ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• New insights into how immune system fights atherosclerosis
• Researchers discover genetic basis for eczema, new avenue to therapies
• Physicists take photonic topological insulators to the next level
• Strength training improves vascular function in young black men
• A new type of nerve cell found in the brain
• Targeting taste receptors in the gut may help fight obesity
• Targeted gene silencing drugs are more than 500 times more effective with new delivery method
• Targeted therapy proves effective against brain tumors in preclinical studies
• New pathways that drive metastatic prostate cancer identified
• Bats may hold clues to long life and disease resistance
• Liver mitochondria improve, increase after chronic alcohol feeding in mice
• miR-205 can be responsible for breast cancer
• Hawaiian Islands are dissolving from within, study says
• Suspend the crystals, and they grow better
• New calculations solve an old problem with DNA
• Young scientist helps identify cause of widespread eye disease
• Test to detect pre-menstrual syndrome
• May the force be with the atomic probe
• Cholesterol boosts the memory of the immune system
• New markers could improve treatment and survival in acute lymphoblastic leukemia
• Ups and downs of biodiversity after mass extinction
• A giant puzzle with billions of pieces
• Rebuilding blood vessels through gene therapy
• 'Heart resilience' biomarker may help predict chemotherapy-induced cardiac damage earlier
• Cancer diagnosis later in life poses significant risk to offspring, study suggests
• Microevolutionary analysis of Clostridium difficile genomes to investigate transmission
• Genetic differences may influence sensitivity to pain, according to new study
• Research reveals new drug target urgently needed for tuberculosis therapy
• To outsmart malarial drug resistance, research team develops new whole-plant strategy
• New MRI analysis useful in predicting stroke complications caused by clot-busters
• Extending steroid treatment does not benefit children with hard-to-treat kidney disease, study finds
• New target for treating prediabetes in patients with kidney disease
• Data storage: A fast and loose approach improves memory
• Nanotechnology: Spotting a molecular mix-up
• Cardiovascular disease: The mechanics of prosthetic heart valves

New insights into how immune system fights atherosclerosis Posted: 21 Dec 2012 10:13 AM PST A new study has found that an important branch of the immune system, in reaction to the development of atherosclerotic lesions, mounts a surprisingly robust anti-inflammatory T cell response that helps prevent the disease from progressing. The findings may help inform the design of anti-atherosclerosis vaccines and other therapies that can take advantage of this aspect of the immune system.

Researchers discover genetic basis for eczema, new avenue to therapies Posted: 21 Dec 2012 10:12 AM PST Researchers have discovered an underlying genetic cause of atopic dermatitis, a type of eczema most common in infancy that also affects millions of adults around the world with dry, itchy and inflamed skin lesions. The findings could lead to new therapies.

Physicists take photonic topological insulators to the next level Posted: 21 Dec 2012 09:35 AM PST Researchers have designed a simulation that for the first time emulates key properties of electronic topological insulators. Topological insulators, a state of matter that was only discovered in the past decade, may enable dramatic advances in quantum computing and spintronics.

Strength training improves vascular function in young black men Posted: 21 Dec 2012 09:35 AM PST Six weeks of weight training can significantly improve blood markers of cardiovascular health in young African-American men, researchers report.

A new type of nerve cell found in the brain Posted: 21 Dec 2012 09:35 AM PST An international team of scientists has identified a previously unknown group of nerve cells in the brain. The nerve cells regulate cardiovascular functions such as heart rhythm and blood pressure. It is hoped that the discovery will be significant in the long term in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in humans.

Targeting taste receptors in the gut may help fight obesity Posted: 21 Dec 2012 09:34 AM PST Despite more than 25 years of research on antiobesity drugs, few medications have shown long-term success. Now researchers say that targeting taste sensors in the gut may be a promising new strategy.

Targeted gene silencing drugs are more than 500 times more effective with new delivery method Posted: 21 Dec 2012 09:34 AM PST Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are a potent new drug class that can silence a disease-causing gene, but delivering them to a target cell can be challenging. An innovative delivery approach dramatically increases the efficacy of an siRNA drug targeted to the liver and has made it possible to test the drug in non-human primates/

Targeted therapy proves effective against brain tumors in preclinical studies Posted: 21 Dec 2012 09:33 AM PST Researchers have published the first evidence that inhibiting focal adhesion kinase with CFAK-Y15 can control the growth of glioblastoma tumors.

