Scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have uncovered how a structural component inside neurons performs two coordinated dance moves when the connections between neurons are strengthened. The results are published online in the journal Nature Neuroscience, and will appear in a future print issue. In experiments with neurons in culture, the researchers can distinguish two separate steps during long-term potentiation, an enhancement of communication between neurons thought to lie behind learning and memory. Both steps involve the remodeling of the internal ...

A new University of Colorado at Boulder study sheds light on the brain mechanisms that allow us to make choices and ultimately could be helpful in improving treatments for the millions of people who suffer from the effects of anxiety disorders. In the study, CU-Boulder psychology Professor Yuko Munakata and her research colleagues found that "neural inhibition," a process that occurs when one nerve cell suppresses activity in another, is a critical aspect in our ability to make choices. "The breakthrough here is that this helps us clarify the question of what is happening ...

WASHINGTON, September 13 – Developing renewable energy sources has never been more important, and solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies show great potential in this field. They convert direct sunlight into electricity with little impact on the environment. This field is constantly advancing, developing technologies that can convert power more efficiently and at a lower cost. To highlight breakthroughs in this area, the editors of Energy Express, a bi-monthly supplement to Optics Express, the open-access journal of the Optical Society (OSA), today published a special Focus ...

AMARILLO - Apply today's chemicals to a sorghum crop for grass control and the sorghum will be killed off also. But a solution could be only a few years away if Texas AgriLife Research plots are any indication. Dr. Brent Bean, AgriLife Research and Texas AgriLife Extension Service agronomist, has test plots that demonstrate sorghum hybrids tolerant to herbicides typically associated with grass control. The control is needed not only for annual grass control but also for Johnsongrass, Bean said. Because Johnsongrass is closely related to grain sorghum, herbicides typically ...

Athens, Ga. - A new University of Georgia study has found that select varieties of sorghum bran have greater antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties than well-known foods such as blueberries and pomegranates. Researchers measured polyphenolic compounds, which naturally occur in plants to help fight against pests and disease, and found that the black and sumac varieties of sorghum have significant levels of antioxidants. Many fruits also contain these compounds, they said, though sorghum bran may prove to be the richest and cheapest source. "Since most human chronic ...

David H. Adams, MD, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Professor and Chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, has performed the first implantation of the Medtronic Tri-Ad Semi-Flexible Tricuspid Annuloplasty Ring in the United States. Dr. Adams invented the ring, which was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The tricuspid valve lies between the right atrium and right ventricle of the heart. Tricuspid valve regurgitation occurs when the valve does not close completely and blood leaks back into the right atrium ...

A group of children who underwent fusion surgery for spondylolisthesis in the lumbar spine 30 years ago showed a clear reduction in back pain when followed up seven years later. A new study of these patients as adults has found that the benefits have lasted, reveals research from the Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital presented this week at the International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT) annual international conference in Gothenburg. Spondylolisthesis (forward displacement of a vertebra) in the lumbar spine occurs in 6% ...

Today sees the presentation of a study that, for the first time, shows the results of treatment using prostheses attached to titanium implants in the bones of patients with above-the-knee amputations. It reveals that the treatment improves function and quality of life in nine out of ten patients, and is the result of research carried out at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital that is being presented this week at the International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT) annual international conference in Gothenburg. At a symposium ...

Early childhood education can play a key role in relation to change when the world fails to adopt a sustainable approach economically, ecologically and socially. This was highlighted at the World Congress "Children, citizens in a challenged world", which was hosted by the University of Gothenburg. In a statement, the congress urges governments around the world to protect children's right to a childhood. More and more people are realising that work with young children is a force for change in itself, towards creating a different society. Early childhood education has ...

Sexual conflict is not only a human phenomenon. Scientists at the University of Gothenburg have shown that females of the rough periwinkle conceal their gender identity in order to avoid excessive copulation. The females of most species of snail excrete a substance in their mucous trails that enables males to find them more easily, since they can distinguish between trails from females and those from other males. The males follow the mucous trails laid down by females in order to find a partner for mating. However, the females of one of the species studied (Littorina ...

VIDEO: This video shows UBR-box recognition of an arginine residue at the beginning of a protein (blue) targeted for degradation. The structural integrity of the UBR box depends on zinc (grey)... Click here for more information. Our bodies recycle proteins, the fundamental building blocks that enable cell growth and development. Proteins are made up of a chain of amino acids, and scientists have known since the 1980s that first one in the chain determines the lifetime ...

The new Premier League season has begun and in Madrid the World Cup celebrations are barely over, yet according to research in WIREs Cognitive Science the world's best players may soon be facing a new challenge from football playing robots, which their creators claim will be able to play and beat a human team. The research reveals how building robots to play football is driving the development of artificial intelligence and robotic technology which can be used for roles including search and rescue and home help. The author, Claude Sammut, from the ARC Centre of Excellence ...

New findings from a major drug trial have brought experts a step closer to developing a drug which could prevent thousands of British deaths from heart attacks. Dr Robert Storey, Reader at the University of Sheffield and Consultant Cardiologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, was the UK lead for international trials of a new drug, ticagrelor, which have been taking place over the last six years. The new findings from one of these studies, the ONSET/OFFSET study, revealed that the platelet function in patients taking ticagrelor recovered much quicker after the drug ...

