Highlights From suspensions of single kidney cells, researchers have constructed "organoids" that can carry out kidney functions when implanted into a living animal. The advance marks a considerable step toward the goal of engineering kidney tissues suitable for transplantation. Tissue engineering of kidneys could help alleviate the shortage of kidneys for transplantation. Washington, DC (October 18, 2012) — With a worldwide shortage of kidneys for patients who need kidney transplants, researchers are diligently working to find ways to engineer new kidney ...

A new series of radiocarbon measurements from Japan's Lake Suigetsu will give scientists a more accurate benchmark for dating materials, especially for older objects, according to a research team that included Oxford University's Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. The research team extracted cores of beautifully preserved layers of sediment, containing organic material (such as tree leaf and twig fossils), from the bottom of the Japanese lake where they had lain undisturbed for tens of thousands of years. As an article in the journal Science explains, the findings are hugely ...

A new series of radiocarbon measurements from Japan's Lake Suigetsu should help make radiocarbon dating more precise and accurate, especially for older objects, researchers report. The work could be used to refine estimates of the ages of organic material by hundreds of years. Archaeologists, for example, may be able to further specify the timing of the extinction of Neandertals or the spread of modern humans into Europe. And, climate scientists may better understand the chains of events that led to the advance and retreat of the ice sheets during the last glacial period. The ...

Up to 21% of herds clearing restrictions for bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in Great Britain may be harbouring infection, according to a study published in PLOS Computational Biology this week. A cross-disciplinary group of experts in the Disease Dynamics Unit, University of Cambridge and the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency has used mathematical models to provide the first empirical estimates of the efficiency of cattle-based controls for bovine tuberculosis (bTB). These models were developed to help policy-makers understand and control bTB as part of a project ...

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – An team of Rutgers University scientists led by Richard H. Ebright and Eddy Arnold has determined the three-dimensional structure of the transcription initiation complex, the key intermediate in the process by which cells read out genetic information in DNA. In a paper to be published in Science and released online today at Science Express, the Rutgers scientists show how the "molecular machine" responsible for transcription initiation – a protein complex that consists of the enzyme RNA polymerase and the initiation factor sigma – recognizes a specific ...

An international research group led by scientists from the University of Bristol and the Universities of Glasgow (UK) and Sun Yat-sen and Fudan in China, have demonstrated integrated arrays of emitters of so call 'optical vortex beams' onto a silicon chip. The work is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Science magazine, published tomorrow [19 October 2012]. Contradicting traditional conception, light in such beams does not propagate in straight rays. Instead, its energy travels in a spiral fashion in a hollow conical beam shape. The beams therefore look very ...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- A team of researchers from the University of Florida department of chemistry has developed a new technique for growing new materials from nanorods. Materials with enhanced properties engineered from nanostructures have the potential to revolutionize the marketplace in everything from data processing to human medicine. However, attempts to assemble nanoscale objects into sophisticated structures have been largely unsuccessful. The UF study represents a major breakthrough in the field, showing how thermodynamic forces can be used to manipulate growth ...

A hospital stroke team used auto industry "lean" manufacturing principles to accelerate treatment times, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Stroke. In a prospective observational study, the average time between patients arriving at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Mo., and receiving the clot-busting agent tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), decreased 21 minutes using process improvement techniques adapted from auto manufacturing. Data from more than 200 patients was included in the study analysis, ranging over 3 years. The shorter ...

Simply knowing a child's home address and some socioeconomic data can serve as a vital sign – helping hospitals predict which children admitted for asthma treatment are at greater risk for re-hospitalization or additional emergency room visits, according to new research in the American Journal of Public Health. The use of a so-called "geographic social risk index," based on census measures of poverty, home values and number of adults with high school degrees, also can help hospitals identify families likely to report financial or psychological hardship – both of which ...

Scientists have discovered why the 'broken world' following the worst extinction of all time lasted so long – it was simply too hot to survive. The end-Permian mass extinction, which occurred around 250 million years ago in the pre-dinosaur era, wiped out nearly all the world's species. Typically, a mass extinction is followed by a 'dead zone' during which new species are not seen for tens of thousands of years. In this case, the dead zone, during the Early Triassic period which followed, lasted for a perplexingly long period: five million years. A study jointly led ...

Primary hyperparathyroidism or PHPT is caused by overactive parathyroid glands secreting too much parathyroid hormone, which can result in weak bones, fractures and kidney stones. In recent years, several studies have also suggested a link between untreated PHPT and an increased risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke. PHPT affects one in 800 people during their lifetime. It is most common in post-menopausal women between 50-60 years of age. Calcium intake is known to influence parathyroid hormone production and therefore may be important in the development ...

BOSTON, MA—Blood hormone tests can predict a woman's risk for developing postmenopausal breast cancer for up to 20 years, according to a study led by Xuehong Zhang, MD, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) Department of Medicine. The findings will be presented at the 11th Annual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research. Using data from the Nurses' Health Study, Zhang , Susan Hankinson, ScD, Channing Division of Network Medicine, BWH Department of Medicine ...

An African-American or Mexican-American senior living in a community where many neighbors share their background is less likely to have cancer or heart disease than their counterpart in a more mixed neighborhood. Results of the new study by Kimberly Alvarez, a PhD student at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, and Becca Levy, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology and Psychology at the Yale School of Public Health, appear in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health and online. Counter to prevailing notions, researchers found ...

