Chemists at the University of California, San Diego, have identified how a protein that accumulates in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease interferes with the ability of cells to get rid of debris. They also found a natural mechanism by which this protein, amyloid beta, itself may be discarded. Plaques of amyloid are a hallmark of the ailment, but no one is sure exactly how they contribute to catastrophic loss of memory and cognition. Scientists have begun to suspect that amyloid disables a structure called a proteasome, which chops up proteins that cells ...

Too much testosterone can be a deal breaker, according to Sauder School of Business researchers at the University of British Columbia. Their paper, to be published in the INFORMS journal Management Science on September 10, shows that young CEOs with more of the steroidal hormone in their system are more likely to initiate, scrap or resist mergers and acquisitions. The study by Sauder Finance Professors Maurice Levi and Kai Li, and PhD student Feng Zhang, titled "Deal or No Deal: Hormones and the Mergers and Acquisitions Game," shows that testosterone – a hormone associated ...

Fairbanks, Alaska—A University of Alaska Fairbanks fisheries scientist has teamed up with Alaska Power and Telephone to study how a new power-generating turbine affects fish in the Yukon River. So far, the news looks good for the fish. "In the brief testing that we have been able to accomplish, we have no indication that the turbine has killed or even injured any fish," said Andrew Seitz, project leader and assistant professor of fisheries. Alaska Power and Telephone installed the in-stream turbine near Eagle, Alaska this summer. They are testing its effectiveness ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – There's a reason why some sports fans are referred to as "die-hards" – even after they move away, their loyalty to their hometown team endures, according to research by two University of Illinois professors. Scott Tainsky and Monika Stodolska, professors of recreation, sport and tourism, say new residents of a community maintain an attachment to their old team or former city as a way of asserting their identity after they move. "People new to a city don't just adopt their new hometown's team as a way to acclimate themselves in a new community," Tainsky ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A University of Illinois economist says consumers and investors concerned about the specter of deflation looming over an already bleak economic landscape should relax – for the time being, at least. Although the consumer price index is near zero, J. Fred Giertz says we're unlikely to see a prolonged deflationary period like the slump Japan experienced during its "lost decade" of the 1990s. "We're close to zero right now, but we're not below zero," said Giertz, an Institute of Government and Public Affairs economist who compiles a monthly barometer ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Most proteins are shapely. But about one-third of them lack a definitive form, at least that scientists can readily observe. These intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) perform a host of important biological functions, from muscle contraction to other neuronal actions. Yet despite their importance, "We don't know much about them," said Wolfgang Peti, associate professor of medical science and chemistry. "No one really worried about them." Now, Peti, joined by researchers at the University of Toronto and at Brookhaven National Laboratory ...

A new study identifies molecules that can be used to selectively reduce generation of the sticky, neuron-damaging plaques that are the hallmark of the Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain. The research, published by Cell Press in the September 9 issue of the journal Neuron, may lead to the development of effective and safe therapeutics for this currently incurable disease. Previous research has suggested that an alteration in brain levels of amyloid ? proteins (A?) plays a major pathogenic role in AD, a devastating neurodegenerative disorder that causes progressive cognitive ...

Addictive drugs are known to induce changes in the brain's reward circuits that may underlie drug craving and relapse after long periods of abstinence. Now, new research, published by Cell Press in the September 9 issue of the journal Neuron, uncovers a specific neural mechanism that may be linked to persistent drug-seeking behavior and could help to guide strategies for development of new therapies for cocaine addiction. Previous research has shown that the ventral tegmental area (VTA) is a brain region that is activated when cocaine users experience a craving for cocaine ...

New York (September 8, 2010) – In a surprising and unexpected discovery, scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have found that a single type of gene acts as a master organizer of motor neurons in the spinal cord. The finding, published in the September 9, 2010 issue of Neuron, could help scientists develop new treatments for diseases such as Lou Gehrig's disease or spinal cord injury. The "master organizer" is a member of the Hox family of genes, best known for controlling the overall pattern of body development. By orchestrating a cascade of gene expression in ...

A team of scientists, led by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers, has synthesized hundreds of new compounds with the potential of reducing the production of the A-beta 42 peptide, a primary component of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In mouse models, one tested compound specifically reduced levels of A-beta 42, which is believed to be responsible for the destruction of neurons, but left other essential enzymatic activities in the brain unaffected, said Steven Wagner, PhD, a project scientist in the UCSD Department of Neurosciences. The ...

A group of international astronomers in the UK, France and the USA, led by the University of Leicester, have found proof to confirm the distance and brightness of the most extreme ultra-luminous X-ray source, which may herald a new type of Black Hole. The X-ray source, HLX-1, is the most extreme member of an extraordinary class of objects – the ultra-luminous X-ray sources – and is located in the galaxy ESO 243-49 at a distance of ~300 million light years from the Earth. The astronomers' findings confirm that the extreme luminosity (which is a factor of ~100 above ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A type of neuron that, when malfunctioning, has been tied to epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia is much more complex than previously thought, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory report in the Sept. 9 issue of Neuron. The majority of brain cells are called excitatory because they ramp up the action of target cells. In contrast, inhibitory cells called interneurons put the brakes on unbridled activity to maintain order and control. Epileptic seizures, as well as symptoms of autism and schizophrenia, have been tied to dysfunctional ...