New pathways that drive metastatic prostate cancer identified Posted: 21 Dec 2012 09:33 AM PST Elevated levels of Cyclin D1b could function as a novel biomarker of lethal metastatic disease in prostate cancer patients.

Bats may hold clues to long life and disease resistance Posted: 21 Dec 2012 08:41 AM PST The genes of long-living and virus resistant bats may provide clues to the future treatment and prevention of infectious diseases and cancer in people, researchers have found.

Liver mitochondria improve, increase after chronic alcohol feeding in mice Posted: 21 Dec 2012 08:41 AM PST Scientists have identified mitochondria plasticity as an important mechanism of how the mouse liver adapts to alcohol and other toxins. Liver mitochondria in mice increase in number and improve metabolism after chronic feeding of alcohol. The increase in oxygen used to metabolize the alcohol may increase cellular damage over time, as free radicals are normal byproducts of cellular respiration.

miR-205 can be responsible for breast cancer Posted: 21 Dec 2012 08:40 AM PST Scientists demonstrated that the microRNAs expression can be potentially responsible for the abnormal acini formation of breast cancer cells. They observed that the overexpression of the miR-205 influences the morphology of acini, linking this miRNA to breast epithelial cell transformation. miR-205 appears not to be a simple tumor-suppressor miRNA in breast as previously believed, but it can be overexpressed in transformed cells and can influence the morphology of acini.

Hawaiian Islands are dissolving from within, study says Posted: 21 Dec 2012 08:40 AM PST Most of us think of soil erosion as the primary force that levels mountains but geologists have found that Oahu's mountains are dissolving from within due to groundwater.

Suspend the crystals, and they grow better Posted: 21 Dec 2012 08:39 AM PST The idea is so simple you wonder why no one thought of it before. Crystals growing near the bottom of a beaker are subject to convection, but it is much quieter near the top of the beaker. In that case, why not just let them grow hanging in the beaker? Well, the idea was there for the taking, and that is exactly what researchers have done.

New calculations solve an old problem with DNA Posted: 21 Dec 2012 06:13 AM PST Normal DNA will switch to left-handed DNA when it is physically twisted, or when a lot of salt is added to the solution. Researchers were able to accurately calculate for the first time the amount of salt which is required to do this. Z-DNA in the cell leads to loss of function and cancer.

Young scientist helps identify cause of widespread eye disease Posted: 21 Dec 2012 05:17 AM PST Branch retinal vein occlusion -- blockage of the blood vessels that channel blood from the retina -- is a common eye disease. A type of blood clot in the eye, the disease causes reduced vision, and people with the disease also typically have an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes and other serious conditions. A young scientist has made a significant contribution to finding the cause of the disease.

Test to detect pre-menstrual syndrome Posted: 21 Dec 2012 05:16 AM PST Even though there are many women who do not notice any special symptoms, there are some whose pre-menstrual disorders hamper their everyday lives: depressive mood, anxiety, excessive emotional sensitivity, fatigue, lack of concentration, headache, etc. Nevertheless, unified criteria for defining and diagnosing this disease have yet to be agreed on and so it is difficult to develop suitable interventions to treat women suffering from these symptoms, researchers say.

May the force be with the atomic probe Posted: 21 Dec 2012 05:16 AM PST A new models suggest devising means of probing a surface at a sub-micrometric level as this will help us understand how electrons' diffusion affects long-range attractive forces. Theoretical physicists created models to study the attractive forces affecting atoms located at a wide range of distances from a surface, in the hundreds of nanometers range.

Cholesterol boosts the memory of the immune system Posted: 21 Dec 2012 05:16 AM PST The memory of the human immune system is critical for the development of vaccines. Only if the body recognizes a pathogen with which it has already come into contact in the case of a second infection, the immune system can combat it more effectively than it did the first time. Immunobiologists have succeeded in demonstrating how the memory of the immune system functions.

New markers could improve treatment and survival in acute lymphoblastic leukemia Posted: 21 Dec 2012 05:16 AM PST Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common pediatric cancer, has been the subject of a new study. Newly identified genetic markers could improve the classification of risk groups and predict treatment toxicity in the patient.

Ups and downs of biodiversity after mass extinction Posted: 21 Dec 2012 05:16 AM PST The climate after the largest mass extinction so far 252 million years ago was cool, later very warm and then cool again. Thanks to the cooler temperatures, the diversity of marine fauna ballooned, as paleontologists have reconstructed. The warmer climate, coupled with a high carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere, initially gave rise to new, short-lived species. In the longer term, however, this climate change had an adverse effect on biodiversity and caused species to become extinct.

