The press release
archive.

Medicine13 Sep 2010

New pathway identified in Parkinson's through brain imaging

(NEW YORK, NY, September 13, 2010) – A new study led by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center has identified a novel molecular pathway underlying Parkinson's disease and points to existing drugs which may be able to slow progression of the disease. The pathway involved proteins – known as polyamines – that were found to be responsible for the increase in build-up of other toxic proteins in neurons, which causes the neurons to malfunction and, eventually, die. Though high levels of polyamines have been found previously in patients with Parkinson's, the new ...

Read the release

Science13 Sep 2010

Wives as the new breadwinners

Durham, NH—September 13, 2010— During the recent recession in the United States, many industries suffered significant layoffs, leaving individuals and families to revise their spending and rethink income opportunities. Many wives are increasingly becoming primary breadwinners or entering the labor market. A new article in Family Relations tests "the added worker" theory, which suggests wives who are not working may seek work as a substitute for husband's labor if he becomes unemployed, and finds that during a time of economic downturn wives are more likely to enter the ...

Read the release

Medicine13 Sep 2010

Making cookies that are good for your heart

VIDEO: Years of research has proven that saturated and trans fats clog arteries, make it tough for the heart to pump and are not valuable components of any diet. Unfortunately, they... Click here for more information. COLUMBIA, Mo. ¬— Years of research has proven that saturated and trans fats clog arteries, make it tough for the heart to pump and are not valuable components of any diet. Unfortunately, they are contained in many foods. Now, a University of Missouri research ...

Read the release

Science13 Sep 2010

Obama administration responds to call to action from Concordia researchers

Montreal / September 13, 2010 – September 21, 2010 marks the one year anniversary of the release of a landmark document produced by researchers at Concordia University. Mobilizing The Will to Intervene (W2I) offers governments practical steps to prevent future genocides and mass atrocities. Produced by researchers with the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) based at Concordia, the document was presented to the governments of Canada and The United States of America. It has already yielded concrete results. Under President Barack Obama's leadership, ...

Read the release

Medicine13 Sep 2010

Latent HIV infection focus of NIDA's 2010 Avant-Garde Award

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced today that Dr. Eric M. Verdin of the J. David Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, Calif., has been selected as the 2010 recipient of the NIDA Avant-Garde Award for HIV/AIDS Research for his proposal to study the mechanisms of latent HIV infection. NIDA's annual Avant-Garde award competition, now in its third year, is intended to stimulate high-impact research that may lead to groundbreaking opportunities for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in drug abusers. Awardees ...

Read the release

Medicine13 Sep 2010

New study reconciles conflicting data on mental aging

WASHINGTON — A new look at tests of mental aging reveals a good news-bad news situation. The bad news is all mental abilities appear to decline with age, to varying degrees. The good news is the drops are not as steep as some research showed, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association. "There is now convincing evidence that even vocabulary knowledge and what's called crystallized intelligence decline at older ages," said study author Timothy Salthouse, PhD. Longitudinal test scores look good in part because repeat test-takers grow familiar ...

Read the release

Medicine13 Sep 2010

Scientists glimpse dance of skeletons inside neurons

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 ...

Read the release

Medicine13 Sep 2010

CU-Boulder study sheds light on how our brains get tripped up when we're anxious

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 ...

Read the release

Energy13 Sep 2010

Energy Express focus issue: Thin-film photovoltaic materials and devices

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 ...

Read the release

Science13 Sep 2010

Over-the-top grass control in sorghum on the horizon

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 ...

Read the release

Science13 Sep 2010

Study finds that sorghum bran has more antioxidants than blueberries, pomegranates

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 ...

Read the release

Technology13 Sep 2010

Mount Sinai performs first tricuspid ring implantation

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 ...

Read the release

Medicine13 Sep 2010

Good long-term results for fusion surgery for high-grade spondylolisthesis

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% ...

Read the release

Science13 Sep 2010

Bone-anchored leg prostheses improve quality of life

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 ...

Read the release

Environment13 Sep 2010

Early childhood education important for sustainable development

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 ...

Read the release

Environment13 Sep 2010

Female marine snails trick amorous males

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 ...

Read the release

Environment13 Sep 2010

Your body recycling itself -- captured on film

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 ...

Read the release

Technology13 Sep 2010

How football playing robots have the future of artificial intelligence at their feet

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 ...

Read the release

Medicine13 Sep 2010

Breakthrough in drug trial offers hope for heart attack patients

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 ...

Read the release

Medicine13 Sep 2010

Brain stimulation can help partially paralyzed stroke patients regain use of their muscles

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 ...

Read the release

Environment13 Sep 2010

MIT researchers develop a way to funnel solar energy

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 ...

Read the release

Technology13 Sep 2010

Engineers make artificial skin out of nanowires

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, ...

Read the release

Medicine13 Sep 2010

Cancer deaths fall, but prevention still lags behind

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 ...

Read the release

Medicine13 Sep 2010

Scripps Research scientists solve long-standing mystery of protein 'quality control' mechanism

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 ...

Read the release

Medicine13 Sep 2010

Gene discovery could yield treatments for nearsightedness

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 ...

Read the release