Scientists have discovered differences in the brain structure of ballet dancers that may help them avoid feeling dizzy when they perform pirouettes. The research suggests that years of training can enable dancers to suppress signals from the balance organs in the inner ear. The findings, published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, could help to improve treatment for patients with chronic dizziness. Around one in four people experience this condition at some time in their lives. Normally, the feeling of dizziness stems from the vestibular organs in the inner ear. These ...

PHILADELPHIA — A bioinformatics approach to repurposing drugs resulted in identification of a class of antidepressants as a potential new treatment for small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to a study published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Based on data generated using bioinformatics, two drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat symptoms of depression were tested on SCLC cells and animal models. Both antidepressants were found to induce SCLC cell death. They were also effective in mice ...

STANFORD, Calif. — A little-used class of antidepressants appears potentially effective in combating a particularly deadly form of lung cancer, according to a new study from researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. And because the drugs have already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in humans, the researchers have been able to quickly launch a clinical trial to test their theory in patients. The phase-2 trial is now recruiting participants with small-cell lung cancer and other, similar conditions like aggressive gastrointestinal ...

The report by scientists of a new hepatitis virus earlier this year was a false alarm, according to UC San Francisco researchers who correctly identified the virus as a contaminant present in a type of glassware used in many research labs. Their finding, they said, highlights both the promise and peril of today’s powerful “next-generation” lab techniques that are used to track down new agents of disease. In research published online September 11, 2013, in the Journal of Virology, researchers led by Charles Chiu, MD, PhD, director of the UCSF Viral Diagnostics ...

A star is "blooming" in the southern sky — and astronomers using a CSIRO telescope are a step closer to knowing why. An old star, IRAS 15445-5449, has begun to push out a jet of charged particles that glow with radio waves. A few old stars are known to have jets, "but this is the first one where the radio waves tell us the jet is held together by a strong magnetic field", said Dr Jessica Chapman of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, a member of the research team. "That's a clue to what makes these jets switch on." The finding has been published online in the journal ...

VIDEO: The aging pulsar rotates slower and slower, then matter from its companion spins it up again. As the pulsar is spun up, it alternates between emitting X-rays (white) and radio... Click here for more information. An international team of astronomers has used X-ray telescopes in space and ground-based telescopes, including two of CSIRO's, to identify a pulsar that switches between emitting X-rays and emitting radio waves. This is the first direct evidence of one kind ...

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) taken from a patient hold great therapeutic potential for many diseases. However, studies in rodents have suggested that the body may mount an immune response and destroy cells derived from iPSCs. New research in monkeys refutes these findings, suggesting that in primates like us, such cells will not be rejected by the immune system. In the paper, publishing September 26 in the ISSCR's journal Stem Cell Reports, published by Cell Press, iPSCs from nonhuman primates successfully developed into the neurons depleted by Parkinson's disease ...

VIDEO: This is a Eurydice crustacean swimming. Click here for more information. Animals living in marine environments keep to their schedules with the aid of multiple independent—and, in at least some cases, interacting—internal clocks. The findings, presented by two research groups in papers appearing in the Cell Press journals Current Biology and Cell Reports on September 26, suggest that multiple clocks—not just the familiar, 24-hour circadian clock—might even be standard ...

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the accumulation of particular toxic proteins in the brain that are believed to underlie the cognitive decline in patients. A new study conducted in mice suggests that newly identified antibody treatments can prevent the accumulation of one of these of these toxic components, called tau proteins. The findings, online September 26 in the Cell Press journal Neuron, suggest that these antibodies may provide a basis for a promising therapy for patients with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. In the brains of ...

A research team led by Professor Jun Takahashi and Assistant Professor Asuka Morizane at the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University, Japan, has carried out a study to compare the impact of immune response in autologous transplantation (transplantation of cells from the subject's own body) and allogeneic transplantation (transplantation of cells from a different individual of the same species). The researchers used cynomolgus monkeys to carry out transplantation into the brain of neural cells derived from iPS cells. Autologous transplantation ...

Washington, DC (September 23, 2013) – Smoking is a major public health problem, killing approximately 443,000 people every year in the United States. Quitting smoking can have a profound effect on a person's health, but it is also one of the hardest addictions to kick. A recent paper published in the Journal of Communication found that people who engage in health specific social networking sites found it easier to quit smoking. Joe Phua, University of Georgia, examined health-based social networking sites that focus on helping members to quit smoking. He found that as ...

Although heavily studied, the specific genetic causes of "complex diseases," a category of disorders which includes autism, diabetes and heart disease, are largely unknown due to byzantine genetic and environmental interactions. Now, scientists from the University of Chicago have created one of the most expansive analyses to date of the genetic factors at play in complex diseases—by using diseases with known genetic causes to guide them. Analyzing more than 120 million patient records and identifying trends of co-occurrence among hundreds of diseases, they created a unique ...

NEW YORK, NY (September 26, 2013) — Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have found that the skeleton, acting through the bone-derived hormone osteocalcin, exerts a powerful influence on prenatal brain development and cognitive functions such as learning, memory, anxiety, and depression in adult mice. Findings from the mouse study could lead to new approaches to the prevention and treatment of neurologic disorders. The study was published today in the online edition of Cell. "The brain is commonly viewed as an organ that influences other organs ...

