New research from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) reveals that B cells regulate obesity-associated inflammation and type 2 diabetes through two specific mechanisms. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, indicates the importance of continuing to explore B cells as a therapeutic target to treat these diseases. Barbara Nikolajczyk, PhD, associate professor of microbiology at BUSM, is the study's senior author. The incidence of diabetes continues to rise at alarming rates. According to the National Institute of Diabetes ...

WASHINGTON Alex Pyron's expertise is in family trees. Who is related to whom, who begat whom, how did they get where they are now. But not for humans: reptiles. In 2011, his fieldwork in Sri Lanka studying snake diversity on the island led him to confirm the identity of 60 known species of snakes. With Sri Lankan collaborators, Ruchira Somaweera, an author on snakes and expert on amphibians and reptiles, and Dushantha Kandambi, a local naturalist and snake expert, the team collected 60 species of snakes and of those, Dr. Pyron used DNA sequencing technology on 40 of them. ...

The bacterial foodborne pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes is the causative agent of listeriosis—a debilitating disease linked with ~2,500 illnesses and more than 500 deaths per annum in the US alone. A characteristic feature of L. monocytogenes is its ability to grow at refrigeration temperatures and in the presence of high concentrations of salt—traditional food preservation techniques, which arrest the growth of most other pathogens. Work in the Sleator lab has shown that the bacterium protects itself from such stresses by twisting into a protective corkscrew type shape ...

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Water Resources Research (WRR), and Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, (JGR-G). In this release: 1. Canadian Arctic glacier melt accelerating, irreversible 2. Eyjafjallajökull's iron-rich ash fertilized North Atlantic Ocean 3. A seismometer in orbit around Earth 4. Distinguishing drought and water scarcity 5. Evaluating the seismic risk of mineral carbon sequestration 6. Tracing nitrate in watersheds 7. Devastating East African ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A twist on thin-film technology may provide a way to optically detect and analyze multiple substances simultaneously, leading to quicker diagnostics in such industries as health care and homeland security, according to Penn State researchers. One current optical-sensing technology can launch and guide a single light wave, called a surface-plasmon-polariton wave -- SPP wave -- that travels along the flat interface of the sample to be analyzed and a metal film. The SPP wave is launched by sending a light beam through a prism to the other face of ...

A University of Colorado Cancer study published this week in the journal Carcinogenesis shows that bitter melon juice restricts the ability of pancreatic cancer cells to metabolize glucose, thus cutting the cells' energy source and eventually killing them. "Three years ago researchers showed the effect of bitter melon extract on breast cancer cells only in a Petri dish. This study goes much, much farther. We used the juice – people especially in Asian countries are already consuming it in quantity. We show that it affects the glucose metabolism pathway to restrict energy ...

Encrypting a message with a strong code is the only safe way to keep your communications secret, but it will be obvious to anyone seeing such a message that the sender is hiding something, regardless of whether they are encrypting their emails for legitimate or illicit purposes. Steganography on the other hand can hide a secret message in plain sight. Often a message is secreted within the binary strings of 0s and 1s in a compressed image or music file format. Prying eyes see only the original image or hear the song, whereas the recipient, knowing that a message is within ...

Researchers from the research group in growth factors and cell differentiation at IDIBELL and the University of Barcelona (UB) have participated in an international study that has identified the genetic cause of developmental delay observed in Amish individuals in the USA. The research results have been published in the Journal of Medical Genetics. Amish community Amish is a religious community known for a simple and traditional style of life and for its reluctance to adopt modern amenities and technologies. The IDIBELL-UB researcher José Luis Rosa explains that "in ...

The number of potentially habitable planets is greater than previously thought, according to a new analysis by a Penn State researcher, and some of those planets are likely lurking around nearby stars. "We now estimate that if we were to look at 10 of the nearest small stars we would find about four potentially habitable planets, give or take," said Ravi Kopparapu, a post-doctoral researcher in geosciences. "That is a conservative estimate," he added. "There could be more." Kopparapu detailed his findings in a paper accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal ...

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Female professors are almost 50 percent less likely than their male counterparts to be invited to join corporate scientific advisory boards (SABs) and start new companies mainly because of gender stereotyping, says University of Maryland researcher Waverly Ding, an assistant professor of management at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. Beliefs that women lack leadership and business savvy, and are not capable of helping new ventures attract investment, block their advancement in these areas, she says. Ding, with co-authors Fiona Murray of MIT ...

Children with an autism spectrum disorder may be at greater risk for contemplating suicide or attempting suicide than children without autism, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. "We were looking at suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among children with autism versus those that didn't have autism," said Angela Gorman, assistant professor of child psychiatry, Penn State College of Medicine. "What we found is that there were some risk factors that were much more greatly associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts than others." The ...

New research, published today in the journal PNAS, shows that surprisingly accurate estimates of Facebook users' race, age, IQ, sexuality, personality, substance use and political views can be inferred from automated analysis of only their Facebook Likes - information currently publicly available by default. In the study, researchers describe Facebook Likes as a "generic class" of digital record - similar to web search queries and browsing histories - and suggest that such techniques could be used to extract sensitive information for almost anyone regularly online. Researchers ...

