Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have discovered a trigger by which the Hepatitis C virus enters liver cells ─ shedding light on how this serious and potentially deadly virus can begin to damage the liver. The findings, reported in the Dec. 7, 2012 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, may give scientists a target for future development of treatments for the virus. In the early stages of a Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection, the researchers found, the virus binds to receptors on the liver cells' surface and activates PI3K and ...

New research from PolicyLab at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia shows that one of the nation's largest programs providing home visitation support for at-risk mothers and children may not be as successful in reducing early childhood injuries as it was in earlier evaluations. The researchers evaluated the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) over seven years of widespread implementation in Pennsylvania and found that children served by the program had no fewer injuries than children in comparable families not enrolled in the program—and in some less serious cases, had higher ...

ARVC is a hereditary heart condition in which the heart muscle (particularly the right ventricle) is partly replaced by fatty tissue and connective tissue. Cardiac arrhythmias can occur as a result of the changes in the heart muscle. Severe arrhythmias can cause dizziness or even lead to fainting or an acute cardiac arrest (= sudden death). ARVC is a progressive disease that usually presents during the teenage years. Known mutations in desmosomal proteins Mutations in various genes have already been linked to ARVC. These are primarily genes that are responsible for the ...

Economists at the University of Warwick have calculated the true value of US political lobbyists, proving the old adage 'it is not what you know, but who you know'. In a paper published this month in the American Economic Review Mirko Draca, from the University of Warwick's Department of Economics, looked at the role of lobbyists in the US. He found their revenue falls by 24% when their former employer leaves government office. The study examined the so-called 'revolving door' of politics, which refers to the movement of people from government service into lobbying positions. Mr ...

Nanyang Technological University (NTU) scientists have invented a 'sense-ational' device, similar to a string of 'feelers' found on the bodies of the Blind Cave Fish, which enables the fish to sense their surrounding and so navigate easily. Using a combination of water pressure and computer vision technology, the sensory device is able to give users a 3-D image of nearby objects and map its surroundings. The possible applications of this fish-inspired sensor are enormous. The sensor can potentially replace the expensive 'eyes and ears' on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles ...

A detailed analysis of sediments from the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean presents convincing evidence for an extraordinary wave impact dating back some 3,300 years, even though no historical records of tsunamis exist for this island. Of particular interest are the consequences this large wave impact had on the island's ecosystem. The sediments studied by the scientists suggested that this tsunami entirely changed the coastal ecosystem and sedimentation patterns in the area. The work by Dr. Max Engel and colleagues, from the University of Köln in Germany, is published ...

The study of chromosome changes arisen during species evolution is a current and intriguing topic that evolutionary biology proposes. However, in several groups (for example, molluscs), and chitons in particular, chromosome studies are scarce, with a few species investigated and analyses performed mostly with simple methods. Only 2,5% of about 900 living species of chitons have been so far karyologically investigated, all of them in the same order (Chitonida). The authors note that the species of suborder Chitonina all have a karyotype of 2n=24 chromosomes, all biarmed, ...

A new listening device, developed by scientists from the University of Southampton, is being used to monitor the effectiveness of the treatment of kidney stones - saving patients unnecessary repeat therapy and x-ray monitoring. If kidney stones cannot be dissolved by drugs, the favoured procedure is lithotripsy. Lithotripsy works by focusing thousands of shock waves onto the kidney stones in an effort to break them into pieces small enough to urinate out of the body or be dissolved by drugs. However, it is difficult to discover exactly when the treatment has succeeded ...

A painstaking effort to create a biocompatible patch to heal infant hearts is paying off at Rice University and Texas Children's Hospital. The proof is in a petri dish in Jeffrey Jacot's lab, where a small slab of gelatinous material beats with the rhythm of a living heart. Jacot, lead author Seokwon Pok, a postdoctoral researcher at Rice, and their tissue-engineering colleagues have published the results ofyears of effort to produce a material called a bioscaffold that could be sutured into the hearts of infants suffering from birth defects. The scaffold, seeded with ...

AMHERST, Mass. – A new high-resolution climate study by University of Massachusetts Amherst climate scientists, the first to apply regional climate models to examine likely near-term changes in temperature and precipitation across the Northeast United States, suggests temperatures are going to be significantly warmer in all seasons in the next 30 years, especially in winter. Also, they project that winters will be wetter, with more rain likely than snow. Writing in the current issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, Michael Rawlins and Raymond Bradley of the Climate ...

Athens, Ga. – Long ago, when life on Earth was in its infancy, a group of small single-celled algae propelled themselves through the vast prehistoric ocean by beating whip like tails called flagella. It's a relatively unremarkable tale, except that now, more than 800 million years later, these organisms have evolved into parasites that threaten human health, and their algal past in the ocean may be the key to stopping them. The organisms are called apicomplexa, but people know them better as the parasites that cause malaria and toxoplasmosis, serious diseases that infect ...

This press release is available in German. Chemical reactions occur so quickly that it is completely impossible to observe their progress or to control them using conventional methods. However, new developments in electrical engineering and quantum technology enable us to achieve a more exact understanding and improved control of the behaviour of atoms and molecules. At the TU Vienna, scientists have succeeded in influencing the splitting of large molecules with up to ten atoms using ultra-short laser pulses. The flash of light which splits molecules Splitting a ...

