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 ...

PHILADELPHIA, September 8, 2010 -- The American College of Physicians (ACP) today released a new position paper that provides ethical guidance for using incentives to promote personal responsibility for health. In "Ethical Considerations for the Use of Patient Incentives to Promote Personal Responsibility for Health: West Virginia Medicaid and Beyond (http://www.acponline.org/running_practice/ethics/issues/policy/personal_incentives.pdf)," ACP stresses that innovative programs designed to motivate behavior change should be part of a comprehensive strategy for well-being ...

Frog Skin May Provide Antimicrobial Peptides Effective Against Multidrug-Resistant Infections Antimicrobial peptides from the skin of frogs may protect against life-threatening, multidrug-resistant infections such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa say researchers from Italy. They detail their findings in the September 2010 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. P. aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that causes some of the most prevalent life-threatening infections such as eye and ear infections, burn wound infections and lung infections in cystic ...

A North Carolina State University researcher and colleagues have figured out a way to make an aluminum alloy, or a mixture of aluminum and other elements, just as strong as steel. That's important, says Dr. Yuntian Zhu, professor of materials science and the NC State researcher involved in the project, because the search for ever lighter – yet stronger – materials is crucial to devising everything from more fuel-efficient cars to safer airplanes. In a paper published in the journal Nature Communications, Zhu and his colleagues describe the new nanoscale ...

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers and their university colleagues have sequenced the majority of the genome of Meleagris gallopavo, the domesticated turkey, creating the first-ever turkey genome map. The nearly complete map could help growers to more efficiently produce bigger, meatier turkeys. The research is reported today in PLoS Biology, an online journal of the Public Library of Science. Americans consume about 17.6 pounds of turkey per capita every year, and the U.S. produces nearly 6 billion pounds of turkey meat annually. "Turkey is the fourth ...

For 70 years the world has mismanaged the common good of antibiotics. The result is a growing global burden of antibiotic resistance, threatening to take health care back to an era where ordinary infections might once again become fatal. At a historic three day conference at Uppsala University, Sweden, 190 delegates representing 45 countries and many leading stake holders – civil society, academia, industry, governments, authorities, supranational organizations – agreed on Wednesday to turn a new page and move towards concerted action on antibiotic resistance. "This ...

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have developed new software that greatly improves the speed at which scientists can analyze RNA sequencing data. RNA sequencing is used to compare differences in gene expression to identify those genes that switched on or off when, for instance, a particular disease is present. However, sequencing instruments can produce billions of sequences per day, which can be time-consuming and costly to analyze. The software, known as Myrna, uses "cloud computing," an Internet-based method of sharing computer resources. ...

By integrating remote satellite imagery with revelations from door-to-door interviews, Stanford University geographer Eric Lambin and his colleagues are exploring the complex conditions that give rise to a broad range of land-use challenges – from the reforestation of Vietnam to the spread of Lyme disease in Belgium. For decades, orbiting satellites have peered downward to gather information about the surface of the Earth, giving scientists an unprecedented view of the planet. Using this data, researchers have created maps of deforestation and other land-use changes over ...

Scientists are calling for more research on the possibility that some supposedly healthful plant-based antioxidants — including those renowned for their apparent ability to prevent cancer — may actually aggravate or even cause cancer in some individuals. Their recommendation follows a study in which two such antioxidants — quercetin and ferulic acid — appeared to aggravate kidney cancer in severely diabetic laboratory rats. The study appears in ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Kuan-Chou Chen, Robert Peng, and colleagues note that vegetables, ...

Pullman, WA—September 8, 2010— Nutritional science and food marketing has become so sophisticated in recent decades that a trip to the supermarket can require a complete nutritional re-education. The average consumer needs to be on guard against preservatives, added fat, colorings, and calories, false advertising, and sophisticated but misleading labels. Although guidelines for the information of food labels have gotten a bad rap in recent years a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Affairs suggests that observing them may lead to weight loss, especially for ...

