Some of the body's own genetic material, known as small interfering RNA (siRNA), can be packaged then unleashed as a precise and persistent technology to guide cell behavior, researchers at Case Western Reserve University report in the current issue of the journal, Acta Biomaterialia. The research group, led by Eben Alsberg, associate professor in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopedic Surgery, have been pursuing experiments that seek to catalyze stem cells to grow into, for example, bone and cartilage cells, instead of fat, smooth muscle and other cell ...

Aug. 27, 2012 – Professional athletic field managers maintain trimmed turfgrass with great precision, carefully painting crisp lines and colorful logos on their grass before each game. While these fields appear to be in perfect health, some field managers have noted deteriorating turfgrass beneath repeated paint applications. New research now suggests why. In a study that appears in the September-October issue of Crop Science, three North Carolina State University researchers found that grasses coated with latex paints show a notable reduction in photosynthesis. In ...

Leuven scientists (VIB/KU Leuven) are using zebrafish as a model in their search for genes that play a role in the mechanism of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). As a result, they have identified a molecule that could be the target for a future ALS treatment. ALS is a progressive degenerative motor neuron disease for which there currently is no treatment. Their study has been published in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS ALS is a progressive paralyzing disease caused by the destruction of the neurons connecting to the muscles. ...

Methane is an organic carbon compound containing the fundamental building block of nearly all living material: carbon. It provides an important source of energy and nutrients for bacteria. Methane is produced in oxygen-free environments and is found in abundance at the bottom of lakes. The Brazilian post-doctoral researcher in biology and ecology, Angela Sanseverino, has presented a study that shows methane from lakebeds to be present in fish tissue. The study was carried out in cooperation with, inter alia, David Bastviken, Water and Environmental Studies (WES), Linköping ...

Alexandria, VA – Technology is creating a new breed of scientist. I'm talking about citizen scientists – ordinary people and volunteers from all walks of life coming together to help monitor, and possibly mitigate, the next big earthquake through an innovative program called NetQuakes. A play off the popular company Netflix – a movie company that allows users to rent movies through the mail – NetQuakes allows ordinary people to volunteer as a kind of host "family" for one of the program's many blue seismometers. This grassroots movement, an innovative effort between ...

VIDEO: This is a 3-D pattern produced by photografting (180 µm wide). Fluorescent molecules are attached to the hydrogel, resulting in a microscopic 3-D pattern. Click here for more information. There are many ways to create three dimensional objects on a micrometer scale. But how can the chemical properties of a material be tuned at micrometer precision? Scientists at the Vienna University of Technology developed a method to attach molecules at exactly the right place. ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A new study from Rhode Island Hospital reports that nearly seven percent of urologic multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) scans for hematuria result in incidental findings that may be clinically important for the patient. The study is published in the American Journal of Roentgenology. It is known that urologic CT scans can sometimes show incidental findings. To date, however, there has been limited information about the prevalence and characteristics of those findings. Julie Song, M.D., a radiologist with Rhode Island Hospital's department of ...

Stockholm, August 27, 2012 - Research into water is growing faster than the average 4% annual growth rate for all research disciplines, claims a new report presented by Elsevier and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) during the 2012 World Water Week in Stockholm. The report, "The Water and Food Nexus: Trends and Development of the Research Landscape" analysed the major trends in water and food-related article output at international, national and institutional levels. Elsevier and SIWI worked closely together on creating the report, which is based on the analysis ...

This release is available in German. Vitamin B12 is vital for cell division, the synthesis of red blood cells and the functioning of the nervous system. Unable to produce the vitamin itself, the human body has to obtain it via animal proteins. So far it has been known that on its way into the cell vitamin B12 is absorbed by little organelles, so-called lysosomes. From there, the vitamin enters the cell interior with the aid of the transport protein CblF, which was discovered by the same research team three years ago. The researchers now show that a second transport ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Some RNA molecules spend time in a restful state akin to hibernation rather than automatically carrying out their established job of delivering protein-building instructions in cells, new research suggests. And instead of being a fluke or a mistake, the research suggests that this restful period appears to be a programmed step for RNA produced by certain types of genes, including some that control cell division and decide where proteins will work in a cell to sustain the cell's life. This could mean that protein production in cells is not as clear-cut ...

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Kansas State University researchers have developed a glue mixture that may reduce risks after laser vision correction surgery. Stacy Littlechild, a recent bachelor's degree graduate in biology originally from Wakeeney, is the lead author of two studies that describe a new protocol involving fibrinogen, riboflavin and ultraviolet light that could improve the safety of the corrective surgery. One study that demonstrates the ability of a glue to bind corneal surfaces has been published in the June edition of the journal Investigative Ophthalmology ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- To control the three-dimensional shape of engineered tissue, researchers grow cells on tiny, sponge-like scaffolds. These devices can be implanted into patients or used in the lab to study tissue responses to potential drugs. A team of researchers from MIT, Harvard University and Boston Children's Hospital has now added a new element to tissue scaffolds — electronic sensors. These sensors, made of silicon nanowires, could be used to monitor electrical activity in the tissue surrounding the scaffold, control drug release or screen drug candidates for their ...

Munich, Germany – A balloon pump inserted in the aorta is currently the most widely used support device in the treatment of cardiogenic shock and, since its introduction in 1968, has been used in several million people. However, there is still only limited evidence that the intraaortic balloon pump (IABP), one of the oldest medical devices in cardiology, is actually beneficial for the patient. Only a few registry studies and clinical trials have shown that the IABP can improve blood pressure and the perfusion of the coronary arteries. Based on these studies, international ...

