The EU e-infrastructure coordination pro-iBiosphere project is preparing the ground for the pursuit of biological research in the digital age. In its "Draft policy for Open Access to data and information" scientists and lawyers recommend that hurdles posed by copyright and database protection should be removed by establishing exceptions for research in a new binding, Europe-wide regulation. This report opens a consultation process that will last until December 2013. Input is welcomed on pro-iBiosphere's Google+ , LinkedIn or Facebook. At present, national provisions ...

"Well, I suppose I'd better start finding names for things…" was the first thing said by the ill-fated sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758) in Douglas Adam's Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Such is the richness of life that, unlike that whale, mankind is still naming things. Without commonly accepted names there would be no way to communicate research about life and it is the profession of taxonomists to put names on organisms and describe the different forms of life on Earth. The EU e-Infrastructure coordination project "pro-iBiosphere", targeting the ...

The traditional audience for books and scientific papers in which scientists report their findings has been the human reader. Now we can enhance publications by attaching to them many different kinds of digital objects (such as the sounds made by birds, maps that show where they occur, or images and videos) or by adding computer-readable sections and terms that allow computers to extract information for re-use. We refer to these enriched and marked-up documents as 'enhanced'. While the technology is available, only a tiny proportion of scientific publications are enhanced. ...

The Rim Fire in and around Yosemite National Park, which began on August 17, 2013 is now the fourth largest fire in California's history. According to Inciweb.org for Sept. 02, 2013: "The Rim Fire grew approximately 8,310 acres, to a total size of 231,088 acres. Burnout operations on the northern and southern portions of the fire continued with success through the night. Southwest transport winds returned smoke to the communities northeast of the fire, including Reno, Carson City, Markleeville, Minden, and the Lake Tahoe Basin, and returned clearer skies to the Yosemite ...

PHILADELPHIA -- People in East Asian countries seem to strike the best balance between liking action and inaction, whereas someone from the Mediterranean area of the world are far less likely to have achieved the same balance. This balance between action and inaction is best displayed in Asia, where Labor Day is not observed until May. A two-year-long study involving over 4,000 volunteer participants (age 19 to 30) from 19 countries and looked at the degree to which a culture holds attitudes toward rest and activity. It was led by Dolores Albarracín, Ph.D., the Martin ...

On August 28th the LEGATO project team held a successful workshop on rice ecosystem services and ecological engineering at the 6th Annual International Conference of the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) in Bali, Indonesia. The session titled "Rice Ecosystem Services" illustrated the conference motto "Making Ecosystem Services Count!" by presenting the interlinkage of different dimensions of ecosystem service research in LEGATO and collaborating projects, from water management and pollution, via the role of bio-indicator species, in particular of dragonflies (to signalise ...

Enhanced luminal breast tumor response to antiestrogen therapy Breast cancer can be divided into 4 major subtypes using molecular and genetic information from the tumors. Each subtype is associated with different prognosis and should be taken into consideration when making treatment decisions. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Rebecca Cook and colleagues at Vanderbilt University, found that expression of an oncogene, ERBB3, was enhanced in luminal breast cancers compared to other breast cancer subtypes. Addition of the ERBB3 protein to cultured ...

Breast cancer can be divided into 4 major subtypes using molecular and genetic information from the tumors. Each subtype is associated with different prognosis and should be taken into consideration when making treatment decisions. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Rebecca Cook and colleagues at Vanderbilt University, found that expression of an oncogene, ERBB3, was enhanced in luminal breast cancers compared to other breast cancer subtypes. Addition of the ERBB3 protein to cultured luminal breast cancer cells increased the growth of the cells; ...

Ischemic stroke is characterized by an interruption of the blood supply to the brain, which can lead to brain damage and even death. Excess amounts of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate are released during stroke events and further exacerbate brain cell death. Currently, there are no effective strategies for combatting the effects ischemic stroke. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation , José Sánchez-Prieto and colleagues at the Universidad Complutense demonstrate that peritoneal dialysis is an effective treatment for reducing glutamate levels ...

Research has shown that giving obese rodents a recently identified circulating protein called fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) helps improve their metabolism. Now investigators reporting in the Cell Press journal Cell Metabolism reveal that a variant of FGF21 has similar effects in obese people with type 2 diabetes. "Our findings suggest that FGF21 has the ability to favorably affect body weight and to partially normalize abnormal lipid levels in patients with diabetes. These are substantial issues and unmet medical needs for patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes," ...

An antihistamine discovered in the 1950s to treat itching may also prevent seizures in an intractable form of childhood epilepsy, according to researchers at UC San Francisco who tested it in zebrafish bred to mimic the disease. The researchers said their unexpected discovery offers a glimmer of hope for families of children with Dravet Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that manifests in early childhood with disabling, lifelong consequences. These include dozens, if not hundreds, of daily seizures, as well as profound cognitive and social deficits. “It is very ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (http://www.ucr.edu) — A team of University of California, Riverside researchers have developed a novel transparent skull implant that literally provides a "window to the brain", which they hope will eventually open new treatment options for patients with life-threatening neurological disorders, such as brain cancer and traumatic brain injury. The team's implant is made of the same ceramic material currently used in hip implants and dental crowns, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ). However, the key difference is that their material has been processed ...

