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• Foetus suffers when mother lacks vitamin C
• Reconsidering cancer's bad guy - Protein S100A4
• Parkinson's Disease Protein Causes Disease Spread and Neuron Death in Healthy Animals
• Early 50s May Be Key Time to Reach Baby Boomers with Health Messages
• Scientists Show Protein-Making Machinery Can Switch Gears with a Small Structural Change
• Meditation expertise changes experience of pain
• New injectable gels toughen up after entering the body
• Neurons made from stem cells drive brain activity after transplantation in laboratory model
• NIST Study Suggests Carbon Nanotubes May Protect DNA from Oxidation
• Study tracks brain gene response to territorial aggression
• Cellphone bans associated with fewer urban accidents
• Small muscles to have big impact on smart clothing
• These bots were made for walking: Cells power biological machines
• Viable and fertile fruit flies in the absence of histone H3.3
• Listening abilities depend on rhythms in the brain
• Abell 30: X-rays from a Reborn Planetary Nebula
• Protein tug of war points toward better therapies for cardiovascular disease

Foetus suffers when mother lacks vitamin C Posted: 16 Nov 2012 07:17 AM PST Maternal vitamin C deficiency during pregnancy can have serious consequences for the foetal brain. And once brain damage has occurred, it cannot be reversed by vitamin C supplements after birth. This is shown through new research at the University of Copenhagen just published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE. Population studies show that between 10-20 per cent of all adults in the developed world suffer from vitamin C deficiency. Therefore, pregnant women should think twice about omitting the daily vitamin pill. read more

Reconsidering cancer's bad guy - Protein S100A4 Posted: 16 Nov 2012 07:08 AM PST Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have found that a protein, known for causing cancer cells to spread around the body, is also one of the molecules that trigger repair processes in the brain. These findings are the subject of a paper, published this week in Nature Communications. They point the way to new avenues of research into degenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. read more

Parkinson's Disease Protein Causes Disease Spread and Neuron Death in Healthy Animals Posted: 16 Nov 2012 07:02 AM PST Understanding how any disease progresses is one of the first and most important steps towards finding treatments to stop it. This has been the case for such brain-degenerating conditions as Alzheimer's disease. Now, after several years of incremental study, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have been able to piece together important steps in how Parkinson’s disease (PD) spreads from cell to cell and leads to nerve cell death. read more

Early 50s May Be Key Time to Reach Baby Boomers with Health Messages Posted: 16 Nov 2012 06:53 AM PST For baby boomers, the peak interest in health issues comes at about age 51, with a second peak coming near age 65, according to a new study. The results may help doctors and other professionals target this generation with health messages at a time when they are most receptive to hearing them, the researchers said. read more

Scientists Show Protein-Making Machinery Can Switch Gears with a Small Structural Change Posted: 16 Nov 2012 06:19 AM PST For the past several years, Min Guo, an assistant professor at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has focused on the intricate actions of an ancient family of catalytic enzymes that play a key role in translation, the process of producing proteins. read more

Meditation expertise changes experience of pain Posted: 15 Nov 2012 07:08 PM PST Meditation can change the way a person experiences pain, according to a new study by UW-Madison neuroscientists.   The researchers found that during a pain experiment, expert meditators felt the discomfort as intensely as novice meditators, but the experience wasn't as unpleasant for them.   Images of brain regions linked to pain and anxiety may explain why. Compared to novice meditators, experts had less activity in the anxiety regions.   read more

New injectable gels toughen up after entering the body Posted: 15 Nov 2012 03:47 PM PST Gels that can be injected into the body, carrying drugs or cells that regenerate damaged tissue, hold promise for treating many types of disease, including cancer. However, these injectable gels don’t always maintain their solid structure once inside the body. MIT chemical engineers have now designed an injectable gel that responds to the body’s high temperature by forming a reinforcing network that makes the gel much more durable, allowing it to function over a longer period of time. read more

