Researchers at King's College London have found a molecule in the body which controls sensitivity to pain from UVB irradiation, identifying it as a new target for medicines to treat pain caused by other common inflammatory conditions such as arthritis. The molecule, called CXCL5, is part of a family of proteins called chemokines, which recruit inflammatory immune cells to the injured tissue, triggering pain and tenderness. This is the first study to reveal this molecule's role in mediating pain. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust (as part of the London Pain Consortium), ...

An international team of astronomers made the discovery with the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope (APEX), situated on the 5000-metre-high Chajnantor plateau in the Chilean Andes. They observed a region in our galaxy close to the star Rho Ophiuchi, about 400 light-years away. The region contains very cold (around -250 degrees Celsius), dense clouds of cosmic gas and dust, in which new stars are being born. The clouds are mostly made of hydrogen, but contain traces of other chemicals, and are prime targets for astronomers hunting for molecules in space. Telescopes ...

A region at the front of the brain 'lights up' when we experience beauty in a piece of art or a musical excerpt, according to new research funded by the Wellcome Trust. The study, published today in the open access journal PLoS One, suggests that the one characteristic that all works of art, whatever their nature, have in common is that they lead to activity in that same region of the brain, and goes some way to supporting the views of David Hume and others that beauty lies in the beholder rather than in the object. "The question of whether there are characteristics that ...

Chips based on ARM processor technology will be linked together to simulate the highly-complex workings of the brain, whose functionality derives from networks of billions of interacting, highly-connected neurons. The chips upon which this work critically depends were delivered last month, and have passed their functionality tests with flying colours. They will form the system architecture for a massive computer, called SpiNNaker (Spiking Neural Network architecture), which aims to map out the brain's individual functions. SpiNNaker could be a vital tool for neuroscientists, ...

Mental health experts are calling for a greater world focus on improving access to care and treatment for mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders, as well as increasing discoveries in research that will enable this goal to be met. The Grand Challenges in Global Mental Health Initiative, led by the National Institutes of Health and the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, has identified the top 40 barriers to better mental health around the world. Similar to past grand challenges, which focused on infectious diseases and chronic, noncommunicable diseases, ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – It's like a Brownie camera for the digital age: The microscopic device fits on the head of a pin, contains no lenses or moving parts, costs pennies to make – and this Cornell-developed camera could revolutionize an array of science from surgery to robotics. The camera was invented in the lab of Alyosha Molnar, Cornell assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and developed by a group led by Patrick Gill, a postdoctoral associate. Their working prototype, detailed online in the journal Optics Letters (July 6, 2011), is 100th of a millimeter ...

PHOENIX, Ariz. — July 6, 2011 — A first-of-its-kind study of a patient with lung cancer who never smoked will be presented today by TGen and the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare at the 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer, July 3-7 in Amsterdam. Researchers for the first time sequenced the entire DNA and RNA of a patient with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung, said Dr. Glen Weiss, the first author of the study, which will be published in a special supplement of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. Dr. Weiss also is Director of Thoracic Oncology ...

Bringing fresh insight into long-standing debates about how powerful geological forces shape the planet, from earthquake ruptures to mountain formations, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have identified a new mechanism driving Earth's massive tectonic plates. Scientists who study tectonic motions have known for decades that the ongoing "pull" and "push" movements of the plates are responsible for sculpting continental features around the planet. Volcanoes, for example, are generally located at areas where plates are moving apart or coming ...

Cultural, ethnic and gender stereotypes can significantly distort clinical judgments about "facially masked" patients with Parkinson's disease, according to a newly published study from researchers at Tufts University, Brandeis University and the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. This can lead to inappropriate and inequitable health care for those suffering from Parkinson's, a common nervous system disorder, particularly in the elderly, with some 50,000 new cases reported in the U.S. each year. "Practitioners need to better understand the complexities of ...

On July 8, at approximately 11:26 a.m. EDT, the space shuttle Atlantis will streak skyward from the Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A, for one last mission. While the STS-135 flight marks the end of the space shuttle's glory days, its final trip may open a new era of research into infectious diseases, thanks to space bound experiments conducted by Dr's. Cheryl Nickerson, and Roy Curtiss III, along with their colleagues at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute. Nickerson, a microbiologist and authority on infectious pathogens, has been using spaceflight ...

Auto Trader Uk announced today that July 4th will be the start date for "The Greatest New Car Showroom in The WWW" advertising campaign. The campaign includes all the channels that Auto Trader knows local new car buyers are using and engaging on while looking for a new car. The addition of the new cars section has already driven new traffic on the Auto Trader website partially due to the functionality and features inherent to the new pages. Consumers are taking to features like the ability to search by body type, make, model and price because they provide easy ...

Johns Hopkins and South African scientists have further compelling evidence that new, simpler and shorter treatments with antibiotic drugs could dramatically help prevent tens of millions of people worldwide already infected with the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis, and especially those co-infected with HIV, from developing full-blown TB. That population includes as many as 22 million in sub-Saharan Africa who are already HIV positive and at high risk of also picking up TB, which is endemic to the region, plus another 50,000 in the United States who are similarly ...

