The birth of new neurons in the adult brain sharpens memory in rodents, but whether the same holds true for humans has long been debated. A study published by Cell Press June 6th in the journal Cell reveals that a significant number of new neurons in the hippocampus—a brain region crucial for memory and learning—are generated in adult humans. The researchers used a unique strategy based on the amount of carbon-14 found in humans as a result of above-ground nuclear testing more than half a century ago. The findings suggest that new neurons are born daily in the human hippocampus, ...

Bird flu viruses are potentially highly lethal and pose a global threat, but relatively little is known about why certain strains spread more easily to humans than others. Two studies published by Cell Press June 6th in the journal Cell identify mutations that increase the infectivity of H5N1 and H7N9 viruses through improved binding to receptors in the human respiratory tract. The findings offer much-needed strategies for monitoring the emergence of dangerous bird flu strains capable of infecting humans and for developing more effective vaccines. "Avian influenza viruses ...

Washington, DC (June 3, 2013) – If your preschooler thinks a cheeseburger is healthy, you may want to reconsider how you watch TV. A recent study by researchers at the University of Michigan found commercial TV viewing, as opposed to commercial-free digitally recorded TV or other media without food advertising, in the home was related to greater junk food consumption. Kristen Harrison and Mericarmen Peralta, both of the University of Michigan, will present their findings at the 63rd Annual International Communication Association conference in London. Harrison and Peralta ...

Researchers have been able to mobilize the brain's native stem cells to replenish a type of neuron lost in Huntington's disease. In the study, which appears today in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the scientists were able to both trigger the production of new neurons in mice with the disease and show that the new cells successfully integrated into the brain's existing neural networks, dramatically extending the survival of the treated mice. "This study demonstrates the feasibility of a completely new concept to treat Huntington's disease, by recruiting the brain's endogenous ...

For some species, living twice as long in good health depends on no more than a few genes. When this fact was revealed by studies on worms three decades ago, it ushered in a golden age of ageing studies that has delivered numerous results, but also sown some confusion. The prestigious journal Cell is now publishing an exhaustive review of the subject that aims to set things straight and "serve as a framework for future studies." All the molecular indicators of ageing in mammals – the nine signatures that mark the advance of time – are set out in its pages. And the authors ...

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Rutgers scientists have described for the first time the biological process of how corals create their skeletons – destined to become limestones – which form massive and ecologically vital coral reefs in the world's oceans. In a publication in Current Biology, Tali Mass and her colleagues at the Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences show that specific proteins produced by corals can form limestones in test tubes. These proteins, secreted by corals, precipitate carbonate that forms the corals' characteristic skeleton. "This is a first ...

Cancer cells' appetite for sugar may have serious consequences for immune cell function, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have learned. The scientists found that when they kept sugar away from critical immune cells called T cells, the cells no longer produced interferon gamma, an inflammatory compound important for fighting tumors and some kinds of infection. "T cells can get into tumors, but unfortunately they are often ineffective at killing the cancer cells," said Erika Pearce, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and immunology. ...

ANN ARBOR—Efforts to restore sturgeon in the Great Lakes region have received a lot of attention in recent years, and many of the news stories note that the prehistoric-looking fish are "living fossils" virtually unchanged for millions of years. But a new study by University of Michigan researchers and their colleagues reveals that in at least one measure of evolutionary change—changes in body size over time—sturgeon have been one of the fastest-evolving fish on the planet. "Sturgeon are thought of as a living fossil group that has undergone relatively slow rates of ...

Patients battling cancer have a better experience of care at hospitals that employ more cancer specialist nurses. Research from the University of Southampton, shows that patients of better staffed hospitals are more likely to report being given more emotional support by nurses who work well together on wards. Study author Peter Griffiths, Professor of Health Services Research at the University of Southampton, comments: "Cancer and its treatment can place a huge burden, both physical and psychological, on patients. Supporting people with cancer on the journey from diagnosis ...

How and when evolution generates diversity or gives form to proteins, living beings' functional building blocks, are essential questions that still surround the theory of evolution. In humans, the majority of genes have emerged via genetic duplication, a strategy in which a gene generates two identical copies that can evolve to generate different proteins. A study published today by scientists from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) describes how a genetic duplication that took place in the vertebrate ancestor some 500 million years ago encouraged the ...

As tumors grow, their centers are squeezed of oxygen. And so tumors must flip specific genetic switches to survive in these hypoxic environments. A series of studies funded to do only basic science and published today in the journal Cell reports the serendipitous discovery of a druggable target necessary for the survival of tumors in these low-oxygen environments. "This is a clear example of starting with a basic biology question that now turns out to be relevant to patients," says Joaquin Espinosa, PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, associate ...

SAN FRANCISCO, June 6, 2013 -- Colombia sits atop a complex geological area where three tectonic plates are interacting, producing seismicity patterns that have puzzled seismologists for years. Now seismologists have identified the "Caldas tear," which is a break in a slab that separates two subducting plates and accounts for curious features, including a "nest" of seismic activity beneath east-central Colombia and high grade mineral deposits on the surface. In a paper published in the June issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA), researchers ...

