It's common knowledge that all organisms inherit their mitochondria – the cell's "power plants" – from their mothers. But what happens to all the father's mitochondria? Surprisingly, how – and why – paternal mitochondria are prevented from getting passed on to their offspring after fertilization is still shrouded in mystery; the only thing that's certain is that there must be a compelling reason, seeing as this phenomenon has been conserved throughout evolution. Now, Dr. Eli Arama and a team in the Weizmann Institute's Molecular Genetics Department have discovered special ...

Researchers from New Zealand's University of Otago have uncovered evidence that sugar has a direct effect on risk factors for heart disease, and is likely to impact on blood pressure, independent of weight gain. Research Fellow with Otago's Department of Human Nutrition Dr Lisa Te Morenga, Professor Jim Mann and colleagues have conducted a review and meta-analysis of all international studies that compared the effects of higher versus lower added sugar consumption on blood pressure and lipids (blood fats or cholesterol) – both of which are important cardiovascular risk-factors. They ...

Mindfulness. Zen. Acem. Meditation drumming. Chakra. Buddhist and transcendental meditation. There are countless ways of meditating, but the purpose behind them all remains basically the same: more peace, less stress, better concentration, greater self-awareness and better processing of thoughts and feelings. But which of these techniques should a poor stressed-out wretch choose? What does the research say? Very little – at least until now. A team of researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the University of Oslo and the University ...

Roughly 25 million Africans live with HIV, many of who now have access to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). Among their side effects, ARVs can cause patients to put on weight. Subsequently, attention paid to malnutrition among African HIV patients has waned. However, widespread malnutrition has been identified as a reason that up to a quarter of HIV patients in a number of African countries die just months after beginning medical treatment. A collaborative project between the University of Copenhagen and Jimma University, Ethiopia has demonstrated that daily nutritional supplementation ...

Using modern weather satellites to monitor rainfall has become a robust, widely practiced technique. However, establishing a reliable context for relating space-based rainfall observations to current and historical ground-based rainfall data has been difficult. A new dataset developed in partnership between UC Santa Barbara and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) can be used for environmental monitoring and drought early warning. The Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS), a collaboration between UCSB's Climate Hazards Group and USGS's Earth ...

Berkeley — A new study of preschools and day care centers finds that flame retardants are prevalent indoors, potentially exposing young children to chemicals known to be hazardous. The study, to appear online Thursday, May 15, in the journal Chemosphere, was led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and funded by the California Air Resources Board. Although many infants and young children spend up to 50 hours per week in day care, the study authors noted that this paper represents the first systematic review of flame retardants in early child care ...

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which holds enough water to raise global seas by several feet, is thinning. Scientists have been warning of its collapse, based on theories, but with few firm predictions or timelines. University of Washington researchers used detailed topography maps and computer modeling to show that the collapse appears to have already begun. The fast-moving Thwaites Glacier will likely disappear in a matter of centuries, researchers say, raising sea level by nearly 2 feet. That glacier also acts as a linchpin on the rest of the ice sheet, which contains ...

NEW YORK, NY, May 14, 2014 — A novel targeted drug shows promise in treating patients with advanced pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS), a rare neoplastic joint disorder, according to new phase I data from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and other institutions highlighted to media today in advance of the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), which will take place from May 30 to June 3 in Chicago. At the time of interim analysis, 11 of 14 evaluable patients (79 percent) had a partial response to the drug and three patients ...

Hospital transfers happened more often after surgery at critical access hospitals (CAHs) but the proportion of patients using post-acute care was equal to or less than that of patients treated at non-CAHs. The CAH designation was created to provide financial support to rural hospitals. As such, they are exempt from Medicare's Prospective Payment System and instead are paid cost-based reimbursement. The proliferation of CAHs after the payment policy change has increased interest in the quality and cost of care these facilities provide. The authors used data from ...

Individuals prenatally exposed to tobacco smoke exhibited weaker response in some regions of the brain while processing a task that measures inhibition control (the ability to control inappropriate responses). Prenatal tobacco smoke exposure is a risk factor for adverse physical and mental outcomes in children. Growing evidence suggests that smoking during pregnancy may increase the risk of psychopathology such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Research on ADHD has suggested that individuals with the disorder may exhibit poor inhibitory control. Functional ...

Reduction in brain volume in the hippocampus (a region related to memory) was seen in patients with the psychotic disorders schizophrenia (SZ), schizoaffective disorder (SZA) and psychotic bipolar disorder (BPP). The pathophysiology of psychotic disorders remains unclear, especially SZ. Changes in volume in the hippocampus are a hallmark of SZ. Advances in image processing allow for the precise parceling of specific hippocampal areas. The authors conducted a neuroimaging study in patients with psychotic disorders and healthy volunteers as part of the multisite ...

This past November, NASA launched the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission in the hope of understanding how and why the planet has been losing its atmosphere over billions of years. One instrument aboard the spacecraft will study a special component of the Martian atmosphere to help solve this mystery. By studying ions, or small electrically charged particles, in and above the Red Planet's tenuous atmosphere, the Solar Wind Ion Analyzer will help answer why Mars has gradually lost much of its atmosphere, developing into a frozen, barren planet. Once ...

