Public Release: 16-Nov-2008
No protective effect on cancer from long-term vitamin E or vitamin C supplementation
Data from a large-scale prevention trial presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research show no protective effect from vitamin E on prostate cancer or vitamin C supplementation on total cancer.
Public Release: 16-Nov-2008
'Super-aged' brains reveal first secrets of sharp memory in old age
Northwestern University Researchers wondered if the brains of the elderly with still laser sharp memory were different than everyone else's. So, they took a novel approach and investigated what goes right in an aging brain that stays nimble. Scientists examined the brains of deceased people called "super aged" because they had high performance on memory tests when they were over 80. They found their brains had many fewer fiber-like tangles than the brains of elderly, nondemented individuals.
Contact: Marla Paul
Public Release: 16-Nov-2008
Scripps research scientists discover new cause of fatal brain injury from acute viral meningitis
What was once thought to be the culprit responsible for fatal brain damage in acute viral meningitis has now been found to be only an accomplice, say researchers at the Scripps Research Institute.
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
A big bunch of tomatoes?
Why do poppies and sunflowers grow as a single flower per stalk while each stem of a tomato plant has several branches, each carrying flowers? In a new study, published in this week's issue of the open access journal PLoS Biology, Dr. Zachary Lippman and colleagues identify a genetic mechanism that determines the pattern of flower growth in the Solanaceae family of plants that includes tomato, potato, pepper, eggplant, tobacco, petunia and deadly nightshades.
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
Forests may play overlooked role in regulating climate
In a study to be published next week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists led by a team at the University of New Hampshire show that forests may influence the Earth's climate in important ways that have not previously been recognized.
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
Indigo ointment may help treat patients with psoriasis
An ointment made from indigo naturalis, a dark blue plant-based powder used in traditional Chinese medicine, appears effective in treating plaque-type psoriasis, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
Time, surgery appear to reduce episodes of dizziness in patients with Ménière's disease
Episodes of dizziness tend to become less frequent over time in patients with Ménière's disease, a condition characterized by vertigo, hearing loss and ringing in the ears, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. A second report finds that a surgical procedure to drain fluid from the inner ear appears to reduce vertigo in three-fourths of patients with the condition.
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
Cooling the brain prevents cell death in young mice exposed to anesthesia
New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests cooling the brain may prevent the death of nerve cells that has been observed in infant mice exposed to anesthesia. The effects of anesthesia on human infants and young children have been debated among neuroscientists, but growing evidence suggests exposure to anesthetic drugs during brain development may contribute to behavioral and developmental delays.
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
Drug therapy for premature infants destroys brain cells in mice
A class of drugs that are used in premature infants to treat chronic lung damage can cause damage in the brain. New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests the drugs may cause cognitive and motor-control problems even when they are given before birth.
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
Researchers find link between nicotine addiction and autism
Scientists have identified a relationship between two proteins in the brain that has links to both nicotine addiction and autism. The finding has led to speculation that existing drugs used to curb nicotine addiction might serve as the basis for potential therapies to alleviate the symptoms of autism. The discovery identified a defining role for a protein made by the neurexin-1 gene, which is located in brain cells and assists in connecting neurons as part of the brain's chemical communication system.
Prophesy of economic collapse 'coming true'
Controversial doomsday predictions published in a 1972 book are in line with real-world patterns, suggests an analysis of 30 years of data
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
Evolution of the visual system is key to abstract art
Famous works of abstract art achieve popularity by using shapes that resonate with the neural mechanisms in the brain linked to visual information, a psychologist at the University of Liverpool has discovered.
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
Sleep helps people learn complicated tasks
Sleep helps the mind learn complicated tasks and helps people recover learning they otherwise thought they had forgotten. Using a test that involved learning to play video games, researchers showed for the first time that people who had "forgotten" how to perform a complex task 12 hours after training found that those abilities were restored after a night's sleep.
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
Gulf War research panel finds 1 in 4 veterans suffers from illness caused by toxic exposure
At least one in four of the 697,000 US veterans of the 1991 Gulf War suffer from Gulf War illness, a condition caused by exposure to toxic chemicals, including pesticides and a drug administered to protect troops against nerve gas, and no effective treatments have yet been found, a federal panel of scientific experts and veterans concludes in a landmark report released Monday.
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
Non-white med students reject therapies associated with their culture
Non-white medical students are more likely to embrace orthodox medicine and reject therapies traditionally associated with their cultures. That is one finding from an international study that measures the attitudes of medical students toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). While seemingly counter-intuitive, white students view CAM more favorably than their non-white counterparts, the study authors say.
NIH/National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
Water vapor confirmed as major player in climate change
Water vapor is known to be Earth's most abundant greenhouse gas, but the extent of its contribution to global warming has been debated. Using recent NASA satellite data, researchers have estimated more precisely than ever the heat-trapping effect of water in the air, validating the role of the gas as a critical component of climate change.