University of Adelaide researchers have developed a simple and cost-effective DNA test to identify kangaroo species from their droppings which will boost the ability to manage and conserve kangaroo populations. The researchers developed the test using hundreds of collected droppings across north-eastern Australia and extracting DNA from the samples, published in the conservation journal Wildlife Research. A unique pattern of DNA fragmentation was established for each species, eliminating the need for gene sequencing which is costly, much more time-consuming and requires ...

The drug ingenol mebutate (trade name: Picato) has been approved in Germany since November 2012 as a gel for the treatment of certain forms of actinic keratosis in adults. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG) the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether this new drug offers an added benefit over diclofenac/hyaluronic acid gel. Such an added benefit cannot be derived from the dossier, however, as the drug manufacturer did not submit any relevant data: it did ...

The genome is full of sequence repetitions. Sequence motif is added after sequence motif, sometimes more than a hundred times. Erratically it seems. And these sequence motifs bind proteins that control transcription factors in regions of the genome where no transcription should occur. A conundrum. Nicolas Thomä, group leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, and his team together with the team of David Shore at the University of Geneva, have now been able to give an answer and assign a function to this seeming inconsistency. In a study published ...

Dapagliflozin (trade name: Forxiga) has been approved in Germany since November 2012 for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG) the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether this new drug offers an added benefit over the current standard therapy. No such added benefit can be derived from the dossier, however, because the drug manufacturer did not present any relevant data for any of the possible therapeutic indications ...

Since ancient times, the pressures of excessive hunting have contributed to the gradual decline of wildlife populations and even the extinction of certain species in many areas. Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) and the Centre for Forestry Research (INIA-CIFOR) have studied the developments in big game in Spain between 1972 and 2007 to gain an understanding of the hunting trends of the last decades. "We have analysed the general trends in official statistics on hunters, hunting weapons, hunting grounds and captures. Our main conclusion is that ...

Solar radiation in Spain has increased by 2.3% every decade since the 1980s, according to a study by researchers from the University of Girona and the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. This increase is linked to the decreased presence of clouds, which has increased the amount of direct radiation reaching us from the Sun. "The mean annual G series over Spain shows a tendency to increase during the 1985-2010 period, with a significant linear trend of + 3.9 W m-2 [2.3% more] per decade." This is the main conclusion of a study published in the magazine 'Global ...

Increases in temperature as a result of climate change are mirrored in lake waters where temperatures are also on the rise. A new study, by Dr. Martin Dokulil, retired researcher from the Institute for Limnology at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, forecasts surface water temperatures in large Austrian lakes for 2050 and discusses the impact on the lakes' structure, function and water quality. The research is published online in Springer's journal Hydrobiologia. Austria has a multitude of lakes varying widely in type, size, flushing, altitude and geographic location. ...

ATHENS, Ohio (June 6, 2013) – Ten years ago, scientists were convinced that a combination of manganese and gallium nitride could be a key material to create spintronics, the next generation of electronic devices that operate on properties found at the nanoscale. But researchers grew discouraged when experiments indicated that the two materials were as harmonious as oil and water. A new study led by Ohio University physicists suggests that scientists should take another look at this materials duo, which once was heralded for its potential to be the building block for devices ...

Researchers have been able to teleport information from light to light at a quantum level for several years. In 2006, researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute succeeded in teleporting between light and gas atoms. Now the research group has succeeded in teleporting information between two clouds of gas atoms and to carry out the teleportation – not just one or a few times, but successfully every single time. The results are published in the scientific journal, Nature Physics. "It is a very important step for quantum information research to have achieved such stable results ...

A team of researchers has made a significant discovery which may have a dramatic impact on children stricken with Tay-Sachs disease, a degenerative and fatal neurological condition that often strikes in the early months of life. Available drugs may dramatically ease a child's suffering, say scientists. "There is hope for this disease," says Suleiman Igdoura, lead researcher of the study and an associate professor of biology at McMaster University. "Imagine what that could mean for parents who have a child diagnosed with this incurable condition, who may have only ...

Athens, Ga. – From the neurons that enable thought to the keratinocytes that make toenails grow–a complex canopy of sugar molecules, commonly known as glycans, envelop every living cell in the human body. These complex carbohydrate chains perform a host of vital functions, providing the necessary machinery for cells to communicate, replicate and survive. It stands to reason, then, that when something goes wrong with a person's glycans, something goes wrong with them. Now, researchers at the University of Georgia are learning how changes in normal glycan behavior are ...

Researchers from Germany have found that low levels of vitamin D are associated with high levels of hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication. Findings published online in Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, suggest seasonal fluctuations in vitamin D and HBV levels point to a link in these variables among patients with chronic HBV. While highly effective vaccines are available, HBV still remains one of the most significant infectious diseases worldwide. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) states that HBV is 50 to 100 ...

In a recent analysis of one outpatient clinic, one in four men seeking medical help for newly-developed erectile dysfunction (ED) was younger than 40 years, and nearly half of young men with the condition had severe ED. While larger population-based studies are needed, the findings, which were published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, suggest that erectile dysfunction in young men may be more prevalent and more serious than previously thought. Erectile dysfunction is a common complaint in men over 40 years of age. Prevalence increases with age, but the prevalence ...