(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have demonstrated in the laboratory that a new drug is effective in treating a very common kidney disease –– although it will be a few years before it becomes available for clinical testing. The findings resulted from a collaboration between UCSB and a biotech firm based in Indiana. The study is published in this week's Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Over 600,000 people in the U.S., and 12 million worldwide, are affected by the inherited kidney disease known as autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney ...

CHICAGO --- A new paper just published in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry uses extensive Freedom of Information Act findings to detail an extremely troubling off-label medical intervention employed in the U.S. on pregnant women to intentionally engineer the development of their fetuses for sex normalization purposes. The paper is authored by Alice Dreger, professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and is co-authored by Ellen Feder, associate professor of philosophy and religion at American University, ...

Salmon conservation shouldn't narrowly focus on managing flows in streams and rivers or on preserving only places that currently have strong salmon runs. Instead, watersheds need a good mix of steep, cold-running streams and slower, meandering streams of warmer water to keep options open for salmon adapted to reproduce better in one setting than the other, new research shows. Preserving that sort of varied landscape serves not just salmon, it provides an all-summer buffet that brown bears, gulls and other animals need to sustain themselves the rest of the year. "In ...

The beautiful, endemic and endangered cycad, Cycas micronesica was once a dominant forest tree on the island of Guam, but recent plant mortality predicts extirpation from Guam habitats by 2019. This dire prediction by scientists at the Western Pacific Tropical Research Center (WPTRC), University of Guam is validated by the research of Thomas E. Marler and John H. Lawrence, which has concluded that Cycas micronesica is the only native host for the invasive scale insect Aulacaspis yasumatsui. "The potential cascading ecosystem responses are yet to be completely understood," ...

HOUSTON — Research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has found that symptoms of depression in patients with newly diagnosed metastatic kidney cancer are associated with survival and inflammatory gene regulation may explain this link. The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, further explores the interplay between patient psychological condition, stress hormone regulation and the role of inflammatory gene expression. Although previous research indicates depression is connected with worse outcomes, questions remain about the specific factors involved. "Our ...

Human HLA genes – the genes that allow our immune system to tell the difference between our own cells and foreign invaders – are evolving much more rapidly than previously thought, according to an article online on August 3rd in Trends in Genetics. The resulting degree of variation improves our ability to fight off disease, but could also present challenges to current worldwide efforts aimed at identifying potential donors for patients undergoing stem cell transplantation. "This new work makes clear the daunting and near hopeless challenge of keeping track of the continuous ...

An experiment has shown that strawberry extract added to skin cell cultures acts as a protector against ultraviolet radiation as well as increasing its viability and reducing damage to DNA. Developed by a team of Italian and Spanish researchers, the study opens the door to the creation of photoprotective cream made from strawberries. "We have verified the protecting effect of strawberry extract against damage to skins cells caused by UVA rays," as explained to SINC by Maurizio Battino, researcher at the Università Politecnica delle Marche in Italy and lead author of the ...

VIDEO: Scientists at EMBL have combined the power of two kinds of microscope to produce a three-dimensional movie of how cells ‘swallow’ nutrients and other molecules by engulfing them. The study... Click here for more information. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have combined the power of two kinds of microscope to produce a 3-dimensional movie of how cells 'swallow' nutrients and other molecules by engulfing them. The ...

This press release is available in German.Soil is the most species-rich microbial ecosystem in the world. From this incredible diversity, plants specifically choose certain species, give them access to the root and so host a unique, carefully selected bacterial community from which they then benefit in a variety of ways. To achieve this, the plant's immune system must be able to tell which of these bacteria are friends and which foes. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne and the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in ...

This press release is available in German.Tomato breeders scored a coup several years ago when they identified tomatoes with a genetic defect that made the fruits mature very slowly, even under the influence of the phytohormone ethylene. Traders and growers were delighted as it gave them more time to transport the crop, initially still green, from where it was harvested to where it would be sold. At the stores, the tomatoes could then be treated with ethylene to bring them to maturity. Other fruits, like peppers, grapes and strawberries, generally do not mature after picking; ...

Elephants can communicate using very low frequency sounds, with pitches below the range of human hearing. These low-frequency sounds, termed "infrasounds", can travel several kilometers, and provide elephants with a "private" communication channel that plays an important role in elephants' complex social life. Their frequencies are as low as the lowest notes of a pipe organ. Although the sounds themselves have been studied for many years, it has remained unclear exactly how elephant infrasounds are made. One possibility, favored by some scientists, is that the elephants ...

This press release is available in German.Chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of substances for which the 2012 List of MAK and BAT Values submitted by the Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) specifies new, and in this case, significantly lower values than previously recommended. The current list, which was presented to the German Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs as in every year, and which is the basis for legislation on ...

