WOODS HOLE, MA—The origin of the exquisitely complex vertebrate brain is somewhat mysterious. "In terms of evolution, it basically pops up out of nowhere. You don't see anything anatomically like it in other animals," says Ariel Pani, an investigator at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole and a graduate student at the University of Chicago. But this week in the journal Nature, Pani and colleagues report finding some of the genetic processes that regulate vertebrate brain development in (of all places) the acorn worm, a brainless, burrowing marine invertebrate ...

MAYWOOD, Il. -- A Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study has revealed details of the complex molecular process involving a protein that enables cancer cells to establish tumors in distant parts of the body. The finding could lead the way to new drugs to prevent breast cancer and other cancers from spreading to new sites. The study by Adriano Marchese, PhD and colleagues is published in the March 16 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and is now available online. The study involves a molecule on the surface of cells called CXCR4. There is ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers have designed a new version of a labor-tracking tool for pregnant women that they predict could reduce the use of hormonal intervention during labor and lower the number of cesarean sections performed on low-risk, first-time mothers. The tool, called a partograph, takes into account the most recent research findings that suggest labor is not a linear process, but is instead slower during earlier labor and accelerates gradually as labor advances. A diagnosis of abnormally slow labor is the No. 1 reason that C-sections are performed in low-risk ...

I&K International has announced a significant increase in sales of products from its men's range. The surge in sales is believed to have been a direct result of the addition of new men's products over the last few years, as well as a general increase in the amount of attention men are paying to grooming. Indeed, the company has saw a 60% rise in the number of men buying these products when compared to the same time last year. These figures would seem to indicate that men are paying more attention to their physical appearance and grooming than ever before, and Kevin ...

For 300 million years, Earth's oceans teemed with conodonts – early vertebrates that kept their skeleton in their mouth. The elements of this skeleton look uncannily like teeth (see image) and, like teeth, they were often worn and broken during life. This evidence strongly suggests that conodonts evolved the first vertebrate dentitions. Scientists know that conodont elements worked differently from the teeth of other animals: they are microscopic – about 2 to 0.2 mm long – and must have had paltry muscles to move them, with no jaws to which they could attach. So how ...

Irvine, Calif., March 14, 2012 — UC Irvine researchers have discovered how Salmonella, a bacterium found in contaminated raw foods that causes major gastrointestinal distress in humans, thrives in the digestive tract despite the immune system's best efforts to destroy it. Their findings help explain why Salmonella is difficult to eradicate and point to new approaches for possible treatments. Most people infected with Salmonella suffer from diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps for up to seven days before the infection resolves. Lead researcher Manuela Raffatellu, a UCI ...

Few people know about the participation of Brazil in Word War I. Although Brazil remained neutral during most of the conflict, it eventually sent a fleet to support the war effort against the central powers. It was the only Latin-American country to do so. But the Brazilian expedition encountered an unexpected and treacherous enemy in the African coast against which -like all other Armies- it was not prepared for: the Spanish flu. The Spanish flu swept the globe in 1918-1919 and in a few months made more victims than the total number of battlefield deaths during the ...

NEW YORK, March 14, 2012 – A new study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center reveals that the presence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria is associated with elevated levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), an important biomarker for blood glucose levels and diabetes. The association was even stronger in obese individuals with a higher Body Mass Index (BMI). The results, which suggest the bacteria may play a role in the development of diabetes in adults, are available online in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. There have been several studies evaluating ...

Two teams of astronomers have used data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes to map the distribution of dark matter in a galaxy cluster known as Abell 383, which is located about 2.3 billion light years from Earth. Not only were the researchers able to find where the dark matter lies in the two dimensions across the sky, they were also able to determine how the dark matter is distributed along the line of sight. Dark matter is invisible material that does not emit or absorb any type of light, but is detectable through its gravitational effects. ...

BOSTON (March 14, 2012) — A research team has identified epigenetic signatures, markers on DNA that control transient changes in gene expression, within reprogrammed skin cells. These signatures can predict the expression of a wound-healing protein in reprogrammed skin cells or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), cells that take on embryonic stem cell properties. Understanding how the expression of the protein is controlled brings us one step closer to developing personalized tissue regeneration strategies using stem cells from a patient, instead of using human embryonic ...

Freezing eggs or ovarian tissue for the sole purpose of delaying childbearing for social reasons may prove too costly for society, according to a recent analysis by a University of Illinois at Chicago researcher. Fertility preservation -- freezing eggs or ovarian tissue -- was originally intended for women undergoing medical treatments that could affect their fertility. But now, fertility centers around the country are offering these technologies to women who are not undergoing treatment, but who are "trying to create a backup plan for delaying pregnancy," says Dr. ...

The American Cancer Society (ACS), the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP), and the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) have released new guidelines for the prevention and early detection of cervical cancer. The guidelines generally advise a reduction in the number of tests women get over their lifetime to better ensure that they receive the benefits of testing while minimizing the harms, and include a preference for co-testing using the Pap test and HPV test for women age ages 30 to 65. The finalized updated guidelines recommend: Women ...

British Airways has made it even easier to find the perfect holiday with the launch of a new 'Holiday Finder' tool on ba.com. Andrew Crawley, commercial director, British Airways said: "We have been developing ways to make choosing the right holiday even easier, so we are excited to launch the new 'Holiday Finder' on ba.com.  Now customers can be inspired and find a bargain that's just right for them at the same time." A new section called 'Not sure where and when' has been added to ba.com homepage and this is where customers will find a link to the 'Holiday ...

