The new study published in Cancer Discovery, the flagship journal of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), involving three Spanish and six American research centres, presents significant results in treating cancer patients with nanoparticles containing ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) molecules. This marks the first time that the therapeutic effect of RNAi has been demonstrated in humans. Barcelona, 11 February 2013. A study led by Dr Josep Tabernero, the Director of Clinical Research at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and Head of the ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MIT engineers have created genetic circuits in bacterial cells that not only perform logic functions, but also remember the results, which are encoded in the cell's DNA and passed on for dozens of generations. The circuits, described in the Feb. 10 online edition of Nature Biotechnology, could be used as long-term environmental sensors, efficient controls for biomanufacturing, or to program stem cells to differentiate into other cell types. "Almost all of the previous work in synthetic biology that we're aware of has either focused on logic components ...

This press release is available in Spanish. Learning more about the behavior of bed bugs is one approach being used by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists to identify compounds to help control these pests. The resurgence of bed bugs over the last decade has caused problems in major U.S. cities where they infest homes, apartments, hotels, shelters and even places of work. The small, blood-feeding insects are not known to transmit diseases, but they can cause severe reactions in people who are allergic to them. Bed bugs usually go unnoticed until their numbers ...

By combining low temperatures and NMR spectroscopy, the scientists visualized seven intermediate forms of the CylR2 protein while cooling it down from 25°C to -16°C. Their results show that the most instable intermediate form plays a key role in protein folding. The scientists' findings may contribute to a better understanding of how proteins adopt their structure and misfold during illness. Whether Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or Huntington's Chorea – all three diseases have one thing in common. They are caused by misfolded proteins that form insoluble clumps in the brains ...

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface (JGR-F), and Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences (JGR-G). In this release: 1. Global climatology of explosive cyclones 2. For U.S. biomes, climate change will decrease vegetative productivity 3. Lightning detected from space can indicate thundercloud height 4. Storminess helps coastal marshes withstand sea level rise 5. How many lakes are there, and how big are they? 6. Characterizing ...

Matter wave interferometry has a long standing tradition at the University of Vienna, where the first quantum interference of large molecules has already been observed in 1999. Nowadays scientists are hunting down evidence for the quantum mechanical behavior of increasingly complex constituents of matter. This is done in experiments in which the flying of each particle seems to obtain information about distinct places in space, which are inaccessible according to classical physics. Synchronised laser flashes for quantum interferometry The quantum nanophysics team around ...

A relatively small number of alcohol brands dominate underage youth alcohol consumption, according to a new report from researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health and the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The report, published online by Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, is the first national study to identify the alcohol brands consumed by underage youth, and has important implications for alcohol research and policy. The top 25 brands accounted for nearly half of youth alcohol ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Like turning coal to diamond, adding pressure to an electrical material enhances its properties. Now, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have devised a method of making ferroelectric thin films with twice the strain, resulting in exceptional performance. Led by Lane Martin, a professor of materials science and engineering, the group published its results in the journal Advanced Materials. Ferroelectric materials, metal oxides with special polarization properties, are used in a number of advanced electronics applications. When electricity ...

During the final day of the 28th Annual EAU Congress, which will take place on 15-19 March 2013 in Milan, the European Association of Urology will release its official policy statement on live surgery ethics. The statement and accompanying commentary will be delivered by Mr. Keith Parsons (Liverpool, UK), who chairs the EAU Guidelines Office and is a member of the working panel which was tasked with formulating the policy. Chaired by Prof. Walter Artibani, EAU Executive Member Science, the live surgery working panel has been developing the policy since March 2012. The ...

Parents, teachers and psychologists know boys and girls behave differently. However, that difference isn't taken into account by most methods used to assess the risk to children from chemical exposure, according to Cheryl Rosenfeld, associate professor of biomedical sciences in the University of Missouri's Bond Life Sciences Center. A series of experiments by Rosenfeld studied the effects of prenatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) on later reproductive-associated behaviors using a socially and genetically monogamous rodent, the California mouse, which may better mirror most ...

Lead is a common element but is found in old paints (including those once used on children's toys), soil, old piping, water, and the atmosphere from lead-containing vehicular fuels, even drinking vessels. At high dose it is lethal but also causes seemingly trivial symptoms such as headaches. However, in children lead can also lead to irreversible damage to the organs, the kidneys in particular, and the nervous system including the brain. Early detection to contaminated sources is important to prevent children coming to harm but exposure is not always apparent. The effects ...

Scientists at the University of Southampton have created a new method to generate bone cells which could lead to revolutionary bone repair therapies for people with bone fractures or those who need hip replacement surgery due to osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. The research, carried out by Dr Emmajayne Kingham at the University of Southampton in collaboration with the University of Glasgow and published in the journal Small, cultured human embryonic stem cells on to the surface of plastic materials and assessed their ability to change. Scientists were able to use the ...

Researchers from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), in collaboration with the CSIC and Macquarie University in Australia, have developed a new technique, similar to the MRI but with a much higher resolution and sensitivity, which has the ability to scan individual cells. In an article published in Nature Nanotech, and highlighted by Nature, ICFO Prof. Romain Quidant explains how this was accomplished using artificial atoms, diamond nanoparticles doped with nitrogen impurity, to probe very weak magnetic fields such as those generated in some biological molecules. The ...