A process developed to increase efficiency and productivity in Japanese car factories has helped improve stroke treatment at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, report researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. By applying the principles of Toyota's lean manufacturing process, doctors sharply reduced the average time between patient arrival and treatment, known as door-to-needle time, from 58 to 37 minutes. The findings are reported Oct. 18 in the journal Stroke. In an average year, the medical school's physicians treat 1,300 stroke patients at Barnes-Jewish. Beginning ...

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have determined a new mechanism by which the mosquitoes' immune system can respond with specificity to infections with various pathogens, including the parasite that causes malaria in humans, using one single gene. Unlike humans and other animals, insects do not make antibodies to target specific infections. According to the Johns Hopkins researchers, mosquitoes use a mechanism known as alternative splicing to arrange different combinations of binding domains, encoded by the same AgDscam gene, into protein ...

October 18, 2012 -- Breast-feeding reduces the risk for estrogen receptor-negative and progesterone receptor-negative breast cancer, according to a study conducted at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Researchers examined the association between reproductive risk factors — such as the number of children a woman delivers, breast-feeding and oral contraceptive use – and found an increased risk for estrogen receptor- and progesterone receptor- (ER/PR) negative breast cancer in women who do not breast-feed. The results also indicated that having three ...

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 18— A U.S. Food and Drug Administration-funded study led by the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research found an increased risk of arterial thrombotic events (ATE) and venous thromboembolic events (VTE) — commonly referred to as blockage of arteries and blood clots, respectively — associated with drospirenone-containing birth control pills compared to four low-dose estrogen combined hormonal contraceptives. The study appears in the current online issue of Contraception. "We found that starting use of drospirenone-containing combined ...

PASADENA, Calif.—Chemists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have managed, for the first time, to simulate the biological function of a channel called the Sec translocon, which allows specific proteins to pass through membranes. The feat required bridging timescales from the realm of nanoseconds all the way up to full minutes, exceeding the scope of earlier simulation efforts by more than six orders of magnitude. The result is a detailed molecular understanding of how the translocon works. Modeling behavior across very different timescales is a major ...

HOUSTON - Low depressive symptoms and a longer telomere length are compelling factors that contribute to a prolonged life for bladder cancer patients according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. In an observational study, a team of MD Anderson researchers analyzed clinical and behavioral data collected from 464 bladder cancer patients, according to research presented at the 11th Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research. "This is the first study of its kind that analyzes bladder cancer outcomes," ...

Certain types of routes carry much lower risk of injury for cyclists, according to a new University of British Columbia study on the eve of Vancouver's Bike to Work Week. The study, published today in the American Journal of Public Health, analyzed the cause of 690 cycling injuries in Vancouver and Toronto from 2008 to 2009 and various route types and infrastructure. The greatest risk to cyclists occurs when they share major streets with parked cars, with no bike lanes present – like on Broadway in Vancouver or Dundas Street in Toronto. Without a designated space on ...

Bethesda, MD, October 18, 2012 The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) published the report of the Whole Genome Analysis (WGA) Working Group of the AMP Clinical Practice Committee in the November 2012 issue of The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics (JMD). Titled "Opportunities and Challenges Associated with Clinical Diagnostic Genome Sequencing," the timely report provides a detailed and compelling overview of the landscape of next generation sequencing (NGS) technology and its clinical relevance and impact on improving patient care. The issues addressed in the ...

Boston, MA— Excitement around the potential for targeted nanoparticles (NPs) that can be controlled by stimulus outside of the body for cancer therapy has been growing over the past few years. More specifically, there has been considerable attention around near-infrared (NIR) light as an ideal method to stimulate nanoparticles from outside the body. NIR is minimally absorbed by skin and tissue, has the ability to penetrate deep tissue in a noninvasive way and the energy from NIR light can be converted to heat by gold nanomaterials for effective thermal ablation of diseased ...

We live in a human-dominated world. For many of our fellow creatures, this means a fragmented world, as human conduits to friends, family, and resources sever corridors that link the natural world. Our expanding web of highways, cities, and intensive agriculture traps many animals and plants in islands and cul-de-sacs of habitat, held back by barriers of geography or architecture from reaching mates, food, and wider resources. A team of researchers, managers, and ecological risk assessors review the current state-of-the-art in landscape connectivity planning, offering ...

People are more likely to install a solar panel on their home if their neighbors have one, according to a Yale and New York University study in the journal Marketing Science. The researchers studied clusters of solar installations throughout California from January 2001 to December 2011 and found that residents of a particular zip code are more likely to install solar panels if they already exist in that zip code and on their street. "We looked at the influence that the number of cumulative adoptions—the number of people who already installed solar panels in a zip ...

It's fall football season, when fight songs and shouted play calls fill stadiums across the country. Another less rousing sound sometimes accompanies football games: the sharp crack of helmet-to-helmet collisions. Hard collisions can lead to player concussions, but the physics of how the impact of a helmet hit transfers to the brain are not well understood. A research team from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., has created a simplified experimental model of the brain and skull inside a helmet during a helmet-to-helmet collision. The model illustrates how the fast ...