Malformed desmin proteins aggregate with intact proteins of the same kind, thereby triggering skeletal and cardiac muscle diseases, the desminopathies. This was discovered by researchers from the RUB Heart and Diabetes Center NRW in Bad Oeynhausen led by PD Dr. Hendrik Milting in an interdisciplinary research project with colleagues from the universities in Karlsruhe, Würzburg and Bielefeld. They report in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. One defective gene is enough Desmin normally forms stabilizing filaments inside of the cells. Different mutations in the DES ...

Cosmetic dental problems can cause you a great deal of dissatisfaction with they way you look and the way you feel about yourself. Cosmetic dentistry provides an avenue for improving your smile, in a way that is uniquely tailored to your dental problems and smile wishes. Porcelain veneers provide a way to achieve smile improvement in a relatively short amount of time. Instead of receiving orthodontic treatment for several months or even a couple years, porcelain veneers can create a straight, symmetrical smile within weeks. Uses of Porcelain Veneers Porcelain veneers ...

Criminal cases can often only be solved using forensics to piece together physical evidence and reconstruct what happened. Prof. Dr. Helmut Schmitz from the Institute of Zoology at the University of Bonn and Dr. Herbert Bousack from the Peter Grünberg Institut at the Forschungzentrum Jülich went through the same experience. Prof. Schmitz has been researching fire beetles of the genus Melanophila and their sophisticated IR sensors, which these pyrophilous insects use to detect forest fires, for many years. This is a very special ecological niche. "It allows the beetle larvae ...

Your recovery from cataract surgery will depend on factors such as your body's natural healing ability and how closely you follow your eye surgeon's advice. Taking time to carefully follow all postoperative directions will help guard against potential complications and ensure your cataract surgery is successful. Postoperative Considerations Following your cataract surgery, your eye surgeon will provide you with a complete list of things you will need to do to help guarantee a swift and complication-free recovery. This list will include things such as: - Use all ...

People in rural counties who work for themselves may add a boost to local economies, improving income and job growth, according to economists. The share of self-employed workers in non-metro counties significantly predicted personal income and job growth, as well as declines in family poverty levels, said Stephan Goetz, professor of agricultural economics and regional economics, Penn State, and director of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development. "We often look at self-employment as a stopgap measure, something done out of desperation," Goetz said. "But, ...

PITTSBURGH—When grabbing a coffee mug out of a cluttered cabinet or choosing a pen to quickly sign a document, what brain processes guide your choices? New research from Carnegie Mellon University's Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC) shows that the brain's visual perception system automatically and unconsciously guides decision-making through valence perception. Published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, the review hypothesizes that valence, which can be defined as the positive or negative information automatically perceived in the majority of visual ...

PRK, LASEK, and epi-LASIK are all Laser Vision Correction procedures that involve temporarily removing the topmost layer of the eye, called the epithelium. This sheet of cells rests over your cornea and must be removed in order to reshape the cornea using laser energy. Once the laser surgical procedure is complete, the epithelial sheet is usually placed back over the surface of the eye, and a soft "bandage" contact lens is inserted into the eye to help the flap heal. While these three procedures share basic similarities, they differ in a few key ways that are ...

New research from North Carolina State University shows that a wind-driven "tumbleweed" Mars rover would be capable of moving across rocky Martian terrain – findings that could also help the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) design the best possible vehicle. "There is quite a bit of interest within NASA to pursue the tumbleweed rover design, but one of the questions regarding the concept is how it might perform on the rocky surface of Mars," says Dr. Andre Mazzoleni, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering (MAE) at NC State and ...

Recent changes to the commercial driver licensing (CDL) requirements issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will better prepare commercial drivers and help keep roads safe for everyone. In 2011, the FMCSA adopted a new commercial learner's permit regulation and toughened requirements for earning a CDL. It also changed the definition of "tank vehicle," which affected the endorsements on some individuals' CDLs. Even though the FMCSA gives states until July 8, 2014, to implement these changes, Louisiana started citing drivers for violations ...

A class action is a form of civil litigation available for a group of individuals who have been injured in a similar manner, in order to seek compensation as part of a group action. Eligibility for a class action requires that the victim be harmed by the same defendant and received similar injuries from the same product or action as other members of the group or class. Class actions are initiated for many reasons, including: -Employee discrimination or harassment -Unfair employment practices, including unpaid wages -Injuries resulting from defective pharmaceuticals, ...

Biologists Leonard Freed and Rebecca Cann from the University of Hawaii at Manoa have been studying birds at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge for 20 years. Located on an old cattle ranch on the windward slope of Mauna Kea on the Island of Hawaii, it was established in 1985 to protect 8 species of rare and endangered perching birds. The refuge and its volunteers planted over 400,000 seedlings of native koa trees in an abandoned pasture to restore high elevation forest. The once-rare white-eye colonized the restoration area, grew rapidly in it, but then surged into ...

Spring's early arrival in the Twin Cities caused many motorcycle enthusiasts to tune up their bikes and hit the road early this year. Unfortunately, this enthusiasm resulted in the death of a Lake Elmo motorcyclist. This accident prompted the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) to issue a motorcycle accident safety warning on March 16th. DPS Motorcycle Safety Warning The DPS warning is aimed at both motorists and bikers. It encourages drivers to be alert to the presence of motorcyclists around them and to double-check blind spots when changing lanes or making ...

