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Screening triad identifies GSK-3 alpha as a target in acute myeloid leukemia
Noncoding RNAs alter yeast phenotypes in a site-specific manner
Complexities in caregiving at the end of life
New method of photodynamic therapy makes it easier to treat prostate and pancreatic cancer
New molecule discovered in fight against allergy
Different Bodies, Different Minds
SIV infection may lead to increase in immune-suppressive Treg cells
New nano-material combinations produce leap in infrared technology
Huntington breakthrough: Researchers discover a promising new treatment for Huntington disease
Elephants’ habitat fragments in Borneo
The mathematics of a heart beat could save lives
Hearing Aid Gap: Millions Who Could Benefit Remain Untreated
Malaria parasite goes bananas before sex: new study
MDC researchers reveal molecular mechanism underlying severe anomalies of the forebrain
Georgia Tech study shows certain words, phrases predict if messages sent up/down the org chart
Cellphone Use Linked to Selfish Behavior in University of Maryland Study
People forage for memories in the same way birds forage for berries

Screening triad identifies GSK-3 alpha as a target in acute myeloid leukemia

Posted: 15 Feb 2012 07:32 AM PST

For several years, scientists have known that glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3), a protein kinase, is a key member of an important signaling pathway in cancer. Cancer cells mediate their responses to both internal and external stimuli through enzymes like GSK-3. Finding new potential therapeutic targets in these pathways is at the core of many cancer research efforts, including several at the Broad Institute and its partner institutions.

Noncoding RNAs alter yeast phenotypes in a site-specific manner

Posted: 15 Feb 2012 07:22 AM PST

Personal change can redefine or even save your life—especially if you are one of a hundred yeast cell clones clinging to the skin of a grape that falls from a sun-drenched vine into a stagnant puddle below. By altering which genes are expressed, cells with identical genomes like these yeast clones are able to survive in new environments or even perform different roles within a multicellular organism.

Complexities in caregiving at the end of life

Posted: 15 Feb 2012 07:08 AM PST

Faced with the inevitability of death, we all wish for good caregiving during the final stage of our lives. A new study from Karolinska Institutet and Umeå University shows that non-pharmacological caregiving at the end of life in specialized palliative care is not as basic as one might believe but is based on complex professional decisions that weave physical, psychosocial and existential dimensions into a functional whole.

New method of photodynamic therapy makes it easier to treat prostate and pancreatic cancer

Posted: 15 Feb 2012 04:53 AM PST

Laser light in combination with certain drugs – known as photodynamic therapy – can destroy cancer tumours, but is today used mostly to cure skin cancer. The reason that internal tumours are not treated with the method is that the technology does not exist to check that the precise amount of light is administered. However, software developed by researchers in atomic physics at Lund University in Sweden looks like being able to solve the problem.

New molecule discovered in fight against allergy

Posted: 15 Feb 2012 04:24 AM PST

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have discovered a new molecule that could offer the hope of new treatments for people allergic to the house dust mite.

The team of immunologists led by Dr Amir Ghaem-Maghami and Professor Farouk Shakib in the University’s School of Molecular Medical Sciences have identified the molecule DC-SIGN which appears to play a role in damping down the body’s allergic response to the house dust mite .

Different Bodies, Different Minds

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 08:56 PM PST

We like to think of ourselves as rational creatures, absorbing information, weighing it carefully, and making thoughtful decisions. But, as it turns out, we’re kidding ourselves. Over the past few decades, scientists have shown there are many different internal and external factors influencing how we think, feel, communicate, and make decisions at any given moment.

SIV infection may lead to increase in immune-suppressive Treg cells

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 11:33 AM PST

Tissue in monkeys infected with a close relative of HIV can ramp up production of a type of T cell that actually weakens the body's attack against the invading virus. The discovery, in lymph nodes draining the intestinal tract, could help explain how the HIV virus evades the body's immune defenses.

If the same pattern is found in people infected with HIV, the finding could lead to a treatment strategy that slows the production of this restraining type of T cell. This would let the immune soldiers go after the virus more aggressively.

