Johns Hopkins researchers report the discovery of a molecular switch that regulates the behavior of a protein that, when altered, is already known to increase human susceptibility to schizophrenia and mood disorders. The findings, published online in the journal Nature, expand the possibility of creating biomarkers that can better diagnose those with mental illnesses and track their treatment. Building on previous studies at Hopkins, the new research further offers clues to why the Disrupted In Schizophrenia gene (DISC1) and its protein product plays so many distinct ...

DURHAM, N.C. – An international team of scientists lead by researchers from Duke University and Johns Hopkins University have discovered a key "switch" in the brain that allows neurons to stop dividing so that these cells can migrate toward their final destinations in the brain. The finding may be relevant to making early identification of people who go on to develop schizophrenia and other brain disorders. "This work sheds light on what has been a big black box in neuroscience," said Nicholas Katsanis, Ph.D., co-senior author of the work and Jean and George Brumley ...

PHILADELPHIA (April 6, 2011) – Following years of futile attempts, new research from the Monell Center demonstrates that living human taste cells can be maintained in culture for at least seven months. The findings provide scientists with a valuable tool to learn about the human sense of taste and how it functions in health and disease. This advance ultimately will assist efforts to prevent and treat taste loss or impairment due to infection, radiation, chemotherapy and chemical exposures. "People who undergo chemotherapy or radiation therapy for oral cancer often ...

Boston, MA - A new 17 year follow-up study of 37,000 Israeli teenagers found that diabetes risk is mainly associated with increased body mass index (BMI) close to the time of diagnosis at early adulthood, while coronary heart disease risk is associated with elevated BMI both at adolescence and adulthood. The findings are published in the April 7 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Lead study author, Amir Tirosh, MD PhD, of the Endocrine Division at Brigham and Women's Hospital said, "The study suggests that the obesity problem in children and teens is likely ...

A National Institutes of Health study has found that progesterone, a naturally occurring hormone, reduced the rate of preterm birth before the 33rd week of pregnancy by 45 percent among one category of at risk women. The women in the study had a short cervix, which is known to increase the risk for preterm birth. The cervix is the part of the uterus that opens and shortens during labor. The study also found that infants born to women who had received progesterone were less likely to develop respiratory distress syndrome, a breathing complication occurring in preterm ...

New research suggests that several commonly prescribed drugs for type 2 diabetes may not be as effective at preventing death and cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and stroke, as the oral anti-diabetic drug, metformin. Insulin secretagogues (ISs), such as glimepiride, glibenclamide (known as glyburide in the USA and Canada), gliclazide and tolbutamide, have been used to treat type 2 diabetes since the 1950-1970s, Nevertheless, the long-term risk associated with these drugs has largely been unknown. Metformin is the first drug of choice in type 2 diabetes, ...

International Women in Jazz Festival 2011, featuring The Antoinette Montague Group with Tammy Hall, Bill Easley and Payton Crossley. Held at Saint Peter's Church, 54th Street at Lexington Ave, NYC, on Saturday, April 9, 2011 from 12:30pm to 9:30pm. International Women in Jazz Festival 2011 schedule: 12:30 - 2:00 pm Masterclass by Melba Joyce 2:15 - 3:15 pm Jam session: Linda Presgrave Trio 4:15 - 5:30 pm IWJ honorees: Paul Ash, Sam Ash Music Corporation Rhonda Hamilton, WBGO Remembering Trudy Pitts by Mr. C Sally Placksin, Moderator 5:45 - 6:45 pm Reception: ...

Female deer do not always choose the bigger and dominant males to mate with, scientists from Queen Mary, University of London and Hartpury College have found. The research, which was undertaken in Dublin's Phoenix Park on a herd of fallow deer, focussed on females who chose not to mate with the 'top' males. The study, published today (6 April) in PLoS ONE found that yearling females tended to mate with a higher proportion of younger, lower ranking males while older females actively avoided mating with them. Alan McElligott, co-author on the study from Queen Mary, ...

This release is available in Spanish. SAN JOSÉ, COSTA RICA (7 April 2011)—Crop specialists in Central America announced today that a major rescue effort is underway in one of the heartlands of ancient agriculture to regenerate thousands of unique varieties of coffee, tomatoes, chili peppers, beans and other major crops through a partnership between the Global Crop Diversity Trust and 19 Latin American genebanks. One of the oldest collections targeted by the project is Costa Rica's Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE). An array of challenges—including ...

TMS Funding, the wholesale residential lending channel of Total Mortgage Services, LLC, announced today the hiring of six new Wholesale Account Executives, all with successful track records in developing new business relationships and supporting high quality mortgage brokers. "We are extremely pleased to have hired such an experienced group of mortgage production professionals that will have an immediate impact on expanding TMS Funding in many key markets and building out our national lending platform," commented Lisa Schreiber, Executive Vice President of Wholesale ...

April 6, 2011 – Developmental processes are increasingly well-characterized at the molecular and cell biological levels, but how more complex tissues and organs involving the coordinated action of multiple cell types in three dimensions is achieved remains something of a black box. One question of particular interest and importance is whether signaling interactions between neighboring tissues are essential to guiding organogenesis, or whether these can arise autonomously from developmental routines inherent to a given primordial tissue. Finding answers to these questions ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Biologically diverse streams are better at cleaning up pollutants than less rich waterways, and a University of Michigan ecologist says he has uncovered the long-sought mechanism that explains why this is so. Bradley Cardinale used 150 miniature model streams, which use recirculating water in flumes to mimic the variety of flow conditions found in natural streams. He grew between one and eight species of algae in each of the mini-streams, then measured each algae community's ability to soak up nitrate, a nitrogen compound that is a nutrient pollutant ...

