CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The function of histones -- the proteins that enable yards of DNA to be crammed into a single cell -- depends on a number of chemical tags adorning their exterior. This sophisticated chemical syntax for packaging DNA into tight little coils or unraveling it again -- called the "histone code" -- is the latest frontier for researchers bent on understanding how genetics encodes life. But recent research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found a number of issues with histone antibodies, the main tools used to decipher this code, ...

A research team from the Institut Català de Nanotecnologia (ICN), in Barcelona, has demonstrated a device that induces electron spin motion without net electric currents, a key step in developing the spin computers of the future. The results are published in the Dec 17 issue of the journal Science. The authors are Marius V. Costache and Sergio O. Valenzuela, an ICREA Professor who is leader of the Physics and Engineering of Nanodevices Group at ICN. Spintronics is a branch of electronics that aims to use the electron spin rather than its charge to transport and store ...

The research project 'Older People's Use of Unfamiliar Space' (OPUS) examined the strategies used by older people to find their way in unfamiliar spaces as pedestrians and users of public transport. As part of the research, older people were shown town scenes and pedestrian routes and gave feedback on signposting, ease of navigation and general impressions. Their heart rates were measured to monitor stress levels. Participants were also taken to a town centre to walk through the same routes in person. Initial findings show: Signs are of limited use even in unfamiliar ...

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have deciphered the genetic code for medulloblastoma, the most common pediatric brain cancer and a leading killer of children with cancer. The genetic "map" is believed to be the first reported of a pediatric cancer genome and is published online in the December 16 issue of Science Express. Notably, the findings show that children with medulloblastoma have five- to tenfold fewer cancer-linked alterations in their genomes compared with their adult counterparts, the scientists say. "These analyses clearly show that ...

Pediatric cancer researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia contributed important expertise to a new landmark study of medulloblastoma, a type of brain tumor typically found in children. The large multicenter study defines the genetic landscape of this cancer, and holds intriguing clues to gene changes on signaling pathways that may become fruitful targets for future therapies. The most common cancerous brain tumor in children, medulloblastoma is, fortunately, rare. However, it causes significant mortality, and survivors may suffer serious long-term side effects ...

AMES, Iowa – Advancements in fabrication technologies may lead to superlenses and other designer optical materials, according to an Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory physicist. In an article titled "Improving Metamaterials" published in the Perspectives section of the Dec. 17 issue of the journal Science, Costas Soukoulis and Martin Wegener write about the man-made materials designed to deliver certain properties not found in nature. Soukoulis is an Iowa State University Distinguished Professor and Frances M. Craig Professor of Physics and Astronomy and a senior ...

Researchers from Italy determined that radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a safe and effective therapy for managing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in cirrhotic patients. The high repeatability of RFA is advantageous in controlling recurrences of cancerous tumors in the liver. Results of this 10-year retrospective study are available in the January 2011 issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). HCC is the third leading cause of death from cancer worldwide and according to the ...

In the war on cancer, perhaps there is nothing more powerful in a physician's arsenal than early detection. Despite recent advances in early detection and treatment, breast cancer remains a common and significant health problem in the United States and worldwide. Approximately one in ten women will get breast cancer in their lifetime and more than half of women with late stage cancer (II and III) have no cure or effective therapeutic available. Using a new, powerful method for rapidly screening molecules associated with disease, proteomics expert Joshua LaBaer and colleagues ...

Researchers at King's College London and the University of East Anglia have discovered that women who consume a diet high in allium vegetables, such as garlic, onions and leeks, have lower levels of hip osteoarthritis. The findings, published in the BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders journal, not only highlight the possible effects of diet in protecting against osteoarthritis, but also show the potential for using compounds found in garlic to develop treatments for the condition. A relationship between body weight and osteoarthritis was previously recognised, although it ...

A University of Leicester researcher has discovered two photographic images, presumed lost, of native Americans brought to Britain by Roger Casement a century ago. Dr Lesley Wylie, Lecturer in Latin American Studies in the School of Modern Languages, University of Leicester, made the discovery during her research for a book on the Putumayo, a border region in the Amazon. Her book forms part of the AHRC-funded research project, American Tropics: Towards A Literary Geography, based at the University of Essex. The photographs were found among a photographic collection ...

A new study by German researchers found that a variation in the PNPLA3 (adiponutrin) gene was associated with cirrhosis of the liver and elevated transaminase (liver enzyme) levels in alcoholic Caucasians. The risk of cirrhosis in alcoholics in the genetic high risk group might be as high as 25% to 50%. Full findings are published in the January 2011 issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Alcoholic liver disease (ALD)—ranging from alcoholic fatty liver to alcohol induced liver fibrosis and cirrhosis—accounts for more ...

While the consumption of Goji berries has risen dramatically over the last months, their properties have not been scientifically proven yet by any relevant clinical intervention study with humans. Most of Goji berries' components are contained in the recommended fruit and vegetable intake in balanced diets. The only difference is the "significant placebo effect" on people consuming them. Also, the species Lycium Barbarum –to which Goji berries exported from China belongs– originally comes from the Mediterranean and belongs to the Solanaceae family, the same family to which ...