SAN DIEGO -- In the Sept 9, 2010 issue of Neuron, Neurogenetic Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NGP) reports proof of concept studies that show its proprietary compound, NGP 555, is effective in preventing the amyloid pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a transgenic mouse model. The study further demonstrates that following chronic treatment with the gamma secretase modulator (GSM) compound from NGP, the mice were devoid of gastrointestinal side effects, an adverse finding commonly associated with gamma secretase inhibitors (GSIs). A major pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's ...

Scientific research published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) reports on a study of genetic variants that influence human susceptibility to peripheral arterial disease (PAD), made possible by leveraging electronic medical records (EMRs; also called EHRs or electronic health records). A team of authors from the Mayo Clinic Divisions of Cardiovascular Diseases and Biomedical Informatics and Statistics conducted the study and concluded that EMR-based data, used across institutions in a structured way, "offer great ...

NOAA's Fisheries Service has designated the eastern North Pacific basking shark, a "species of concern" because it has suffered a dramatic decline in population despite decreasing fishing pressure. The label "species of concern" may be given to a species when there are concerns regarding the population status. The eastern Pacific basking shark is not being considered for listing pursuant to the Endangered Species Act, rather it is a species of concern because it has been over fished and its population has apparently not responded to conservation measures implemented ...

An international study has discovered the reason why some people who eat a high-fat diet remain slim, yet others pile on the weight. The study, led in Australia by the Monash Obesity and Diabetes Institute (MODI) at Monash University, found a high-fat diet causes brain cells to become insulated from the body preventing vital signals, which tell the body to stop eating and to burn energy, from reaching the brain efficiently. MODI director and Australian Life Scientist of the Year Professor Michael Cowley said there were two clear outcomes from the findings. 'We discovered ...

LOS ANGELES – Sept. 7, 2010 – Researchers in Cedars-Sinai's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences have reported people who undergo massage experience measureable changes in their body's immune and endocrine response. Although there have been previous, smaller studies about the health benefits of massage, the Cedars-Sinai study is widely believed to be the first systematic study of a larger group of healthy adults. The study is published online at http://www.liebertonline.com/loi/acm. It also will be published in the October printed edition of ...

Consuming energy drinks during team sports could help young people perform better, a study suggests. Sports scientists found that 12-14 year olds can play for longer in team games when they drink an isotonic sports drink before and during games. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh measured the performance of 15 adolescents during exercise designed to simulate the physical demands of team games such as football, rugby and hockey. They showed for the first time that sports drinks helped the young people continue high intensity, stop-start activity for up to ...

The tomb was discovered during the excavation of a large mound – the Great Tumulus – at Vergina in 1977. Along with many treasures including ceremonial military equipment, bronze utensils, silver tableware, and gold wreaths, the tomb contained two sets of skeletal remains. Those of a man were found in a gold casket in the main chamber and those of a woman in a smaller gold casket in the second chamber. Both individuals had been cremated and evidence of a wooden funerary house containing a pyre was also found near the tomb. Dr Jonathan Musgrave of the University of ...

Cancer becomes life-threatening when tumor cells start leaving their primary site. They travel through the lymph and blood streams to other tissues where they grow into metastases. This transition to malignancy is associated with characteristic changes in the cancer cells. The activity of several genes is reprogrammed and, thus, the production of proteins anchoring cells to a tissue is reduced. On the other hand, the amount of surface markers which make a cancer cell mobile increases. Professor Dr. Heike Allgayer heads a Clinical Cooperation Unit of DKFZ and UMM. She ...

Originally discovered from Australia by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop early in the nineteenth century, NGC 300 is one of the closest and most prominent spiral galaxies in the southern skies and is bright enough to be seen easily in binoculars. It lies in the inconspicuous constellation of Sculptor, which has few bright stars, but is home to a collection of nearby galaxies that form the Sculptor Group [1]. Other members that have been imaged by ESO telescopes include NGC 55 (eso0914 - http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso0914/), NGC 253 (eso1025 - http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1025/, ...

Mycoplasmas are responsible for a variety of important diseases, including atypical pneumonia in humans and mastitis in cows, sheep and goats, which results in loss of milk production. Mycoplasmal mastitis represents a particular problem in the dairy industry and is thus a subject of intense study. One of the most important mastitis agents in sheep and goats is Mycoplasma agalactiae, which has been under investigation by the group of Renate Rosengarten and Rohini Chopra-Dewasthaly at the Institute of Bacteriology, Mycology and Hygiene at the University of Veterinary Medicine, ...

Philadelphia, PA, 8 September, 2010 - In groups with high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as the survivors of the Nazi Death Camps, the adjustment problems of their children, the so-called "Second Generation", have received attention by researchers. Studies suggested that some symptoms or personality traits associated with PTSD may be more common in the Second Generation than the general population. It has been assumed that these trans-generational effects reflected the impact of PTSD upon the parent-child relationship rather than a trait passed biologically ...

Scientists at the UK's National Physical Laboratory have developed a new strategy for quicker and more precise detection of biomarkers – proteins which indicate disease. The work could pave the way for new tools to detect early stages of Alzheimer's and cancer at the molecular level. All diseases have proteins specifically linked to them called biomarkers. Identifying these in body fluid such as blood can be a powerful tool in identifying diseases in their early stages. This would help doctors increase the success rate of treatment through early intervention and help ...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2010 — Biodiesel fuel could be produced from municipal sewage sludge at a cost that is within a few cents a gallon of being competitive with conventional diesel refined from petroleum, according to the latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) award-winning podcast series, "Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions." To boost biodiesel production, sewage treatment plants could use microorganisms that produce higher amounts of oil, says study leader David M. Kargbo, Ph.D., with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).That step alone ...