| The artificial materials that came in from the cold Posted: 11 Dec 2015 12:40 PM PST Researchers have developed a freeze-casting technique that enables them to design and create strong, tough and lightweight materials comparable to bones, teeth, shells and wood. |
| Younger and older patients experience different symptoms from the same breast cancer drugs, researcher finds Posted: 11 Dec 2015 10:23 AM PST The long-term outcomes in postmenopausal women who took two widely used breast cancer treatments have been analyzed. Researchers found that although both drugs were safe and effective, and had no detrimental effect on overall quality of life, there were some differences in the type and severity of symptoms the women experienced with each treatment, and these especially differed by age. |
| Preventing diabetes at the office Posted: 11 Dec 2015 10:22 AM PST For people who already have high blood sugar, preventing diabetes could amount to just another day at the office. Employees enrolled in a workplace intervention program as a group lost more weight, showed greater reductions in fasting blood sugar and ate less fat than employees who received only written health guidelines for diabetes prevention, researchers report. |
| Multifaceted RNA-mediated regulatory mechanisms in Streptococcus pyogenes Posted: 11 Dec 2015 10:17 AM PST A researcher describes that the bacterial immune defense system CRISPR-Cas9 is diverse and widespread among bacteria. She shows that the present possibilities offered by this gene editing tool can be expanded by combining natural unrelated defense systems to allow several changes in the targeted DNA at the same time. |
| Tiebreaks push competition, in more than sports Posted: 11 Dec 2015 10:17 AM PST What can be done when two athletes, applicants for a job, or products perform equally well? The strategy used for resolving ties and determining bid limits decides on whether competition is pushed or not. In tennis, for instance, the tiebreak generates excitement. In other types of sports, the tie is resolved in favor of the supposedly weaker: In weightlifting, the athlete with the lower body mass is declared the winner. In and outside of sports, competition is often pushed by letting the supposedly weaker competitor win in case of a tie, say experts. |
| Tropical groundwater resources resilient to climate change Posted: 11 Dec 2015 10:01 AM PST Tropical groundwater may prove to be a climate-resilient source of freshwater in the tropics as intense rainfall favors the replenishment of these resources, according to a new study. |
| Wearable energy generator uses urine to power wireless transmitter Posted: 11 Dec 2015 10:01 AM PST A pair of socks embedded with miniaturized microbial fuel cells and fueled with urine pumped by the wearer's footsteps has powered a wireless transmitter to send a signal to a PC. This is the first self-sufficient system powered by a wearable energy generator based on microbial fuel cell technology. |
| Potential treatment for cirrhosis discovered by scientists Posted: 11 Dec 2015 10:01 AM PST Cirrhosis is the main risk factor for liver cancer. The same target may be the key to preventing and treating this condition, suggests researchers at the conclusion of a recent study. Cirrhosis is among the top 20 causes of death from disease worldwide. |
| There is less knowledge about global species diversity than previously assumed Posted: 11 Dec 2015 10:00 AM PST Many of the previous studies on global species diversity are inaccurate. These are the conclusions of an international research group that carried out a long-term study on biodiversity in the subtropical forests of China. |
| Diagnostics with birefringence Posted: 11 Dec 2015 09:44 AM PST A new diagnostic method has been created, based on Birefringence, the ability of substances to change the polarization state of light. With this method, doctors around the world can easily, rapidly and reliably detect malaria, Ebola or HIV to name only a few. |
| Worldwide resource for exploring genes' hidden messages Posted: 11 Dec 2015 09:44 AM PST A new worldwide resource has been created with the first library built for researchers to explore genes' deep and hidden messages. The team has painstakingly put together the first and largest human 3'UTRome library in the world. |
| Scientists demonstrate DNA-based electromechanical switch Posted: 11 Dec 2015 09:44 AM PST The conductance of DNA can be modulated by controlling its structure, thus opening up the possibility of DNA's future use as an electromechanical switch for nanoscale computing, researchers have demonstrated. |
| Virus hijacks protein machine and then kills the host Posted: 11 Dec 2015 09:44 AM PST A research team has established how a virus exploits one of its host's proteins when the virus is about to replicate its genetic material during an infection. The discovery may potentially form the basis for the development of new methods for treating viral infections. |
| Drug provides another treatment option for an early form of breast cancer Posted: 11 Dec 2015 09:43 AM PST The drug anastrozole is effective in treating an early form of breast cancer, according to a clinical trial. The results of the trial show that anastrozole is as effective as tamoxifen for this type of breast cancer and could offer a new treatment option for post-menopausal women. |
| Non-small cell lung cancers can be sorted in clusters by endocytic changes Posted: 11 Dec 2015 09:43 AM PST Endocytosis is not normal in cancer cells but how dysregulated the process is in cancer cells has just been revealed by researchers who used three endocytic pathways as markers to sort out 29 non-small cell lung cancer lines into two distinct clusters characterized by their endocytic dysfunction. |