NASAPublic Release: 17-Nov-2008
Billions of particles of anti-matter created in laboratory
Take a gold sample the size of the head of a push pin, shoot a laser through it, and suddenly more than 100 billion particles of anti-matter appear. The anti-matter, also known as positrons, shoots out of the target in a cone-shaped plasma "jet."
Contact: Anne Stark
Public Release: 17-Nov-2008
2 cancer drugs prevent, reverse type 1 diabetes, UCSF study shows
Two common cancer drugs have been shown to both prevent and reverse type 1 diabetes in a mouse model of the disease, according to research conducted at the University of California, San Francisco. The drugs -- imatinib (marketed as Gleevec) and sunitinib (marketed as Sutent) -- were found to put type 1 diabetes into remission in 80 percent of the test mice and work permanently in 80 percent of those that go into remission.
National Institutes of Health, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Public Release: 18-Nov-2008
Ginkgo biloba does not appear to prevent dementia, Alzheimer's disease
Use of the herb Ginkgo biloba, claimed to have beneficial effects on memory and cognition, was not effective in reducing the rate of dementia or Alzheimer's disease among more than 1,500 elderly study participants after several years of use, according to a study in the Nov. 19 issue of JAMA.
Contact: David Foreman
Found: An Ancient Monument to the Soul
A monument in Turkey may be the first written evidence that the people in the region held to the religious concept of the soul apart from the body.
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Public Release: 18-Nov-2008
Brain compound 'throws gasoline onto the fire' of schizophrenia
New research has traced elevated levels of a specific compound in the brain to problem-solving deficits in patients with schizophrenia. The finding suggests that drugs used to suppress the compound, called kynurenic acid, might be an important supplement to antipsychotic medicines, as these adjuncts could be used to treat the disorder's most resistant symptoms -- cognitive impairments.
National Institutes of Health
It's confirmed: Matter is merely vacuum fluctuations
The apparently solid stuff is no more than fluctuations in the quantum vacuum, fiendishly complex calculations confirm
19:00 20 November 2008
For Tasmanian Devils, Hope Against a Wily Cancer
A deadly cancer has preyed on the Tasmanian devil, causing it to be listed as endangered, and scientists have begun an experimental inoculation program.
By ERICA REX
Public Release: 18-Nov-2008
Exercise increases brain growth factor and receptors, prevents stem cell drop in middle age
A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the mouse brain, and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical which promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells.
National Science Council of Taiwan
Public Release: 18-Nov-2008
Scientists find facial scars increase attractiveness
Men with facial scars are more attractive to women seeking short-term relationships, scientists at the University of Liverpool have found.
Contact: Samantha Martin
Public Release: 18-Nov-2008
Antibiotics can cause pervasive, persistent changes to microbiota in human gut
Using a novel technique developed by Mitchell Sogin of the Marine Biological Laboratory to identify different types of bacteria, scientists have completed the most precise survey to date of how microbial communities in the human gut respond to antibiotic treatment.
National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Trust
Real-life 'gremlin' rediscovered in the wild
The pygmy tarsier, a tiny primate that has not been seen alive since 1921 and was thought extinct, has been found alive on a mountaintop in Indonesia
11:42 19 November 2008
Public Release: 18-Nov-2008
K-State helps nursing home staff become comfortable with residents' sexual expression
Research assistants at the K-State Center on Aging studied nursing home staff attitudes about sexuality. They are looking at ways to make nursing home staff more comfortable accommodating the sexual needs of residents.The researchers surveyed the staff before and after a workshop they presented. The surveys, as well as anecdotal feedback from the participants, showed a marked change in attitudes.
Contact: Gayle Doll
Public Release: 18-Nov-2008
The psychology of deja vu
All of us have experienced being in a new place and feeling certain that we have been there before. A new report by Colorado State University psychologist Anne M. Cleary, published in Current Directions in Psychological Science describes recent findings about deja vu, including the many similarities that exist between déjà vu and our understanding of human recognition memory.
Contact: Catherine West
Woman receives windpipe built from her stem cells
A Colombian woman has become the world's first recipient of a section of windpipe constructed from donated tissue coated with her own cells
00:01 19 November 2008
Public Release: 18-Nov-2008
The smart way to study
Combine the aphorisms that "practice makes perfect" and "timing is everything" into one and you might get something resembling findings published in this month's issue of Psychological Science. Proper spacing of lessons, the researchers report, can dramatically enhance learning. And larger gaps between study sessions result in better recall of facts. Conversely: Cramming is ineffective in the long haul.
National Science Foundation, US Department of Education
Public Release: 19-Nov-2008
Scientists are high on idea that marijuana reduces memory impairment
The more research they do, the more evidence scientists find that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells. It suggests that developing a legal drug that contains certain properties similar to those in marijuana might help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Though the exact cause of Alzheimer's remains unknown, chronic inflammation in the brain is believed to contribute to memory impairment.