A giant puzzle with billions of pieces Posted: 21 Dec 2012 05:16 AM PST Scientists have deciphered genetic information on microbes in biogas plants. Day after day, legions of microorganisms work to produce energy from waste in biogas plants.

Rebuilding blood vessels through gene therapy Posted: 21 Dec 2012 05:14 AM PST Diagnosed with severe coronary artery disease, a group of patients too ill for or not responding to other treatment options decided to take part in a clinical trial testing angiogenic gene therapy to help rebuild their damaged blood vessels.

'Heart resilience' biomarker may help predict chemotherapy-induced cardiac damage earlier Posted: 21 Dec 2012 05:14 AM PST Anthracyclines, a class of chemotherapy drugs commonly used to treat breast and childhood cancers are effective, but can cause heart damage that doesn't appear until long after treatment is over. By analyzing cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and heart health biomarkers in breast cancer patients, researchers were able to identify slight changes in heart function that could help identify which cancer patients are more likely to suffer cardiac issues later in life.

Cancer diagnosis later in life poses significant risk to offspring, study suggests Posted: 20 Dec 2012 04:57 PM PST Relatives of family members diagnosed with cancer are still at risk of the disease even if the diagnosis came at an older age, a new paper suggests.

Microevolutionary analysis of Clostridium difficile genomes to investigate transmission Posted: 20 Dec 2012 04:52 PM PST Over recent years, hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile infections have been a significant problem in UK hospitals and globally. There have been concerns that infections may be due to transmission between symptomatic patients, either directly, or indirectly via hospital staff; these concerns were strengthened when enhanced infection control was introduced in England in 2007, and the incidence of C. difficile infection declined. A recent study took a genomics approach to assess the incidence of patient-to-patient transmission of C. difficile.

Genetic differences may influence sensitivity to pain, according to new study Posted: 20 Dec 2012 02:18 PM PST A particular set of genes that interact with one another to regulate pain in humans has been identified. They found as well that differences in these genes may influence people's sensitivity to pain.

Research reveals new drug target urgently needed for tuberculosis therapy Posted: 20 Dec 2012 02:18 PM PST One third of the world is infected with the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, a disease that is increasingly difficult to treat because of wide spread resistance to available drugs. Researchers have identified a fresh target to develop new drugs for TB. The study shows why the target will be important in developing new TB treatments.

To outsmart malarial drug resistance, research team develops new whole-plant strategy Posted: 20 Dec 2012 02:16 PM PST Malaria kills millions each year and gives medical researchers headaches because the mosquito-borne parasite that causes its deadliest form has developed resistance to every drug thrown at it. Now a molecular parasitologist reports a promising new low-cost therapy to outwit that resistance.

New MRI analysis useful in predicting stroke complications caused by clot-busters Posted: 20 Dec 2012 02:16 PM PST Researchers have developed a new way of looking at standard MRI scans that more accurately measures damage to the blood-brain barrier in stroke victims, a process they hope will lead to safer, more individualized treatment of blood clots in the brain and better outcomes.

Extending steroid treatment does not benefit children with hard-to-treat kidney disease, study finds Posted: 20 Dec 2012 02:16 PM PST Extending steroid treatment for the most common form of kidney disease in children provides no benefit for preventing relapses or side effects, according to a new study. The findings challenge previous assumptions about optimal treatment strategies for this disease.

New target for treating prediabetes in patients with kidney disease Posted: 20 Dec 2012 02:16 PM PST Insulin resistance, or prediabetes, in individuals with kidney disease may be caused by the progressive retention of certain compounds that are normally excreted by the kidneys in healthy individuals, according to a new study. The findings might be used to prevent insulin resistance in kidney disease patients, which could lower their risk of developing heart problems.

Data storage: A fast and loose approach improves memory Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:31 PM PST An unconventional design for a nanoscale memory device uses a freely moving mechanical shuttle to improve performance.

Nanotechnology: Spotting a molecular mix-up Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:31 PM PST Information within the bonds of molecules known as super benzene oligomers pave the way for new types of quantum computers.

Cardiovascular disease: The mechanics of prosthetic heart valves Posted: 20 Dec 2012 12:31 PM PST Computer simulations of blood flow through mechanical heart valves could pave the way for more individualized prosthetics.

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