The notion of a pain switch is an alluring idea, but is it realistic? Well, chemists at LMU Munich, in collaboration with colleagues in Berkeley and Bordeaux, have now shown in laboratory experiments that it is possible to inhibit the activity of pain-sensitive neurons using an agent that acts as a photosensitive switch. For the LMU researchers, the method primarily represents a valuable tool for probing the neurobiology of pain. (Nature Methods, 19.02.2012) The system developed by the LMU team, led by Dirk Trauner, who is Professor of Chemical Biology and Genetics, is ...

When customers visit an online shop, they want to see all parts of a product; they want to enlarge it, or visualize adjusting single elements. Until now, web developers have been dealing with a multiplicity of different programs, in order to illustrate articles on the Internet in such a complex way. The new HTML extension XML3D, which offers the capability to describe computer scenes in spatial detail directly within the website's code, simplifies that. An online shop can be extended with XML3D in just a few clicks, as researchers of the Saarland University's Intel Visual ...

Sophia Antipolis, Wednesday 22 February 2012: The next Joint European CVD Prevention Guidelines, scheduled for publication later this year at EuroPRevent 2012, will be shorter, tighter and supported by fewer references. The aim, says Professor Joep Perk, Chairperson of the Task Force of the fifth edition, is a set of guidelines whose recommendations can be readily applied and whose evidence is unequivocal. "If we had picked up where we left off with the fourth edition guidelines, we'd have ended up with a 150-page document and 2000 references," says Perk. "And with that ...

The offspring of women who were given micronutrient supplements (minerals needed in small quantities, such as iron, iodine and vitamin A) before they became pregnant had gene modifications at birth as well as when they were tested at 9 months. The changes to the genes, called methylation, have previously been associated with the development of the immune system, although this study did not provide direct evidence that the activity of these genes has changed. The research, funded by the BBSRC, was published today in the journal Human Molecular Genetics in advance online ...

An international research, involving the participation of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), provides a new perspective on the jellyfish proliferation in world's oceans. This phenomenon has noticeably impacted on beaches around the world in recent years and has provoked the concerns of fishermen and bathers. However, according to the group of experts leading this new research, there are no "conclusive evidences" that point to global increase in jellyfish population. The news rise in Mass Media on jellyfish blooms and the discrepancies in climate and science ...

Criminal gangs are increasingly using the internet to market life-threatening counterfeit medicines and some have even turned up in legitimate outlets such as pharmacies, according to a review led by Dr Graham Jackson, editor of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice, and published in the March edition. Latest estimates suggest that global sales of counterfeit medicines are worth more than $75 billion, having doubled in just five years between 2005 and 2010. Numerous studies have also reported large numbers of websites supplying prescription only drugs without ...

Texting while driving increases the likelihood of a car accident or crash. The Alaska legislature passed a law in 2008 that it thought made texting and driving a crime, but the ambiguous language has raised questions from judges across the state. A bill has been introduced to clarify the language and make it clear that texting while driving is prohibited in Alaska. The problem with the law is how it described texting. It currently states: "A person commits the crime of driving with a screen device operating if the person is driving a motor vehicle, a the vehicle ...

Researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) have studied for the first time the response of human NK cells (Natural Killer) against porcine chondrocytes (cartilage cells). The results of the research, published in The Journal of Immunology, indicate that these cells, characteristic of the innate immune system, play an important role in the rejection of xenotransplantation (transplantation from another species) of porcine chondrocytes. NK cells Together with neutrophils and macrophages, NK cells are part of the first line of cellular defence ...

Researchers from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU, Spain) have been the first to discover the presence of certain aldehydes in food, which are believed to be related to some neurodegenerative diseases and some types of cancer. These toxic compounds can be found in some oils, such as sunflower oil, when heated at a suitable temperature for frying. "It was known that at frying temperature, oil releases aldehydes that pollute the atmosphere and can be inhaled, so we decided to research into whether these remain in the oil after they are heated, and they do" ...

Sudden cardiac death is a risk for patients with heart failure because the calcium inside their heart cells is not properly controlled and this can lead to an irregular heartbeat. New findings published in PLoS ONE, which reveal mechanisms that underlie this life-threatening risk, provide new possibilities for fighting it. The study, led by researchers from the University of Bristol's School of Physiology and Pharmacology, show how two individual but very similar proteins cooperatively adjust the amount of calcium inside the heart cells, and how this dual regulation may ...

Can animals' survival instincts shed additional light on what we know about human emotion? New York University neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux poses this question in outlining a pioneering theory, drawn from two decades of research, that could lead to a more comprehensive understanding of emotions in both humans and animals. In his essay, which appears in the journal Neuron, LeDoux proposes shifting scientific focus "from questions about whether emotions that humans consciously feel are also present in other animals and towards questions about the extent to which circuits ...

A new study by researchers at The University of Nottingham has proved that assessing family medical history is a significant tool in helping GPs spot patients at high risk of heart disease and its widespread use could save lives. Previous research has suggested that family history can be an indicator of a patient's risk of heart disease but at present family medical details are not systematically collected and used by GPs in cardiovascular risk assessment. This first-ever clinical investigation into systematically collecting family history as part of cardiovascular ...

