To convert a gene into a protein, a cell first crafts a blueprint out of RNA. One of the main players in this process has been identified by researchers led by Dr. Jessica Jacobs at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. The team "fished" a large complex of proteins and RNA, which is involved in the so-called splicing, from the chloroplasts of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. This cuts non-coding regions out of the messenger RNA, which contains the protein blueprint. "For the first time, we have established the exact composition of an unknown splicing complex of the chloroplasts", ...

As the outermost layer of skin, epidermis is crucial in forming a permeability barrier and protection against various environmental agents. Thus, investigating the biology of its most important cell type, the keratinocyte, is key to understanding the effects of solar ultraviolet radiation in skin, and helps design effective means of protection against excessive exposure. It has already previously been shown with both cell culture and in vivo animal models that UV irradiation increases the expression of hyaluronan, which is an important carbohydrate of the extracellular ...

A study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery has provided the first evidence that the shape of a person's knee could be a factor in the decision of whether a patient should undergo anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction after an ACL tear. The study is published online ahead of print in the Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineering. "This is the first study to show that after your ACL is ruptured, the changes in the mechanics of the knee can really be affected by the shape of the knee," said Suzanne Maher, Ph.D., associate director of ...

The antibiotic fidaxomicin (trade name: Dificlir) has been approved in Germany since December 2011 for the treatment of adults who have diarrhoea caused by Clostridium difficile. 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 the added benefit of fidaxomicin in comparison with current standard therapy. According to this, there is currently no proof of an added benefit. The manufacturer did not submit any studies on non-severe ...

Abiraterone acetate (abiraterone for short, trade name: Zytiga) has been approved in Germany since December 2012 for men with metastatic prostate cancer that is not responsive to hormone blockade, who only have mild symptoms or so far none at all, and in whom chemotherapy is not yet indicated. 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 abiraterone offers an added benefit compared with the present standard therapy. ...

New research results from Uppsala University, Sweden, show that the key to treating neurodegenerative prion diseases such as mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease may lie in the ribosome, the protein synthesis machinery of the cell. The results were recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative diseases caused by misfolding of prion proteins. Examples of prion diseases are scrapie in sheep, mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in human. What triggers misfolding of the prion proteins to the amyloid ...

Employers are increasingly using Facebook to screen job applicants and weed out candidates they think have undesirable traits. But a new study from North Carolina State University shows that those companies may have a fundamental misunderstanding of online behavior and, as a result, may be eliminating desirable job candidates. Researchers tested 175 study participants to measure the personality traits that companies look for in job candidates, including conscientiousness, agreeableness and extraversion. The participants were then surveyed on their Facebook behavior, allowing ...

The ability to predict corn yields would benefit farmers as they plan the sale of their crops and biofuel industries as they plan their operations. A new study published in the July-August issue of Agronomy Journal describes a robust model that uses easily obtained measurements, such as plant morphology and precipitation, collected specifically at the silking growth stage of the plant. The new model could help both growers and industry maximize their profits and efficiency. Forecasting crop yield can be extremely useful for farmers. If they have an idea of the amount ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass -- Cloud computing -- outsourcing computational tasks over the Internet -- could give home-computer users unprecedented processing power and let small companies launch sophisticated Web services without building massive server farms. But it also raises privacy concerns. A bank of cloud servers could be running applications for 1,000 customers at once; unbeknownst to the hosting service, one of those applications might have no purpose other than spying on the other 999. Encryption could make cloud servers more secure. Only when the data is actually being ...

Humor is an intrinsic part of human experience. It plays a role in every aspect of human existence, from day-to-day conversation to television shows. Yet little research has been conducted to date on the psychological function of humor. In human psychology, awareness of the impermanence of life is just as prevalent as humor. According to the Terror Management Theory, knowledge of one's own impermanence creates potentially disruptive existential anxiety, which the individual brings under control with two coping mechanisms, or anxiety buffers: rigid adherence to dominant ...

The logistics were impressive, the timeframe tight, the conditions tough. From 26 May to 7 June 2013, nearly 150 experts from 40 countries set up shop on a military training ground near Veszprém, Hungary, for a simulated search for evidence of a nuclear explosion. Fifteen trucks transported 120 tons of state-of-the-art equipment from the CTBTO's Vienna storage facility to the site, where a fully functioning base of operations was established. Welcome to the world of on-site inspections (OSI). An OSI, a Treaty-specified search of the suspect area to determine if ...

Winning sounds on slot machines make gambling more exciting, according to a new study by Mike Dixon and colleagues from the University of Waterloo in Canada. Moreover, their work shows that sounds also cause players to overestimate the number of times they won while playing on slot machines. The study is published online in Springer's Journal of Gambling Studies. Sound has always been an integral part of the slot machine playing experience. Since the early 1900s, players have been rewarded with a ringing bell every time they have a winning combination. Today's slot machines ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Some may assume that low-income residents of run-down, crime-ridden neighborhoods do not care about their communities. However, research from the University of Missouri suggests otherwise. Mansoo Yu, an assistant professor of social work and public health at MU, studied levels of community care and vigilance among residents living in high-crime, low-income areas. Community care and vigilance refer to individuals' desires to improve their communities, to take pride in their neighborhoods and to monitor and report unwelcome happenings, such as crimes, near ...

