LA JOLLA, CA – Embargoed by the journal Neuron until February 9, 2011, noon, Eastern time – A study from The Scripps Research Institute has unveiled a surprising mechanism that controls brain formation. The findings have implications for understanding a host of diseases, including some forms of mental retardation, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and autism. The research, led by Scripps Research Professor Ulrich Mueller, was published in the journal Neuron on February 10, 2011. In the new study, Mueller and colleagues focused on a protein called reelin. They found reelin is ...

Thirty years ago, the first human fetal surgery was performed at the University of California, San Francisco. Now, a randomized controlled trial has proven definitively that fetal surgery can help certain patients before birth. Babies who undergo an operation to repair the birth defect spina bifida while still in the womb develop better and experience fewer neurologic complications than babies who have corrective surgery after birth, according to findings from a major multicenter trial led by UCSF researchers. The study is the first to systematically evaluate the best ...

LOS ANGELES (EMBARGOED UNTIL FEB. 9, 2011 AT 9:15 PM EST) – Whether or not you're fond of Indian, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern food, stroke researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center think you may become a fan of one of their key spices. The scientists created a new molecule from curcumin, a chemical component of the golden-colored spice turmeric, and found in laboratory experiments that it affects mechanisms that protect and help regenerate brain cells after stroke. Research scientist Paul A. Lapchak, Ph.D., director of Translational Research in the Department ...

Two groups of lowly marine worms are related to complex species including vertebrates (such as humans) and starfish, according to new research. Previously thought to be an evolutionary link between simple animals such as jellyfish and the rest of animal life - the worms' surprising promotion implies that they have not always been as simple as they now appear. Although the marine worms Xenoturbella and Acoelomorpha are very simple animals – they lack a developed nervous system or gut – they have been a source of much debate among zoologists. Acoelomorphs were reclassified ...

ST. PAUL, Minn. – People who have memory problems or other declines in their mental abilities may be at higher risk for stroke, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 63rd Annual Meeting in Honolulu April 9 to April 16, 2011. "Finding ways to prevent stroke and identify people at risk for stroke are important public health problems," said study author Abraham J. Letter of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "This study shows we might get a better idea of who is at high risk of stroke by including a couple ...

A new strategic plan from an arm of the National Institutes of Health envisions scientists being able to identify genetic bases of most single-gene disorders and gaining new insights into multi-gene disorders in the next decade. This should lead to more accurate diagnoses, new drug targets and the development of practical treatments for many who today lack therapeutic options, according to the plan from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). Molecular pathways that are implicated in single-gene disorders may hold important clues for the diagnosis and treatment ...

Fears that most UK companies would slash investment in skills training as a result of the recession have proved to be largely unfounded, researchers at Cardiff University and the University of London have concluded. Although some employers have cut spending to the bone, total expenditure on training has reduced only slightly. Many employers are also "training smarter", according to a new study from researchers at Cardiff University and the Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies (LLAKES), at the Institute of Education, University of ...

Performing delicate surgery in the womb, months before birth, can substantially improve outcomes for children with a common, disabling birth defect of the spine. Experts at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) co-led a new landmark study showing that fetal surgery for spina bifida greatly reduces the need to divert fluid from the brain, improves mobility and improves the chances that a child will be able to walk independently. Spina bifida is the most common birth defect of the central nervous system, affecting about 1,500 babies born each year in the United ...

Stem Cell scientists in Australia have found that patients suffering from hearing problems which began during infancy and childhood could benefit from a transplant of stem cells from their nose. The research, published today in STEM CELLS, reveals that mucosa-derived stem cells can help preserve hearing function during the early-onset of sensorineural hearing loss. Sensorineural hearing loss is caused by the loss of sensory cells or neurons in the cochlea, the sensory organ of the inner ear responsible for hearing. The condition can have genetic causes, often arising ...

It is time to reopen private finance initiative (PFI) contracts say leading public health physician, Professor Allyson Pollock, and colleagues on bmj.com today. Professor Pollock, who is based at the Centre for International Public Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh, argues that "NHS PFI contracts are not good value and are endangering patient care". Since 1997 most large-scale public capital investment in the UK has been through PFI purchasing schemes where investment banks and building companies raise the finance for public infrastructure projects. In ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Many school officials react in exactly the wrong ways when one of their students completes suicide, according to the authors of a new book. While they may be well-intentioned, administrators who don't send the right messages may make copycat suicides more likely, and are not providing the help needed by others hurting from the tragedy. "Without the proper knowledge and resources, many school administrators may implement strategies that could actually increase the risk of suicide among students," said Darcy Haag Granello, professor of counselor education ...

Tart cherries could help athletes reduce muscle damage to recover faster from a tough workout, according to new research published in the American College of Sports Medicine's journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Researchers at the Sports and Exercise Science Research Center at London South Bank University in the UK gave 10 trained athletes 1 ounce of an antioxidant-packed tart cherry juice concentrate (provided by CherryActive) twice daily for seven days prior to and two days after an intense round of strength training. The athletes' recovery after the cherry ...

Motorcycle helmets, long known to dramatically reduce the number of brain injuries and deaths from crashes, appear to also be associated with a lower risk of cervical spine injury, new research from Johns Hopkins suggests. "We are debunking a popular myth that wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle can be detrimental during a motorcycle crash," says study leader Adil H. Haider, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "Using this new evidence, legislators should revisit the need for mandatory helmet laws. ...

