SANTA CRUZ, CA--A massive international collaboration has enabled scientists to assign specific functions for 80 percent of the human genome, providing new insights into the mechanisms of gene regulation and giving biomedical researchers a solid genetic foundation for understanding how the body works in health and disease. The results of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project are described in a coordinated set of 30 papers published in several journals on September 5, 2012. Scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have operated the Data Coordination ...

Most professional English football teams don't comply with international guidelines on concussion among players, which ensure they are safe to return to play, indicates research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The Consensus in Sport (CIS) guidelines were developed following the first international conference on concussion in sport in 2001. This was convened by the International Ice Hockey Federation, FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), and the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission in recognition of the inevitability ...

Tests to screen for "silent" neck artery narrowing in a bid to curb the risk of a stroke result in many unnecessary and costly surgical procedures, and ultimately save very few lives, concludes an editorial in the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery. In 2-6% of European men aged 60 plus, the major arteries supplying the brain (carotid arteries) are narrowed by 50-99%. This condition, termed carotid stenosis or atherosclerosis, accounts for 10-15% of strokes (data not in paper). Carotid atherosclerosis is commonest in those with mild peripheral arterial disease in ...

Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. – Most people understand genes to be specific segments of DNA that determine traits or diseases that are inherited. Textbooks suggest that genes are copied ("transcribed") into RNA molecules, which are then used as templates for making protein – the highly diverse set of molecules that act as building blocks and engines of our cells. The truth, it now appears, is not so simple. As part of a huge collaborative effort called ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements), a research team led by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Thomas Gingeras, ...

The locations of millions of DNA 'switches' that dictate how, when, and where in the body different genes turn on and off have been identified by a research team led by the University of Washington in Seattle. Genes make up only 2 percent of the human genome and were easy to spot, but the on/off switches controlling those genes were encrypted within the remaining 98 percent of the genome. Without these switches, called regulatory DNA, genes are inert. Researchers around the world have been focused on identifying regulatory DNA to understand how the genome works. ...

Boston, MA – Each year, nearly 2 million people die from tuberculosis – a treatable disease that has been brought under control in the United States, but continues to ravage other parts of the world. This health inequity should prompt a complete rethinking of the way tuberculosis is fought on a global level, argue Salmaan Keshavjee, MD, PhD, and Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH). Their argument appears in an essay published September 6 in the New England Journal of Medicine. "The global approach to fighting tuberculosis has been lacking," ...

ENCODE, an international research project led by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), has produced and analyzed 1649 data sets designed to annotate functional elements of the entire human genome. Data on transcription starting sites (TSS) contributed by a research team at the RIKEN Omics Science Center provided key anchor points linking the epigenetic status of genes observed at the 5' end directly to their RNA output. The ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) project aims to delineate all functional elements encoded in the human genome. Thirty-two institutes ...

This press release is available in German. Physicists at the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences have achieved quantum teleportation over a record distance of 143 km. The experiment is a major step towards satellite-based quantum communication. The results have now been published in "Nature" (Advance Online Publication/AOP). An international team led by the Austrian physicist Anton Zeilinger has successfully transmitted quantum states between the two Canary Islands of La Palma and Tenerife, over a distance of 143 km. The previous record, set ...

Cambridge, Mass. - September 5, 2012 - A team of experts in mechanics, materials science, and tissue engineering at Harvard have created an extremely stretchy and tough gel that may pave the way to replacing damaged cartilage in human joints. Called a hydrogel, because its main ingredient is water, the new material is a hybrid of two weak gels that combine to create something much stronger. Not only can this new gel stretch to 21 times its original length, but it is also exceptionally tough, self-healing, and biocompatible—a valuable collection of attributes that opens ...

Genome Research publishes online and in print today a special issue dedicated to The ENCODE (ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements) Project, whose goal is to characterize all functional elements in the human genome. Since the completion of the pilot phase of the project in 2007, covering 1% of the genome, The ENCODE Consortium has fanned out across the genome to study function and regulation on an unprecedented scale. This special issue presents novel findings, methodologies, and resources from ENCODE that bring extensive insight to gene regulation and set the stage for future ...

(Boston) – Results of a study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System indicate that the proposed changes to the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will not substantially affect the number of people who meet criteria for the disorder. Mark W. Miller, PhD, associate professor at BUSM and a clinical research psychologist at the National Center for PTSD at VA Boston Healthcare System served as lead author of the study, which is published online in Psychological Trauma: Theory, ...

Windows to the past, stars can unveil the history of our universe, currently estimated to be 14 billion years old. The farther away the star, the older it is — and the oldest stars are the most difficult to detect. Current telescopes can only see galaxies about 700 million years old, and only when the galaxy is unusually large or as the result of a big event like a stellar explosion. Now, an international team of scientists led by researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a method for detecting galaxies of stars that formed when the universe was in its infancy, ...

