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The Lead
Sex at Zero Gravity
May 2, 2013 1:38 pm | by Skip Derra | Articles | Comments
If the long-term goal of humans is, indeed, space exploration and colonization, then there are many survivability questions that need to be answered. Leaving Earth means leaving the friendly confines of a planet on which we have evolved over the eons and to which our bodies have adapted. And it turns out gravity has a role in successful sexual reproduction, at least for plants.
Cell Sorting Based on RNA Detection in Living Cells
May 1, 2013 12:10 pm | by Don Weldon, Yuko Williams, Alex Ko, EMD Millipore Corporation | Articles | Comments
Identifying cell types and sorting cells based on RNA expression levels without any transfection...
Ohio State Implants First Brain Pacemaker to Treat Alzheimer's
February 7, 2013 4:55 pm | News | Comments
During a five-hour surgery last October at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center,...
Ohio State Implants First Brain Pacemaker to Treat Alzheimer's
February 7, 2013 4:55 pm | News | Comments
During a five-hour surgery last October at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center,...
'Lifespan Machine' Monitors Worm Aging
May 20, 2013 12:00 pm | by Harvard Medical School | News | CommentsThe worm’s tail wriggles, a micrometer-scale twitch. A scanner captures the new posture. Software recognizes the motion. Life goes on in the Lifespan Machine, a new system devised in the lab of Walter Fontana that, essentially, counts dead worms.
Osteoarthritis Progression Halted
May 20, 2013 10:30 am | News | CommentsScientists have turned their view of osteoarthritis (OA) inside out. Literally. Instead of seeing the painful degenerative disease as a problem primarily of the cartilage that cushions joints, they now have evidence that the bone underneath the cartilage is also a key player and exacerbates the damage.
Nanogel Secretes Insulin on Demand
May 16, 2013 11:49 am | News | CommentsInjectable nanoparticles developed at MIT may someday eliminate the need for patients with Type 1 diabetes to constantly monitor their blood-sugar levels and inject themselves with insulin. The nanoparticles were designed to sense glucose levels in the body and respond by secreting the appropriate amount of insulin, thereby replacing the function of pancreatic islet cells, which are destroyed in patients with Type 1 diabetes.
New Drug Slows Alzheimer's
May 15, 2013 10:17 am | News | CommentsA drug developed by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, known as J147, reverses memory deficits and slows Alzheimer's disease in aged mice following short-term treatment. The findings may pave the way to a new treatment for Alzheimer's disease in humans.
Gel Implant Restores Paralyzed Nerves
May 14, 2013 11:33 am | News | CommentsA team of researchers has invented a method for repairing damaged peripheral nerves. Through a biodegradable implant in combination with a newly-developed Guiding Regeneration Gel (GRG) that increases nerve growth and healing, the functionality of a torn or damaged nerve could ultimately be restored.
Product Roundup: Fume Hoods and Biological Safety Cabinets
May 10, 2013 2:34 pm | News | CommentsIn any laboratory, safety of both the researchers and the samples are integral to a successful experiment. Fume hoods and biological safety cabinets offer protection from hazardous fumes with proper ventilation that will ensure the safety of all scientists in the laboratory and the samples they are working with.
Protein Reverses Age-related Heart Failure
May 10, 2013 10:53 am | News | CommentsResearchers have identified a protein in the blood of mice and humans that may prove to be the first effective treatment for the form of age-related heart failure that affects millions of Americans. When the protein was injected into old mice, the hearts were reduced in size and thickness, resembling the healthy hearts of younger mice.
Diabetes Cured in Mice
May 9, 2013 11:03 am | News | CommentsResearchers have made a significant first step with newly engineered biomaterials for cell transplantation that could help lead to a possible cure for Type 1 diabetes, which affects about 3 million Americans. Engineers and clinicians have successfully engrafted insulin-producing cells into a diabetic mouse model, reversing diabetic symptoms in the animal in as little as 10 days.
Life Span Extended 25% in Fruit Flies
May 7, 2013 4:25 pm | News | CommentsScientists have identified a gene previously implicated in Parkinson's disease that can delay the onset of aging and extend the healthy life span of fruit flies. The research, they say, could have important implications for aging and disease in humans.
Device Extracts DNA in Minutes
May 6, 2013 3:51 pm | News | CommentsTake a swab of saliva from your mouth and within minutes your DNA could be ready for analysis and genome sequencing with the help of a new device. Engineers and NanoFacture, a Bellevue, Wash., company, have created a device that can extract human DNA from fluid samples in a simpler, more efficient and environmentally friendly way than conventional methods.
Physical by Smartphone a Growing Possibility
May 2, 2013 12:20 am | by LAURAN NEERGAARD - AP MEDICAL WRITER | News | CommentsIt's not a "Star Trek" tricorder, but by hooking a variety of gadgets onto a smartphone you could almost get a complete physical- without the paper gown or even a visit to the doctor's office. Blood pressure? Just plug the arm cuff into the phone for a quick reading.
