Foxp2, a gene involved in speech and language, helps regulate the wiring of neurons in the brain, according to a study which will be published on July 7th in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics. The researchers identified this functional link by first identifying the major targets of Foxp2 in developing brain tissue and then analysing the function of relevant neurons. Foxp2 codes for a regulatory protein that provides a window into unusual aspects of brain function. In 2001, scientists discovered that mutations of the human gene cause a rare form of speech and language ...

Researchers have uncovered a new target that could stop the growth of glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer. In the July 8th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, a new study identifies an enzyme found in glioma stem cells that allows them to grow and seed tumors. Importantly, normal stem cells, including those in the brain, don't appear to share that same dependency. "When thinking about therapeutics [targeting cancer stem cells], you have to be careful that you aren't interfering with normal stem cells," said Christine Eyler of the Cleveland Clinic. ...

Polar bears' unique characteristics allow them to survive in one of the most extreme environments on Earth, but that survival is now threatened as rising temperatures and melting ice reshape the Arctic landscape. Now it appears that the stress of climate change, occurring both long ago and today, may be responsible for surprising twists in the bears' history and future as well. According to DNA evidence reported in the July 7th Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, polar bears and brown bears have mated successfully many times in the last 100,000 years. As a result ...

An injection of stem cells into the heart could offer hope to many of the 850,000 Americans whose chest pain doesn't subside even with medicine, angioplasty or surgery, according to a study in Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association. Patients who received the new treatment reported half as many chest pain episodes and improved exercise capability compared to those who received a placebo. The study was the first randomized, controlled trial of stem-cell therapy to show significant improvements in both chest pain and exercise tolerance – the two ...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- It seems we may have parasites to thank for the existence of sex as we know it. Indiana University biologists have found that, although sexual reproduction between two individuals is costly from an evolutionary perspective, it is favored over self-fertilization in the presence of coevolving parasites. Sex allows parents to produce offspring that are more resistant to the parasites, while self-fertilization dooms populations to extinction at the hands of their biological enemies. The July 8 report in Science, "Running with the Red Queen: Host-Parasite ...

Lesions to the brain or spinal cord rarely heal fully, which leads to permanent functional impairment. After injury to the central nervous system (CNS), neurons are lost and largely replaced by a scar often referred to as the glial scar based on its abundance of supporting glial cells. Although this process has been known to science for over a century, the function of the scar tissue has long been disputed. However, there are indications that it stabilizes the tissue and that it inhibits the re-growth of damaged nerve fibres. In this present study, Professor Jonas Frisén ...

An analysis of heart disease and stroke statistics collected in 192 countries by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that the relative burden of the two diseases varies widely from country to country and is closely linked to national income, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. Reporting this week in the journal Circulation, the UCSF scientists found that developing countries tend to suffer more death and disability by stroke than heart disease – opposite the situation in the United States and other countries with higher national ...

Boulder, CO, USA – Highlights for articles published online 7 July 2011 are provided below. Keywords include: Coast Mountains batholith, Anderson Reservoir, Canada, Alaska, Chugach terrane, Valdez Group, Basin and Range province, and Sierra Nevada. LITHOSPHERE is now regularly posting pre-issue publication content -- finalized papers ready to go to press and not under embargo. GSA invites you to sign up for e-alerts (http://www.gsapubs.org/cgi/alerts) or RSS feeds (http://lithosphere.gsapubs.org/rss/) to have access to new journal content as soon as it is posted online. ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- High blood pressure during pregnancy is a leading cause of maternal and fetal mortality worldwide. Pregnant women face a risk of stroke that is 2.4 times higher than the risk in non-pregnant women, according to a medical journal article by Loyola University Health System researchers. The review article on pregnancy-induced high-blood-pressure syndromes is published in the journal Women's Health. "Prompt diagnosis and identification of patients at risk allows for early therapeutic interventions and improved clinical outcomes," the Loyola authors wrote. Pregnancy-induced ...

SAN DIEGO, CA – Lace-up ankle braces can reduce the occurrence of acute ankle injuries in male and female high school basketball players, according to research presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Annual Meeting in San Diego. The study demonstrated that the braces are effective for athletes both with and without a history of ankle injury. "We wanted to see whether the use of lace-up ankle braces is a viable option for injury prevention in high school basketball players," said lead researcher, Timothy A. McGuine, PhD, ATC, with the University ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL 12P.M. EST, Friday, July 8, 2011, Cleveland: Cleveland Clinic researchers have identified a cellular pathway that cancer stem cells use to promote tumor growth in malignant glioma, an aggressive brain tumor. The research – published in the July 8 issue of Cell – also found that existing medications block this cancer-promoting pathway and delay glioma growth in animal models, suggesting a new treatment option for these often fatal brain tumors. Malignant gliomas account for more than half of the 35,000-plus primary malignant brain tumors diagnosed each ...

Advances in research into Alzheimer's disease: transporter proteins at the blood CSF barrier and vitamin D may help prevent amyloid β build up in the brain Advancing age is a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and is associated with build- up of the peptide amyloid β in the brain. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Fluids and Barriers of the CNS shows that removal of amyloid β from the brain depends on vitamin D and also on an age-related alteration in the production of transporter proteins which move amyloid β in ...