Surado Solutions, the developer of on-premise and cloud based Online CRM solutions, announced the deployment of enterprise cloud computer services to deliver its International Cloud SaaS Surado CRM Online initiatives. Surado's enterprise cloud combines the power and flexibility of infrastructure-as-a-service with the expertise, security and availability that is required for mission-critical computing needs. These services will provide Surado command and control over a cloud-based resource pool of compute, storage and network built on a fully clustered enterprise-class ...

The country's state-funded healthcare service is similar to the NHS, and it also has a larger private healthcare sector, nurses not only find it easy to adapt to familiar working practices but can also expect a better climate, with an 'easy way of life'. Not surprising then when HCL International, the leading international healthcare recruiter, says that it gets it's best response when targeting Ireland for nursing jobs in Australia. The combination of recession and less favourable working conditions in the public sector is driving increasing numbers of nurses to seek ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- MIT cancer biologists have identified a genetic change that makes lung tumors more likely to spread to other parts of the body. The findings, to be published in the April 6 online issue of Nature, offers new insight into how lung cancers metastasize and could help identify drug targets to combat metastatic tumors, which account for 90 percent of cancer deaths. The researchers, led by Tyler Jacks, director of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, found the alteration while studying a mouse model of lung cancer. They then ...

PASADENA, Calif.—For many years, most scientists studying Tibet have thought that a very hot and very weak lower and middle crust underlies its plateau, flowing like a fluid. Now, a team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is questioning this long-held belief and proposing that an entirely different mechanism is at play. "The idea that Tibet is more or less floating on a layer of partially molten crust is accepted in the research community. Our research proposes the opposite view: that there is actually a really strong lower crust that originates ...

QuadTech (http://www.quadtech.com) a leading provider of electrical safety testers, passive component measurement solutions, ac and dc programmable power sources and dc electronic loads, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Founder and Chairman of the Board, Phil Harris, created QuadTech in March of 1991 when he bought the Precision Instrument Division of General Radio (GenRad), an electronic test equipment manufacturer and one of the most respected names in the test and measurement industry. While GenRad decided to focus their efforts on automatic test equipment (ATE) ...

New Orleans, LA – Dr. Howard Osofsky, Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, is an author of a review article published in the April 7, 2011 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine that urgently calls for the development of protocols to deal with the health effects of disasters – before the next one occurs. One year after the largest and most devastating oil spill in United States history, the magnitude of the impact of the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Spill on human health, the environment, and the economy remains ...

Li-air batteries are a promising opportunity for electric cars. "If we succeed in developing this technology, we are facing the ultimate breakthrough for electric cars, because in practice, the energy density of Li-air batteries will be comparable to that of petrol and diesel, if you take into account that a combustion engine only has an efficiency of around 30 percent," says Tejs Vegge, senior scientist in the Materials Research Division at Risø DTU. If batteries with an energy density this great become a reality, one could easily imagine electrically powered trucks. The ...

Scheduled or unexpected equipment downtime results in lost revenue, especially if this occurs during peak hours of operation. A failed solenoid on an ice machine can shut the system down completely. De-liming a steam oven takes time--often 2-3 hours--and can require the use of harsh chemicals. If this job is outsourced, it can cost up to $75.00 or more per hour per deliming, plus scheduling arrangements and dealing with equipment that is out of commission during the cleaning. The technical service personnel of equipment manufacturers have found that most equipment problems ...

Scientists at the University of Hull have identified a cellular 'on-off' switch that may have implications for treating cardiovascular disease and cancer. The team has found the mechanism which controls the inclusion of a protein called tissue factor into endothelial microparticles, tiny vesicles which are released from cells in the lining of blood vessels. "Although tissue factor is part of the body's natural healing process, helping create clots to stop bleeding and repair injuries, high levels circulating in the blood stream can be harmful," says lead researcher ...

Excess fat around the hips and belly may not really be compatible with current beauty ideals, but, to a certain degree, it is a normal, even vital energy store of our body. However, it is a different matter if the organism stores fat in organs such as the liver, pancreas or muscles. This is a clear sign of a metabolic disorder. Up to 80 percent of obese people develop fatty liver disease, which is regarded a typical characteristic of the dangerous metabolic syndrome. Deposition of fat in the liver may lead to chronic liver inflammation and even to liver cancer. In addition, ...

At Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), researchers of the DFG Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN) succeeded in specifically cultivating cells on three-dimensional structures. The fascinating thing is that the cells are offered small "holds" in the micrometer range on the scaffold, to which they can adhere. Adhesion is possible to these holds only, not to the remaining structure. For the first time, cell adhesion and, hence, cell shape are influenced precisely in three dimensions. The team headed by Professor Martin Bastmeyer thus has achieved big progress in ...

Scientists have shed new light on how older people may lose their memory with a development that could aid research into treatments for age-related memory disorders. Many believe that stress is bad for our brains especially as we get older. Now researchers have shown how two receptors in older brains react to a stress hormone called cortisol, which has been linked to increasing forgetfulness as we age. The study, by the University of Edinburgh, found that one receptor was activated by low levels of cortisol, which helped memory. However, once levels of this stress ...

Researchers at the University of Warwick have developed a gold plated window as the transparent electrode for organic solar cells. Contrary to what one might expect, these electrodes have the potential to be relatively cheap since the thickness of gold used is only 8 billionths of a metre. This ultra-low thickness means that even at the current high gold price the cost of the gold needed to fabricate one square metre of this electrode is only around £4.5. It can also be readily recouped from the organic solar cell at the end of its life and since gold is already widely ...