PHILADELPHIA, PA. (September 7, 2010)—Aurora-A kinase (AurA) is an enzyme that is hyperactive in many cancers and drives tumor cell proliferation. Several AurA inhibitors are currently being tested in clinical trials to see if they slow tumor growth. Now, researchers in the Developmental Therapeutics Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center have identified an activation signal for AurA. They report in the September 7 issue of Nature Communications that a quick increase in the calcium concentration in a cell rapidly triggers AurA kinase activity. The discovery may lead to drug ...

The methodology, which has been used in this research in collaboration with the Universidad Europea de Madrid, is based on the Open-Path FTIR technique which takes advantage of specific properties of gases in order to detect them: they absorb radiation only in certain wave lengths which are always the same and particular to each gas. Many gases have absorption lines or bands in the infrared, for which this area of the electromagnetic spectrum is very useful for the remote detection of gases, according to the authors of this research from the UC3M Department of Physics. ...

The first entire genome of an Irish individual has been sequenced. The sequence is reported in BioMed Central's open access journal, Genome Biology and provides insight into the evolutionary history of this distinct lineage. Led by Professor Brendan Loftus, the research team from UCD Conway Institute used data from a previous genotyping study to select a suitable Irish male representative for sequencing. Then, using pair- and single-ended Illumina short read sequencing, one of the next generation sequencing approaches, the team created 9 DNA sequence libraries, which ...

ESA's GOCE gravity mission has recovered from a glitch that prevented the satellite from sending its flow of scientific data to the ground. News of the recovery comes earlier than expected, thanks to the fervent efforts of a team of experts. The recovery follows a serious communications malfunction on 8 July, when the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite suddenly failed to downlink scientific data to its receiving stations. Extensive investigations by experts from ESA and industry revealed that the issue was almost certainly related ...

Using a moving 3D computer model based on the skull and teeth of a New Zealand reptile called tuatara, a BBSRC-funded team from the University of Hull, University College London and the Hull York Medical School has revealed how damage to dental implants and jaw joints may be prevented by sophisticated interplay between our jaws, muscles and brain. This research will appear in a future edition of the Journal of Biomechanics. The tuatara is a lizard-like reptile that has iconic status in its homeland of New Zealand because its ancestors were widespread at the time of the ...

Not drying your hands thoroughly after washing them, could increase the spread of bacteria and rubbing your hands whilst using a conventional electric hand dryer could be a contributing factor. Frequently people give up drying their hands and wipe them on their clothes instead, but hand-hygiene is a key part of infection control and drying hands after washing is a very important part of the process. A study by researchers at the University of Bradford and published today in the Journal of Applied Microbiology looked at different methods of hand drying, and their effect ...

Patients who have received a new kidney are significantly more likely to develop transplant renal artery stenosis (TRAS) if they are obese or over 50, according to research published in the September issue of the Journal of Renal Care. Researchers from Iran studied 360 recipients who had received kidneys from unrelated donors to discover what factors increased the risk of TRAS, where the renal arteries narrow, impeding blood flow to the kidney. They found that having had a previous transplant, elevated triglyceride (fatty molecule) levels, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection ...

BOSTON--Patients with colon cancer who used multivitamins during and after being treated with post-surgical chemotherapy did not reduce the risk of the cancer returning or their dying from it, according to researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In a study of patients with stage III colon cancer – characterized as cancer in the large bowel area with some cancer cells in a few nearby lymph nodes -- the researchers found that while multivitamin use had no beneficial effect on patients' outcomes, it also did not have a detrimental effect. The findings are reported online ...

BOSTON, MA (September 7, 2010) – Progeria, also known as Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), is a rare, fatal genetic disease characterized by an appearance of accelerated aging in children. All children with Progeria die of the same heart disease that affects millions of normal aging adults (atherosclerosis), but instead of occurring at 60 or 70 years of age, these children may suffer heart attacks and strokes even before age 10, and the average age of death is 13 years. Finding treatments and a cure for Progeria may provide clues to preventing or treating heart ...

Having a sibling, especially a twin, impacts your life. Your twin may be your best friend or your biggest rival, but throughout life you influence each other. However, a recent study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, shows that having an opposite-sex twin may impact you even before you are born: females with a male co-twin score higher on mental rotation task than females with a female co-twin. Males, as young as three months of age, outperform females on mental rotation tasks, tests that require rotation of three ...

Volcanoes display the awesome power of Nature like few other events. Earlier this year, ash from an Icelandic volcano disrupted air travel throughout much of northern Europe. Yet this recent eruption pales next to the fury of Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanic body in our solar system. Now that astronomers are finding rocky worlds orbiting distant stars, they're asking the next logical questions: Do any of those worlds have volcanoes? And if so, could we detect them? Work by theorists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics suggests that the answer to the ...

People who sleep less than six hours a night may be three times more likely to develop a condition which leads to diabetes and heart disease, according to researchers at the University of Warwick. A study by a team of researchers from Warwick Medical School and the State University of New York at Buffalo has found short sleep duration is associated with an elevated risk of a pre-diabetic state, known as incident-impaired fasting glycaemia (IFG). IFG means that your body isn't able to regulate glucose as efficiently as it should. People with IFG have a greater risk ...

