied breast cancer cells and their extracellular vesicles ...

In the largest study of its kind published to date, an international team of researchers in Mexico and the United States has discovered a strong genetic risk factor for type 2 diabetes that primarily affects Latin American patients, but is rare elsewhere. The work further characterizes a gene called HNF1A, responsible for a rare, inherited form of diabetes against which a widely available and inexpensive class of drugs is highly effective. The discovery offers important new clues about the population genetics of type 2 diabetes in Latin American populations, and suggests ...

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) projects would add additional value of 5 or 6 cents per kilowatt hour to utility-scale solar energy in California where 33 percent renewables will be mandated in six years, a new report by the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has found. The report, "Estimating the Value of Utility-Scale Solar Technologies in California Under a 40% Renewable Portfolio StandardPDF," finds that CSP, with its ability to store energy for several hours or more, helps maintain firm capacity in the hours when the sun is below the horizon. ...

A new report, prepared by analysts from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), reviews estimates of the costs and benefits of compliance with Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) in the United States and explores how costs and benefits may evolve over time. "A Survey of State-Level Cost and Benefit Estimates of Renewable Portfolio StandardsPDF," reviews recent estimated RPS costs for most states, but finds that a lack of benefits estimates and methodological differences limit the ability to ...