Among scientists, the role of proteins called sirtuins in enhancing longevity has been hotly debated, driven by contradictory results from many different scientists. But new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may settle the dispute. Reporting Sept. 3 in Cell Metabolism, Shin-ichiro Imai, MD, PhD, and his colleagues have identified the mechanism by which a specific sirtuin protein called Sirt1 operates in the brain to bring about a significant delay in aging and an increase in longevity. Both have been associated with a low-calorie diet. The ...

Among patients with prehypertension and coronary artery disease, use of the renin (an enzyme secreted by the kidneys) inhibitor aliskiren, compared with placebo, did not result in improvement or slowing in the progression of coronary atherosclerosis, according to a study published by JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2013. "Guidelines recommend blood pressure reduction in patients with hypertension with a treatment goal of 140 mm Hg for systolic and 90 mm Hg diastolic blood ...

ANN ARBOR—When the tiny roundworm C. elegans reaches middle age—at about 2 weeks old—it can't quite move like it did in the bloom of youth. But rather than imposing an exercise regimen to rebuild the worm's body-wall muscles, researchers can bring the wriggle back by stimulating the animal's neurons. And, they say, pharmaceuticals might have a similar effect in mammals. Scientists at the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute and Medical School have found that the loss of motor ability associated with aging begins in neurons and spreads to muscles, and that ...

According to new research on epilepsy, zebrafish have certainly earned their stripes. Results of a study in Nature Communications suggest that zebrafish carrying a specific mutation may help researchers discover treatments for Dravet syndrome (DS), a severe form of pediatric epilepsy that results in drug-resistant seizures and developmental delays. Scott C. Baraban, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), carefully assessed whether the mutated zebrafish could serve as a model for DS, and then developed a new screening method ...

A long-term study of children with a complex heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) found that the risk of death or need for immediate listing for heart transplantation was greatest for those who developed this disease as infants with congestive heart failure and for children who also had selective inborn errors of metabolism, a group of rare genetic disorders in which one or more of the body's key metabolic processes are disrupted. The findings will be published online Tuesday in The Lancet to coincide with a presentation at the European Society of ...

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Tuesday 3 September 2013: Being underweight increases the death risk of women with coronary artery disease (CAD) by 2-fold, according to research presented at the ESC Congress today by Dr Aziza Azimi from Denmark. The study suggests that underweight women with CAD should gain weight to reduce their risk of death. Dr Azimi said: "The increasing prevalence of obesity is concerning because it is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, early death and other diseases like diabetes mellitus type 2, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. ...

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Tuesday 3 September 2013: Infections cause a lower proportion of lead extractions than expected, according to preliminary results from the ELECTRa Registry presented at ESC Congress 2013 today by Dr Maria Grazia Bongiorni from Italy. The European Lead Extraction ConTRolled (ELECTRa) Registry is the first large prospective, multicentre, European controlled registry of consecutive patients undergoing transvenous lead extraction (TLE) procedures in European real world practice. It is carried out by the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A team of researchers from the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering have solved a problem that previously presented a serious hurdle for the use of graphene in electronic devices. Scanning electron microscopy image of graphene device used in the study. The scale bar is one micrometer. The UCR logo next to it is implemented with etched graphene. Graphene is a single-atom thick carbon crystal with unique properties beneficial for electronics including extremely high electron mobility and phonon thermal conductivity. However, ...

Removing one of the tiniest organs in the body has shown to provide effective treatment for high blood pressure. The discovery, made by University of Bristol researchers and published in Nature Communications, could revolutionise treatment of the world's biggest silent killer. The carotid body — a small nodule (no larger than a rice grain) found on the side of each carotid artery — appears to be a major culprit in the development and regulation of high blood pressure. Researchers, led by British Heart Foundation (BHF)-funded researcher Professor Julian Paton, found ...

Only a fraction of the biodiversity on the planet is known to scientists and exploration of new places and habitats continue to yield exciting discoveries and new species to describe by taxonomists. This task is becoming increasingly urgent as a function of the continuous overexploitation of natural resources and destruction of habitats. In fact, it has recently been estimated that it takes on average 21 years from the discovery of a species in nature to its formal scientific description. The 'shelf life' can sometimes be significantly longer, as for the millipede Ommatoiulus ...

The first systematic review of related research confirms a positive impact on cognitive function, but an inconsistent effect on mild cognitive impairment Over recent years many pieces of research have identified a link between adherence to a Mediterranean diet and a lower risk of age-related disease such as dementia. Until now there has been no systematic review of such research, where a number of studies regarding a Mediterranean diet and cognitive function are reviewed for consistencies, common trends and inconsistencies. A team of researchers from the University ...

Several millions of people around the world suffer from insulin deficiencies. Insulin is a hormone, secreted by the beta cells in the pancreas, which plays a major role in the regulation of energy substrates such as glucose. This insufficiency, primarily caused by diabetes (types 1 and 2), has lethal consequences if it is not treated. As of now, only daily insulin injections allow patients to survive. Several millions of people around the world suffer from insulin deficiencies. Insulin is a hormone, secreted by the beta cells in the pancreas, which plays a major role ...

A precisely designed macromolecule that mimics the binding of HIV to immune system cells could be used to stop the virus from physically entering the body, according to a new study led by a materials scientist at Queen Mary University of London. The researchers created the large molecule with several sugar molecules, known as glycopolymers. By using different sugars attached to the macromolecule in solution, the scientists were able to investigate which sugar molecules were the most effective in inhibiting the potential binding of the virus. They then measured how ...