Stroke patients who were left partially paralysed found that their condition improved after they received a simple and non-invasive method of brain stimulation, according to research in the September issue of the European Journal of Neurology. Researchers from the Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, studied 60 patients with ischaemic stroke - where the blood supply is reduced to the brain - who had been left with mild to moderate muscle weakness down one side of their body. Twenty of the randomly assigned treatment group received repetitive transcranial magnetic ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Using carbon nanotubes (hollow tubes of carbon atoms), MIT chemical engineers have found a way to concentrate solar energy 100 times more than a regular photovoltaic cell. Such nanotubes could form antennas that capture and focus light energy, potentially allowing much smaller and more powerful solar arrays. "Instead of having your whole roof be a photovoltaic cell, you could have little spots that were tiny photovoltaic cells, with antennas that would drive photons into them," says Michael Strano, the Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of ...

Berkeley – Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a pressure-sensitive electronic material from semiconductor nanowires that could one day give new meaning to the term "thin-skinned." "The idea is to have a material that functions like the human skin, which means incorporating the ability to feel and touch objects," said Ali Javey, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences and head of the UC Berkeley research team developing the artificial skin. The artificial skin, dubbed "e-skin" by the UC Berkeley researchers, ...

Although overall mortality from cancer is decreasing in the European Union, its incidence increased by almost 20%, from 2.1 million new cases in 2002 to 2.5 million in 2008, says a special issue [1] of the European Journal of Cancer (the official journal of ECCO – the European CanCer Organisation) on cancer prevention, published today (Monday 13 September). The current economic crisis threatens to affect cancer incidence in a number of areas, says a paper by Dr. José M. Martin-Moreno from the University of Valencia, Spain, and colleagues. Public donations to cancer ...

LA JOLLA, CA – September 9, 2010 – Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have solved a long-standing mystery of how cells conduct "quality control" to eliminate the toxic effects of a certain kind of error in protein production. The findings may lead to a better understanding of a host of neurodegenerative diseases. The research was published in an advance, online issue of the journal Nature on September 12, 2010. "It is exciting because we are dealing not only with a process that is clearly relevant for physiology and disease," said Scripps Research Assistant ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Myopia (nearsightedness) is the most common eye disorder in the world and becoming more common, yet little is known about its genetic underpinnings. Scientists at Duke University Medical Center, in conjunction with several other groups, have uncovered a gene associated with myopia in Caucasian people from several different regions, including Dutch, British and Australian subjects. Their work was published in Nature Genetics online on Sunday, Sept. 12. Myopia happens when the focal point of an image falls just short of the retina at the rear of the ...

A MRSA infection with a reduced susceptibility to the potent antibiotic drug vancomycin is linked to high mortality, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study. Researchers found that patients who contracted a MRSA infection with heteroresistance, called hVISA, stayed in the hospital longer, were more likely to have the infection return after 90 days, and were twice as likely to die from it after 90 days than patients who do not have hVISA. The study is being presented Sunday at the 50th annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Boston. "Based ...

Men aged 55 to 74 years who have low baseline blood levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) are not likely to benefit from further screening and treatment. That is the conclusion of a new study published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The aim of the study is to help physicians and patients weigh the pros and cons of prostate cancer screening and early detection. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the third leading cause of death from cancer in men in Western countries. While a man in the United ...

A new study conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital examined basketball-related injuries treated in emergency departments among children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 19 from 1997 to 2007. According to the study, more than 4 million basketball-related injuries were treated in emergency departments during the 11-year study. While the number of injuries decreased 22 percent over the course of the study, the average number of injuries per year (375,350) remained high. Data from the study, being ...

Two multi-award winning green IT companies, VeryPC and MiniFrame have today announced their collaboration to produce a range of high performance, energy saving solutions to desktop virtualization. The GreenHive for SoftXpand range combines energy efficient software expertise of MiniFrame with the life-cycle engineering and energy calibrating hardware ingenuity of VeryPC. Close collaboration between the two companies allows VeryPC to optimize and produce a dedicated appliance for MiniFrame's award-winning SoftXpand multi-user software. VeryPC GreenHives enhance the SoftXpand ...

The event is scheduled for 5 to 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 6 at Longwood Community Center, 19035 Georgia Ave., Brookeville, 1.5 miles north of Route 108. Admission is free. Community Night features a business expo of 100+ displays and the Taste of Olney where the area's premier restaurants present their tasty offerings. Registration can be completed online at http://www.olneymd.org, by mail, by fax or in person at the Chamber's Office and Visitors Center, 3460 Olney-Laytonsville Rd., Olney. "Community Night is an outstanding venue for companies and organizations to ...

Listen to an unprecedented panel of special guest experts and authors from a variety of professions: Medical, Health and Fitness; Sociology, Diet and Nutrition; Psychology, Nursing, Wellness Coaching, Holistic Medicine, etc., as they tackle the difficult questions about childhood obesity. To participate: Please RSVP at http://www.sustainablecontentment.com Teleseminar: Thurs, Sep 30, 2010 6PM PST, 8PM CST, 9PM EST to access seminar, call this number on Sep. 30th: 1-712-432-3900 access code: 625350# ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF SPECIAL GUEST EXPERTS: ALVATER, Pat -- ...