Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a disease in which cardiac muscle thickens, weakening the heart, can be prevented from developing for several months in mice by reducing production of a mutant protein, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard Medical School. The work takes a first step toward being able to treat or prevent the leading cause of sudden death in athletes and sudden heart-related death inpeople under 30 in the United States. "There's really no treatment for HCM right now. You can treat symptoms like chest pain or an arrhythmia, but that's not ...

To gain complete control over chemical reactions is one of the main goals of chemists around the world. Scientists at the University of Basel and the Center of Free-Electron Laser Science in Hamburg were able to for the first time successfully sort out single forms of molecules with electric fields and have them react specifically. Analysis of the reaction rates showed a relation between the spatial structure of the sorted molecules and their chemical reactivity. The results have been published in the renowned magazine Science. The reactivity of a chemical compound, ...

VIDEO: Watch as Stowers Investigator Jennifer Gerton, Ph.D. describes her most recent research discovery. Click here for more information. KANSAS CITY, MO—Children born with developmental disorders called cohesinopathies can suffer severe consequences, including intellectual disabilities, limb shortening, craniofacial anomalies, and slowed growth. Researchers know which mutations underlie some cohesinopathies, but have developed little understanding of the downstream signals ...

Mitochondria are the power plants of cells, manufacturing chemical fuel so a cell can perform its many tasks. These cellular power plants also are well known for their role in ridding the body of old or damaged cells. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Padua-Dulbecco Telethon Institute in Italy have shown that mitochondria remarkably also orchestrate events that determine a cell's future, at least in the embryonic mouse heart. The new study identifies new potential genetic culprits in the origins of some congenital ...

How does the human brain control compliance with social norms? The biological mechanisms that underlie norm compliance are still poorly understood. In a new study, Christian Ruff, Giuseppe Ugazio, and Ernst Fehr from the University of Zurich show that the lateral prefrontal cortex plays a central role in norm compliance. Prefrontal cortex controls norm behavior For the study, 63 participants took part in an experiment in which they received money and were asked to decide how much of it they wanted to share with an anonymous partner. A prevalent fairness norm in Western ...

A genetic and demographic analysis of river herring populations along the U.S. east coast, published October 2 in Evolutionary Applications, has identified distinct genetic stocks, providing crucial guidance for efforts to manage their declining populations. River herring include two related species, alewife and blueback herring, which migrate between freshwater spawning grounds and the ocean, where they spend most of their lives. The species are important for both ecological and economic reasons, according to Eric Palkovacs, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary ...

3D printing isn't just cheaper, it's also greener, says Michigan Technological University's Joshua Pearce. Even Pearce, an aficionado of the make-it-yourself-and-save technology, was surprised at his study's results. It showed that making stuff on a 3D printer uses less energy—and therefore releases less carbon dioxide—than producing it en masse in a factory and shipping it to a warehouse. Most 3D printers for home use, like the RepRap used in this study, are about the size of microwave ovens. They work by melting filament, usually plastic, and depositing it layer by ...

Warning Instagrammers: you might want to stop taking so many pictures of your food. New research out of Brigham Young University finds that looking at too many pictures of food can actually make it less enjoyable to eat. Turns out your foodie friend's obsession with taking pictures of everything they eat and posting it on Instagram or Pinterest may be ruining your appetite by making you feel like you've already experienced eating that food. "In a way, you're becoming tired of that taste without even eating the food," said study coauthor and BYU professor Ryan Elder. ...

Saving the whales often means knowing—sometimes genetically—one group of whales from another, say researchers attempting to define populations of a medium-sized and poorly understood baleen whale that is sometimes targeted by Japan's scientific whaling program. In a new study, scientists from Wildlife Conservation Society, the American Museum of Natural History, Columbia University, NOAA, and other groups are working to define separate groups and subspecies of the Bryde's whale in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. By generating genetic information that allowed ...

PHILADELPHIA - A team of experts in neurocritical care, engineering, and informatics, with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have devised a new way to detect which stroke patients may be at risk of a serious adverse event following a ruptured brain aneurysm. This new, data-driven machine learning model, involves an algorithm for computers to combine results from various uninvasive tests to predict a secondary event. Preliminary results were released at the Neurocritical Care Society Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. Comparing 89 patient ...

A team of pediatric neurosurgeons and neuroradiologists at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center has developed a way to minimize dangerous radiation exposure in children with a condition that requires repeat CT scans of the brain. The experts say they reduced exposure without sacrificing the diagnostic accuracy of the images or compromising treatment decisions. The approach, described ahead of print in a report in the Journal of Neurosurgery, calls for using fewer X-ray snapshots or "slices" of the brain taken by CT scanners ­ seven instead of the usual 32 to 40 slices. ...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2013—When you shine ultraviolet light (UV) through water polluted with certain organic chemicals and bacteria, the contaminants measurably absorb the UV light and then re-emit it as visible light. Many of today's more advanced devices for testing water are built to make use of this fluorescent property of pollutants; but the walls of the channels through which the water travels in these devices can produce background noise that makes it difficult to get a clear reading. Reported today, in The Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal, Optics Express, ...

