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Research Team Explores Roots of Hunger and Eating Behaviors
Predisposition to common heart disease 'passed on from father to son'
Numeracy: The Educational Gift That Keeps on Giving?
New study sheds light on genetics of rice metabolism
Racial Disparities Exist in Access to Kidney Transplantation
Climate-change effects on malaria risk identified
With optimal conversations, research finds young couples experience less relationship stress, higher satisfaction
Thyroid screening in pregnancy
Gene Therapy for Inherited Blindness Succeeds in Patients' Other Eye
Nanotube Therapy Takes Aim at Breast Cancer Stem Cells
Mild cognitive impairment in L. America, China and India
Model Analyzes Shape-Memory Alloys for Use in Earthquake-Resistant Structures
Could Antidepressants Help Reduce the Risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP)?
'Do your best' not a good enough goal to improve diabetes diet
Integrated weed management best response to herbicide resistance
DNA sequencing helps identify cancer cells for immune system attack
Protein libraries in a snap

Research Team Explores Roots of Hunger and Eating Behaviors

Posted: 10 Feb 2012 06:54 AM PST

Synaptic plasticity – the ability of the synaptic connections between the brain’s neurons to change and modify over time -- has been shown to be a key to memory formation and the acquisition of new learning behaviors. Now research led by a scientific team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) reveals that the neural circuits controlling hunger and eating behaviors are also controlled by plasticity.

Predisposition to common heart disease 'passed on from father to son'

Posted: 10 Feb 2012 06:40 AM PST

A common heart disease which kills thousands each year may be passed genetically from father to son, according to a study led by the University of Leicester.

A paper published in medical journal The Lancet on THURSDAY FEB 9 shows that the Y chromosome, a part of DNA present only in men, plays a role in the inheritance of coronary artery disease (CAD).

Numeracy: The Educational Gift That Keeps on Giving?

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 02:10 PM PST

Cancer risks. Investment alternatives. Calories. Numbers are everywhere in daily life, and they figure into all sorts of decisions. A new article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, examines how people who are numerate—that’s like literacy, but for numbers—understand numbers better and process information differently so that they ultimately make more informed decisions.

New study sheds light on genetics of rice metabolism

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 01:46 PM PST

A large-scale study analyzing metabolic compounds in rice grains conducted by researchers at the RIKEN Plant Science Center (PSC) and their collaborators has identified 131 rice metabolites and clarified the genetic and environmental factors that influence their production. The findings provide a natural way to bioengineer improved rice grain varieties by selectively increasing production of useful metabolites, boosting the nutritional value of crops.

Racial Disparities Exist in Access to Kidney Transplantation

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 12:08 PM PST

A new study published in the American Journal of Transplantation reveals that racial disparities exist in both the early and late steps in access to kidney transplantation. This study is part of the February special themed issue of the journal on racial disparity.

Climate-change effects on malaria risk identified

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 11:56 AM PST

A new study at the University of Liverpool suggests that climate change, driven by greenhouse-gas emissions and land-use changes, will cause patterns of malaria infection to change over the next 50 years.

The study combined simulations of mosquito biting rates and malaria transmission rates with a detailed regional climate model, to predict changes in the pattern of malaria infection across a large area of Africa up to 2050.

With optimal conversations, research finds young couples experience less relationship stress, higher satisfaction

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 11:47 AM PST

The happiest young couples may be involved in a different kind of engagement.

Young adults who easily engage in rewarding conversations with their partners are less likely to hold onto anger and stress and more likely to be satisfied with the relationship, according to research from Kansas State University.

Thyroid screening in pregnancy

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 11:43 AM PST

Children of mothers screened and treated for reduced thyroid function during pregnancy show no signs of improved IQ compared to women who receive no treatment, new University research has uncovered.

Professor John Lazarus, School of Medicine, working with colleagues from The Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, and colleagues from Turin, Italy took blood samples from more than 20,000 women at about 13-weeks of pregnancy to test for thyroid function.

Gene Therapy for Inherited Blindness Succeeds in Patients' Other Eye

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 10:53 AM PST

Gene therapy for congenital blindness has taken another step forward, as researchers further improved vision in three adult patients previously treated in one eye. After receiving the same treatment in their other eye, the patients became better able to see in dim light, and two were able to navigate obstacles in low-light situations. No adverse effects occurred.

Nanotube Therapy Takes Aim at Breast Cancer Stem Cells

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 09:53 AM PST

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers have again proven that injecting multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into tumors and heating them with a quick, 30-second laser treatment can kill them.

The results of the first effort involving kidney tumors was published in 2009, but now they’ve taken the science and directed it at breast cancer tumors, specifically the tumor initiating cancer stem cells. These stem cells are hard to kill because they don’t divide very often and many anti-cancer strategies are directed at killing the cells that divide frequently.

Mild cognitive impairment in L. America, China and India

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 09:41 AM PST

One of the first studies to investigate the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in low and middle income countries finds that MCI does not depend on socio-demographic factors, and is associated with disability and neuropsychiatric symptoms.

The research was led by the 10/66 Dementia Research Group based at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London and published today in PLoS Medicine.

Model Analyzes Shape-Memory Alloys for Use in Earthquake-Resistant Structures

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 08:55 AM PST

Recent earthquake damage has exposed the vulnerability of existing structures to strong ground movement. At the Georgia Institute of Technology, researchers are analyzing shape-memory alloys for their potential use in constructing seismic-resistant structures.

Could Antidepressants Help Reduce the Risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP)?

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 08:44 AM PST

A groundbreaking study published in Elsevier’s Epilepsy & Behavior provides evidence in mouse model that drugs known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs; one category of antidepressants) may reduce the risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP).

SUDEP is estimated to be the cause of death in up to 17% of patients with epilepsy who die from their condition. Evidence for cardiac and respiratory causes of SUDEP has been presented, but no effective prevention of SUDEP has yet been developed.

'Do your best' not a good enough goal to improve diabetes diet

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 08:17 AM PST

A specific goal to eat a set number of daily servings of low-glycemic-index foods can improve dietary habits of people with Type 2 diabetes, according to new research.

Study participants were given a goal to eat either six or eight daily servings of foods with a low glycemic index – carbohydrates that are digested slowly and are less likely to spike blood-sugar levels than would carbohydrates with a high glycemic index.

Integrated weed management best response to herbicide resistance

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 08:11 AM PST

Over-reliance on glyphosate-type herbicides for weed control on U.S. farms has created a dramatic increase in the number of genetically-resistant weeds, according to a team of agricultural researchers, who say the solution lies in an integrated weed management program.

"I'm deeply concerned when I see figures that herbicide use could double in the next decade," said David Mortensen, professor of weed ecology at Penn State.

DNA sequencing helps identify cancer cells for immune system attack

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 08:05 AM PST

DNA sequences from tumor cells can be used to direct the immune system to attack cancer, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The research, in mice, appears online Feb. 8 in Nature.

Protein libraries in a snap

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 07:46 AM PST

A Rice University undergraduate will depart with not only a degree but also a possible patent for his invention of an efficient way to create protein libraries, an important component of biomolecular research.

Rice senior Manan Mehta discovered a method to create libraries of "circularly permuted" proteins at the suggestion of his mentor, bioengineer Jonathan Silberg. The research was reported this week in the journal Nucleic Acids Research.