Twenty million medical scans and treatments are done each year that require radioactive isotopes, and scientists today described a global shortage of these life-saving materials that could jeopardize patient care and drive-up health care costs. They spoke at a symposium at one of the opening sessions of the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Medical isotopes are minute amounts of radioactive substances used to diagnose and treat a variety of diseases. Isotopes injected into the body can enable doctors to determine whether the heart has adequate ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Simply teaching people the facts about how to protect themselves from HIV may not be enough to prevent the spread of AIDS in Africa, a new study suggests. Researchers found that villagers in Ghana who had higher levels of cognitive and decision-making abilities – not just the most knowledge -- were the ones who were most likely to take steps to protect themselves from HIV infection. These cognitive abilities are what people develop through formal education, said Ellen Peters, lead author of the study and associate professor of psychology at Ohio State ...

Scientists today described development and successful initial tests on a substance that acts as a sunscreen for the microscopic spores of a fungus, brightening prospects for wider use of the fungus as a means of wiping out insect pests that attack food crops. "Our finding is especially important for the environment because improving the effectiveness of biological control treatments like this will help to reduce dependence on chemical pesticides," said team leader Robert W. Behle, Ph.D. Behle explained that the fungus –– Beauveria bassiana –– shows great promise as a ...

The eyes may or may not be windows to the soul, as the old adage goes, but scientists are reporting evidence that a peek into the eyes of cattle may become the basis for a long-sought test to detect infection with the agent that causes Mad Cow Disease. That test could help prevent the disease from spreading in the food supply. A study on using the tell-tale glow given off by eyes infected with the Mad Cow agent appears in ACS' semi-monthly journal Analytical Chemistry. Jacob Petrich and colleagues note that the human form of Mad Cow Disease is linked to eating beef from ...

The formaldehyde added to fabrics to keep clothing looking fresh and wrinkle-free is unlikely to pose a health risk to consumers, according to an article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine. C&EN Senior Correspondent David J. Hanson notes that manufacturers have added formaldehyde to fabrics for almost a hundred years to make fabrics easier to care for, particularly to reduce wrinkling in cotton and prevent stains. But concern has emerged over formaldehyde's potential for causing allergic reactions such as skin rashes ...

High testosterone levels in CEOs negotiating mergers and acquisitions are linked to a higher rate of dropped deals and an increase in hostile takeover attempts, according to a new study in the current issue of Management Science, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®). "Deal or No Deal: Hormones and the Mergers and Acquisitions Game" is by Maurice Levi, Kai Li, and Feng Zhang of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. The study appears in the current issue of Management Science. A podcast ...

Elimination of a molecular gatekeeper leads to the development of arthritis in mice, scientists report in a study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. The newly discovered gatekeeper is a protein that determines the fate – survival or death – of damaging cells that mistakenly attack the body's own tissues and lead to autoimmune disorders such as arthritis. Better understanding how arthritis develops will offer scientists an opportunity to explore new types of treatments for patients whose arthritis has not been effectively treated with current therapies. "This ...

JUPITER, FL, September 8, 2010 – A team led by a Scripps Research Institute scientist has for the first time identified a new gene that is required for memory formation in Drosophila, the common fruit fly. The gene may have similar functions in humans, shedding light on neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease or human learning disabilities. The study was published in the September 9, 2010 edition (Vol. 67, No. 5) of the journal Neuron. "This is the first time we have a new memory and learning gene that lies outside what has been considered the most fundamental ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The wasting disease associated with some cancers that is typically seen affecting skeletal muscles can also cause significant damage to the heart, new research in mice suggests. Before now, cachexia, characterized by muscle wasting and dramatic weight loss, was believed to spare the heart. But an Ohio State University study showed that the condition reduces heart function and changes the heart muscle structure in mice with colon cancer. Previous studies have suggested that cachexia is responsible for between one-fifth and one-third of all cancer deaths. ...