CHICAGO (September 7, 2010) – Obese women who have bariatric surgical procedures before pregnancy were three times less likely to develop gestational diabetes (GDM) than women who have bariatric operations after delivery, according to new research findings published in the August issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. The retrospective study also found that delivery after bariatric procedures was associated with reduced odds of cesarean section—an outcome associated with GDM. Gestational diabetes affects at least seven percent of all pregnancies in ...

In the production of films for movie theaters and cinemas, digital technology is pushing the film reel aside much more slowly than it does with photography. Up until only a few years ago, mainly 35 mm cameras were being used, and sales of digital movie cameras exceeded those of analog movie cameras only in 2008. Most movies continue to be recorded on film material and are then digitalized. Post production is done at the computer again, and digital projection is also forging ahead. Instead of film reels data packets – Digital Cinema Packages, in short DCPs – are being ...

CHICAGO (September 7, 2010) – Penetrating injury rates were more than 20 times higher for persons living in the lowest income neighborhoods compared with those living in the highest income neighborhoods, according to a new study published in the August issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Researchers also found that those in the lowest-income neighborhoods experienced nearly six times higher rates of blunt injury than persons in the highest income neighborhoods. Penetrating injuries included those from firearms or cuts; blunt injuries included motor ...

Cow belches, a major source of greenhouse gases, could be decreased by an unusual feed supplement developed by a Penn State dairy scientist. In a series of laboratory experiments and a live animal test, an oregano-based supplement not only decreased methane emissions in dairy cows by 40 percent, but also improved milk production, according to Alexander Hristov, an associate professor of dairy nutrition. The natural methane-reduction supplement could lead to a cleaner environment and more productive dairy operations. "Cattle are actually a major producer of methane ...

VIDEO: Tamer A. Ghanem, M.D., Ph.D., director of Head and Neck Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery Division in the Department of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery at Henry Ford Hospital, discusses... Click here for more information. DETROIT – An incisionless robotic surgical procedure is offering patients a new option to remove certain head and neck cancer tumors without visible scarring, while preserving speech and the ability to eat. Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Human pluripotent stem (hPS) cells can generate any given cell type in the adult human body, which is why they are of interest to stem cell scientists working on finding therapies for spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease, burns, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and other ailments. Before hPS cell technologies can be translated into clinical applications, however, some obstacles must first be overcome. One such obstacle frustrating stem cell researchers is "cell death" that the major types of hPS cells, including human embryonic stem cells ...

Plants cannot thrive without nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous or potassium, therefore farmers usually use organic and industrially manufactured mineral fertilizers to supply wheat, maize and others with these vital substances. In future, the need for nutrients will be soaring because we will only be able to supply the world's growing population with food and cover surging demands for biofuels by using fertilizers. Logically, that causes the prices for these nutrients to skyrocket. But that is not the only problem. The deposits of rock phosphates required for manufacturing ...

A child who can't stop scratching himself may well be suffering from atopic dermatitis, also known as neurodermatitis. Extreme irritability of the skin with a concomitant urge to scratch is typical of the disorder. The condition often appears during the first year of life and is on the increase in industrialized countries. The patient's skin becomes hypersensitive and reacts strongly to even mild irritation. A research team led by Dr. Astrid Peters and Professor Katja Radon from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich has just published a longitudinal study which ...

St. Louis, MO – Current research provides a novel model for rheumatoid arthritis research. The related report by LaBranche et al, "Characterization of the KRN cell transfer model of rheumatoid arthritis (KRN-CTM), a chronic yet synchronized version of the K/BxN mouse," appears in the September 2010 issue of The American Journal of Pathology. Nearly 1% of the population is affected by rheumatoid arthritis, and women are affected three to five times more often then men. Although the course of disease varies greatly, daily living activities are impaired in most affected ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – With the fragmentation and globalization of the U.S. textile and apparel industry, business activities and roles have changed, impacting their organizational identity. The evolving organizational identity of these firms has created many questions as to how it affects the businesses financially. Now, a researcher at MU has explored how U.S. textile and apparel firms describe themselves as organizations and how those descriptions compare to U.S. Census Bureau industry classifications.Jung Ha-Brookshire, an assistant professor in the Textile and Apparel Management ...

1. A Low-carb Diet Based on Animal Protein May Increase Death Risk Evidence shows that a low-carbohydrate diet produces weight loss and improves some cardiovascular risk factors. However, health effects of a low-carbohydrate diet may depend on the type of protein and fat consumed. Researchers followed 85,168 women and 44,548 men on a low-carbohydrate diet for 26 and 20 years respectively. The patients ate either an animal-based (emphasizing animal sources of fat and protein) low-carbohydrate diet, or a vegetable-based low-carbohydrate diet. The researchers found that ...

ST. PAUL, Minn. –A new study shows that mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may affect more men than women. The research is published in the September 7, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Mild cognitive impairment is a condition in which people have problems with memory or thinking beyond that explained by the normal rate of aging. The study found that MCI was 1.5 times higher in men compared to women. MCI often leads to Alzheimer's disease. "This is the first study conducted among community-dwelling persons to find ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A new Mayo Clinic study found that the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment was 1.5 times higher in men than in women. The research, part of the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, also showed a prevalence rate of 16 percent in the population-based study of individuals aged 70-89 without dementia who live in Olmsted County, Minn. The study will be published in the September issue of Neurology. "The finding that the frequency of mild cognitive impairment is greater in men was unexpected, since the frequency of Alzheimer's disease is actually greater in women. ...