BOSTON – July 1, 2013 -- Joslin scientists report that salsalate, a drug used to treat arthritis, lowers blood glucose and improves glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. These findings, which were published today by the Annals of Internal Medicine, provide additional evidence that salsalate may be an effective drug to treat type 2 diabetes. The scientists became interested in studying salsalate, an anti-inflammatory drug, after research conducted by Steven Shoelson, M.D., Ph.D., Head of the Section on Pathophysiology and Molecular Pharmacology and Professor of Medicine ...

Cancer cells have alteration in metabolic pathways as a result of oncogenes that promote tumor growth. NRF2 (nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-related factor 2) works as a "master gene" that turns on stress response by increasing numerous antioxidants and pollutant-detoxifying genes to protect the lungs from variety of air pollutants such as diesel exhaust and cigarette smoke. However, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and others have found for the first time that NRF2 signaling also plays a role in the growth of tumor cells by altering ...

PITTSBURGH -- Older adults diagnosed with brain disorders such as Parkinson's disease often feel a loss of independence because of their lack of mobility and difficulty walking. To better understand and improve these mobility issues—and detect them sooner—a University of Pittsburgh multidisciplinary research team is working toward building a more advanced motion test that addresses a wider range of walking patterns and movements. In a recent issue of IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, researchers from Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering, ...

NOAA's GOES-15 satellite captured an infrared image of the Eastern Pacific Ocean during the pre-dawn hours on July 2 and noticed Tropical Storm Dalila weakening near the southwestern Mexico coast, while further southwest a new tropical low pressure area called System 97E, had formed. Dalila's maximum sustained winds appeared to peak on July 1 at 11 p.m. EDT when they hit 70 mph (110 kph). By 5 a.m. EDT on July 2, Dalila's maximum sustained winds dropped to 65 mph (100 kph). Dalila was also moving away from the southwestern coast of Mexico and headed into the open waters ...

The white toothed shrew genus Crocidura is known as the largest mammal genus, with more than 180 species distributed around the world. A recent genetic analysis of the white toothed shrew fauna of Vietnam revealed the misinterpretations of previous morphological studies of the species, including the description of a new species of these very small mammals. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. Describing new mammal species is an unusual event nowadays when mammal fauna has been by and large already thoroughly studied by zoologists during the previous ...

This June 29, 2013 image from the OMI, or Ozone Monitoring Instrument aboard NASA's Aura satellite shows nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels in Arizona pertaining to three large fires. The highest levels of NO2, which is produced by combustion, were from the Yarnell Hill fire (dark red and brown). NO2 concentration is given as the number of molecules in a cubic centimeter. The highest NO2 concentration values (8-9 x 10^15) indicated that this strong fire was burning a large amount of combustible material and thus generating a large amount of NO2 in a small area. The image was ...

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) and Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth (JGR-B). In this release: Past decade saw unprecedented warming in the deep ocean Hurricanes could increase over western Europe as climate warms Space traffic may be cause of increase in polar mesospheric clouds Tropical storm Sandy was a one-in-700 year event German records from 1920s show long-term ocean warming Identifying slow slip events with GNSS Anyone may read the scientific ...

(Boston) – Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found that a weekly yoga class provided similar lower back pain relief and reduced the need for pain medication as twice weekly classes in lower income minority patients. The results of the study indicate that patients interested in trying yoga for lower back pain could benefit from attending a medically appropriate weekly yoga class. The study, published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, was led by first author Robert Saper, MD, MPH, associate ...

Climate change may be weeding out the bacteria that form the base of the ocean's food chain, selecting certain strains for survival, according to a new study. In climate change, as in everything, there are winners and losers. As atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and temperature rise globally, scientists increasingly want to know which organisms will thrive and which will perish in the environment of tomorrow. The answer to this question for nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria (bacteria that obtain energy through photosynthesis, or "blue-green algae") turns out to have implications ...

Mountain View, Calif. – The largest genome-wide association study ever conducted on common allergies, including pollen, dust-mite and cat allergies, has identified 16 new genetic associations related to the condition. The study, conducted in collaboration between 23andMe, the leading personal genetics company, and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), examined data for more than 53,000 individuals. The study also identified eight genetic variations for allergies that have previously been associated with asthma. Genes implicated in the study highlight ...

VIDEO: This NASA TRMM satellite 3-D flyby of tropical storm Rumbia showed that the thunderstorms near the center of circulation were below 13 km (~8.1 miles). Rainfall was occurring at... Click here for more information. Typhoon Rumbia had weakened to a tropical storm and moved over southern China when NASA's TRMM satellite flew above on July 2, 2013 at 0316 UTC and measured its rainfall rates. An analysis of rainfall from TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation (PR) ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The number of Americans wanting their government to stay out of international affairs is higher than it has been since the Vietnam War, according to a new analysis. In an article published this week in Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs, Oregon State University historian Christopher McKnight Nichols notes that doubts about American involvement abroad are on the rise, up 10 percent in a decade. He connects current reluctance on the part of many Americans to get involved militarily and politically with foreign nations to a long-standing tradition in U.S. ...