NYU Langone Medical Center researchers have found a biological weakness in the workings of the most commonly mutated gene involved in human cancers, known as mutant K-Ras, which they say can be exploited by drug chemotherapies to thwart tumor growth. Mutant K-Ras has long been suspected of being the driving force behind more than a third of all cancers, including colon, lung, and a majority of pancreatic cancers. Indeed, Ras cancers, which are unusually aggressive, are thought of as "undruggable" because every previous attempt to stall their growth has failed. Reporting ...

African civilians in war-torn countries have experienced the threat of violence or death, and many have witnessed the abuse, torture, rape and even murder of loved ones. Many Congolese living in Ugandan refugee camps are suffering from severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). New research shows that Congolese war refugees who learned the Transcendental Meditation® technique showed a significant reduction in posttraumatic stress disorder in just 10 days, according to a study published today in the February 2014 issue of the Journal of Traumatic Stress (Volume 27, ...

For the first time, a team of chemists and engineers at Penn State University have placed tiny synthetic motors inside live human cells, propelled them with ultrasonic waves and steered them magnetically. It's not exactly "Fantastic Voyage," but it's close. The nanomotors, which are rocket-shaped metal particles, move around inside the cells, spinning and battering against the cell membrane. "As these nanomotors move around and bump into structures inside the cells, the live cells show internal mechanical responses that no one has seen before," said Tom Mallouk, Evan ...

Austin – February 10, 2014 – With Valentine's Day around the corner, you may be thinking of pairing up two friends for a date. If you follow your instinct to play Cupid, it'll pay off in happiness – not necessarily for the new couple, but definitely for you. According to new research, matchmaking, a time-honored tradition, brings intrinsic happiness to the matchmaker. To maximize the psychological benefits of matchmaking, you should take care to introduce two people who not only seem compatible but who would be unlikely to meet otherwise, researchers say. "At some point, ...

Curtin University researchers have found a way to breed disease-resistant wheat with no downside, potentially bringing multi-million dollar savings to Australia's agricultural industry. According to John Curtin Distinguished Professor Richard Oliver, Director of the Australian Centre for Necrotrophic Fungal Pathogens (ACNFP) at Curtin, farmers can lose more than 0.35 tonnes per hectare in wheat yields to Yellow Spot, even after applying fungicide. For an average-sized farm of 4000 hectares, this could mean an almost $500,000 loss to disease per year – or about $212 ...

Many people suffer from chronic inflammation because their immune systems overreact to 'self' tissue. Sydney scientists believe that a small molecule known as Interleukin 21 is a promising therapeutic target in such cases. Interleukin 21 (IL-21) is one of a group of chemical messengers known as 'cytokines', which affect the behaviour of immune cells. IL-21 is already well known to play an important role in autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren's syndrome and type 1 diabetes. The current study shows how much IL-21 contributes to inflammation. It also shows how important ...

Problems related to urination, including incontinence and having to get up to urinate at night-time, have become more acceptable topics of discussion over recent years. New treatment options have also led doctors to address these symptoms more actively. Despite this, no study has effectively compared the bother of each of these bladder symptoms for men and women of all ages. The FINNO Study is an ongoing questionnaire survey conducted right across Finland. A random sample of 6,000 adults identified from the Finnish Population Register, were contacted with a questionnaire ...

10 February 2014, Singapore: New trial results1 have shown that the world's first Double Intravenous Vasopressor Automated (DIVA) System affords superior control of maternal blood pressure in women undergoing caesarean section under spinal anaesthesia, when compared with manually-administered medication to manage reduced blood pressure (vasopressor). Developed by doctors at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH), the novel DIVA System detects and responds rapidly to low blood pressure and/or slow heart rate in real time by auto-administering a precise amount of the ...

BOSTON (Feb. 10, 2014)—Reinforcing the need to look beyond genomic alterations to understand the complexity of cancer, researchers from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center report that a normal enzyme called SYK pairs with FLT3, the most commonly mutated enzyme found in acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), to promote progression of the disease. This molecular partnership also promotes AML cells' resistance to treatment with FLT3-blocking drugs, potentially explaining the relatively poor showing of FLT3 inhibitors in multiple clinical studies. In ...

Micro-machining could be used to create almost flat, Fresnel lenses, that boost the electrical efficiency of solar panels, according to researchers in China. Fresnel lenses were invented by French engineer and scientist Augustin-Jean Fresnel, in the early nineteenth century, they are essential two-dimensional equivalents of conventional optical lens, but they have ridges in concentric rings that focus the light to a point behind the lens without the three-dimensional bulk of a conventional lens. Image quality is reduced when using a Fresnel lens to focus because the concentric ...

Pancreatic stellate cells, which normally aid tissue repair, unwittingly help pancreatic cancer grow and spread in a method of 'cell hijack' only seen before in brain and breast cancer, according to new research from Queen Mary University of London. The research, published in the latest issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine and carried out by Queen Mary's Barts Cancer Institute, also revealed the process can be blocked, thereby preventing the growth and spread of the tumour. The study, funded by the UK charity Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund, set out to investigate the messaging ...

An EORTC analysis appearing in Annals of Oncology confirmed the importance of known prognostic factors such as performance status and tumor grading for having a long-term outcome in patients treated with pazopanib for metastatic soft tissue sarcoma. Additionally, hemoglobin at baseline was found to be a new prognostic factor. Soft tissue sarcomas are a heterogeneous and relatively rare tumor with an estimated incidence of four per 100,000 people per year in Europe. The prognosis for patients with this disease is favorable if they are diagnosed at an early stage and if ...

