Long before plants and animals inhabited the earth, when life consisted of single-celled organisms afloat in a planet-wide sea, bacteria invaded these organisms and took up permanent residence. One bacterium eventually became the mitochondria that today power all plant and animal cells; another became the chloroplast that turns sunlight into energy in green plants. A new analysis by two University of California, Berkeley, graduate students more precisely pinpoints when these life-changing invasions occurred, placing the origin of photosynthesis in plants hundreds of millions ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new understanding of the genetic process that can lead to cervical cancer may help improve diagnosis of potentially dangerous lesions for some women, and also raises a warning flag about the use of anti-viral therapies in certain cases – suggesting they could actually trigger the cancer they are trying to cure. The analysis provides a clearer picture of the chromosomal and genetic changes that take place as the human papillomavirus sometimes leads to chronic infection and, in less than 1 percent of cases, to cervical cancer. It is the first to identify ...

DURHAM, N.H. –- Using data gathered by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, scientists believe they have solved a mystery from one of the solar system's coldest regions—a permanently shadowed crater on the moon. They have explained how energetic particles penetrating lunar soil can create molecular hydrogen from water ice. The finding provides insight into how radiation can change the chemistry of water ice throughout the solar system. Space scientists from the University of New Hampshire and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have published their results ...

AMHERST, Mass. – In the cover story for the journal Genetics this month, neurobiologist Dan Chase and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst describe a new experimental technique they developed that will allow scientists to study the function of individual proteins in individual cell types in a living organism. The advance should allow deeper insights into protein function, Chase says, "because we can only get a true understanding of what that single protein does when we isolate its function in a living organism. There was no tool currently available to ...

Montreal, June 19, 2013 – A study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism is the first report of an oral probiotic supplement significantly increasing circulating vitamin D levels in the blood. The lead author on the study, Mitchell Jones, MD, PhD, received the Early Career Investigator Poster Presentation Prize from the New York Academy of Sciences and the Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science at last week's Probiotics, Prebiotics, and the Host Microbiome: The Science of Translation conference in New York City(1). The study(2) , a post-hoc ...

In a study published in the June 19 online edition of the journal Nature, a scientific team led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine visually monitored the dynamic cellular events that take place when cardiac regeneration occurs in zebrafish after cardiac ventricular injury. Their findings provide evidence that various cell lines in the heart are more plastic, or capable of transformation into new cell types, than previously thought. More importantly, the research reveals a novel potential source of cells for regenerating damaged ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (June 19, 2013) – The results of three important studies have been published in the June issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. One study indicates that continuous "machine learning" using artificial neural networks (ANNs) may improve the ability to predict survival in patients with advanced brain cancers. Another study in the June Neurosurgery supports increased use of stereotactic biopsy for obtaining samples of brainstem ...

(MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL) June 19, 2013 – New research out of the University of Minnesota identifies significant risk factors for suicidal behavior in youth being bullied, but also identifies protective factors for the same group of children. The article, "Suicidal Thinking and Behavior Among Youth Involved in Verbal and Social Bullying: Risk and Protective Factors" is being published in a special supplemental issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. The supplement identifies bullying as a clear public health issue, calling for more preventative research and action. Authors ...

Osteomyelitis – a debilitating bone infection most frequently caused by Staphylococcus aureus ("staph") bacteria – is particularly challenging to treat. Now, Vanderbilt microbiologist Eric Skaar, Ph.D., MPH, and colleagues have identified a staph-killing compound that may be an effective treatment for osteomyelitis, and they have developed a new mouse model that will be useful for testing this compound and for generating additional therapeutic strategies. James Cassat, M.D., Ph.D., a fellow in Pediatric Infectious Diseases who is interested in improving treatments for ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – June 19, 2013 – The role of dietary fructose in the development of obesity and fatty liver diseases remains controversial, with previous studies indicating that the problems resulted from fructose and a diet too high in calories. However, a new study conducted in an animal model at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center showed that fructose rapidly caused liver damage even without weight gain. The researchers found that over the six-week study period liver damage more than doubled in the animals fed a high-fructose diet as compared to those in the control ...

SYRACUSE, N.Y., June 19, 2013 –In the first effort to estimate the overall impact of a city's urban forest on concentrations of fine particulate pollution (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns, or PM2.5), a U.S. Forest Service and Davey Institute study found that urban trees and forests are saving an average of one life every year per city. In New York City, trees save an average of eight lives every year. Fine particulate air pollution has serious health effects, including premature mortality, pulmonary inflammation, accelerated atherosclerosis, and altered cardiac ...

Advances in emergency medicine and trauma surgery have had a significant impact on survival of patients in the days immediately after major injuries, including burns. Patients who survive the immediate aftermath of their injuries now are at greatest risk from infections – particularly the overwhelming, life-threatening immune reaction known as sepsis – or from inflammation-induced multiorgan failure. Now, a device developed by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators that measures the movement of key immune cells may help determine which patients are at greatest ...