Hypothalamus May Hold Key to Aging
May 1, 2013 2:01 pm | by Einstein | News | CommentsWhile the search continues for the Fountain of Youth, researchers may have found the body’s “fountain of aging”: the brain region known as the hypothalamus. For the first time, scientists report that the hypothalamus of mice controls aging throughout the body.
Researcher Invents 'DNA Bardcode'
May 1, 2013 9:13 am | News | CommentsDNA evidence is invisible and remarkably easy to transfer, making it possible for a sample to be spilled or even planted on a piece of evidence. A researcher has developed a solution that permanently marks DNA samples to prevent contamination.
Mouse Brains Mapped in Greatest Detail Yet
April 29, 2013 10:44 am | News | CommentsHopes for a cure for many brain diseases may rest on the humble mouse, now that scientists can map the rodents' brains more thoroughly than ever before. Researchers have created the most detailed atlas of the mouse brain, a development that is helping in the fight against brain disease.
Hormone is Potential Diabetes Breakthrough
April 25, 2013 12:47 pm | by Harvard Medical School | News | CommentsResearchers have discovered a hormone that holds promise for a dramatically more effective treatment of type 2 diabetes, a metabolic illness afflicting an estimated 26 million Americans. The researchers believe that the hormone might also have a role in treating type 1, or juvenile, diabetes.
Video Reveals How Drugs Kill Cancer
April 25, 2013 10:14 am | News | CommentsScientists have discovered why a particular cancer drug is so effective at killing cells. Their findings could be used to aid the design of future cancer treatments. Using high-powered laser-based microscopes, researchers made videos of the process by which rituximab binds to a diseased cell and then attracts white blood cells known as natural killer (NK) cells to attack.
Novel Therapy Safe for ALS
April 24, 2013 9:24 am | News | CommentsAn investigational treatment for an inherited form of Lou Gehrig’s disease has passed an early phase clinical trial for safety, researchers report. The researchers have shown that the therapy produced no serious side effects in patients with the disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The phase 1 trial’s results also demonstrate that the drug was successfully introduced into the central nervous system.
Gone, But Not Forgotten
April 23, 2013 12:16 pm | News | CommentsAn international team of neuroscientists has described for the first time in exhaustive detail the underlying neurobiology of an amnesiac who suffered from profound memory loss after damage to key portions of his brain. In a new paper, researchers recount the case of EP, a man who suffered radical memory loss and dysfunction following a bout of viral encephalitis.
Finding the Needle in a Haystack
April 22, 2013 12:13 pm | News | CommentsA contact lens on the bathroom floor, an escaped hamster in the backyard, a car key in a bed of gravel: How are we able to focus so sharply to find that proverbial needle in a haystack? Scientists ave discovered that when we embark on a targeted search, various visual and non-visual regions of the brain mobilize to track down a person, animal or thing.
Food Poisonings Up from Raw Milk, Poultry Bacteria
April 18, 2013 12:09 pm | by MIKE STOBBE - AP Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsHealth officials are seeing more food poisonings caused by a bacteria commonly linked to raw milk and poultry. A study released Thursday said campylobacter cases grew by 14 percent over the last five years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report was based on foodborne infections in only 10 states- about 15 percent of the American population.
Memory Loss Reversed in Animal Brains
April 18, 2013 11:09 am | News | CommentsNeuroscientists have taken a major step in their efforts to help people with memory loss tied to brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Using sea snail nerve cells, the scientists reversed memory loss by determining when the cells were primed for learning.
Acute Stress is Good for the Brain
April 17, 2013 11:42 am | News | CommentsOverworked and stressed out? Look on the bright side: Some stress is good for you. New research has uncovered exactly how acute stress– short-lived, not chronic– primes the brain for improved performance. In studies on rats, researchers found that significant, but brief stressful events caused stem cells in their brains to proliferate into new nerve cells.
Decoding the Structure of Bone
April 17, 2013 10:28 am | News | CommentsThe bones that support our bodies are made of remarkably complex arrangements of materials— so much so that decoding the precise structure responsible for their great strength and resilience has eluded scientists’ best efforts for decades. But now, a team of researchers has finally unraveled the structure of bone with almost atom-by-atom precision.
Breast Cancer Treatment Improved by Nanodiamonds
April 16, 2013 10:55 am | News | CommentsRecently, doctors have begun to categorize breast cancers into four main groups according to the genetic makeup of the cancer cells. Which category a cancer falls into generally determines the best method of treatment. But cancers in one of the four groups— called "basal-like" or "triple-negative" breast cancer (TNBC)— have been particularly tricky to treat because they usually don't respond to the "receptor-targeted" treatments.
Next-gen Sequencing Finds Brain Tumor Mutations
April 15, 2013 11:02 am | News | CommentsResearchers have identified mutations responsible for more than half of a subtype of childhood brain tumor that takes a high toll on patients. Researchers also found evidence the tumors are susceptible to drugs already in development. The study focused on a family of brain tumors known as low-grade gliomas (LGGs).
