PHILADELPHIA—Pancreatic cancer researchers at Thomas Jefferson University have shown, for the first time, that blocking a receptor of a key hormone in the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) reduces cancer cell growth by activating the enzyme AMPK to inhibit fatty acid synthase, the ingredients to support cell division. With that, a new chemopreventive agent that inhibits the angiotensin II type 2 receptor—never before thought to play a role in tumor growth—could be developed to help treat one of the fastest-moving cancers that has a 5-year survival rate of only 5 percent. Hwyda ...

Reaching a new threshold in underwater medical studies, the Office of Naval Research (ONR), today announced a novel capability for examining how cells work at pressures far below the sea surface. Researchers at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU) have designed, built and validated a novel hyperbaric environment to study cellular behavior at greater depths. The joint ONR-NEDU effort is designed to explore advances to protect Navy divers working at depths of up to 1,000 feet. "This is a huge leap forward in our ability to understand cellular function at pressurized ...

With its promise to give us everything that makes sense, a group of young, self-proclaimed tech-geeks is gearing up to announce the launch of their new website this week. Shawcapitalmanagementonline.com, a product of a 6-month long development effort by the innovative founders themselves, is expected to make its way to the mainstream roster of news providers online. The new website features relevant news stories that focuses on Technology, Finance and Lifestyle and an area where you can interact with fellow readers and discuss stuff. Analysis shows that online users ...

MADISON, WI, AUGUST 10, 2011 -- Golf courses, known for their calm scenic views and precise grass patterns, take daily abuse. Divots created by golf strokes are a common occurrence, and can be a costly problem for golf course maintenance operations. Although previous research has identified differences in divot recovery across species of bermudagrass and zoysiagrass, little is known about divot resistance. Scientists at Purdue University and the University of Arkansas evaluated 12 cultivars of bermudagrass and zoysiagrass in a field experiment conducted in Fayetteville, ...

A revolutionary material that will replace steel in warhead casings will bring added lethality and increase the likelihood of a hit on an enemy target, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced August 10. By combining several metals with standard manufacturing techniques, High-Density Reactive Material (HDRM) has the potential to dramatically increase the explosive impact of most weapons with little or no compromise in strength or design. Unlike conventional munitions, the innovative materials approach integrates the casing with approved warhead explosives for increased ...

Commercial blood serum antibody tests—widely used in India and other developing countries to diagnose active tuberculosis—are not accurate or cost-effective, according to an analysis by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the University of Washington School of Public Health and McGill University. Use of serological tests in India resulted in more DALYs (years of healthy life lost to premature death and illness), more secondary infections, and more false-positive diagnoses of TB, compared to the use of microscopic sputum smear analysis or ...

TORONTO – New research led by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of Toronto has identified more genes in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and shows that there is an overlap between some of these genes and those found in other neuropsychiatric conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study is published in the August 10 advance online edition of Science Translational Medicine. The research team was led by Dr. Russell Schachar, Senior Scientist and Psychiatrist at SickKids and Professor of Psychiatry at the University ...

For decades, scientists have studied a laboratory mouse model that develops signs of the paralyzing disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) as they age. In a new study appearing in Nature Biotechnology, investigators at Nationwide Children's Hospital have developed a new model of ALS, one that mimics sporadic ALS, which represents about 90 percent of all cases. ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is characterized by the death of motor neurons, which are muscle-controlling nerve cells in the spinal cord. As these neurons die, the body's voluntary muscles ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A study links low vitamin D in young girls with early menstruation, which is a risk factor for a host of health problems for teen girls as well as women later in life. Researchers from the University of Michigan School of Public Health measured the blood vitamin D levels in 242 girls ages 5-12 from Bogota, Colombia, and followed them for 30 months. Girls low on vitamin D were twice as likely to start menstruation during the study than those with sufficient vitamin D, said epidemiologist Eduardo Villamor, associate professor in the U-M SPH. This ...

Golf courses and coffee plantations are some of the unlikely bat habitats that could be considered in conservation plans, say scientists presenting research at the Ecological Society of America's (ESA) 96th Annual Meeting from August 7-12, 2011. Using Doppler weather radar and other technologies relatively new to the field of ecology, ecologists will discuss the role of atmospheric conditions in bat behavior and the effectiveness of acoustic deterrents in reducing bat fatalities at wind farms. ESA's August 2011 meeting will take place in Austin, Texas, home to North America's ...

Analyses of the metabolic profile of blood serum have revealed significant differences in metabolites between men and women. In a study to be published on August 11 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München have concluded that there is a need for gender-specific therapies. Gender-specific therapies may be required for some diseases as there are significant differences between male and female metabolism. Such differences were shown to exist for 101 of the 131 metabolites – above all in lipid and amino acid species – in the sera ...

AUSTIN, Texas – Just as the rainy season is driving a new surge of cholera cases in Haiti, a new computational model could forecast where outbreaks are likely to occur. Researchers at Ohio State University are working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the project, in the hopes of targeting anti-cholera efforts where they are most needed in the earthquake-ravaged country. Just back from a 10-day trip to the Artibonite Valley in Haiti, Ohio State researcher Marisa Eisenberg described the model's early results at the Ecological Society of America ...