Amsterdam, February 22, 2012 – Functional foods containing bacteria with beneficial health effects, or probiotics, have long been consumed in Northern Europe and are becoming increasingly popular elsewhere. To be of benefit, however, the bacteria have to survive in the very hostile environment of the digestive tract. A group of scientists from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Ås, Norway have developed a "model gastric system" for evaluating the survival of bacteria strains in the human digestive system, and determined that some bacteria strains survive better ...

Sparrows, blackbirds and the great tit are all birds known to sing at a higher pitch (frequency) in urban environments. It was previously believed that these birds sang at higher frequencies in order to escape the lower frequencies noises of the urban environment. Now, researchers at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Aberystwyth have discovered that besides noise, the physical structure of cities also plays a role in altering the birds' songs. Urban birds sing differently and at a higher frequency than woodland birds in an effort to penetrate the wall ...

For some older adults, the online video game World of Warcraft (WoW) may provide more than just an opportunity for escapist adventure. Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that playing WoW actually boosted cognitive functioning for older adults – particularly those adults who had scored poorly on cognitive ability tests before playing the game. "We chose World of Warcraft because it has attributes we felt may produce benefits – it is a cognitively challenging game in a socially interactive environment that presents users with novel situations," ...

A mysterious cycle of booms and busts in marine biodiversity over the past 500 million years could be tied to a periodic uplifting of the world's continents, scientists report in the March issue of The Journal of Geology. The researchers discovered periodic increases in the amount of the isotope strontium-87 found in marine fossils. The timing of these increases corresponds to previously discovered low points in marine biodiversity that occur in the fossil record roughly every 60 million years. Adrian Melott, a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Kansas ...

Sometimes our immune defence attacks our own cells. When this happens in the brain we see neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. But if the the immune defence is inhibited, the results could be disastrous. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have now discovered one of the molecular combat mechanisms in the brain that gets out of control in these diseases. In time this may enable targeted therapies to slow down the disease without harming the patient. "In their attempt to recover, diseased brain cells release chemical ...

An invasive plant may have saved an iconic Australian lizard species from death at the hands of toxic cane toads, according to research published in the March issue of The American Naturalist. It's an interesting case of one invasive species preparing local predators for the arrival of another, says Richard Shine, a biologist at the University of Sydney who led the research. Cane toads were introduced in Australia in the 1930s to control beetles that destroy sugar cane crops, but the toads quickly became an ecological disaster of their own. They produce toxins called ...

The rights of seamen who are injured while aboard vessels arise out of a complex array of established admiralty law principles, statutory provisions such as the Jones Act and general maritime law, as well as regulatory oversight. One of the most important duties of maritime lawyers is holding ship owners to their responsibility to provide maintenance and cure to injured crewmembers. Maintenance under the Jones Act means daily compensation to cover the costs of basic food and shelter that the seaman would have received aboard the vessel while working. Maintenance rates ...

Scientists are reporting use of a new technology for sifting through the world's largest remaining pool of potential antibiotics to discover two new antibiotics that work against deadly resistant microbes, including the "super bugs" known as MRSA. Their report appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Sean Brady and colleagues explain that an urgent need exists for new medications to cope with microbes that shrug off the most powerful traditional antibiotics. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, for instance, are resistant to most ...

New analyses of more than 4,000 scientific studies have concluded that a family of "miracle materials" called MOFs have a bright future in products and technologies — ranging from the fuel tanks in hydrogen-powered cars to muting the effects of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide — that are critical for solving some of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century. The 18 articles examining 4,283 pieces of research on MOFs published in the past appear in a special edition of the ACS' journal Chemical Reviews. Discovered 15 years ago, more than 3,000 metal-organic frameworks, ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The hermetic grain storage bags that cut off oxygen to weevils and have saved West and Central African farmers hundreds of millions of dollars by putting the brakes on the insects' rapid multiplication don't merely suffocate them as once thought, a Purdue University study shows. More than 25 years after introducing the Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) bags to farmers in Africa, Larry Murdock, a professor of insect physiology, discovered that weevils produce much of their water themselves through metabolic processes. When oxygen in the bags ...

New research has established the "miracle material" called graphene as the world's thinnest known coating for protecting metals against corrosion. Their study on this potential new use of graphene appears in ACS Nano. In the study, Dhiraj Prasai and colleagues point out that rusting and other corrosion of metals is a serious global problem, and intense efforts are underway to find new ways to slow or prevent it. Corrosion results from contact of the metal's surface with air, water or other substances. One major approach involves coating metals with materials that shield ...

Four workers at the Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens fell into a freshly dug grave. One worker was injured in the fall, reported the New York Post (2/6/2012). According to the New York Post, Raimundo Rodriguez was cleaning the grave site when he plunged 6 feet down into the open grave. Rodriguez broke his ankle on the hard casket, said the tabloid. His three co-workers landed on top of him. Every year, many people are seriously injured in a slip and fall accident in New York. Employees who are injured in a slip and fall accident at work ...

Mindful of lessons from a failed heart drug that cost $800 million to develop, drug companies are taking another shot at new medications that boost levels of so-called "good cholesterol," which removes cholesterol from the body. A report on how three new versions of medications in the same family as the failed torcetrapib appears in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News, the newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. In the cover story, C&EN Associate Editor Carmen Drahl explains that the drug maker Pfizer abruptly ...