Contact: Tsueyling Yong sciytl@nus.edu.sg 65-651-67874 Carolyn Fong Carolyn@nus.edu.sg 65-6516-5399 National University of Singapore NUS researchers identify a novel double-stranded DNA structure Researchers' findings address a scientific debate that had lasted for 16 years over the existence of a double-stranded DNA structure Double-stranded DNA has often been described as a right-handed helical structure, known as B-DNA. To perform its multiple functions, double-stranded DNA has multiple structures depending on conditions. For example, the melted DNA ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - New research adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting that there's a link between allergies and reduced risk of a serious type of cancer that starts in the brain. This study suggests the reduced risk is stronger among women than men, although men with certain allergy profiles also have a lower tumor risk. The study also strengthens scientists' belief that something about having allergies or a related factor lowers the risk for this cancer. Because these tumors, called glioma, have the potential to suppress the immune system to allow them to grow, ...

Acute liver failure is a life-threatening disease, characterized by a sudden, massive death of liver cells. Unfortunately, few treatment options exist, especially for advanced-stage liver failure. As a last resort a liver transplant may be the only remaining option. Now the physician Dr. Junfeng An of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Dr. Stefan Donath, a specialist in internal medicine and cardiology, also of the MDC and Helios Klinikum Berlin-Buch, have developed a new treatment approach based on a mouse model. In their current study ...

Single particles of light, also known as photons, have been produced and implemented into a quantum key distribution (QKD) link, paving the way for unbreakable communication networks. The results of the experiment, undertaken by a close collaboration of researchers based in Wuerzburg, Munich and Stuttgart, have been published today, Thursday 2 August, in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society's New Journal of Physics. The single photons were produced using two devices made of semiconductor nanostructures that emitted a photon each time they were excited ...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Having a healthy heart and lungs may be one of the most important factors for middle school students to make good grades in math and reading, according to findings presented at the American Psychological Association's 120th Annual Convention. "Cardiorespiratory fitness was the only factor that we consistently found to have an impact on both boys' and girls' grades on reading and math tests," said study co-author Trent A. Petrie, PhD, professor of psychology and director of the Center for Sport Psychology at the University of North Texas. "This provides ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Parents get physical with their misbehaving children in public much more than they show in laboratory experiments and acknowledge in surveys, according to one of the first real-world studies of caregiver discipline. The study, led by Michigan State University's Kathy Stansbury, found that 23 percent of youngsters received some type of "negative touch" when they failed to comply with a parental request in public places such as restaurants and parks. Negative touch included arm pulling, pinching, slapping and spanking. "I was very surprised to see ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Predatory beetles can detect the unique alarm signal released by ants that are under attack by parasitic flies, and the beetles use those overheard conversations to guide their search for safe egg-laying sites on coffee bushes. Azteca instabilis ants patrol coffee bushes and emit chemical alarm signals when they're under attack by phorid flies. In an article published online July 27 in the journal Ecology and Evolution, University of Michigan researchers and their colleagues show that pregnant lady beetles intercept the ants' alarm pheromones, which let ...

Why do adults continue to play throughout their lives while most other mature mammals cease such behavior? According to researchers at Penn State, playfulness may serve an evolutionary role in human mating preferences by signaling positive qualities to potential long-term mates. "Humans and other animals exhibit a variety of signals as to their value as mates," said Garry Chick, professor and head of the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management. "Just as birds display bright plumage or coloration, men may attract women by showing off expensive cars or clothing. ...

Washington, D.C.—Type Ia supernovae are violent stellar explosions. Observations of their brightness are used to determine distances in the universe and have shown scientists that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. But there is still too little known about the specifics of the processes by which these supernovae form. New research led by Carnegie's Stella Kafka identifies a star, prior to explosion, which will possibly become a type Ia supernova. The work will be published by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and is available online. ...

Peter de Groot (Biology) hopes his recent finding confirming the extinction of the Javan rhinoceros in Vietnam pushes the public to protect the last remaining group of these prehistoric creatures living in Indonesia. "We still have a chance to save the species but before we do anything, we have to determine the profile of the remaining group," he says. Dr. de Groot, Peter Boag (Biology) and colleagues confirmed the demise of the Javan rhinoceros population living in Vietnam by analyzing animal dung collected with the assistance of special dung detection dogs. Using genetic ...

AMES, Iowa – By blending optical and atomic force microscope technologies, Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory researchers have found a way to complete 3-D measurements of single biological molecules with unprecedented accuracy and precision. Existing technologies allow researchers to measure single molecules on the x and y axes of a 2-D plane. The new technology allows researchers to make height measurements (the z axis) down to the nanometer – just a billionth of a meter – without custom optics or special surfaces for the samples. "This is a completely new type ...

HEIDELBERG, 3 August 2012 – Intellectual disability due to Fragile X and Down syndromes involves similar molecular pathways report researchers in The EMBO Journal. The two disorders share disturbances in the molecular events that regulate the way nerve cells develop dendritic spines, the small extensions found on the surface of nerve cells that are crucial for communication in the brain. "We have shown for the first time that some of the proteins altered in Fragile X and Down syndromes are common molecular triggers of intellectual disability in both disorders," said ...

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the University of Manchester, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center have found a new role for an oncogenic signaling pathway in embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and in reprogramming adult cells into an ESC-state, which will aid in the development of future cancer therapies. The findings promote the understanding of the self-renewal mechanism in embryonic stem cells and provide insight into the role of Aurka, an oncoprotein that is amplified in several human cancers. The research is published in the August 3rd issue of ...