MBL, WOODS HOLE, MA-- Squid's colorful, changeable skin enables the animal--and their close relatives, cuttlefish and octopus--to display extraordinary camouflage, the speed and diversity of which is unmatched in the animal kingdom. But how squid control their skin's iridescence, or light-reflecting property, which is responsible for the animal's sparkly rainbow of color, has been unknown. In a new study, MBL (Marine Biological Laboratory) researchers Paloma Gonzalez Bellido and Trevor Wardill and their colleagues report that nerves in squid skin control the animal's ...

Munich, Germany – Rates of stent thrombosis at three years were low and comparable between zotarolimus-eluting and sirolimus-eluting stents, according to findings from the PROTECT study described here today at ESC Congress 2012. Presenting the results, Professor William Wijns from the Cardiovascular Center in Aalst, Belgium, said that the decline in rates of stent thrombosis seen recently and in the PROTECT (Patient Related OuTcomes with Endeavor versus Cypher Stenting) study was probably explained by several factors, including "improvements in patient selection, procedural ...

Munich, Germany – Data from four French nationwide registries of STEMI (ST-elevation myocardial infarction) patients initiated five years apart and covering more than 15 years show that mortality rate decreased by 68% over this period, from 13.7% to 4.4%. Around one quarter of this mortality reduction could be attributed to a change in patient characteristics. Even after adjusting for the use of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and reperfusion therapy, there still remained a substantial decrease in early mortality rate (>60%), underlining the importance ...

Munich, Germany – The German Aortic Valve Registry (GARY) was started in July 2010 and is the only registry so far to include both transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and conventional aortic valve replacements and repair.(1) The intention is to deliver a complete picture of current and future practice of treating aortic valve disease and to deliver reliable data on the short and long-term outcome of different treatment strategies. This specifically includes data about quality of life before and after treatment besides numerous medical variables. Participation ...

Munich, Germany –The percutaneous catheter-based treatment of mitral regurgitation with the MitraClip system improves symptoms and cardiac function at one-year, according to results of a prospective observational study presented here today at ESC Congress 2012. ACCESS-EUROPE (ACCESS-EU) was a multicentre study of the MitraClip system in a commercial setting in 567 patients enrolled at 14 European sites, the largest group of patients evaluated to date. The results were presented by the study's co-principal investigator Professor Wolfgang Schillinger of the Universitätsmedizin ...

Munich, Germany – A sub-study of the Outcome Reduction with an Initial Glargine Intervention (ORIGIN) trial, designed to investigate the effect of insulin glargine and omega-3 fatty acids on atherosclerosis progression, has found that, compared to standard care, only insulin glargine (a long-acting insulin) had a "modest" statistically non-significant reducing effect on the primary outcome of rate of change in maximum carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) at 12 carotid sites. However, while insulin glargine did significantly reduce the secondary outcomes of the study ...

Scientists at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and Federal University of Minas Gerais, led by Dr. Andréa Teixeira-Carvalho and Dr. Mônica Cristina de Oliveira, have developed and characterized a circulating and pH-sensitive liposome containing cisplatin (SpHL-CDDP) aiming to promote the release of cisplatin near the tumor as well as decreasing toxicity. The development of analog drugs and new formulations are current strategies for increasing the effectiveness and safety of cisplatin as an anti-peritoneal carcinomatosis drug. The results, which appear in the August 2012 issue ...

Lack of sleep is linked to more aggressive breast cancers, according to new findings published in the August issue of Breast Cancer Research and Treatment by physician-scientists from University Hospitals Case Medical Center's Seidman Cancer Center and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. Led by Cheryl Thompson, PhD, the study is the first-of-its-kind to show an association between insufficient sleep and biologically more aggressive tumors as well as likelihood of cancer recurrence. The research team analyzed medical records and survey ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- People who are of normal weight but have fat concentrated in their bellies have a higher death risk than those who are obese, according to Mayo Clinic research presented today at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich. Those studied who had a normal body mass index but central obesity -- a high waist-to-hip ratio -- had the highest cardiovascular death risk and the highest death risk from all causes, the analysis found. "We knew from previous research that central obesity is bad, but what is new in this research is that the distribution ...

Munich, Germany – Healthy behaviours regarding alcohol, physical activity, vegetable intake and body weight reduce the risk of hypertension by two thirds, according to research presented at the ESC Congress today. The findings were presented by Professor Pekka Jousilahti from National Institute for Health and Welfare. According to the World Health Organization, hypertension is the leading cause of mortality in the world, contributing annually to over 7 million deaths (about 15% of all deaths). Therefore, prevention of hypertension is essential to improving health and ...

Scientists have long suspected that the Sun's 11-year cycle influences climate of certain regions on Earth. Yet records of average, seasonal temperatures do not date back far enough to confirm any patterns. Now, armed with a unique proxy, an international team of researchers show that unusually cold winters in Central Europe are related to low solar activity - when sunspot numbers are minimal. The freezing of Germany's largest river, the Rhine, is the key. Although the Earth's surface overall continues to warm, the new analysis has revealed a correlation between periods ...

Munich, Germany – Consuming energy drinks can exert acute positive benefits on myocardial performance, according to research presented today at the ESC Congress by Dr Matteo Cameli from University of Siena. "In recent years the energy drink market has exploded, with more people than ever before turning to these products as quick 'pick me ups', whether to stay awake during all night study vigils or gain the edge in sport," said Dr Cameli. "With energy drinks containing both caffeine and taurine concerns have been raised of adverse effects on the heart. While caffeine increases ...