Federal truck-safety regulators released a new, improved program in December 2010 that changes the way the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the part of the U.S. Department of Transportation responsible for heavy-truck and large bus safety, enforces compliance with federal road-safety rules and regulations. The agency's priority is to reduce the rate of commercial-truck crashes and related injuries and deaths. The FMCSA noticed the decreasing rate of truck accidents was dropping at a slower pace and undertook a comprehensive overview of how it could better ...

PITTSBURGH, May 23 – In one of the most comprehensive analyses to date of the cost of robotic-assisted, laparoscopic surgery for prostate cancer, researchers at UPMC found that this now-dominant surgical approach is significantly more costly than standard open surgery, despite little scientific evidence of long-term improved patient outcomes. The results of the study are available online and will appear in the July issue of the journal Urology. In one of the first studies based on actual direct and indirect costs at a single institution—rather than computer models that ...

As we get older, it becomes more difficult to do many everyday activities -- and driving is no different. Despite the challenges associated with driving as a senior citizen, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that 78 percent of people age 70 and above -- about 22 million seniors -- are still driving. We're all familiar with media stories that involve senior citizens driving off the road, and sometimes injuring the unsuspecting people around them. But, statistics show that generally speaking, older drivers are not as much of a harm to others as you might ...

This press release is available in German. Tobacco: actually pretty bad food for leafhoppers Empoasca sp. is not a typical pest of wild tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata). When this plant grows in its natural habitats in North America, however, it is attacked by tobacco hornworm larvae (Manduca sexta). This specialist insect is resistant to the toxic nicotine, which the plant produces as a defense against its enemies. When researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology used particular transgenic plants in field experiments, they noticed that these plants were ...

Prescription drug advertisements have become ubiquitous in United States' media, including television and magazines. Unfortunately, these ads may be ultimately misleading about potential side effects, placing patients at risk. How Drug Marketing Campaigns Portray Side Effects Drug companies use several techniques to downplay the side effects of the potentially dangerous drugs they are advertising. First, a drug company may enlist a celebrity to endorse its product. For example, the anti-inflammatory drug Enbrel is promoted by professional golfer Phil Mikelson. ...

Traumatic brain injury -- often called TBI -- is brain damage that can be caused by a blow or jolt to the head, as well as by an object penetrating the skull. Oftentimes, TBIs are not life threatening and those who suffer from mild injuries experience temporary brain-cell dysfunction -- which results in symptoms such as headaches, sleep-pattern changes, mood alterations and loss of consciousness that lasts for a few seconds to a few minutes. In other cases, TBIs can be quite severe, causing serious damage or even death to the victims. The Causes and Effects of Severe ...

Use of the antioxidant urate to protect against the neurodegeneration caused by Parkinson's disease appears to rely on more than urate's ability to protect against oxidative damage. In the May issue of the open-access journal PLoS One, researchers from the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases (MGH-MIND) describe experiments suggesting the involvement of a novel mechanism in urate's protection of cultured brain cells against Parkinson's-like damage. "Our experiments showed, unexpectedly, that urate's ability to protect neurons requires the presence of ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Blame it on your genes? Researchers from The Miriam Hospital's Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center say individuals with variations in certain "obesity genes" tend to eat more meals and snacks, consume more calories per day and often choose the same types of high fat, sugary foods. Their study, published online by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and appearing in the June issue, reveals certain variations within the FTO and BDNF genes – which have been previously linked to obesity – may play a role in eating habits that can cause obesity. ...

If you have filed for bankruptcy, you may wonder what your credit will look like after you obtain your discharge of debt. You understand that a bad credit rating means credit cards and loans will be more expensive and harder to get. However, you may be surprised to find your credit could be better than you expect. Bad Credit? The good news is your credit can probably only improve. If you had to file bankruptcy, your financial situation was probably rather unstable. All of your creditors were aware of this; after all, they were the ones harassing you to pay their bills. Once ...

Seagrasses are a vital part of the solution to climate change and, per unit area, seagrass meadows can store up to twice as much carbon as the world's temperate and tropical forests. So report researchers publishing a paper this week in the journal Nature Geoscience. The paper, "Seagrass Ecosystems as a Globally Significant Carbon Stock," is the first global analysis of carbon stored in seagrasses. The results demonstrate that coastal seagrass beds store up to 83,000 metric tons of carbon per square kilometer, mostly in the soils beneath them. As a comparison, a ...

About a year ago, 15 people were killed in a commercial bus that was traveling from Connecticut to New York City. A few months later, 30 bus passengers were injured in upstate New York in an accident that killed a truck driver. According to Governor Andrew Cuomo, these New York bus accidents are just two examples of why it's necessary to increase the amount of commercial bus inspections conducted by the Department of Transportation. To that end, Cuomo and the New York State Legislature recently approved $1 million in the state budget to create a program that will allow ...

An elongated crack, a random upheaval -- less than perfect sidewalks can send almost anyone caught off guard tumbling. For those in wheelchairs, shoddy sidewalks can even mean a complete lack of mobility. In New York State, a person in a wheelchair is considered a pedestrian, and is subject to all pedestrian traffic laws. Yet, the neglected state of a good number of sidewalks in Albany can make compliance with the law difficult or impossible, substantially raising the risk of pedestrian accidents. Wheelchair Users Can Be Forced Into Traffic Due to Unsafe Sidewalks If ...

DURHAM, N.C. – Women receiving care for breast cancer have significantly impaired cardio-pulmonary function that can persist for years after they have completed treatment, according to a study led by scientists at Duke University Medical Center. The findings, reported online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, also provide initial evidence that poor cardio-pulmonary function may be a strong predictor of survival among women with advanced breast cancer. "We know that exercise tolerance tests, which measure cardiopulmonary function, are among some of the most important ...