BUFFALO, N.Y. – Scientists are developing a clearer picture of how visual systems develop in mammals. The findings offer important clues to the origin of retinal disorders later in life. In research published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, University at Buffalo scientists and colleagues focused on a particular protein, called a transcription factor, that regulates gene activity necessary for the development of one type of retinal neuron, the horizontal cells. The paper is at http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/32/13053.full. Horizontal cells process ...

An investigational malaria vaccine has been found to be safe, to generate an immune system response, and to offer protection against malaria infection in healthy adults, according to the results of an early-stage clinical trial published Aug. 8 in the journal Science. The vaccine, known as PfSPZ Vaccine, was developed by scientists at Sanaria Inc., of Rockville, Md. The clinical evaluation was conducted by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and their collaborators at the Walter Reed ...

Periodic flooding in Texas—one the most flood-prone states in the nation—cannot be firmly linked to climate change due to numerous dams and other manmade structures introduced over the years, according to a University of Iowa study. The researchers also found that tropical cyclones are less responsible for major floods in the region than in the eastern United States. The study, which looked at 70 years of records, appears in the August 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Water Resources Association. Lead author Gabriele Villarini, assistant professor in the ...

LA JOLLA, CA—August 8, 2012—A small group of immune-regulating molecules, when overproduced even moderately, can trigger the blood cancers known as lymphomas, according to a new study led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). The six "microRNA" molecules were already known to be overproduced in lymphomas and in many other human cancers, but no one had demonstrated that they can be the prime cause of such cancers—until now. The new study also identified the major biological pathways through which these microRNAs ignite and maintain cancerous growth. "We ...

Ten years ago, scientists announced the end of the Human Genome Project, the international attempt to learn which combination of four nucleotides—adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine—is unique to homo sapien DNA. This biological alphabet helped researchers identify the approximately 25,000 genes coded in the human genome, but as time went on, questions arose about how all of these genes are controlled. Now, Harvard Stem Cell Institute Principal Faculty member Alexander Meissner, PhD, reports another milestone, this time contributing to the multilayered NIH-funded human ...

Scientists would like to apply the same principles by which baking soda removes food odors from refrigerators or silica powder keeps moisture away from electronic devices to scrub carbon dioxide from the exhaust gases of fossil fuel power plants. An excellent candidate for this task is the class of materials known as multivariate metal organic frameworks or MTV-MOFs, which were discovered by Omar Yaghi, one of the world's most cited chemists. However, finding and synthesizing the best MTV-MOFs for this task has been a major challenge. That discouraging state-of-affairs ...

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have solved a 40-year mystery on the origin of the Magellanic Stream, a long ribbon of gas stretching nearly halfway around our Milky Way galaxy. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way, are at the head of the gaseous stream. Since the stream's discovery by radio telescopes in the early 1970s, astronomers have wondered whether the gas comes from one or both of the satellite galaxies. New Hubble observations reveal most of the gas was stripped from the Small Magellanic Cloud about ...

NOAA scientists report the discovery of the first known colony of table coral off of the south shore of O'ahu in Hawai'i. A report on the discovery was published last month in the Bulletin of Marine Science. Given its common name due to its flat-topped, table-like shape, table coral (Acropora cytherea) is one of the primary reef-building corals throughout most of the tropical Pacific, but it has never been observed in waters off O'ahu - until now, researchers said. The coral, estimated to be 14 years old, was found at a depth of 60 feet during a training dive. "This ...

Generally, FDA-approved clinical trials progress through three phases: the first shows safety, the second starts to explore effects and the third seeks to prove a drug's superiority over existing treatments. But when a drug's benefit is obvious in the first or second phase, is the third, costly phase needed? The question is posed in a recent edition of the journal Nature Reviews: Clinical Oncology by Robert C. Doebele, MD, PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and assistant professor of medical oncology at the CU School of Medicine. Doebele points ...

Gemini Observatory's latest instrument, a powerful infrared camera and spectrograph at Gemini South, reveals its potential in a series of striking on-sky commissioning images released today. Gemini Observatory's latest tool for astronomers, a second-generation infrared instrument called FLAMINGOS-2, has "traveled a long road" to begin science observations for the Gemini scientific community. Recent images taken by FLAMINGOS-2 during its last commissioning phase dramatically illustrate that the instrument was worth the wait for astronomers around the world who are anxious ...

A faith-based prisoner re-entry program in Minnesota has saved an estimated $3 million by reducing recidivism, according to a Baylor University study published in the International Journal of Criminology and Sociology. The study is a cost-benefit analysis of the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, a program which relies heavily on volunteers and is privately funded, said study co-author Byron Johnson, Ph.D., co-director of Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR). "The InnerChange program is a boon to taxpayers. It doesn't rely on public funding. Yet, at the same ...

Researchers at the Moffitt Cancer Center have identified four inherited genetic variants in non-small cell lung cancer patients that can help predict survival and treatment response. Their findings could help lead to more personalized treatment options and improved outcomes for patients. The researchers analyzed DNA sequence variations in 651 non-small cell lung cancer patients, paying close attention to 53 inflammation-related genes. They found that four of the top 15 variants associated with survival were located on one specific gene (TNFRSF10B). In the study, these ...