Ice and frozen ground at the North and South Poles are affected by climate change induced warming, but the consequences of thawing at each pole differ due to the geography and geology, according to a Penn State hydrologist. "The polar regions, particularly the Arctic, are warming faster than the rest of the world," Michael N. Gooseff, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, told attendees today (Aug. 11) at the 96th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Austin, Texas. "As a consequence, polar ecosystems respond directly to changes ...

In both chimpanzees and humans, portions of the brain that are critical for complex cognitive functions, including decision-making, self-awareness and creativity, are immature at birth. But there are important differences, too. Baby chimpanzees don't show the same dramatic increase in the volume of prefrontal white matter in the brain that human infants do. Those are the conclusions of a study reported in the August 11th Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, that is the first to track the development of the chimpanzee brain over time and to make the comparison to ...

Bacteria may have bad reputations but in fact, all animals -- us included -- rely on them in critical ways. In the case of sap-feeding insects, intimate associations with microbes offer a source for essential nutrients that their sugary diets just don't include. Now, researchers reporting in the August 11th Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have new insight into organisms that have taken this symbiotic lifestyle to the extreme; they have sequenced the genomes of two species of bacteria that live together, one inside of the other, inside mealybugs. The effort ...

RICHLAND, Wash. -- Looking to nature for their muse, researchers have used a common protein to guide the design of a material that can make energy-storing hydrogen gas. The synthetic material works 10 times faster than the original protein found in water-dwelling microbes, the researchers report in the August 12 issue of the journal Science, clocking in at 100,000 molecules of hydrogen gas every second. This step is just one part of a series of reactions to split water and make hydrogen gas, but the researchers say the result shows they can learn from nature how to control ...

VIDEO: The video describes the new epidermal electronics system and shows how it is applied to the skin. Click here for more information. Through a combination of careful theoretical modeling and precise micro-manufacturing, a team of engineers and scientists has developed a new type of ultra-thin, self-adhesive electronics device that can effectively measure data about the human heart, brain waves and muscle activity – all without the use of bulky equipment, conductive ...

- Revenue increased to US $ 1.035 billion, compared to US $ 663 million in H1 2010 - Operating profit increased to US $ 288 million, compared to US $ 83 million in H1 2010 - Adjusted EBITDA grew to US $ 337 million, compared to US $ 137 million in H1 2010 - Net profit amounted to US $ 244 million, compared to net loss of US $ 13 million in H1 2010 URALCHEM Holding P.L.C. (hereinafter URALCHEM Holding or the Company), a Cypriot holding company of the URALCHEM Group (hereinafter called the Group), one of the largest producers of nitrogen and phosphate fertilisers ...

VIDEO: A new form of electronics, small enough to fit under a temporary tattoo, changes the way scientists think about gathering data from the human body. Click here for more information. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Engineers have developed a device platform that combines electronic components for sensing, medical diagnostics, communications and human-machine interfaces, all on an ultrathin skin-like patch that mounts directly onto the skin with the ease, flexibility and comfort of ...

August 7, 2011 – A paper to be published on August 12, 2011 in the authoritative magazine Science reveals that Dr. F. Robin O'Keefe of Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. and Dr. Luis Chiappe, Director of the Natural History Museum's Dinosaur Institute, have determined that a unique specimen now displayed in NHM's Dinosaur Hall is the fossil of an embryonic marine reptile contained within the fossil of its mother. The 78-million-year-old, 15.4-foot-long adult specimen is a Polycotylus latippinus, one of the giant, carnivorous, four-flippered reptiles known as plesiosaurs ...

Researchers have traced in detail how certain powerful HIV neutralizing antibodies evolve, a finding that generates vital clues to guide the design of a preventive HIV vaccine, according to a study appearing in Science Express this week. The discoveries were made by a team led by the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. "This elegant research brings us another step closer to an HIV vaccine and establishes a potent new technique for evaluating the human immune response ...

Pasadena, CA— Type Ia supernovae are violent stellar explosions whose brightness is used to determine distances in the universe. Observing these objects to billions of light years away has led to the discovery that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, the foundation for the notion of dark energy. Although all Type Ia supernovae appear to be very similar, astronomers do not know for certain how the explosions take place and whether they all share the same origin. Now, a team of researchers has examined new and detailed observations of 41 of these objects and ...

Depressed women may face an increased risk of stroke, according to new research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. In six years of follow-up of women in the Nurses' Health Study, researchers found that a history of depression was associated with a 29 percent increased risk of total stroke – even after considering other stroke risk factors. Women who used anti-depressant medication — particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors— had a 39 percent increased risk of stroke. Examples of these drugs are Prozac, Zoloft, and Celexa. Anti-depressant ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A type of fungus that's been lurking underground for millions of years, previously known to science only through its DNA, has been cultured, photographed, named and assigned a place on the tree of life. Researchers say it represents an entirely new class of fungi: the Archaeorhizomycetes. Like the discovery of a weird type of aquatic fungus that made headlines a few months ago, this finding offers a glimpse at the rich diversity of microorganisms that share our world but remain hidden from view. The fungal phenomenon, brought to light by researchers ...

The Nobel Prize winning scientists Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov have taken a huge step forward in studying the wonder material graphene and revealing its exciting electronic properties for future electronic applications. Writing in the journal Science, the academics, who discovered the world's thinnest material at The University of Manchester in 2004, have revealed more about the electronic properties of its slightly fatter cousin – bilayer graphene. The researchers, from the universities of Manchester, Lancaster (UK), Nijmegen (the Netherland) ...