New nano-material combinations produce leap in infrared technology

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 11:25 AM PST

Arizona State University researchers are finding ways to improve infrared photodetector technology that is critical to national defense and security systems, as well as used increasingly in commercial applications and consumer products.

A significant advance is reported in a recent article in the journal Applied Physics Letters. It details discovery of how infrared photodetection can be done more effectively by using certain materials arranged in specific patterns in atomic-scale structures.

Huntington breakthrough: Researchers discover a promising new treatment for Huntington disease

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 10:59 AM PST

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta have discovered a promising new therapy for Huntington disease that restores lost motor skills and may delay or stop the progression of the disease, says researcher Simonetta Sipione.

The therapy is based on lab model tests and, because it uses a molecule already in clinical trials for other diseases, it could be used in a trial for Huntington disease within the next two years.

Elephants’ habitat fragments in Borneo

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 10:18 AM PST

The home range and movement rate of the Bornean elephants are influenced by the degree of habitat fragmentation, according to a new study by researchers and conservationists.

The mathematics of a heart beat could save lives

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 10:03 AM PST

What we perceive as the beating of our heart is actually the co-ordinated action of more than a billion muscle cells. Most of the time, only the muscle cells from the larger heart chambers contract and relax. But when the heart needs to work harder it relies on back-up from the atrial muscle cells deep within the smaller chambers (atria) of the heart.

Hearing Aid Gap: Millions Who Could Benefit Remain Untreated

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 09:49 AM PST

Though an estimated 26.7 million Americans age 50 and older have hearing loss, only about one in seven uses a hearing aid, according to a new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers.

The finding adds clarity to less rigorous estimates by device manufacturers and demonstrates how widespread undertreatment of hearing loss is in the United States, the study investigators say.

Malaria parasite goes bananas before sex: new study

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 08:23 AM PST

New research from the University of Melbourne shows how the malaria parasite (Plasmodium falciparum) changes into a banana shape before sexual reproduction, a finding that could provide targets for vaccine or drug development and may explain how the parasite evades the human immune system.

MDC researchers reveal molecular mechanism underlying severe anomalies of the forebrain

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 08:17 AM PST

Researchers of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have now identified and described a molecular mechanism underlying the most common malformation of the brain in humans. In holoprosencephaly (HPE), the forebrain (prosencephalon) is only incompletely formed. Here a binding site (receptor) for cholesterol plays a key role. If this receptor is defective, specific signals cannot be received, and the forebrain cannot separate into two hemispheres, as Dr. Annabel Christ, Professor Thomas Willnow and Dr.

Georgia Tech study shows certain words, phrases predict if messages sent up/down the org chart

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 08:09 AM PST

Members of the modern workforce might be surprised to learn that if they use the word “weekend” in a workplace email, chances are they’re sending the message up the org chart. Likewise the words “voicemail,” “driving,” “okay”—and even a choice four-letter word that rhymes with “hit.” However a new study by Georgia Tech’s Eric Gilbert shows that certain words and phrases indeed are reliable indicators of whether workplace emails are sent to someone higher or lower in the corporate hierarchy.

Cellphone Use Linked to Selfish Behavior in University of Maryland Study

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 08:05 AM PST

Though cellphones are usually considered devices that connect people, they may make users less socially minded, finds a recent study from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Marketing professors Anastasiya Pocheptsova and Rosellina Ferraro, with graduate student, Ajay T. Abraham, conducted a series of experiments on test groups of cellphone users. The findings appear in their working paper, The Effect of Mobile Phone Use on Prosocial Behavior.

People forage for memories in the same way birds forage for berries

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 07:57 AM PST

Humans move between ‘patches’ in their memory using the same strategy as bees flitting between flowers for pollen or birds searching among bushes for berries.

Researchers at the University of Warwick and Indiana University have identified parallels between animals looking for food in the wild and humans searching for items within their memory – suggesting that people with the best ‘memory foraging’ strategies are better at recalling items.