More needs to be done to improve the care that older adults with cognitive impairment - including dementia and delirium - receive when they visit hospital emergency departments, according to a research review in the July issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing. Researchers from the University of Alberta reviewed 15 studies published between 1994 and 2009, covering 4,431 patients from the USA, Canada, Australia, Italy, New Zealand and Israel. They point out that a large proportion of older adults over 65 visit emergency departments (EDs) in high-income countries. ...

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Glioblastoma is the most common and most lethal form of brain tumor in people. Research published in the International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design offers a novel way to determine what biological functions go awry when the tumor first begins to form. Understanding the problems at the molecular level might one day reveal the underlying mechanism of carcinogenesis in glioblastoma and ultimately lead to treatments or even preventative measures. This form of brain tumor account for more than half of all cases in which the tumor is within the tissues of ...

Researchers from the RUB-Department of Biophysics of Prof. Dr. Klaus Gerwert have succeeded in providing evidence that a protein is capable of creating a water molecule chain for a few milliseconds for the directed proton transfer. The combination of vibrational spectroscopy and biomolecular simulations enabled the elucidation of the proton pump mechanism of a cell-membrane protein in atomic detail. The researchers demonstrated that protein-bound water molecules play a decisive role in the function. Their results were selected for the Early Edition of PNAS. Protein-bound ...

Modern women are still heavily influenced by the idealised love and sex, purveyed by romantic fiction, says broadcaster and agony aunt Susan Quilliam in this month's Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care. In some parts of the developed world, romance accounts for nearly half of all fiction titles purchased. And while there is clearly a place for the genre, which can be enjoyable and fun, this rose-tinted view of relationships is not necessarily doing women any favours, argues Ms Quilliam. "I would argue that a huge number of the issues we see in ...

Online retailer HMV revealed their most popular CDs, DVDs and video game titles available for pre-order and release during the summer through their online store at www.hmv.com. Music Beyonce 4 - Release date: 27th June 2011 Hot on the heals of her Glastonbury festival headline set the superstar singer releases her latest album titled '4' featuring the single 'Run The World (Girls)'. Cher Lloyd Album - Release date: 7th November 2011 The album release has been pushed back until November but that doesn't stop the X factor star from making a big impact on the ...

Probiotics, as functional supplements, are good for both the immune system and for intestinal health. But how do they get into the yoghurt jar? So far, probiotic bacteria are mostly freeze-dried, before they are used in high concentrations in foods. However, the freeze-drying process is problematic – for some probiotics it means certain death, and it is also quite energy consuming. The probiotics must first be frozen and in a second step heat is inserted in the sample to transform the ice directly into steam. Thus water is removed from the bacterial culture. The TUM researchers ...

Geo-engineering schemes aimed at tackling global warming through artificial iron fertilisation of the oceans would significantly affect deep-sea ecosystems, according to research involving scientists from the United Kingdom's National Oceanography Centre (NOC) as well as former Ocean and Earth Science research students of the University of Southampton, which is based at the Centre. Most scientists believe that the rapid increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide resulting largely from the burning of fossil fuels is causing the world to warm up. One proposed geo-engineering ...

Built specifically to break the Charlie Barr Transatlantic Record by the French shipyard JMV Industries in 2003 this 43 metre, Philip Briand designed schooner was built to be at the forefront of her class. "She was designed to be the world's most cutting-edge racing schooner," says YPI Group CEO, Bertrand Vogele. "The goal was to beat the Charlie Barr Transatlantic Record for a monohull. In October 2003 she succeeded...smashing it by almost two days." The SENSO ONE still holds this record and also retains the records for the fastest crossing from ...

A new study by Katy Prentice, done as part of her undergraduate degree (MSci in Palaeontology and Evolution) at the University of Bristol, shows that the pterosaurs evolved in a most unusual way, becoming more and more specialised through their 160 million years on Earth. The work is published today in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 'Usually, when a new group of animals or plants evolves, they quickly try out all the options. When we did this study, we thought pterosaurs would be the same,' said Katy. 'Pterosaurs were the first flying animals – they appeared ...

The research will be presented today [Thursday 7 July] at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Academic Primary Care, hosted this year by the Academic Unit of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol. The HPV vaccination programme, introduced in the UK in 2008, uses HPV vaccine that is effective against the two most common high risk HPV types (16 and 18), and offers 70 per cent protection against cervical cancer. However, vaccinated girls will still need to attend cervical screening in the future to ensure protection against cervical cancer caused by high ...

The research will be presented today [Thursday 7 July] at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Academic Primary Care, hosted this year by the Academic Unit of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol. The research was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research (NSPCR). Dr Susannah Fleming and colleagues used a dataset containing heart rate, temperature, and oxygen saturation measurements from 873 children, and assessed the severity of their illness by checking whether they were admitted to hospital in the ...

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have designed a multiple-compartment gel capsule that could be used to simultaneously deliver drugs of different types. The researchers used a simple "one-pot" method to prepare the hydrogel capsules, which measure less than one micron. The capsule's structure -- hollow except for polymer chains tethered to the interior of the shell -- provides spatially-segregated compartments that make it a good candidate for multi-drug encapsulation and release strategies. The microcapsule could be used to simultaneously deliver distinct ...