The human eye long ago solved a problem common to both digital and film cameras: how to get good contrast in an image while also capturing faint detail. Nearly 50 years ago, physiologists described the retina's tricks for improving contrast and sharpening edges, but new experiments by University of California, Berkeley, neurobiologists show how the eye achieves this without sacrificing shadow detail. "One of the big success stories, and the first example of information processing by the nervous system, was the discovery that the nerve cells in the eye inhibit their ...

A small Johns Hopkins Children's Center study of children and teens with cystic fibrosis (CF) shows that simple exercise, individually tailored to each patient's preference and lifestyle, can help improve lung function and overall fitness. Frequent lung infections, breathing problems and decreased lung function are the hallmark symptoms of CF, a genetic disorder marked by a disruption in the body's ability to transport chloride in and out of cells that leads to the buildup of thick mucus in the lungs and other organs. Because rigidly structured high-intensity exercise ...

Using simple robots to simulate genetic evolution over hundreds of generations, Swiss scientists provide quantitative proof of kin selection and shed light on one of the most enduring puzzles in biology: Why do most social animals, including humans, go out of their way to help each other? In next week's issue of the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, EPFL robotics professor Dario Floreano teams up with University of Lausanne biologist Laurent Keller to weigh in on the oft-debated question of the evolution of altruism genes. Altruism, the sacrificing of individual ...

Between 2001 and 2008, the annual rate of coronary artery bypass graft surgeries performed in the United States decreased by more than 30 percent, but rates of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI; procedures such as balloon angioplasty or stent placement used to open narrowed coronary arteries) did not change significantly, according to a study in the May 4 issue of JAMA. "Coronary revascularization, comprising coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and PCI, is among the most common major medical procedures provided by the U.S. health care system, with more ...

The number of bacterial cells living in and on our bodies outnumbers our own cells ten to one. But the identity of all those bugs and just what exactly our relationship to all of them really is remains rather fuzzy. Now, researchers reporting in the May issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, have new evidence showing the metabolic impact of all those microbes in mice, and on their colons in particular. "We point out one relatively general metabolite in the colon that has profound effects—it does a lot to keep things running smoothly," said Scott Bultman ...

In a study conducted to examine the health outcomes related to salt intake, as gauged by the amount of sodium excreted in the urine, lower sodium excretion was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular death, while higher sodium excretion did not correspond with increased risk of hypertension or cardiovascular disease complications, according to a study in the May 4 issue of JAMA. "Extrapolations from observational studies and short-term intervention trials suggest that population-wide moderation of salt intake might reduce cardiovascular events," according ...

Drugs known as thiazolidinediones, or TZDs for short, are widely used in diabetes treatment, but they come with a downside. The drugs have effects on the kidneys that lead to fluid retention as the volume of plasma in the bloodstream expands. "TZDs usually increase body weight by several kilograms," said George Seki of the University of Tokyo. "However, TZDs sometimes cause massive volume expansion, resulting in heart failure." Now his team reports in the May issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, that those negative consequences arise in more than one ...

Only about half of new drugs approved in the last decade had comparative effectiveness data available at the time of their approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and approximately two-thirds of new drugs had this information available when alternative treatment options existed, according to a study in the May 4 issue of JAMA. In 2009, Congress allocated $1.1 billion to comparative effectiveness research. According to the Institute of Medicine, such research is defined as the "generation and synthesis of evidence that compares the benefits and harms of alternative ...

Implementing structured exercise training, including aerobic, resistance or both, was associated with a greater reduction in hemoglobin A1c levels (a marker of glucose control) for patients with diabetes compared to patients in the control group, and longer weekly exercise duration was also associated with a greater decrease in these levels, according to results of an analysis of previous studies, published in the May 4 issue of JAMA. "Exercise is a cornerstone of diabetes management, along with dietary and pharmacological interventions. Current guidelines recommend that ...

By knocking down the expression of a protein in rat brains known to stimulate eating, Johns Hopkins researchers say they not only reduced the animals' calorie intake and weight, but also transformed their fat into a type that burns off more energy. The finding could lead to better obesity treatments for humans, the scientists report. "If we could get the human body to turn 'bad fat' into 'good fat' that burns calories instead of storing them, we could add a serious new tool to tackle the obesity epidemic in the United States," says study leader Sheng Bi, M.D., an associate ...

Breast cancers that are first detectable in the interval between screening mammograms are more likely to be aggressive, fast-growing tumors according to a study published online May 3rd in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Other studies have shown that cancers diagnosed between mammograms, known as interval cancers, tend to have a worse prognosis than those detected during routine screening. This study examined the difference between "true" interval cancers—those not detectable on the previous mammogram—and "missed" interval cancers—those not detected on ...

UCLA scientists have discovered a way to wake up the immune system to fight cancer by delivering an immune system-stimulating protein in a nanoscale container called a vault directly into lung cancer tumors, harnessing the body's natural defenses to fight disease growth. The vaults, barrel-shaped nanoscale capsules found in the cytoplasm of all mammalian cells, were engineered to slowly release a protein, the chemokine CCL21, into the tumor. Pre-clinical studies in mice with lung cancer showed that the protein stimulated the immune system to recognize and attack the ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Its head and body looked like a dog, yet its striped coat was cat-like. It carried its young in a pouch, like a kangaroo. No wonder the thylacine — the enigmatic, iconic creature of Australia and Tasmania — was the object of so much confusion, alternately called the "marsupial wolf" and the "Tasmanian tiger." So what was it? By studying bones of thylacines and 31 other mammals, researchers at Brown University have the answer: The thylacine was a Tasmanian tiger — more cat than dog, although clearly a marsupial. In a paper published ...