MATERIALS -- POWGEN open for business . . . The Spallation Neutron Source's Powder Diffractometer POWGEN has launched a rapid access sample mail-in system for users who use the flexible general-purpose instrument for a wide range of structural studies of novel materials. The instrument will be made available to rapid access users for a few days each cycle, offering data collection for two temperatures between 12 degrees Kelvin and 300 degrees Kelvin per sample. Users with a new material to test will not have wait six months for beam time. If response is good, the instrument ...

Broader screening to identify people infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) would likely be cost effective, according to a new report published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online (http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/02/27/cid.cis011.abstract). Significantly reducing HCV-related mortality and morbidity, however, will require a coordinated effort that emphasizes not only increased testing but also linking those infected with the treatment they need. The HCV epidemic peaked many years ago, but roughly 4 million U.S. residents still suffer the ...

Troy, N.Y. – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Biologist Lee Ligon has found a previously unknown connection between breast cancer tumor cells and the surrounding healthy tissue. The results provide new information on the earliest stages of breast cancer metastasis. The results were published March 7, 2012, in the journal PLoS One, in a paper titled "Cadherin-23 Mediates Heterotypic Cell-Cell Adhesion between Breast Cancer Epithelial Cells and Fibroblasts." Ligon was joined in the research by Rensselaer doctoral student Maria Apostolopoulou. The research was funded by ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Researchers estimate nearly 800,000 preventable adverse drug events may occur in nursing homes each year. Many of these incidents could be prevented with safety practices such as medication reconciliation, a process in which health care professionals, such as physicians, pharmacists and nurses, review medication regimens to identify and resolve discrepancies when patients transfer between health care settings. In nursing homes, both registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) often are responsible for this safety practice. A recent study ...

A group of scientists led by researchers from the University of Rochester and North Carolina State University have for the first time sent a message using a beam of neutrinos – nearly massless particles that travel at almost the speed of light. The message was sent through 240 meters of stone and said simply, "Neutrino." "Using neutrinos, it would be possible to communicate between any two points on Earth without using satellites or cables," said Dan Stancil, professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the research. ...

Macdonald Compleat Angler, which overlooks the River Thames at Marlow, Buckinghamshire, has introduced a new market lunch menu including some of the best fresh, spring provenance. The tempting dishes, created by Head Chef David Smith, will be served in the hotel's AA two rosette Bowaters restaurant Monday to Saturday from 12.30 until 2.30pm. The restaurant in Marlow will offer a choice of four delicious dishes for each course with vegetarian options. For starters there's pressed ham hock, John Ross Jnr smoked salmon fishcake, cream of cauliflower soup or a classic Caesar ...

This press release is available in French.Montreal -- Canada defines itself as a nation that stretches from coast to coast to coast. But can we keep those coasts healthy in the face of climate change? Yves Gélinas, associate professor in Concordia's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has found the solution in a surprising element: iron. In a study published in Nature, Gélinas — along with Concordia PhD candidate Karine Lalonde and graduate Alexandre Ouellet, as well as McGill colleague Alfonso Mucci — studies the chemical makeup of sediment samples from around ...

Enduring subtle, insidious acts of racial discrimination is enough to depress anyone, but African-American men who believe that they should respond to stress with stoicism and emotional control experience more depression symptoms, according to new findings from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The study, "Taking It Like a Man: Masculine Role Norms as Moderators of the Racial Discrimination–Depressive Symptoms Association Among African-American Men," was published online March 8, 2012, in the American Journal of Public Health. "We know that traditional ...

A new study of the composition of pine nuts, including those associated with "pine mouth," leaves unsolved the decade-old mystery of why thousands of people around the world have experienced disturbances in taste after eating pine nuts. The report on pine nuts or pignolia — delicious edible nuts from pine trees enjoyed plain or added to foods ranging from pasta to cookies — appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry. Ali Reza Fardin-Kia, Sara M. Handy and Jeanne I. Rader note that more than 20,000 tons of pine nuts are produced each year worldwide. "Pine ...

A simple, inexpensive dip-and-dry treatment can convert ordinary silk into a fabric that kills disease-causing bacteria — even the armor-coated spores of microbes like anthrax — in minutes, scientists are reporting in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. They describe a range of potential uses for this new killer silk, including make-shift curtains and other protective coatings that protect homes and other buildings in the event of a terrorist attack with anthrax. Rajesh R. Naik and colleagues explain that in adverse conditions, bacteria of the Bacillus species, ...

New research has linked springtime die-offs of honeybees critical for pollinating food crops — part of the mysterious malady called colony collapse disorder — with technology for planting corn coated with insecticides. The study, published in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology, appears on the eve of spring planting seasons in some parts of Europe where farmers use the technology and widespread deaths of honeybees have occurred in the past. In the study, Andrea Tapparo and colleagues explain that seeds coated with so-called neonicotinoid insecticides went ...

In a new paper, a Simon Fraser University economist finds that robo-calling, if the phenomenon did occur, could have significantly influenced voter turnout and ballot results in the last federal election. Anke Kessler's discussion paper is available on her website and on Worthwhile Canadian Initiative, an economics blog. Elections Canada is investigating New Democrat and Liberal party allegations that the Conservatives hired companies to robo-call voters in ridings across Canada, thereby influencing the Tories' 2011 federal election win. The term robo-calling describes ...