Scientists have completed a comprehensive map of genetic mutations linked to an aggressive and lethal type of lung cancer. Among the errors found in small cell lung cancers, the team of scientists, including those at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, found an alteration in a gene called SOX2 associated with early embryonic development. "Small cell lung cancers are very aggressive. Most are found late, when the cancer has spread and typical survival is less than a year after diagnosis," says Charles Rudin, M.D., Ph.D., professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Aiming to cut expenses and improve care, a 2008 Medicare policy stopped paying hospitals extra to treat some preventable, hospital-acquired conditions – including urinary tract infections (UTIs) in patients after bladder catheters are placed. But a statewide analysis by the University of Michigan shows there was very little change in hospital payment due to removing pay for hospital-acquired catheter-associated UTIs. For all adult hospital stays in Michigan in 2009, eliminating payment for this infection decreased hospital pay for only 25 hospital ...

RICHLAND, Wash. – Today's light-emitting diode light bulbs have a slight environmental edge over compact fluorescent lamps. And that gap is expected to grow significantly as technology and manufacturing methods improve in the next five years, according to a new report from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and UK-based N14 Energy Limited. "The light-emitting diode lamp is a rapidly evolving technology that, while already energy efficient, will become even more so in just a few short years," said Marc Ledbetter, who manages PNNL's solid-state ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The rhetoric is relentless: America is a place of unparalleled opportunity, where hard work and determination can propel a child out of humble beginnings into the White House, or at least a mansion on a hill. But the reality is very different, according to a University of Michigan researcher who is studying inequality across generations around the world. "Especially in the United States, people underestimate the extent to which your destiny is linked to your background. Research shows that it's really a myth that the U.S. is a land of exceptional social ...

JEJU, SOUTH KOREA (September 5, 2012) — Will the tiger go the way of the passenger pigeon or be saved from extinction like the American bison? The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) today released a list of Asian species that are at a conservation crossroads calling for governments to take immediate action with The Three R's Approach: Recognition, Responsibility, Recovery. The list includes: the tiger, orangutans, Mekong giant catfish, Asian rhinos, Asian giant river turtles, and Asian vultures. The announcement was made at the IUCN's World Conservation Congress convening ...

Attention men: The day may be coming soon when you can take your own birth control pill with no side effects, according to a study done by a group of scientists that includes a Texas A&M University researcher. Qinglei Li, an assistant professor in Texas A&M's College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, is part of a team of researchers led by Martin Matzuk at Baylor College of Medicine and James Bradner at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who made the discovery, and their work is published in the journal Cell. Working on mice, the team found that a compound called ...

The National Human Genome Research Institute today announced the results of a five-year international study of the regulation and organization of the human genome. The project is named ENCODE, which stands for the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements. In conjunction with the release of those results, the Journal of Biological Chemistry has published a series of reviews that focus on several aspects of the findings. "The ENCODE project not only generated an enormous body of data about our genome, but it also analyzed many issues to better understand how the genome functions in ...

The most-studied mass extinction in Earth history happened 65 million years ago and is widely thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs. New University of Washington research indicates that a separate extinction came shortly before that, triggered by volcanic eruptions that warmed the planet and killed life on the ocean floor. The well-known second event is believed to have been triggered by an asteroid at least 6 miles in diameter slamming into Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. But new evidence shows that by the time of the asteroid impact, life on the seafloor – mostly species ...

Montreal, September 5, 2012 – Being the last one picked for the team, getting left out of the clique of cool girls, having no one to sit with at lunch… For children, social exclusion can impact everything from emotional well being to academic achievements. But what does it mean for the kids doing the excluding? Is the cure a one-size-fits-all approach that requires kids to include others, regardless of the situation at hand? Not necessarily, says new research from a professor now at Concordia University. Unlike previous studies where researchers created hypothetical ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Only about 1 percent of the human genome contains gene regions that code for proteins, raising the question of what the rest of the DNA is doing. Scientists have now begun to discover the answer: About 80 percent of the genome is biochemically active, and likely involved in regulating the expression of nearby genes, according to a study from a large international team of researchers. The consortium, known as ENCODE (which stands for "Encyclopedia of DNA Elements"), includes hundreds of scientists from several dozen labs around the world. Using genetic ...

Infrared data from NASA's Aqua satellite shows that Tropical Storm Leslie has been causing problems for itself. Tropical Storm Leslie has been on a slow track in the Atlantic, and because of that, the storm is kicking up cooler waters from below the ocean surface. Those cooler waters were seen in infrared imagery on Sept. 5 at 0611 UTC (2:11 a.m. EDT) taken by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The cooler waters are responsible for Leslie's slow strengthening. Sea surface temperatures need to be at least as warm ...

Post-tropical cyclone John has been "flushed" out of existence in the eastern Pacific Ocean, and infrared NASA imagery revealed warmer cloud top temperatures and virtually no precipitation from John's remnants on Sept. 4. When NASA's Aqua satellite flew over post-tropical storm John on Sept. 4 at 21:23 UTC (5:23 p.m. EDT) the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument revealed that cloud top temperatures in the storm had warmed over the previous 24 hours. AIRS data also showed there was one very tiny area of convection (rising air that forms the thunderstorms that ...

For years policymakers have attempted to replace Medicare's fee-for- service payment system with approaches that pay one price for an aggregation of services. The intent has been to reward providers for offering needed care in the most appropriate and cost-effective manner. But many of these programs have known pitfalls, says Stuart Altman, an economist and the Sol C. Chaikin Professor of National Health Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. On Friday, Sept. 7, Altman and his Heller school colleague Robert Mechanic, will ...