Scientists have solved a major problem with the current standard model of cosmology identified by combining results from the Planck spacecraft and measurements of gravitational lensing in order to deduce the mass of ghostly sub-atomic particles called neutrinos. The team, from the universities of Manchester and Nottingham, used observations of the Big Bang and the curvature of space-time to accurately measure the mass of these elementary particles for the first time. The recent Planck spacecraft observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) – the fading glow ...

Aggression-causing genes appeared early in animal evolution and have maintained their roles for millions of years and across many species, even though animal aggression today varies widely from territorial fighting to setting up social hierarchies, according to researchers from Iowa State University, Penn State and Grand Valley State University. If these "mean genes" keep their roles in different animals and in different contexts, then perhaps model organisms -- such as bees and mice -- can provide insights into the biological basis of aggression in all animals, including ...

A new survey conducted by the University of Copenhagen and the World Health Organization (WHO) is highlighting the role of schools in work to promote health and prevent disease. "Children in Scandinavia generally have healthy teeth and gums, largely on account of dental care in schools for all children, the arrival of fluoride toothpaste on the market, a healthy lifestyle and high living standards. But the situation in the poorest countries of the world is very different to that in Scandinavia. However, it is positive to note that the WHO's Health Promoting Schools Initiative ...

When the threatened European eels cross the Atlantic Ocean to get to the Sargasso Sea to spawn, they swim in deep water. But this does not protect them from predators, researchers from the University of Southern Denmark report: Even in deep water the eels are hunted and eaten. The European eel is in decline, and all over the world biologists are struggling to map its mysterious life cycle in order to bring its numbers back up. One of the great puzzles is why and how the eel each year travels thousands of kilometers to get to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. A European monitoring ...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2014 — Love has inspired timeless songs and sonnets — not to mention a few less-than-timeless romantic comedies. Now the chemistry of love is the subject of the latest episode of the American Chemical Society's Reactions YouTube series (formerly Bytesize Science). Just in time for Valentine's Day, the video is available at http://youtu.be/bp7Ydv5wAPk. The video explains how feel-good neurotransmitters like dopamine and oxytocin fuel lifelong pair bonds in prairie voles, which — along with humans — are the mammalian kingdom's leading monogamists. "If ...

This news release is available in German. When averaging is good and when it's not Usually averaging is a good thing that can make life a lot easier. For example, when you eat out with a group of friends and it comes to paying. If everyone had a meal and a drink and you split the bill total by the number of people, everyone will pay pretty close to what they would have paid for their individual meal and drink. However, if some people had a starter, a steak for main, a dessert and champagne while you had spaghetti and a soft drink, you will feel pretty much ripped ...

Scientists at the University of York today report the development of hemp plants with a dramatically increased content of oleic acid. The new oil profile results in an attractive cooking oil that is similar to olive oil in terms of fatty acid content having a much longer shelf life as well as greater heat tolerance and potentially more industrial applications. Researchers in the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) in the Department of Biology at York say that high oleic acid varieties are a major step towards developing hemp as a commercially attractive break ...

A large scale randomized control trial, just released in the American Journal of Psychiatry (the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association) shows Schema Therapy to be significantly more effective than two major alternative approaches to the treatment of a broad range of personality disorders (avoidant, obsessive compulsive, dependent, paranoid, histrionic, and narcissistic). Schema Therapy resulted in a higher rate of recovery, greater declines in depression, greater increases in general and social functioning and had a lower drop out rate. The results also ...

PASADENA, CALIF., Feb. 10, 2014 — A screening program for abdominal aortic aneurysms, integrated into an electronic health record, dramatically reduced the number of unscreened at-risk men by more than 50 percent within 15 months, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in the Journal of Vascular Surgery. An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a balloon-like bulge in the aorta, which – if ruptured – can result in death. It is estimated that more than one million Americans are living with undiagnosed AAA, according to the Society for Vascular Surgery. Since 2005, ...

Is height important in matters of the heart? According to new research from Rice University and the University of North Texas, the height of a potential partner matters more to women than men, and mostly for femininity and protection. The study, "Does Height Matter? An Examination of Height Preferences in Romantic Coupling," was conducted in two parts. Part one, which used data from the Yahoo! personal dating advertisements of 455 males (average height of 5 feet 8 inches and average age of 36 years) and 470 females (average height of 5 feet 4 inches and average age of ...

Austin – February 10, 2014 – Going on a double date may be more effective at reigniting passion in your own relationship than the classic candlelit dinner for two. According to new research, striking up a friendship with another couple in which you discuss personal details of your life will bring you closer to your own partner. "Passionate love is one of the first dimensions of love to decrease in couples over time as the newness of a relationship begins to wane," says Keith Welker, a doctoral student at Wayne State University. "Relationships have widely been thought ...

The bench-scale test widely used to evaluate whether a burning cigarette will ignite upholstered furniture may underestimate the tendency of component materials to smolder when these materials are used in sofas and chairs supported by springs or cloth, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and American University researchers report in a new study.* The study comes as regulations and methods for evaluating the likelihood that soft-furniture materials will ignite are undergoing scrutiny. In November 2013, California removed an open-flame test from its furniture ...

Components in the outer wall of bacteria directly activate pain sensors, triggering immediate pain and inflammatory responses. This finding by a multinational team of researchers led by Professor Karel Talavera (KU Leuven, Belgium) and Professor Félix Viana (Institute of Neuroscience, Spain) sheds new light on pain associated with bacterial infections and reveals a new target for drugs designed to treat them. Bacterial infections are a global health problem and their treatment remains a major challenge to modern medicine. Infections of Gram-negative bacteria, in particular, ...