| AIDS treatment benefits health, economics of people without HIV, study shows Posted: 11 Dec 2015 09:42 AM PST AIDS treatment can help HIV-negative people by quelling fear of the virus and boosting mental health and productivity, a new study demonstrates. |
| Fallopian tube organoids promise better understanding of ovarian cancer, infertility Posted: 11 Dec 2015 09:42 AM PST A new way of growing fallopian tube cells in culture is expected to give a boost to our understanding and prevention of female genital diseases, such as infertility, inflammatory disease, and ovarian cancer. |
| Scientists show how drug molecules regulate a medically important protein Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:18 PM PST A new study shows how different pharmaceutical drugs hit either the 'on' or 'off' switch of a signaling protein linked to asthma, obesity and type 2 diabetes. |
| Sex differences in brain may underlie neurodevelopmental disorders more common in males Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:16 PM PST Female infants have larger gray-matter volumes than males around the temporal-parietal junction of the brain, research shows. This brain region is important for processing of social information that is expressed in others' faces and voices, a function that is impaired in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), possibly helping to explain the higher risk for certain forms of ASD in males. |
| Northern spotted owl decline linked to invasive owl, habitat loss, and climate Posted: 10 Dec 2015 03:16 PM PST Northern spotted owl populations are declining in all parts of their range in the Pacific Northwest, according to research based on data from 11 study areas across Washington, Oregon and northern California. A rangewide decline of nearly 4 percent per year was estimated from 1985 to 2013. |
| Periodic table of protein complexes Posted: 10 Dec 2015 11:45 AM PST A new 'periodic table' provides a unified way to classify and visualize protein complexes. The study provides insights into evolutionary distribution of different types of existing protein complexes. The table provides a valuable tool for biotechnology and the engineering of novel complexes. |
| Effective, selective tweets can advance research from lab to policymakers Posted: 10 Dec 2015 11:45 AM PST With more than 300 million monthly users, Twitter's success has piqued the interests of many science researchers as a possible tool to publicize new research findings. In a recent study, researchers have examined the usefulness of Twitter and developed tips for the scientific community on how to use the social media tool to advance their research from the lab to the hands of health policymakers. |
| Study offers remedy to flu vaccine delivery problems Posted: 10 Dec 2015 11:08 AM PST The annual delivery of influenza vaccine to the American public is hardly a straight shot from federal health officials to vaccine manufacturers to physicians to patients. A recurring and vexing part of the process is a supply-chain hitch that can leave patients waiting for flu shots even when the supply of the medicine is abundant. Now experts off a potential remedy by proposing a new kind of contract between flu vaccine manufacturers and the retailers that purchase and dispense the shots to patients. |
| Unhealthy choices cost company health care plans billions of dollars Posted: 10 Dec 2015 11:05 AM PST One out of every four dollars employers pay for health care is tied to unhealthy lifestyle choices or conditions like smoking, stress and obesity, despite the fact that most large employers have workplace wellness programs. |
| More kids with autism evaluated as preschoolers, but more progress needed in early recognition Posted: 10 Dec 2015 09:56 AM PST An increasing proportion of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are undergoing recommended evaluation in the preschool years -- but population rates of ASD remain higher in eight-year-olds compared to four-year-olds, reports a study. |
| What is your memory style? Posted: 10 Dec 2015 09:56 AM PST Why is it that some people have richly detailed recollection of past experiences (episodic memory), while others tend to remember just the facts without details (semantic memory)? A research team has shown for the first time that these different ways of experiencing the past are associated with distinct brain connectivity patterns that may be inherent to the individual and suggest a life-long 'memory trait'. |
| Obstacles not always a hindrance to proteins Posted: 10 Dec 2015 09:52 AM PST Researchers model how proteins deal with obstacles as they seek genetic targets and find that these obstacles sometimes speed the process along. |
| The need to name all forms of life: 60 new species of dragonflies described from Africa Posted: 10 Dec 2015 09:52 AM PST Only a fifth of the nine million species of animal, plant and fungus thought to occur on earth is known. Dragonflies (which include damselflies) are seen as well-known. Nonetheless researchers describe 60 newly discovered species, the greatest number of new dragonflies in about a century. |
| New clues to halting nerve degeneration Posted: 10 Dec 2015 09:45 AM PST A discovery into the mechanisms which lead to degeneration and loss of communication among neuron cells -- the cells controlling function in the brain and nervous system -- could potentially lead to future therapies for neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. |