Even if treated, hypertension and high cholesterol are increasingly common for people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), according to a new study from researchers at Mount Sinai St. Luke's and Mount Sinai Roosevelt hospitals in New York and the University of California, Davis. The finding – published online in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes – leads the study authors to recommend greater emphasis on cardiology in HIV treatment and research. The study authors examined medical records for a diverse group of 4,278 outpatients in New York City ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – As the shale gas boom continues, the atmosphere receives more methane, adding to Earth's greenhouse gas problem. Robert Howarth, greenhouse gas expert and ecology and environmental biology professor, fears that we may not be many years away from an environmental tipping point – and disaster. "We have to control methane immediately, and natural gas is the largest methane pollution source in the United States," said Howarth, who explains in an upcoming journal article that Earth may reach the point of no return if average global temperatures rise by 1.5 to ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – It's an unlikely beer-drinking toast: "Here's to L-T-P-One!" Yet, the secret to optimal foam in the head of a freshly poured brew, according to Cornell food science research, is just the right amount and kind of barley lipid transfer protein No. 1, aka LTP1. Bitter compounds found in hops, like iso-alpha acids, are important to brewers, says Cornell's Karl J. Siebert, principal investigator and author of "Recent Discoveries in Beer Foam," set for publication in next issue of the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists. "Dissolved gases in ...

PORTLAND, Ore. – A comparatively new form of a medication for alcohol and opioid dependence that's injected once a month instead of taken orally once a day appears to be significantly more effective than some other medications – because more patients actually continue the prescribed regimen. The findings, published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment by researchers from Oregon State University and other institutions, offer support for a wider use of medications that may help reduce or prevent substance abuse and related hospital admissions. The cost savings ...

COLLEGE STATION – A team of Texas A&M University System scientists have investigated how "body clock dysregulation" might affect obesity-related metabolic disorders. The team was led by Dr. Chaodong Wu, associate professor in the department of nutrition and food sciences of Texas A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Dr. David Earnest, professor in the department of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics, Texas A&M Health Science Center. Study results were published recently on the Journal of Biological Chemistry website at http://www.jbc.org/content/early/2014/04/25/jbc.M113.539601. "Animal ...

CINCINNATI—Investigators at the University of Cincinnati have found a safe and effective treatment for life-threatening angioedema attacks in the emergency department. In angioedema, patients experience a rapid swelling of the skin and subcutaneous tissues—which, in some cases, can lead to airway obstruction and suffocation. Physicians usually treat angioedema like an allergic reaction with corticosteroids and antihistamines. But that therapy doesn't always work for another version of the condition, thought to be caused by taking a class of drugs known as ACE inhibitors. ...

ROSEMENT, Ill.─ Obesity is associated with longer hospital stays and higher costs in total knee replacement (TKR) patients, independent of whether or not the patient has an obesity-related disease or condition (comorbidity), according to a new study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS). More than half of TKR patients have a body mass index (BMI) within the obesity range (greater than 30 kg/m²), which has been linked to a higher risk for related comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis; and in some studies, to higher medical ...

Winter rains and summer groundwater pumping in California's Central Valley make the Sierra Nevada and Coast Mountain Ranges sink and rise by a few millimeters each year, creating stress on the state's faults that could increase the risk of an earthquake. Gradual depletion of the Central Valley aquifer, because of groundwater pumping, also raises these mountain ranges by a similar amount each year--about the thickness of a dime--with a cumulative rise over the past 150 years of up to 15 centimeters (6 inches), according to calculations by a team of geophysicists. The ...

VIDEO: UC Davis engineer Saif Islam explains how growing semiconductor nano-sized wires and bridges on silicon can lead to a new generation of robust electronic devices. Click here for more information. A new approach to integrated circuits, combining atoms of semiconductor materials into nanowires and structures on top of silicon surfaces, shows promise for a new generation of fast, robust electronic and photonic devices. Engineers at the University of California, Davis, have ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., BEVERLY, MA, and CHICAGO (May 15, 2014) – As minimally invasive therapies are increasingly used to treat diseased heart valves, newly published recommendations provide guidance on best practices for providing optimal care for patients. The document released today offers first-time guidance from four professional medical associations on developing and maintaining a transcatheter mitral valve therapy program, emphasizing collaboration between interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. The document is an important step toward achieving consistent, ...

STANFORD, Calif. - Tinkering with a molecular pathway that governs how intestinal cells respond to stress can help mice survive a normally fatal dose of abdominal radiation, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Because the technique is still partially effective up to 24 hours after exposure, the study suggests a possible treatment for people unintentionally exposed to large amounts of radiation, such as first responders at the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. "We were very surprised by the amount of protection the ...

A commonly prescribed antidepressant can reduce production of the main ingredient in Alzheimer's brain plaques, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Pennsylvania. The findings, in mice and people, are published May 14 in Science Translational Medicine. They support preliminary mouse studies that evaluated a variety of antidepressants. Brain plaques are tied closely to memory problems and other cognitive impairments caused by Alzheimer's disease. Stopping plaque buildup may halt the disastrous mental ...

PHILADELPHIA – A University of Pennsylvania researcher has discovered that the common selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) citalopram arrested the growth of amyloid beta, a peptide in the brain that clusters in plaques that are thought to trigger the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Penn, in collaboration with investigators at Washington University, tested the drug's effects on the brain interstitial fluid (ISF) in plaque-bearing mice and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of healthy human subjects to draw its conclusions, which are detailed in the new issue ...