Neurons made from stem cells drive brain activity after transplantation in laboratory model Posted: 15 Nov 2012 12:41 PM PST Researchers and patients look forward to the day when stem cells might be used to replace dying brain cells in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. Scientists are currently able to make neurons and other brain cells from stem cells, but getting these neurons to properly function when transplanted to the host has proven to be more difficult. Now, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have found a way to stimulate stem cell-derived neurons to direct cognitive function after transplantation to an existing neural network. read more

NIST Study Suggests Carbon Nanotubes May Protect DNA from Oxidation Posted: 15 Nov 2012 10:19 AM PST Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have provided evidence in the laboratory that single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) may help protect DNA molecules from damage by oxidation. In nature, oxidation is a common chemical process in which a reactive chemical removes electrons from DNA and may increase the chance for mutations in cells. More studies are needed to see if the in vitro protective effect of nanotubes reported in the laboratory also occurs in vivo, that is, within a living organism. read more

Study tracks brain gene response to territorial aggression Posted: 15 Nov 2012 10:09 AM PST With a mate and a nest to protect, the male threespined stickleback is a fierce fish, chasing and biting other males until they go away. Now researchers are mapping the genetic underpinnings of the stickleback’s aggressive behavior. Armed with tools that allow them to see which genes are activated or deactivated in response to social encounters, a team from the University of Illinois has identified broad patterns of gene activity that correspond to aggression in this fish. read more

Cellphone bans associated with fewer urban accidents Posted: 15 Nov 2012 10:01 AM PST Cellphones and driving go together like knives and juggling. But when cellphone use is banned, are drivers any safer? It depends on where you’re driving, a study by University of Illinois researchers says. The study found that, long-term, enacting a cellphone ban was associated with a relative decrease in the accident rate in urban areas. However, in very rural areas, cellphone bans were associated with higher accident rates than would otherwise be expected. read more

Small muscles to have big impact on smart clothing Posted: 15 Nov 2012 10:00 AM PST Australian scientists are among a team to develop a new artificial muscle with exciting possibilities for use in self-powered intelligent textiles that could automatically react to environmental conditions like heat or sweat. Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) at the University of Wollongong are part of a team spread across four continents, to develop the new hybrid yarn muscle. read more

These bots were made for walking: Cells power biological machines Posted: 15 Nov 2012 09:55 AM PST They’re soft, biocompatible, about 7 millimeters long – and, incredibly, able to walk by themselves. Miniature “bio-bots” developed at the University of Illinois are making tracks in synthetic biology. Miniature “bio-bots” developed at the University of Illinois are made of hydrogel and heart cells, but can walk on their own. read more

Viable and fertile fruit flies in the absence of histone H3.3 Posted: 15 Nov 2012 09:40 AM PST Histones – proteins that package DNA – affect cell function differently than previously assumed: the cell doesn’t need the histone H3.3 to read genes. Molecular biologists from the University of Zurich demonstrate that fruit flies can develop and reproduce in the absence of this histone. Additionally, cell division works without a histone modification previously deemed crucial. read more

Listening abilities depend on rhythms in the brain Posted: 15 Nov 2012 09:32 AM PST Naturally, our brain activity waxes and wanes. When listening, this oscillation synchronizes to the sounds we are hearing. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences have found that this influences the way we listen. Hearing abilities also oscillate and depend on the exact timing of one’s brain rhythms. This discovery that sound, brain, and behaviour are so intimately coupled will help us to learn more about listening abilities in hearing loss. read more

Abell 30: X-rays from a Reborn Planetary Nebula Posted: 15 Nov 2012 09:22 AM PST These images of the planetary nebula Abell 30, (a.k.a. A30), show one of the clearest views ever obtained of a special phase of evolution for these objects. The inset image on the right is a close-up view of A30 showing X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in purple and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data showing optical emission from oxygen ions in orange. On the left is a larger view showing optical and X-ray data from the Kitt Peak National Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton, respectively. read more

Protein tug of war points toward better therapies for cardiovascular disease Posted: 15 Nov 2012 08:50 AM PST Two proteins are in a tug of war that determines how much the body makes of superoxide, a highly reactive and potentially destructive product of oxygen that’s dramatically elevated in cardiovascular disease, researchers report. Their finding indicates an antiulcer drug just may help the body reduce excessive levels. read more

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