National Institutes of Health
Public Release: 19-Nov-2008
Uncovering secrets of life in the ocean
Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology now explain the remarkable ability of marine zooplankton to swim towards light. Their study, published in the current issue of Nature, reveals how simple eyes of only two cells, sense the direction of light and guide movement towards it. The research also provides new insights into what the first eyes in animal evolution might have looked like and what their function was.
Contact: Anna-Lynn Wegener
Regenerating a Mammoth for $10 Million
A new report suggests that a living mammoth could perhaps be regenerated from DNA extracted from clumps of the animal's hair.
By NICHOLAS WADE
Public Release: 19-Nov-2008
Surgeons perform world's first pediatric robotic bladder reconstruction
A 10-year-old Chicago girl born with an abnormally small bladder that made her incontinent has become the first patient to benefit from a new robotic-assisted bladder-reconstruction procedure. The surgeons describe their innovative technique in the December 2008 issue of the journal Urology. They have now performed the operation six times, with good results and no significant complications.
Contact: John Easton
Mysterious electrons may be sign of dark matter
A balloon-borne experiment in Antarctica detected a high number of energetic electrons from space that may be the signature of dark matter
18:30 19 November 2008
Monkey gossip hints at social origins of language
The discovery that female macaques are far chattier than males helps bolster the theory that human language evolved to forge social bonds
THIS WEEK
Public Release: 20-Nov-2008
Deep-sea protists may explain trace fossil evidence attributed to ancient animals
A new discovery challenges one of the strongest arguments in favor of the idea that animals with bilateral symmetry--those that, like us, have two halves that are roughly mirror images of each other--existed before their obvious appearance in the fossil record during the early Cambrian, some 542 million years ago. Researchers report the first evidence that trace fossils interpreted by some as the tracks of ancient bilaterians could have instead been made by giant deep-sea protists.
Contact: Cathleen Genova
Vast stores of water ice surround Martian equator
Underground glaciers around the planet's midsection contain the largest deposits of ice outside the polar regions
19:30 20 November 2008
Public Release: 20-Nov-2008
Lactic acid found to fuel tumors
A team of researchers at Duke University Medical Center and the Universite catholique de Louvain has found that lactic acid is an important energy source for tumor cells. In further experiments, they discovered a new way to destroy the most hard-to-kill, dangerous tumor cells by preventing them from delivering lactic acid.
Contact: Mary Jane Gore
Public Release: 20-Nov-2008
Oh, what a feeling!
People who have lost the ability to interpret emotion after a severe brain injury can regain this vital social skill by being re-educated to read body language, facial expressions and voice tone in others, according to a new study.
Contact: Dr. Cristina Bornhofen
Public Release: 20-Nov-2008
Uncertainty can be more stressful than clear negative feedback
We are faced with uncertainty every day. Will our investments pay off? Will we get the promotions we are hoping for? When faced with the unknown, most people experience some degree of anxiety and discomfort. Exactly how much anxiety someone experiences during uncertain times depends on his or her personality profile.
Contact: Catherine West
Public Release: 20-Nov-2008
Barrow scientists solve 200-year-old scientific debate involving visual illusions
Neuroscientists at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center have discovered a direct link between eye motions and the perception of illusory motion that solves a 200-year-old debate.
Contact: Carmelle Malkovich
Gallery: Ape artists raise funds for conservation
See colourful works of art painted by bonobos and orangutans for an exhibition called Apes Helping Apes aiming to raise money to preserve wild apes
Observatory
Invasive Plants in Gala'pagos May Really Be Native
Some plants that were thought to be invasive species in the Galapagos Islands predate humans by thousands of years.
Public Release: 21-Nov-2008
Hairspray is linked to common genital birth defect, says study
Women who are exposed to hairspray in the workplace during pregnancy have more than double the risk of having a son with the genital birth defect hypospadias, according to a new study published today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Contact: Laura Gallagher
Light opens up a world of sound for the deaf
IBM to build brain-like computers
IBM has announced it will lead a US government-funded collaboration to make electronic circuits that mimic brains.
By Jason PalmerScience and technology reporter, BBC News
Public Release: 23-Nov-2008
Nature Medicine
Nature Medicine study shows Peregrine's bavituximab can cure lethal virus infections
A new strategy for antiviral therapy targets a lipid on the inside of cell membranes that flips inside-out onto the surface of virally infected cells and viruses. Antibodies binding this unique target demonstrate potent antiviral activity in lethal virus models. Since the target belongs to the host, this approach works across viruses and is not subject to resistance-causing viral mutations. The antibody is in clinical development for HCV patients co-infected with HIV by Peregrine Pharmaceuticals.
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals
Public Release: 23-Nov-2008
Nature Chemical Biology
Scripps research team defines new painkilling chemical pathway
National Institutes of Health, Helen L. Dorris Child and Adolescent Neuro-Psychiatric Disorder Institute, Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology