LA JOLLA, CA – New research by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and collaborating institutions has identified a key regulator of fat cell development that may provide a target for obesity and diabetes drugs. In a paper published in the latest issue of Cell Metabolism, the scientists describe a protein called TLE3 that acts as a dual switch to turn on signals that stimulate fat cell formation and turn off those that keep fat cells from developing. TLE3 works in partnership with a protein that is already the target of several diabetes drugs, but their use has ...

Does a reduction in the price of alcohol result in an increase in deaths due to alcohol? This was the subject of a study following a significant reduction in taxes in Finland in 2004 (30% for spirits, 3% for wine).The abolition of import quotas by the EU in 2004 also made it possible to import from other member countries and this led to an increase of approximately 10% in alcohol consumption in Finland. This paper is particularly interesting as it not only reports the effects of reducing costs of alcohol on alcohol-related mortality, but it also reports the effects of such ...

PHILADELPHIA — The advancements of our electronic age rests on our ability to control how electric charge moves, from point A to point B, through circuitry. Doing so requires particular precision, for applications ranging from computers, image sensors and solar cells, and that task falls to semiconductors. Now, a research team at the University of Pennsylvania's schools of Engineering and Applied Science and Arts and Sciences has shown how to control the characteristics of semiconductor nanowires made of a promising material: lead selenide. Led by Cherie Kagan, professor ...

ARLINGTON, Va. - Marking a milestone for the Navy, the Office of Naval Research and its industry partner on April 6 successfully tested a solid-state, high-energy laser (HEL) from a surface ship, which disabled a small target vessel. The Navy and Northrop Grumman completed at-sea testing of the Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD), which validated the potential to provide advanced self-defense for surface ships and personnel by keeping small boat threats at a safe distance. "The success of this high-energy laser test is a credit to the collaboration, cooperation and teaming ...

For those old enough to remember Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom" television series, the dynamics of predator-prey relationships seemed clear enough: predators thinned out prey populations, which enabled a smaller, but stronger, population to survive and reproduce. However, a new paper by University of Notre Dame biologist Gary Belovsky appearing in the prestigious journal Ecology Letters suggests that predator-prey relationships are much more complex than originally thought. The paper arose out of pioneering studies Belovsky, who also is director of the Notre Dame ...

College Park, Md.—Nearly 5 million American children participate in the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, but until now no one has looked at the gender messages young people get when they start collecting those coveted badges. Kathleen Denny, a sociology graduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park, analyzed scouting manuals and found that—despite positive aspects—today's scouts are being fed stereotypical ideas about femininity and masculinity. Her findings were recently published in Gender & Society, the highly-ranked journal of Sociologists for Women in Society. Girl ...

ST. LOUIS – Saint Louis University researchers have identified a novel mechanism to control the traffic of cells and fluid from tissues to lymphatic vessels. It may be possible to harness this mechanism to fight cancer spread from one organ to another organ and improve the effectiveness of vaccines. The lymphatic system is an extensive fluid transit system, consisting of vessels in the body. It defends the body against infection. Cancer cells and infection-fighting cells that are part of the immune system use the lymphatic system to get to other organs, including the ...

TORONTO, On – April 8, 2011 – Increased levels of a protein that helps regulate the body's blood pressure may also predict a major cardiovascular event in high-risk patients, according to a study led by St. Michael's Hospital's cardiovascular surgeon Subodh Verma. Measuring the amount of the protein, known as plasma renin activity (PRA), in the blood stream may give doctors another tool to assess a patient's risk and help prevent a heart attack or stroke. "Conventional factors like genetics and environment do not always provide a complete patient story and an understanding ...

A galaxy's core is a busy place, crowded with stars swarming around an enormous black hole. When galaxies collide, it gets even messier as the two black holes spiral toward each other, merging to make an even bigger gravitational monster. Once it is created, the monster goes on a rampage. The merger kicks the black hole into surrounding stars. There it finds a hearty meal, shredding and swallowing stars at a rapid clip. According to new research by Nick Stone and Avi Loeb (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), upcoming sky surveys might offer astronomers a way ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- Each October, the color pink marks the arrival of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Media coverage, product promotions and even the football gridirons showcase the national effort to promote screenings and early detection of the cancer that 200,000 American women are diagnosed with each year. New research from the University of Oregon examined more than 30 years of cancer registry data to determine if October events related to National Breast Cancer Awareness Months (NBCAM) lead to increases in breast cancer diagnoses in the following month of November. ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – One of the first studies of its type has confirmed that a science museum can strongly influence the public's knowledge and attitudes about science and technology, and to a surprising degree can cut across racial, ethnic, educational and economic barriers. The study focused on the California Science Center in Los Angeles, and offers profound support for the value of such institutions. It also reinforces the emerging concept of "free choice" learning, which holds that people get most of their knowledge about science from someplace other than school or ...

Neurosurgeons from NYU Langone Medical Center will present techniques and discuss surgical approaches and applications of technology at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), held April 9-13, 2011 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. The Department of Neurosurgery at NYU Langone Medical Center has been recognized as one of the top ten hospitals in the country for neurology and neurosurgery by U.S. News & World Report for the past three years. This year, the department expanded its expertise with the addition of several ...

Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the University of Washington, and other groups are grappling with a wildlife mystery: Why are some penguin chicks losing their feathers? The appearance of "naked" penguins—afflicted with what is known as feather-loss disorder—in penguin colonies on both sides of the South Atlantic in recent years has scientists puzzled as to what could be causing the condition. A study on the disorder appears in a recent edition of the journal Waterbirds. The authors of the paper are: Olivia J. Kane, Jeffrey R. Smith, and P. Dee ...

OAK RIDGE, Tenn, April 8, 2011 -- A newly sequenced bacterial genome from a team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory could contain clues as to how microorganisms produce a highly toxic form of mercury. Methylmercury, a potent human neurotoxin, appears in the environment when certain naturally occurring bacteria transform inorganic mercury into its more toxic cousin. Few bacterial species are capable of this conversion, and exactly how the transformation takes place has been a matter of debate for decades. "What is not known are the genes ...

The hand moves the computer mouse, but the cursor doesn't comply. The cursor doesn't go where told. The hand tries again. The cursor shoots past the intended target. The hand tries a third time – and the cursor loops farther from the target than where it started. And the user is frustrated. So it often goes for computer users whose motor disabilities prevent them from easily using a mouse. As the population ages, more people are having trouble with motor control, but a University of Washington team has invented two mouse cursors that make clicking targets a whole ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It is important that the United States begin to live within its means and address the federal deficit. But APS believes that as a nation we need to be smart about how we do it. Cutting spending across the board without a clear understanding of what it means for America's future jeopardizes the very future we want to secure for our children. For more than half a century, science and technology have been the primary drivers of job creation and economic growth. Slashing spending on science, as the budget plans of the House of Representatives call for, ...

The phrase "invasive plant species" typically evokes negative images such as broad swaths of kudzu smothered trees along the highway or purple loosestrife taking over wetlands and clogging waterways—and as such, invasive plants are largely viewed as major threats to native biodiversity. However, research has shown both that invasive species may be one of the most important threats to biodiversity and that plant invasions are rarely the cause for native species extinctions. How can these conflicting pieces of evidence be reconciled? Kristin Powell, from Washington University, ...

SAN DIEGO, April 8, 2011 -- A reformed Medicaid program must put coordinated primary care at the forefront of its efforts, the American College of Physicians (ACP) said in a new position paper released today at Internal Medicine 2011, ACP's annual scientific meeting. Medicaid and Health Care Reform highlights how primary care physicians will assume a major role in providing care to Medicaid beneficiaries. "The Medicaid program faces significant changes in the next few years as millions of current and newly eligible people will receive Medicaid coverage," said J. Fred ...

A study by Indiana University sociologists found that many Americans had inflated views of minority students' opportunities to attend college, yet a large contingent - around 43 percent of people surveyed - believed that low income students had fewer opportunities for college access. The study, which will be discussed on Monday at the American Educational Research Association's meeting in New Orleans, found that Americans have varying beliefs when it comes to college access. A quarter of the people interviewed thought minority and low-income students held a better position ...

A preliminary study conducted by a team at the National Institutes of Health has identified a promising new treatment in children for the most common form of a rare disorder. The syndrome is called periodic fever associated with aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis and cervical adenitis — or PFAPA — and is characterized by monthly flare-ups of fever, accompanied by sore throat, swollen glands and mouth lesions. The proposed treatment, which will be validated in a larger study before it is recommended in treating PFAPA syndrome, wards off an inappropriate immune system attack ...

VANCOUVER, BC, April 09, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- This is the first of a six-part series on improving your writing style. Whether you write for business or academic purposes, there are a few golden rules that will help you sharpen up your prose. Part 1: Avoid wordiness and repetition Many of us fall into this trap, for various reasons. Possibly this is just a bad habit we have got into or perhaps we feel that we need to have extra words, either to reinforce our point, or (Heaven forbid) to 'pad out' our academic writing to make up a stipulated word count. If you ...

The long-held theory that early human ancestors in East Asia crafted their tools from bamboo and wood is much more complicated than originally conceived, according to a new study. Research until now has failed to address a fundamental question: Is it even possible to make complex bamboo tools with simple stone tools? Now an experimental archaeological study — in which a modern-day flint knapper replicated the crafting of bamboo knives — confirms that it is indeed possible to make a variety of bamboo tools with the simplest stone tools. However, rather than confirming ...

By studying fossilized mollusks from some 3.5 million years ago, UCLA geoscientists and colleagues have been able to construct an ancient climate record that holds clues about the long-term effects of Earth's current levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a key contributor to global climate change. Two novel geochemical techniques used to determine the temperature at which the mollusk shells were formed suggest that summertime Arctic temperatures during the early Pliocene epoch (3.5 million to 4 million years ago) may have been a staggering 18 to 28 degrees Fahrenheit ...

Mohammad Golabi, a soil science professor at the University of Guam, has put his years of research on vetiver grass to practical use in shielding the reefs in Pago Bay from the harmful effects of construction-induced run-off. One of the major health hazards facing Guam's reefs is soil erosion resulting in sedimentation and suffocation of the complex organisms that make up a reef system. "Vetiver's ability to tolerate high stress situations, adapt to a variety of conditions, develop a dense vertical root system, and powerful soil binding characteristics make it an ideal ...

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland Solar Decathlon Team has unveiled its entry in the U.S. Department of Energy competition - a high-tech structure they call WaterShed, because it integrates a unique array of sustainable features designed to protect and make the most of the Chesapeake Bay. The unveiling ceremony brought together officials and the dozens of students, faculty and mentors that make up the Maryland team, one of only 20 finalists in the international competition. Each team designs and builds a house that runs on solar power. The final Solar Decathlon ...