New England's Native tribes, whose sustainable ways of farming, forestry, hunting and land and water management were devastated by European colonists four centuries ago, can help modern America adapt to climate change. That's the conclusion of more than 50 researchers at Dartmouth and elsewhere in a special issue of the journal Climatic Change. It is the first time a peer-reviewed journal has focused exclusively on climate change's impacts on U.S. tribes and how they are responding to the changing environments. Dartmouth also will host an Indigenous Peoples Climate Change ...

Electrical currents born from thunderstorms are able to flow through the atmosphere and around the globe, causing a detectable electrification of the air even in places with no thunderstorm activity. But until recently, scientists have not had a good understanding of how conductivity varies throughout the atmosphere and how that may affect the path of the electrical currents. Now, a research team led by the University of Colorado Boulder has developed a global electric circuit model by adding an additional layer to a climate model created by colleagues at the National ...

Reston, Va. – Several newly identified markers could provide valuable insight to predict the risk of rupture abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), according to new research published in the October issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Imaging with positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has shown that dense white blood cells in the outermost connective tissue in the vascular wall, increased C-reactive protein and a loss of smooth muscle cells in the middle layer of the vascular wall are all factors that may indicate future AAA rupture. An abdominal ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A research team led by a molecular plant pathologist at the University of California, Riverside has discovered the mechanism by which an aggressive fungal pathogen infects almost all fruits and vegetables. The team discovered a novel "virulence mechanism" — the mechanism by which infection takes place — of Botrytis cinerea. This pathogen can infect more than 200 plant species, causing serious gray mold disease on almost all fruits and vegetables that have been around, even at times in the refrigerator, for more than a week. Study results appear ...

Rising ocean surface temperatures caused by climate change could make fish accumulate more mercury, increasing the health risk to people who eat seafood, Dartmouth researchers and their colleagues report in a study in the journal PLOS ONE. Until now, little has been known about how global warming may affect mercury bioaccumulation in marine life, and no previous study has demonstrated the effects using fish in both laboratory and field experiments. Mercury released into the air through industrial pollution can accumulate in streams and oceans and is turned into methylmercury ...

The nearby star system Fomalhaut – of special interest for its unusual exoplanet and dusty debris disk – has been discovered to be not just a double star, as astronomers had thought, but one of the widest triple stars known. In a paper recently accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal and posted today to the preprint server arXiv, researchers show that a previously known smaller star in its vicinity is also part of the Fomalhaut system. Eric Mamajek, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, and his collaborators found ...

PHILADELPHIA — Older cancer survivors living in rural areas were more likely to forgo medical and dental care because of financial concerns compared with older cancer survivors living in urban areas, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Data analysis showed cancer survivors in rural areas who were aged 65 or older were 66 percent more likely to forgo medical care and 54 percent more likely to forgo dental care because of cost, compared with their urban counterparts. "This ...

PHILADELPHIA — Postmenopausal women who were very active or walked for at least seven hours a week had a reduced risk for breast cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Women who engaged in at least an hour of vigorous physical activity every day had a 25 percent lower risk for breast cancer, and those who walked for at least seven hours a week had a 14 percent lower risk for breast cancer, in this study of 73,615 postmenopausal women. "We examined whether recreational ...

ATLANTA -- October 4, 2013 -- A large new American Cancer Society study adds to increasing evidence that physical activity reduces the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Researchers say moderate recreational activity was associated with a 14 percent lower risk and high physical activity with a 25 percent lower risk of breast cancer compared to women who were active at the lowest level. The study appears early online in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention. A large body of evidence shows that women taking part in regular physical activity have an ...

One of the thinnest membranes ever made is also highly discriminating when it comes to the molecules going through it. Engineers at the University of South Carolina have constructed a graphene oxide membrane less than 2 nanometers thick with high permeation selectivity between hydrogen and carbon dioxide gas molecules. The selectivity is based on molecular size, the team reported in the journal Science. Hydrogen and helium pass relatively easily through the membrane, but carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane permeate much more slowly. "The hydrogen ...

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – A new way to attack flu viruses is taking shape in laboratories at Rutgers University, where scientists have identified chemical agents that block the virus's ability to replicate itself in cell culture. These novel compounds show promise for a new class of antiviral medicines to fight much-feared pandemic influenzas such as the looming "bird flu" threats caused by the H5N1 influenza A virus and the new H7N9 virus responsible for a 2013 outbreak in China. Timely production of a vaccine is difficult when a pandemic flu strikes. A viable alternative ...

HOUSTON, TX—October 2, 2013—Study findings published in the October issue of Cornea show that daily dietary supplementation with a unique combination of omega fatty acids (GLA, EPA and DHA) for six months is effective in improving ocular irritation symptoms and halting the progression of inflammation that characterizes moderate to severe dry eye. The multi-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial evaluated 38 post-menopausal women with tear dysfunction in both eyes. HydroEye® (ScienceBased Health®) was found to improve ocular irritation symptoms, ...

When something we do produces a positive result, we actually perceive it differently than we would if that same action yielded a negative result. In particular, people feel a greater connection between voluntary actions and their outcomes if those outcomes are good than if they are bad. The discovery, reported on October 3 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, yields important insight into notions about personal responsibility. "Our result suggests that people may really experience less responsibility for negative than for positive outcomes," says Patrick Haggard ...