People who develop chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are typically age 65 and older, but participants in CLL clinical trials are usually several years younger; The age of CLL patients is not usually considered when determining treatment; This study suggests that older and younger CLL patients require different therapy. COLUMBUS, Ohio – Doctors should use different therapies when treating older and younger patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, according to a new study led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. ...

Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London have discovered that two proteins which are believed to play a key role in controlling the body's immune response are found in lower levels in T lymphocytes from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The study found that MS patients' T lymphocytes – types of white blood cells which play an important role in the immune system – were defective at producing the proteins and that this was associated with increased levels of molecules which promote inflammation. The findings are reported in the Journal of Immunology¹. The ...

New Rochelle, NY, December 12, 2012—ExxonMobil and many other energy companies are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to develop transportation biofuels from renewable resources such as the oil or hydrocarbons produced by microalgae. As global supplies of fossil fuels continue to shrink, biofuels derived from algae represent one promising source of low-cost, scalable renewable energy. The feasibility and economic projections for large-scale biofuels production from microalgae are examined in a Review article and accompanying Commentary published in Disruptive Science ...

Philadelphia, PA, December 12, 2012 – Approximately one in 20 patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) has chromosomal aberrations targeting the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene. This has considerable implications for treatment because these patients are highly responsive to ALK-specific kinase inhibitors such as crizotinib. However, current diagnostic tests have limitations. Researchers have now developed and tested a promising new method for screening ALK fusions in NSCLC. This new diagnostic assay offers a cost-effective and easy-to-perform alternative ...

Following up on an ancient Russian way of keeping milk from going sour — by putting a frog in the bucket of milk — scientists have identified a wealth of new antibiotic substances in the skin of the Russian Brown frog. The study appears in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research. A. T. Lebedev and colleagues explain that amphibians secrete antimicrobial substances called peptides through their skin. These compounds make up the majority of their skin secretions and act as a first line of defense against bacteria and other microorganisms that thrive in the wet places frogs, toads, ...

This press release is available in French. Although this therapy is not curative, it nevertheless reduced the autistic disorders' severity in three-quarters of the children. The researchers have filed a request for authorisation to perform a multi-centre European clinical trial in order to determine more precisely the population concerned by this therapy. Details of this work have been published in the Translational Psychiatry review dated 11 December 2012. Contribution made by the fundamental research on neuronal chloride Previous work carried out by the team of ...

In a new approach for tapping biomass as a sustainable raw material, scientists are reporting use of a Nobel-Prize-winning technology to transform plant "essential oils" — substances with the characteristic fragrance of the plant — into high-value ingredients for sunscreens, perfumes and other personal care products. The report on the approach, which could open up new economic opportunities for tropical countries that grow such plants, appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Deryn Fogg, Eduardo dos Santos and colleagues explain that breaking down plant ...

In nature, biological functions are often carried out in tiny protective shells known as microcompartments, structures that provide home to enzymes that convert carbon dioxide into energy in plant cells and to viruses that replicate once they enter the cell. Most of these shells buckle into an icosahedron shape, forming 20 sides that allow for high interface with their surroundings. But some shells — such as those found in the single-celled Archaea or simple, salt-loving organisms called halophiles —break into triangles, squares, or non-symmetrical geometries. While these ...

Honey bees are a highly organized, social species, as demonstrated by their complex colonies and the geometric structure of their hives. For hive building, the honey bee strongly relies on its tactile sense, and a new video-article in JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) illustrates a novel tactile conditioning experiment using honey bees. The technique, presented by the lab of Dr. Volker Dürr of Bielefeld University, trains honey bees to stick out their tongues when their antennae touch an object. This procedure allows researchers to analyze how changes in antennal ...

In science's equivalent of ascending Mt. Everest, researchers are reporting success in one of the most difficult challenges in synthetic chemistry — a field in which scientists reproduce natural and other substances from jars of chemicals in a lab. The feat, reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, involved synthesis of a rare substance with promising in vitro anti-cancer effects found naturally in tiny amounts in a Chinese medicinal herb. Samuel J. Danishefsky and Feng Peng explain that maoecrystal V occurs naturally in a plant growing in China's Yunnan ...

International researchers from 14 institutions met in Nicosia (Cyprus) on the 10th and 11th of December to present and debate the results of studies on water, conflict and security conducted in the past three years in a variety of locations in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Sahel under the CLICO research project. The CLICO project explored the social dimensions of climate change and in particular, conflicts related to water, and the threats this may pose for national and human security. The project was led by the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) ...

Human–elephant conflict in Sri Lanka kills more than 70 humans and 200 Asian elephants every year. One of the most common tools in combating these conflicts is moving the elephants into ranges away from humans, often into national parks. This is done in hopes of avoiding problems that include elephants raiding crops, breaking into homes and injuring or killing people. But according to a new study to be published Dec. 7 in PLOS ONE by the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, the Centre for Conservation and Research in Sri Lanka and the Department of Wildlife Conservation ...

It may be possible to stop the spread of can toads into new areas of Australia according to new research published today in the Journal of Applied Ecology. One of the lead authors of the study, James Cook University's Dr Ben Phillips, said that their work, which involved an international team of scientists, showed that artificial waterbodies installed by graziers acted as critical stepping-stones for the toad invasion. "By removing these waterbodies in key locations it is possible to halt the spread of toads," he said. Cane toads are currently spreading into the vast ...