A milestone in the international Avogadro project coordinated by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) has been reached: With the aid of a single crystal of highly enriched 28Si, the Avogadro constant has now been measured as exactly as never before with a relative overall uncertainty of 3 • 10𔃆. Within the scope of the redefinition of the kilogram, the value NA = 6.02214078(18) • 1023 mol𔂿 permits the currently most exact realization of this unit. The results have been published in the most recent edition of the journal "Physical Review Letters". The ...

Millbrook, NY— If society wants to address big picture environmental problems, like global climate change, acid rain, and coastal dead zones, we need to pay closer attention to the Earth's coupled biogeochemical cycles. So reports a special issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, published this month by the Ecological Society of America. "There are nearly seven billion people on the planet. And our activities are throwing the Earth's biogeochemical cycles out of sync, to the detriment of air and water resources, climate stability, and human health," comments ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – One factor, little-known by borrowers, can play a large role in whether banks are willing to renegotiate mortgages with homeowners who are struggling to meet payments. Unfortunately, it is a factor that homeowners have no control over. Researchers found that mortgages owned by lenders were 26 to 36 percent more likely to be renegotiated than very similar mortgages that the original lenders sold to other companies, which turned them into securities. "Homeowners don't have a say in whether their bank sells their mortgage or not, but that can have a ...

Montreal, February 9, 2011 – Cortisol, the so-called stress hormone, seems to behave in contradictory ways in children. Some youngsters with behavioral problems have abnormally high levels of cortisol, while others with identical problems have abnormally low levels. What's going on? Researchers at Concordia University and the Centre for Research in Human Development may have resolved the cortisol paradox. In a groundbreaking study published in the journal Hormones and Behavior, they link cortisol levels not simply to behavior problems, but to the length of time individuals ...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 9, 2011) - The population of aged persons worldwide is expanding rapidly, and it is becoming increasingly clear that there are many different diseases that affect the minds of these individuals. Researchers at the University of Kentucky are breaking new ground in the ongoing project of identifying and defining those diseases most likely to affect an aged population. Dr. Peter Nelson of the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging is the lead author on a paper soon to be published in the journal BRAIN; the paper deals with the little-understood ...

How easy is it to fake remorse? Not so easy if your audience knows what to look for. In the first investigation of the nature of true and false remorse, Leanne ten Brinke and colleagues, from the Centre for the Advancement of Psychology and Law (CAPSL), University of British Columbia and Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada, show that those who fake remorse show a greater range of emotional expressions and swing from one emotion to another very quickly - a phenomenon referred to as emotional turbulence - as well as speak with more hesitation. These findings have ...

The country where you live can have a big impact on your life. A new study of people from 128 countries finds that the more satisfied people are with their country, the better they feel about their lives—especially people who have low incomes or live in relatively poor countries. The study, published in the latest issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, is based on a Gallup World Poll that reached about 1,000 people in each of 128 countries, obtaining a total of more than 130,000 responses. People were asked a series of ...

Cultivating coca bushes, the source of cocaine, is speeding up destruction of rainforests in Colombia and threatening the region's "hotspots" of plant and animal diversity, scientists are reporting in a new study. The findings, which they say underscore the need for establishing larger protected areas to help preserve biodiversity, appear in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology. Liliana M. Dávalos and colleagues note that the pace of deforestation in Colombia has accelerated over the past 20 years, even as population growth has slowed and the economy has shifted ...

Scientists are reporting discovery of an environmentally friendly way to make a key industrial material — used in products ranging from paints to diapers — from a renewable raw material without touching the traditional pricey and increasingly scarce petroleum-based starting material. Their report on a new catalyst for making acrylic acid appears in ACS Catalysis, the newest in the American Chemical Society's suite of 39 peer-reviewed scientific journals. Weijie Ji, Chak-Tong Au, and colleagues note that acrylic acid is essential for making paints, adhesives, textiles, ...

With cholera on the rampage in Haiti and almost 40 other countries, scientists are reporting the development of a key advance that could provide a fast, simple test to detect the toxin that causes the disease. The report appears in ACS' journal Bioconjugate Chemistry. Cholera affects more than 200,000 people annually, mainly in developing countries, and causes about 5,000 deaths. Many involve infants, children, and the elderly. J. Manuel Perez and colleagues note that cholera is an intestinal infection from food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. ...

This release is available in Spanish. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist Pat Millner and safety manager David Prevar have worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and private consultants to design and conduct a pilot study for an alternative way to cap landfills. Millner is a microbiologist at the 6,615-acre Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) operated in Beltsville, Md., by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the chief intramural scientific research agency of USDA. Prevar oversees safety and health issues ...

Tumor cells have several routes that enable them to move from the primary tumor to distant tissues, a process called metastasis. It is metastasis of the primary tumor that kills most cancer patients. One of the least studied routes of metastasis is the lymphatic system. Many tumors produce factors that promote the formation of new lymphatic vessels (lymphangiogenesis). The newly formed lymphatic vessels enable tumor cells to travel from the primary tumor to the regional lymph nodes from whence they can spread throughout the body. Current treatment practice is to surgically ...