Before the digital age, neuroscientists got their information in the library like the rest of us. But the field's explosion has created nearly 2 million papers -- more data than any researcher can read and absorb in a lifetime. That's why a UCLA team has invented research maps. Equipped with an online app, the maps help neuroscientists quickly scan what is already known and plan their next study. The Aug. 8 edition of Neuron describes the findings. "Information overload is the elephant in the room that most neuroscientists pretend to ignore," explained principal ...

Damage or loss of photoreceptor cells is one of main culprits of visual impairment in many retinal degenerative diseases. Pharmacological treatment and surgical intervention are traditionally used to treat these retinal diseases, but they are not curative. It has been increasingly recognized that Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cells may differentiate into several cell lineages from all three germ layers. However, the capacity of Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cells to differentiate into retinal progenitor cells remains undetermined. A new study reported in the Neural ...

Preeclampsia is a relatively common pregnancy disorder, characterized by primary hypertension and proteinuria. In patients with severe preeclampsia, eclampsia can develop, causing nervous system symptoms and signs. In the clinic, some patients with preeclampsia suffer from eclampsia even with minimal blood pressure changes. Thus, the pathogenesis of hypertensive encephalopathy cannot fully explain the epilepsy-like attacks in eclampsia patients. We know that changes in neurotransmitter levels in the brain play an important role in epilepsy-like attacks. A recent study published ...

Oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage have been implicated in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Oxidative stress is characterized by the overproduction of reactive oxygen species, which can induce mitochondrial DNA mutations, damage the mitochondrial respiratory chain, alter membrane permeability, and influence Ca2+ homeostasis and mitochondrial defense systems. All these changes are implicated in the development of these neurodegenerative diseases, mediating ...

PHILADELPHIA (August 5, 2013) – Inhibitory self control – not picking up a cigarette, not having a second drink, not spending when we should be saving – can operate without our awareness or intention. That was the finding by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They demonstrated through neuroscience research that inaction-related words in our environment can unconsciously influence our self-control. Although we may mindlessly eat cookies at a party, stopping ourselves from ...

Modern proteins exhibit an impressive degree of structural diversity, which has been well characterized, but very little is known about how and when over the course of evolution 3D protein structures arose. In a study published by Cell Press August 8 in Structure, researchers resurrected 4-billion-year-old Precambrian proteins in the laboratory and gained novel insights into protein evolution by analyzing their X-ray crystal structures. This method has revealed a remarkable degree of structural similarity among proteins since life first evolved on this planet, and it represents ...

Engineered rice protects against rotavirus For children and immune compromised adults in developing countries, diarrheal disease induced by rotavirus can be life threatening. Current rotaviral vaccines are highly effective in the Western world, but are not as effective in developing countries. Additionally, these vaccines are not appropriate for use outside of a very narrow age window or in immune compromised individuals. In the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation Yoshikazu Yuki and colleagues at the University of Tokyo report the development of ...

TITLE: Rice-based oral antibody fragment prophylaxis and therapy against rotavirus infection AUTHOR CONTACT: Daisuke Tokuhara The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, UNK, JPN Phone: 81-3-5449-5271; Fax: 81-3-5449-5411; E-mail: tokuhara@ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/70266?key=de80321a713532149b56 END ...

Cancer progression is aided by the ability of tumors to evade recognition by the immune system. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Gerard Blobe and colleagues at Duke University identify a mechanism by which tumors evade detection. Using mouse models of breast cancer and melanoma, they show that loss of the Type III TGF-β receptor (TGFBR3) in tumors promotes cancer progression by altering signaling in tumor-associated immune cells. This study supports the use of TGF-β inhibitors to enhance the efficacy of therapies that promote immune-mediated ...

India experienced a demographic transformation several thousand years ago, from a region in which mixture between highly different populations was common to one in which mixture even between closely related groups became rare. The finding, which will be published online on August 8, 2013 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, published by Cell Press, provides new information about the peopling of India and improves our understanding of the changes that led to the present-day structure of Indian populations. "Prior to the population mixture and as recently as a few ...

IDAHO FALLS — Modernizing nuclear power plants to help extend their operating lifetimes is no small task. But the endeavor offers an opportunity to improve control-room design and layout. The Department of Energy's new Human System Simulation Laboratory (HSSL) at Idaho National Laboratory is a full-scale virtual nuclear control room that can test the safety and reliability of proposed technology replacements before they are implemented in commercial nuclear control rooms. The facility is now helping Duke Energy embark on an upgrade project for several of its nuclear ...

Scientists from Harvard Medical School and the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, India, provide evidence that modern-day India is the result of recent population mixture among divergent demographic groups. The findings, published August 8 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, describe how India transformed from a country where mixture between different populations was rampant to one where endogamy—that is, marrying within the local community and a key attribute of the caste system—became the norm. "Only a few thousand years ago, the ...

KANSAS CITY, MO—A little-studied factor known as the Little Elongation Complex (LEC) plays a critical and previously unknown role in the transcription of small nuclear RNAs (snRNA), according to a new study led by scientists at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and published in the Aug. 22, 2013, issue of the journal Molecular Cell. "We have found that LEC not only has a role in this process—it is like the "Swiss Army knife" of snRNA transcription," says Stowers Investigator Ali Shilatifard, senior author of the study. "LEC does it all." The findings shed new ...