Scientists have used a brand new technique for examining individual stem cells to uncover dramatic differences in the gene expression levels – which genes are turned 'up' or 'down'– between apparently identical 'sister' pairs. The research, published today (Thursday) in Stem Cell Reports, was conducted and funded by The Institute of Cancer Research, London. It provides the latest evidence that despite having identical DNA, sister stem cells can display considerable differences in their molecular characteristics. The study showed that DNA methylation, a process that controls ...

Becoming obese or remaining lean can depend on the dynamics of the mitochondria, the body's energy-producing "battery," according to two new studies by Yale School of Medicine researchers featured as the cover story in the Sept. 26 issue of the journal Cell. Mitochondria are vital cellular organelles that generate and maintain proper energy levels in complex organisms. Using animal models, the Yale research team studied mitochondria in different populations of brain cells known to be involved in the regulation of appetite. The team found that during the transition from ...

University of Leicester researchers have revealed that coastal animals have their own biological tidal timer, which is separate from their 24-hour body clock. Experts from the University's Department of Genetics have published a paper in Current Biology which reveals the discovery of an independent clock driving coastal animals' tidal rhythms. The paper, Dissociation of Circadian and Circatidal Timekeeping in the Marine Crustacean Eurydice pulchra, follows nearly ten years of research by Leicester geneticists, along with colleagues at the Universities of Bangor, Aberystwyth ...

(TORONTO, Canada – Sept. 26, 2013) – Stem cell scientists have moved one step closer to producing blood-forming stem cells in a Petri dish by identifying a key regulator controlling their formation in the early embryo, shows research published online today in Cell. The work was reported by Dr. Gordon Keller, Director of the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, and Senior Scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, both at University Health Network. Dr. Keller is also Professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto and holds a Canada ...

PHILADELPHIA - Protein synthesis in the extensions of nerve cells, called dendrites, underlies long-term memory formation in the brain, among other functions. "Thousands of messenger RNAs reside in dendrites, yet the dynamics of how multiple dendrite messenger RNAs translate into their final proteins remain elusive," says James Eberwine, PhD, professor of Pharmacology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and co-director of the Penn Genome Frontiers Institute. Dendrites, which branch from the cell body of the neuron, play a key role in the communication ...

The mood changes of a 'Jekyll-and-Hyde' protein, which sometimes boosts tumour cell growth and at other times suppresses it, have been explained in a new study led by Oxford University researchers. The researchers in Britain, with collaborators in Singapore and the USA, carried out a comprehensive biological study of the protein E2F, which is abnormal in the vast majority of cancers. They were able to explain the dual natures it can take up in cells in the body, and indicate how it could be a potent target for developing new cancer drugs. The Oxford University scientists ...

Folic acid deficiency can cause severe health problems in offspring, including spina bifida, heart defects and placental abnormalities. A study out today reveals that a mutation in a gene necessary for the metabolism of folic acid not only impacts the immediate offspring but can also have detrimental health effects on the next several generations. The new research, which also sheds light on the molecular mechanism of folic acid (also known as folate) during development, was published today in the journal Cell. "Although our research focused on genetic mutations which ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- As one species of European songbird island-hopped to colonize mid-Atlantic archipelagoes over the course of a half million years, their songs lost their sense of syntax. Chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) on the furthest island of their dispersal, Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, still sing the same notes, but with a much less structured pattern from one bird to the next, sort of like an island of Charlie Parkers. "A chaffinch from mainland Europe always sounds like a chaffinch from mainland Europe," said biologist Robert F. Lachlan who completed the ...

Rio de Janeiro, 28 September 2013 – As the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the Brazilian Society of Cardiology (BSC) team up to deliver key cardio messages at the 68th BSC Congress in Rio de Janeiro (28 September to 1 October 2013), new research underscores the essential role of cardiology specialists in Brazil. Cerebrovascular disease (CBVD) remains the leading cause of death in Rio de Janeiro, with poverty, poor fitness and education levels, and increasing rates of obesity contributing to these deaths annually, said Dr. Regina Fonseca from the Federal University ...

Croatia joined the European Union on 1 July and conservation scientists fear that the EU's rules could cause problems for its brown bear population. The country has been managing its brown bears as game animals, meaning they can be hunted; but under EU legislation, bears are a protected species and can only be shot if they are deemed to be problem animals. This might seem to be a positive outcome for the bears. However, it could lead to reduced tolerance for bears among local people, because the local economy will lose valuable revenue from hunting, according to a ...

Even more surprising, analysis show that the molecule is identical to Tramadol, a wholly synthetic medication that is used world-wide as a painkiller. According to the research team, this is the first time ever that a synthetic medication produced by the pharmaceutical industry has been discovered in strong concentrations in a natural source. This unexpected discovery had just been published in the chemical journal' "Angewandte Chemie" Nauclea latifolia (also know as the pin cushion tree) is a small shrub that is widely abundant throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. In traditional ...

Two species of tawny brown singing mice that live deep in the mountain cloud forests of Costa Rica and Panama set their boundaries by emitting high-pitched trills, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered. Although males of both the Alston's singing mouse (Scotinomys teguina) and Chiriqui singing mouse (S. xerampelinus) sing to attract mates and repel rivals within their respective species, the findings show for the first time that communication is being used to create geographic boundaries between species. In this case, the smaller Alston's ...