Philadelphia – New research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine shows a substantial decrease in one type of revascularization procedure, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, while rates of utilization of the other form, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), has remained unchanged. Coronary revascularization, the process of restoring the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the heart, is among the most common hospital-based major interventional procedures performed in the United States. Over the past decade, the field of coronary revascularization ...

BOSTON – The concepts now at the center of the health care quality movement, adopted in large part from the airline industry, should be used to standardize the processes and the equipment for in-flight medical emergencies, according to two Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center physicians. Writing in an online release for the May 11 Journal of the American Medical Association, Melissa Mattison, MD and Mark Zeidel, MD, note that because the airline industry has adopted root cause analysis of accidents and near misses "most individual flight attendants will never experience ...

The human eye long ago solved a problem common to both digital and film cameras: how to get good contrast in an image while also capturing faint detail. Nearly 50 years ago, physiologists described the retina's tricks for improving contrast and sharpening edges, but new experiments by neurobiologists at University of California, Berkeley and the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha show how the eye achieves this without sacrificing shadow detail. These details will be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology. "Lateral inhibition" (when ...

The effects of nicotine upon brain regions involved in addiction mirror those of cocaine, according to new neuroscience research. A single 15-minute exposure to nicotine caused a long-term increase in the excitability of neurons involved in reward, according to a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience. The results suggest that nicotine and cocaine hijack similar mechanisms of memory on first contact to create long-lasting changes in a person's brain. "Of course, for smoking it's a very long-term behavioral change, but everything starts from the first exposure," ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A matchbook-sized atomic clock 100 times smaller than its commercial predecessors has been created by a team of researchers at Symmetricom Inc. Draper Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. The portable Chip Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) — only about 1.5 inches on a side and less than a half-inch in depth — also requires 100 times less power than its predecessors. Instead of 10 watts, it uses only 100 milliwatts. "It's the difference between lugging around a device powered by a car battery and one powered by two AA batteries," said Sandia lead investigator ...

Immigrants to the United States and their U.S.-born children gain more than a new life and new citizenship. They gain weight. The wide availability of cheap, convenient, fatty American foods and large meal portions have been blamed for immigrants packing on pounds, approaching U.S. levels of obesity within 15 years of their move. Psychologists show that it's not simply the abundance of high-calorie American junk food that causes weight gain. Instead, members of U.S. immigrant groups choose typical American dishes as a way to show that they belong and to prove their American-ness. ...

New research has shed light on the origins of a fungal infection which is one of the major causes of death from AIDS-related illnesses. The study, published today in the journal PLoS Pathogens, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the BBSRC, shows how the more virulent forms of Cryptococcus neoformans evolved and spread out of Africa and into Asia. Cryptococcus neoformans is a species of often highly aggressive fungi. One particular strain of the fungus – known as Cryptococcus neoformas variety grubii (Cng) – causes meningitis amongst patients with compromised immune systems ...

A new approach to evaluating research papers exploits social bookmarking tools to extract relevance. Details are reported in the latest issue of the International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions. Social bookmarking systems are almost indispensible. Very few of us do not use at least one system whether it's Delicious, Connotea, Trunk.ly, Reddit or any of countless others. For Academics and researchers CiteULike is one of the most popular and has been around since November 2004. CiteUlike [[http://www.CiteULike.org]] allows users to bookmark references ...

A widely used HIV drug could be used to prevent cervical cancer caused by infection with the human papilloma virus (HPV), say scientists. University of Manchester researchers, working with colleagues in Canada, have discovered how the antiviral drug lopinavir attacks HPV by switching on a natural viral defence system in infected cells. The study, published in the journal Antiviral Therapy, builds on the team's previous work in 2006 that first identified lopinavir as a potential therapeutic for HPV-related cervical cancer following laboratory tests on cell cultures. "Since ...

The early history of genetics has to be re-written in the light of new findings. Scientists from the University Jena (Germany) in co-operation with colleagues from Prague found out that the traditional history of the 'rediscovery' of Gregor Johann Mendel's laws of heredity in 1900 has to be adjusted and some facets have to be added. It all began in the year of 1865: Mendel, today known as the 'father of genetics', published his scientific findings about the cross breeding experiments of peas, that went largely unnoticed during his lifetime. His research notes and manuscripts ...

Philadelphia, PA – 3 May 2011 – Developmental abnormalities in the mirror neuron system may contribute to social deficits in autism. The mirror neuron system is a brain circuit that enables us to better understand and anticipate the actions of others. These circuits activate in similar ways when we perform actions or watch other people perform the same actions. Now, a new study published in Biological Psychiatry reports that the mirror system in individuals with autism is not actually broken, but simply delayed. Dr. Christian Keysers, lead author on the project, detailed ...

A pianist is playing an unknown melody freely without reading from a musical score. How does the listener's brain recognise if this melody is improvised or if it is memorized? Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig investigated jazz musicians to discover which brain areas are especially sensitive to features of improvised behaviour. Among these are the amygdala and a network of areas known to be involved in the mental simulation of behaviour. Furthermore, the ability to correctly recognise improvisations was not only related ...