Significant health inequalities still exist between the country's richest and poorest according to the latest findings from the biggest annual survey of health in England, The Health Survey for England. The survey, conducted by the National Centre for Social Research and UCL and funded by The NHS Information Centre, shows that people in the lowest income households continue to experience much worse outcomes across key health measures than people in the highest income households. Men and women in the lowest income bracket are three times more likely than those in the highest ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Scientists now know that some cancer cells spread, or metastasize, throughout the body the old-fashioned way -- by using their feet. But researchers at Duke Cancer Institute have discovered a way to short-circuit their travels by preventing the development of these feet, called invadopodia. This discovery is even more important because preventing the development of these "feet" also eliminates the action of proteins present in the feet that burn through intact tissue and let cancer cells enter new cells. The results could yield a treatment to prevent the ...

The South could pay less for its electricity in 20 years than is currently projected if strong public policies are enacted to spur renewable energy production and use, according to a report released today by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University. The 190-page report, "Renewable Energy in the South," builds on a short policy brief released last summer and provides an in-depth assessment of the scope of renewable energy resources in the South and their economic impacts on electricity rates and utility bills in the region. Skeptics of renewable ...

Montreal, December 16, 2010 – Friendless kids can become social outcasts who risk spiraling into depression by adolescence, according to new research from Concordia University, Florida Atlantic University and the University of Vermont. Yet for most shy and withdrawn children, the study reports in the journal Development and Psychopathology, friends can be a form of protection against sadness. "The long-term effects of being a withdrawn child are enduringly negative," says lead author William M. Bukowski, a psychology professor and director of the Concordia Centre for ...

In a new report that bucks the concerns raised by the Food and Drug Administration, a Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) (sph.bu.edu) researcher concludes that electronic cigarettes are much safer than real cigarettes and show promise in the fight against tobacco-related diseases and death. The review, which will be published online ahead of print this month in the Journal of Public Health Policy, is the first to comprehensively examine scientific evidence about the safety and effectiveness of electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, said Michael ...

Films instead of walls. This is an idea that fascinates architects all over the world. The Eden Project in Southern England, the National Aquatics Center built for swimming events at the Olympics in Beijing and the Allianz Arena in Munich are only three examples of what you can make from plastic sheets. Ethylene tetraflourethylene (ETFE), a transparent membrane, is especially popular because it enables buildings that shine in all colors as in Munich and Peking. But, we are not just talking about colors. You can use this new foil for an intelligent improvement of existing ...

Through a complex analysis of protein interactions, researchers from IRB Barcelona and the Joint Programme IRB-BSC have discovered new molecular mechanisms that may be involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease. The study, a collaboration between bioinformaticians and cell biologists, was led by IRB Barcelona group leader and ICREA researcher Patrick Aloy and appears today in the Genome Research, a reference journal in the field of genomics. Alzheimer's disease is an age-related neurodegenerative disease. Despite the considerable efforts made in recent years to ...

INDIANAPOLIS –While many studies have looked at the treatment of chronic pain from the patient's perspective, there has been little research on those who provide care for chronic pain. In a study in the November 2010 issue of the journal Pain Medicine, researchers from the Regenstrief Institute, the Indiana University School of Medicine, the IU School of Liberal Arts and the Roudebush VA Medical Center report that chronic pain takes a toll on primary care providers as well as their patients. They conclude that providers' needs should not be ignored if pain care is to ...

WASHINGTON — The rapid advances in information technology that drive many sectors of the U.S. economy could stall unless the nation aggressively pursues fundamental research and development of parallel computing -- hardware and software that enable multiple computing activities to process simultaneously, says a new report by the National Research Council. Better options for managing power consumption in computers will also be essential for continued improvements in IT performance. For many decades, advances in single-processor, sequential computer microprocessors have ...

KINGSTON, R.I. – December 16, 2010 – Geologists from the University of Rhode Island and Princeton University, in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, have taken an important step toward helping the United States government monitor nuclear explosions by improving a 3-dimensional model originally developed at Harvard University. The improvements make the model more accurate at detecting the location, source and depth of seismic activity. The results of their research were presented today at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. The ...

The World Health Organization set a target for the influenza vaccination rate for 2006 of more than 50% of the elderly population and an increase to more than 75% by 2010. These rates have thus far not been achieved in the old German states. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107[48]: 845󈞞) the working group around Annicka M. Reuss presents rates from flu seasons past. Germany's Standing Vaccination Committee (STIKO) recommends annual vaccinations against seasonal influenza. The risk groups for the infection, which ...

Modesto, CA (Dec. 16, 2010) – With nearly 16 million Americans living today with prediabetes, a condition that is the precursor to type 2 diabetes, and half of all Americans expected to have either prediabetes or type 2 diabetes by the year 2020, nutritional approaches to maintaining healthy blood sugar levels are essential.1,2 The findings of a scientific study examining the health promotion and disease prevention benefits of almond consumption were published in the June, 2010 Journal of the American College of Nutrition. The study, one of the first of its kind to quantify ...

When children are exposed to head and neck radiation, whether due to cancer treatment or multiple diagnostic CT scans, the result is an increased risk of thyroid cancer for the next 58 years or longer, according to University of Rochester Medical Center research. The study is believed to be the longest of any group of children exposed to medical irradiation and followed for thyroid cancer incidence. It was published in the December 2010 edition of the journal, Radiation Research. The data also might provide some insight about why the rates of thyroid cancer continue ...