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Global heartbeat control suggests therapy for beating heart failure

Keeping a healthy heart beating requires the production of a constant supply of energy, a feat depending on the coordination of several genetic programs.

9 May 2007

Genetics of bipolar disorder

The likelihood of developing bipolar disorder depends in part on the combined, small effects of variations in many different genes in the brain, none of which is powerful enough to cause the disease by itself, a new study shows.

9 May 2007

Research reveals that a greater volume of grey encephalic matter exists in the brain areas of the right parahippocampus

A study undertaken by researchers of the Universitat Jaume I of Castellon (UJI), the Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona (UAB) and the company Eresa reveals the existence of a different anatomy in small areas of the brain which could help explain why one same stimulus triggers anxiety in some people and not in others.

9 May 2007

Green tea may reduce the risk of skin cancer

Green tea just keeps getting better. To add to the abundance of health-improving qualities of the beverage, UAB Researcher Santosh Katiyar, Ph.D., associate professor of dermatology, claims that it can reduce the risk of skin cancer.

9 May 2007

Researchers create agent that protects cells from the lethal effects of radiation

No drugs exist to protect the public from the high levels of radiation that could be released by a "dirty" bomb or nuclear explosion.

9 May 2007

VCU to develop new form of radiation therapy

The National Cancer Institute has awarded a five-year, $10.7 million grant to Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center researchers to develop a new form of radiation therapy that will enable the safe administration of more aggressive cancer treatments.

9 May 2007

Adult stem cells play no role in insulin production

Diabetes researchers, investigating how the body supplies itself with insulin, discovered to their surprise that adult stem cells, which they expected to play a crucial role in the process, were nowhere to be found.

8 May 2007

Terminally-ill patients often denied chance to die at home

Many terminally-ill patients cannot die at home because of a lack of services and training in palliative care, say researchers from the University of Warwick.

8 May 2007

Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes similar at the molecular level

Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes, the human version of mad cow disease (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease), and other degenerative diseases are more closely related at the molecular level than many scientists realized, an international team of researchers, including an ESRF researcher, report in the journal Nature.

8 May 2007

Social behavior differs in children with family history of autism

The baby brothers and sisters of autistic children do not seek emotional cues from adults, or respond to them, as often as other toddlers do, suggests new research from the University of California, San Diego.

8 May 2007

Sex differences in people's brains and behaviors

New evidence on sex differences in people's brains and behaviors emerges with the publication of results from the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) Sex ID Internet Survey.

8 May 2007

New compounds promising candidates for neurodegenerative disease drug development

Scientists have developed a novel strategy for tackling neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease: encouraging an individual's own cells to "eat" the malformed proteins that lead to the disease.

8 May 2007

Discovery may lead to new treatments for lung cancer and blood cancer

The research team uses a genetically modified mouse that produces a muted and constantly active CAAX protein. This is a new model for an extremely aggressive lung cancer and a mild form of blood cancer. In these mice, the production of an enzyme called GGTas1 can also be stopped.

8 May 2007

New mapping technique will answer fundamental questions about chromosome structure

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a simple and economical technique for imaging and mapping fruit fly chromosomes.

8 May 2007

Multitasking hardest late at night and early morning

Multitasking seems to come easier for some and is virtually impossible for others, however new research shows that it is difficult for all in the late night and early morning.

8 May 2007

Multitasking mental cells

In the mid-1990s, scientists at the University of Parma, in Italy, made a discovery so novel that it shifted the way psychologists discuss the brain. After researchers implanted electrodes into the heads of monkeys, they noticed a burst of activity in the premotor cortex when the animals clutched a piece of food.

8 May 2007

Simple blood test could predict relapse or survival for children and young adults with acute leukemias

A review of young leukemia patients over the past decade has shown that the absolute lymphocyte count (ALC), a measure of normal immune cells found on every complete blood count report, is a powerful predictor of survival for young patients with leukemia.

8 May 2007

Discovery of molecules with potential to treat breast cancer

Hamilton College researchers have identified molecules that have been shown to be effective in the fight against breast cancer.

8 May 2007

Current approach to drug discovery for Lou Gehrig's disease be re-examined

Most research on Lou Gehrig's disease therapeutics has been based on the assumption that its two forms (sporadic and hereditary) are similar in their underlying cause.

8 May 2007

Intense trauma can have long lasting effects on the brain and behavior of healthy people without causing a clinical disorder

Exposure to trauma may create enough changes in the brain to sensitize people to overreact to an innocuous facial gesture years later, even in people who don't have a stress-related disorder, says new research.

8 May 2007