Sleeping just five hours a night over a workweek and having unlimited access to food caused participants in a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder to gain nearly two pounds of weight. The study, performed in collaboration with the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, suggests that sufficient sleep could help battle the obesity epidemic. "I don't think extra sleep by itself is going to lead to weight loss," said Kenneth Wright, director of CU-Boulder's Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory, which led the study. "Problems with weight gain and obesity are much more ...

A small study of 20 people with Parkinson's disease suggests that "virtual house calls" using Web-based video conferencing provide clinical benefits comparable to in-person physician office visits, while saving patients and their caregivers time and travel. "It appears we can use the same technology Grandma uses to chat with her grandson to provide her with valuable medical care in her home," says study leader Ray Dorsey, M.D., M.B.A., an associate professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "If this proof-of-concept study is affirmed, the ...

SAN DIEGO – A new drug may improve memory problems in people with moderate Alzheimer's disease, according to a phase IIa study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego, March 16 to 23, 2013. The drug is called ORM-12741. The drug is the first to target a specific subtype of adrenergic receptors (alpha-2C) in the brain, which are believed to be involved in modulation of brain functions under stressful conditions, or the "fight or flight" response. For the clinical trial, 100 people with moderate Alzheimer's ...

An international panel of concussion experts has provided new guidelines on evaluating and treating concussions during sporting events and in clinical settings. Dr. Willem Meeuwisse, a physician, researcher and leader of the University of Calgary Brain Injury Initiative with the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) and the Faculties of Kinesiology and Medicine, co-chaired an expert panel and co-authored the document entitled "The Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport; the 4th International Conference on Concussion ...

The mortality rate for men in same-sex marriages has dropped markedly since the 1990s, according to a Danish study published online today (Tuesday) in the International Journal of Epidemiology. However, same-sex married women have emerged as the group of women with the highest, and in recent years, even further increasing mortality. Denmark implemented the world's first national law on registered same-sex partnerships in 1989. Mortality was markedly elevated among people in same-sex marriages for the first several years after this, but since 1996, with the advent of effective ...

Among patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (a measure of heart function), administration of sildenafil for 24 weeks, compared with placebo, did not result in significant improvement in exercise capacity or clinical status, according to a study published online by JAMA. Some studies have suggested that phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (a class of drugs that includes sildenafil) may improve cardiovascular function. The study is being released early to coincide with its presentation at the American College of Cardiology's annual Scientific Sessions. Heart ...

Among patients hospitalized for heart failure (HF) with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF; a measure of how well the left ventricle of the heart pumps with each contraction), initiation of the medication aliskiren in addition to standard therapy did not reduce cardiovascular death or HF rehospitalization at 6 or 12 months after discharge, according to a study published online by JAMA. The study is being released early to coincide with its presentation at the American College of Cardiology's annual Scientific Sessions. "Inhibition of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone ...

UK children are being exposed to millions of tobacco images/messages every week on prime time television, indicates research published online in Tobacco Control. Smoking and other tobacco content frequently feature in films marketed to kids, which is known to spark their interest in starting to smoke, say the authors. More stringent curbs on tobacco imagery in the TV programme schedule could help curb uptake among young people, who spend an average of 2.5 hours in front of the box every day, they suggest. The authors analysed the weekly content of all five free to ...

Sleep is disrupted in people who likely have early Alzheimer's disease but do not yet have the memory loss or other cognitive problems characteristic of full-blown disease, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report March 11 in JAMA Neurology. The finding confirms earlier observations by some of the same researchers. Those studies showed a link in mice between sleep loss and brain plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Early evidence tentatively suggests the connection may work in both directions: Alzheimer's plaques disrupt sleep, ...

Mouthguards and helmets can help ward off other serious head and facial injuries, but there is no good evidence that they can help prevent concussion, and paradoxically, they may even encourage players to take greater risks. But that is precisely why it is so important to recognise and treat concussive symptoms promptly, says the Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The Consensus Statement is the fourth revision of recommendations first developed in 2001 in Vienna, in a bid to offer some practical and evidence ...

ANN ARBOR — Strictly protected areas such as national parks and biological reserves have been more effective at reducing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest than so-called sustainable-use areas that allow for controlled resource extraction, two University of Michigan researchers and their colleagues have found. In addition, protected areas established primarily to safeguard the rights and livelihoods of indigenous people performed especially well in places where deforestation pressures are high. The U-M-led study, which found that all forms of protection successfully ...

New research paves the way for the development of a vaccine for the Tasmanian devil, currently on the brink of extinction because of a contagious cancer. It has been less than two decades since scientists discovered the contagious cancer devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) which causes 100 per cent mortality in the endangered marsupials. The facial cancer, which spreads when the devils bite each other's faces during fighting, kills its victims in a matter of months. As it has already wiped out the majority of the population with sightings of devils reduced by 85 per cent, ...

In 2010, it was shown that melons and cucumbers can be traced back to India. Because of the importance of the region for an understanding of Cucurbitaceae evolution and diversity, a new checklist of the Cucurbitaceae of India was produced to update the information on that family. The study was published in the open access journal PhytoKeys. Vegetables are essential components of a healthy daily diet, not just in India but around the globe. Compared to grains and pulses, however, vegetables are under-investigated taxonomically, and information on their genome is scarce. ...