People can plan strategic movements to several different targets at the same time, even when they see far fewer targets than are actually present, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. A team of researchers at the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Western Ontario took advantage of a pictorial illusion — known as the "connectedness illusion" — that causes people to underestimate the number of targets they see. When people act on these targets, however, they can rapidly plan accurate ...

A new process for making a three-dimensional microstructure that can be used in the analysis of cells could prove useful in counterterrorism measures and in water and food safety concerns. The research, conducted by members of Virginia Tech's Microelectromechanical Systems Laboratory (MEMS) Laboratory in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is the focus of a recent article in the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers' Journal of Microelectomechanical Systems. In their engineering laboratory, the researchers developed a new microfabrication ...

When a new species emerges following adaptive changes to its local environment, the process of choosing a mate can help protect the new species' genetic identity and increase the likelihood of its survival. But of the many observable traits in a potential mate, which particular traits does a female tend to prefer? A new study from the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis finds that a female's mating decisions are largely based on traits that reflect fitness or those that help males perform well under the local ecological conditions. Males' bright ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- (June 19, 2013) – A new study examining the brains of fruit flies reveals a novel stem cell mechanism that may help explain how neurons form in humans. A paper on the study by researchers at the University of Oregon appeared in the online version of the journal Nature in advance of the June 27 publication date. "The question we confronted was 'How does a single kind of stem cell, like a neural stem cell, make all different kinds of neurons?'" said Chris Doe, a biology professor and co-author on the paper "Combinatorial temporal patterning in progenitors ...

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., June 19, 2013—Improved methods for breaking down cellulose nanofibers are central to cost-effective biofuel production and the subject of new research from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC). Scientists are investigating the unique properties of crystalline cellulose nanofibers to develop novel chemical pretreatments and designer enzymes for biofuel production from cellulosic—or non-food—plant derived biomass. "Cellulose is laid out in plant cell walls as crystalline nanofibers, like steel reinforcements ...

A sliver of wood coated with tin could make a tiny, long-lasting, efficient and environmentally friendly battery. But don't try it at home yet– the components in the battery tested by scientists at the University of Maryland are a thousand times thinner than a piece of paper. Using sodium instead of lithium, as many rechargeable batteries do, makes the battery environmentally benign. Sodium doesn't store energy as efficiently as lithium, so you won't see this battery in your cell phone -- instead, its low cost and common materials would make it ideal to store huge amounts ...

This news release is available in French. Child care is linked to fewer emotional problems and symptoms of social withdrawal among children exposed to maternal depression, according to a new study of nearly 2000 children conducted by researchers in Montreal, Canada, at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), and University of Montreal. "We found that children exposed to maternal depression during the preschool years were nearly two times more likely to develop emotional problems and separation anxiety symptoms. ...

HOUSTON - In a major international study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the targeted therapy ibrutinib continues to show remarkable promise for the treatment of relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). The most recent interim findings of the 18-center Phase 2 study were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Previous interim findings were presented in December 2012 at the 54th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition. Unprecedented results, fewer side effects "This oral inhibitor ...

Industrial palladium-copper catalysts change their structures before they get to work, already during the activation process. As a result, the reaction is catalysed by a catalyst that is different from the one originally prepared for it. This surprising discovery was made by researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Removing of nitrates from ground water or chlorine from dry cleaning wastes are important environmental protection operations that require the use of appropriate catalysts. Popular catalysts include well-known ...

LOS ANGELES (June 19, 2013) – In what is believed to be the largest follow-up record of patients with the most common form of hereditary dystonia – a movement disorder that can cause crippling muscle contractions – experts in deep brain stimulation report good success rates and lasting benefits. Michele Tagliati, MD, neurologist, director of the Movement Disorders Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Department of Neurology, and Ron L. Alterman, MD, chief of the Division of Neurosurgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, published the study in the ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A study of the patients who received injections of steroids contaminated with the fungus Exserohilum rostratum from the New England Compounding Center has found that some patients had fungal infections even though they did not experience a worsening of their symptoms and that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can help detect infection, especially among those individuals who received injections from highly contaminated lots. The study, along with an editorial by UC Davis Assistant Professor of Medical Microbiology and Immunology George R. Thompson, ...

The protected area network in Tanzania is playing a vital role in the survival of savannah bird species as they move west in response to climate and environmental changes, according to new research led by the University of York. Using data on savannah birds from the Tanzanian Bird Atlas project - which has documented Tanzanian bird distributions over recent decades - the researchers found that they are using protected areas as stepping stones as they move to areas further west where dry seasons are getting longer, with movements of up to 300km noted. Much debate has centred ...

Electronic components built from single molecules using chemical synthesis could pave the way for smaller, faster and more green and sustainable electronic devices. Now for the first time, a transistor made from just one molecular monolayer has been made to work where it really counts. On a computer chip. The molecular integrated circuit was created by a group of chemists and physicists from the Department of Chemistry Nano-Science Center at the University of Copenhagen and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. Their discovery "Ultrathin Reduced Graphene Oxide Films as ...