Geneva/Boston (July 8, 2011) -- Today at the Neglected Tropical Diseases Meeting of the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID-NTD) in Boston, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) announced the first research and development project in its new helminth infection drug portfolio to address unmet needs of patients in Africa and Asia. The project will assess the potential of the drug flubendazole to treat a highly neglected subset of helminth infections, notably co-infection of two of the three filarial diseases: onchocerciasis (river blindness) ...

Scientists have shed light on why it is easier to learn about things related to what we already know than it is to learn about unfamiliar things, according to a new study. The team says this is a paradox, as very different things are arguably more novel, yet adding to what we already know is so much easier. Researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh and Tokyo have found that building on existing knowledge activates a key set of genes in the brain. These 'plasticity' genes do not respond so well to subjects about which we know very little, making it harder for us ...

The research was undertaken on the basis of the most pessimistic and severe scenarios for conditions of climate change in the future and claims that for 2080, the oak woods of the Basque Country would undergo a significant or almost total reduction of their habitat, given that, in our territory, wooded areas will not meet the variables of temperature and humidity necessary for their development. Neiker-Tecnalia experts consider that this study illustrates the tendency towards the 'Mediterraneanisation" of woods in Euskadi. The technological centre is analysing this ...

This release is available in German. A robot carefully lifts and positions a heavy component while a worker welds light-weight aluminum components to a machine right next to it. Although such scenarios are visions of the future at present, they will soon be part of the everyday work routine if industry has its way. Humans and robots will team up, especially on assembly jobs, and collaboratively employ their particular capabilities: Steel assistants could bring their power, durability and speed to bear and humans their dexterity and motor skills. At present, automated ...

Crazy Vegas Online Casino has just launched three new games onto its No-Download Flash Casino. These new games are added to the already generous assortment of over 550 games and 24 Progressive Jackpots that are available in the casino lobby. Riviera Riches Riviera Riches is a 5-Reel Video Slot game that is themed around the game of Roulette at a Land-Based Casino. The 15 Paylines are filled with Wilds, Scatters and Bonus Symbols. 12 recursive Free Spins are up for grabs when 3 or more Scattered Cash symbols spin into place on the Reels. All winnings made during the ...

This release is available in German. Drivers were freed from their dependence on maps a long time ago – nowadays they rely on their navigation device to get them to destinations in unfamiliar areas. But this luxury has so far remained elusive for users of local public transport systems. A personal guide – similar to a car's navigation system – designed to show them the way to their destination and help avoid hold-ups and out-of-service lines would be a tremendous help. Commuters and locals could switch to alternative routes if their bus or train was late and tourists ...

For patients suffering from epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a hereditary skin disease, even a gentle touch is extremely painful. Now Dr. Li-Yang Chiang, Dr. Kate Poole and Professor Gary R. Lewin of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin-Buch have discovered the causes underlying this disease. Due to a genetic defect, individuals with EB cannot form laminin-332, a structural molecule of the skin that in healthy individuals inhibits the transduction of tactile stimuli and neuronal branching (Nature Neuroscience, doi: 10.1038/nn.2873)*. According to the ...

MADISON – An estimated two billion people in the developing world heat and cook with a biomass fuel such as wood, but the practice exposes people – especially women – to large doses of small-particle air pollution, which can cause premature death and lung disease. In a study just published online in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have associated indoor air pollution with increased blood pressure among older women. In a remote area of Yunnan Province, China, 280 women in an ethnic minority ...

Orthodontist Dr. Stephen Yao of San Jose, is hosting an E-Waste event on Saturday, July 23rd from 9am-2pm at his 4010 Moorpark Ave location to benefit the San Jose Giants Community Foundation! The mission of the Giants Sports Foundation is "to encourage and foster the development of healthy lifestyles in children and teens through physical activity and education." "Our Children are our future! I feel they should be active and not just playing video games or other sedentary activities," says Dr. Yao. Helping the San Jose Giants Community Foundation ...

New research from the University of Adelaide has added to the debate about whether dinosaurs were cold-blooded and sluggish or warm-blooded and active. Professor Roger Seymour from the University's School of Earth & Environmental Sciences has applied the latest theories of human and animal anatomy and physiology to provide insight into the lives of dinosaurs. The results will be published this month in Proceedings B, the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences), and can now be found online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.0968 Human thigh bones ...

This release is available in German. What happens if you cannot recall your memory correctly? You are able to associate and store the name and face of a person, yet you might be unable to remember them when you meet that person. In this example, the recall of the information is temporarily impaired. How such associative memories are "read out" in the brain remains one of the great mysteries of modern neurobiology. Now, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried and from the Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles in Paris, ...

All motorists should drive cautiously to avoid crashes on U.S. roads, but drivers in New Jersey have a new reason to be more attentive while driving. A recent insurance company survey rated New Jersey drivers poorly on licensed motorists' responses to typical driver's test questions. While the state has improved its seat-belt use lately and lowered its fatal crash rate last year, New Jersey drivers can still use this current ranking to continue improving driver education and knowledge of basic traffic laws and practices. Dangerous Conditions New Jersey roads and intersections ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Oh, the challenges of being a neuron, responsible for essential things like muscle contraction, gland secretion and sensitivity to touch, sound and light, yet constantly bombarded with signals from here, there and everywhere. How on earth are busy nerve cells supposed to pick out and respond to relevant signals amidst all that information overload? Somehow neurons do manage to accomplish the daunting task, and they do it with more finesse than anyone ever realized, new research by University of Michigan mathematician Daniel Forger and coauthors demonstrates. ...