While prostate cancer is the most common cancer in elderly Western men it also, but more rarely, strikes patients aged between 35 and 50. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, in collaboration with several other research teams in Germany*, have discovered that such early-onset prostate cancers are triggered by a different mechanism from that which causes the disease at a later age. Their findings are published today in Cancer Cell, and might have important consequences for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer in ...

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 11, 2013 – A new study published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry revealed a significantly higher prevalence of substance abuse and cigarette use by adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) histories than in those without ADHD. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC as well as six other health centers across the United States also found that, contrary to previous findings, current medications for ADHD do ...

Just in time for Valentine's Day, the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, released a new Bytesize Science video today featuring five chemistry facts that highlight why chocolate, in moderation, may be good for you. The video, produced by the ACS Office of Public Affairs, is available at www.BytesizeScience.com The video explains how a bar of chocolate contains hundreds of compounds, many with beneficial properties. Among the video's "sweet" facts: Chocolate may improve your mood, and not just because of its delicious flavor. Chocolate ...

Washington, DC—A team of scientists, led by researchers at Carnegie's Department of Global Ecology, has determined that the recent widespread die-off of Colorado trembling aspen trees is a direct result of decreased precipitation exacerbated by high summer temperatures. The die-off, triggered by the drought from 2000-2003, is estimated to have affected up to 17% of Colorado aspen forests. In 2002, the drought subjected the trees to the most extreme growing season water stress of the past century. While often not killing the trees directly, the drought damaged the ability ...

A "secret shopper" study conducted by researchers with University of Iowa Health Care and Iowa City VA Medical Center reveals the difficulty consumers face when attempting to obtain prices for a common surgical procedure. The study found that 40 percent of top-ranked and 36 percent of non-top-ranked hospitals were unable to provide a price estimate for a total hip replacement procedure. Moreover, among the hospitals that could provide an estimate, the cost quoted for the procedure ranged from $11,100 to $125,798 – a more than ten-fold difference. While data on hospital ...

New research from Indiana University has found that machine learning - the same computer science discipline that helped create voice recognition systems, self-driving cars, and credit card fraud detection systems - can drastically improve both the cost and quality of health care in the United States. Using an artificial intelligence framework combining Markov Decision Processes and Dynamic Decision Networks, IU School of Informatics and Computing researchers Casey Bennett and Kris Hauser show how simulation modeling that understands and predicts the outcomes of treatment ...

(Boston) – Epidemiologists at Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) have found that pre-pregnancy obesity and excess weight gain during pregnancy in African-American women are associated with an increased risk of giving birth to an abnormally large baby. Macrosomia, which is defined as a newborn weighing more than 4,000 grams at birth (approximately 8.8 pounds), can cause delivery complications such as hemorrhage, infection, the need for a caesarean section, preeclampsia and perinatal mortality. The study, which appears online in the journal Obesity, was conducted ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Concerns and anxieties about one's close relationships appear to function as a chronic stressor that can compromise immunity, according to new research. In the study, researchers asked married couples to complete questionnaires about their relationships and collected saliva and blood samples to test participants' levels of a key stress-related hormone and numbers of certain immune cells. The research focused on attachment anxiety. Those who are on the high end of the attachment anxiety spectrum are excessively concerned about being rejected, have a ...

Children with hearing loss struggle to hear in noisy school classrooms, even with the help of hearing aids and other devices to amplify their teacher's voice. Training the brain to filter out background noise and thus understand spoken words could help the academic performance and quality of life for children who struggle to hear, but there's been little evidence that such noise training works in youngsters. A new report showed about a 50 percent increase in speech comprehension in background noise when children with hearing impairments followed a three-week auditory ...

EUGENE, Ore. (Feb. 11, 2013) -- A study of the Umpqua River basin in the Oregon Coast Range helps explain natural processes behind the width of valleys and provides potentially useful details for river restoration efforts designed to improve habitats for coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Coho salmon thrive in broad, flat valleys that contain multiple auxiliary channels to the main river. These valleys formed after large landslides altered the landscape, said study co-author Joshua J. Roering, professor of geological sciences at the University of Oregon. The network ...

PASADENA, Calif.—Every great structure, from the Empire State Building to the Golden Gate Bridge, depends on specific mechanical properties to remain strong and reliable. Rigidity—a material's stiffness—is of particular importance for maintaining the robust functionality of everything from colossal edifices to the tiniest of nanoscale structures. In biological nanostructures, like DNA networks, it has been difficult to measure this stiffness, which is essential to their properties and functions. But scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have recently ...

ANN ARBOR — Researchers at the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute have found that amlexanox, an off-patent drug currently prescribed for the treatment of asthma and other uses, also reverses obesity, diabetes and fatty liver in mice. The findings from the lab of Alan Saltiel, the Mary Sue Coleman director of the Life Sciences Institute, are scheduled to be published online Feb. 10 in the journal Nature Medicine. "One of the reasons that diets are so ineffective in producing weight loss for some people is that their bodies adjust to the reduced calories ...