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Two species fused to give rise to plant pest
Highlighting Molecular Clues to the Link Between Childhood Maltreatment and Later Suicide
Childhood Adversity Increases Risk for Depression and Chronic Inflammation
Downy dinosaur discovered
Charting Autism’s Neural Circuitry: Deleting a single gene results in autism-like behavior
Uncontrollable Anger Prevalent Among Youth
Scripps Research Institute Scientists Develop Alternative to Gene Therapy
Engineers Convert a Natural Plant Protein Into Drug-delivery Vehicles
Researchers find biomarker that predicts response to chemotherapy for osteosarcoma
Cigarettes Made from Tobacco with Less Nicotine May Help Smokers Quit
Rest Is Not Idleness: Reflection Is Critical for Development and Well-Being
New way to grow, isolate cancer cells may add weapon against disease
Higher Energies for Laser Accelerated Particles Possible
Calcium carbonate templates for drug delivery
New insights into the life of microtubules
UCLA study looks at why heart attacks cause so much more damage in late pregnancy

Two species fused to give rise to plant pest

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 06:29 AM PDT

Zymoseptoria tritici is often a headache for European farmers. This ascomycete originating from the Middle East attacks the leaves of wheat plants triggering "speckled leaf blotch", which can cut crop yields by up to 50 percent. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg and Aarhus University in Denmark have now taken a close look at the genome of a close relative, Zymoseptoria pseudotritici and have made a surprising discovery.

Highlighting Molecular Clues to the Link Between Childhood Maltreatment and Later Suicide

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 06:15 AM PDT

Exposure to childhood maltreatment increases the risk for most psychiatric disorders as well as many negative consequences of these conditions. This new study, by Dr. Gustavo Turecki and colleagues at McGill University, Canada, provides important insight into one of the most extreme outcomes, suicide.

Childhood Adversity Increases Risk for Depression and Chronic Inflammation

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 06:11 AM PDT

When a person injures their knee, it becomes inflamed. When a person has a cold, their throat becomes inflamed. This type of inflammation is the body’s natural and protective response to injury.

Interestingly, there is growing evidence that a similar process happens when a person experiences psychological trauma. Unfortunately, this type of inflammation can be destructive.

Downy dinosaur discovered

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 06:04 AM PDT

The new fossil find from the chalk beds of the Franconian Jura evokes associations with a pet cemetery, for the young predatory dinosaur reveals clear traces of fluffy plumage. It also poses an intriguing question: Were all dinosaurs dressed in down?

Charting Autism’s Neural Circuitry: Deleting a single gene results in autism-like behavior

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 03:46 PM PDT

Deleting a single gene in the cerebellum of mice can cause key autistic-like symptoms, researchers have found. They also discovered that rapamycin, a commonly used immunosuppressant drug, prevented these symptoms.

The deleted gene is associated with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), a rare genetic condition. Since nearly 50 percent of all people with TSC develop autism, the researchers believe their findings will help us better understand the condition’s development.

Uncontrollable Anger Prevalent Among Youth

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 03:35 PM PDT

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adolescents have experienced an anger attack that involved threatening violence, destroying property or engaging in violence toward others at some point in their lives. These severe attacks of uncontrollable anger are much more common among adolescents than previously recognized, a new study led by researchers from Harvard Medical School finds.

Scripps Research Institute Scientists Develop Alternative to Gene Therapy

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 03:11 PM PDT

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a surprisingly simple and safe method to disrupt specific genes within cells. The scientists highlighted the medical potential of the new technique by demonstrating its use as a safer alternative to an experimental gene therapy against HIV infection.

Engineers Convert a Natural Plant Protein Into Drug-delivery Vehicles

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 03:02 PM PDT

Finding biocompatible carriers that can get drugs to their targets in the body involves significant challenges. Beyond practical concerns of manufacturing and loading these vehicles, the carriers must work effectively with the drug and be safe to consume. Vesicles, hollow capsules shaped like double-walled bubbles, are ideal candidates, as the body naturally produces similar structures to move chemicals from one place to another. Finding the right molecules to assemble into capsules, however, remains difficult.

Researchers find biomarker that predicts response to chemotherapy for osteosarcoma

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 02:50 PM PDT

Scientists have found that a protein expressed by some cancers is a good predictor of how the cancer will respond to standard chemotherapy for osteosarcoma, the most common bone cancer in children. Knowing whether a patient's tumor has this protein biomarker could help doctors determine if a patient should undergo standard treatment or if a more aggressive or alternative therapy may be more effective.

Cigarettes Made from Tobacco with Less Nicotine May Help Smokers Quit

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 02:44 PM PDT

Smokers can begin loosening the tight grip of nicotine addiction by smoking low-nicotine cigarettes, without lighting up any more than they usually do, according to recent research.

In a small, controlled study of 135 smokers between the ages of 18 and 70, smokers who switched to cigarettes with tobacco that contains less nicotine did not compensate by smoking more cigarettes and inhaling more tar and toxins.

Rest Is Not Idleness: Reflection Is Critical for Development and Well-Being

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 11:41 AM PDT

As each day passes, the pace of life seems to accelerate – demands on productivity continue ever upward and there is hardly ever a moment when we aren’t, in some way, in touch with our family, friends, or coworkers. While moments for reflection may be hard to come by, a new article suggests that the long-lost art of introspection —even daydreaming — may be an increasingly valuable part of life.

New way to grow, isolate cancer cells may add weapon against disease

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 11:23 AM PDT

The news a cancer patient most fears is that the disease has spread and become much more difficult to treat. A new method to isolate and grow the most dangerous cancer cells could enable new research into how cancer spreads and, ultimately, how to fight it.

University of Illinois researchers, in collaboration with scientists at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, published their results in the journal Nature Materials.

Higher Energies for Laser Accelerated Particles Possible

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 11:10 AM PDT

The use of compact laser accelerators for cancer therapy with charged particles such as protons could become possible in the future if scientists succeed in generating protons with very high energies. Physicists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) directed the light of the high power laser DRACO perpendicularly and obliquely onto a thin metal foil; thus, permitting them to demonstrate for the first time that accelerated protons follow the direction of the laser light.

Calcium carbonate templates for drug delivery

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 09:56 AM PDT

The fast and targeted delivery of drugs to the focus of a disease could soon be made easier. Helmuth Möhwald and his colleagues from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Golm, Potsdam, have developed a simple technique for the production of drug containers which can be channelled to a selected target in the body. The researchers use porous calcium carbonate microspheres as templates for the production of hollow three-dimensional balls.

New insights into the life of microtubules

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 09:49 AM PDT

Every second, around 25 million cell divisions take place in our bodies. This process is driven by microtubule filaments which continually grow and shrink. A new study shows how so-called motor proteins in the cytosol can control their dynamics.

UCLA study looks at why heart attacks cause so much more damage in late pregnancy

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 09:38 AM PDT

Heart attacks during pregnancy are uncommon, but the prevalence of heart disease in pregnant mothers has increased over the past decade as more women delay pregnancy until they are older. These women, who are generally less physically active than their younger peers, tend to have higher cholesterol levels and are at greater risk of heart disease and diabetes.