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Sitting still or going hunting: Which works better?
New Clues For Overcoming Tamoxifen-Resistant Breast Cancer
Brain May ‘See’ More Than the Eyes, Study Indicates
Cheap, simple bacteria test could spare newborns deadly infections
Weight, Age, and Gender Affect Duration, Intensity of Toxicity for Stem Cell Donors
Computational Medicine Begins to Enhance the Way Doctors Detect and Treat Disease
Novel Technique To Produce Stem Cells from Peripheral Blood
Caffeine’s effect on the brain’s adenosine receptors visualized for the first time
Scientists Create “Endless Supply” of Myelin-Forming Cells
Brain computer interface based neuroprosthesis in limb paralysis
Asteroid Vesta has unique ‘space weathering’
Gen X overtaking baby boomers on obesity
New Technique Enables High-Sensitivity View of Cellular Functions

Sitting still or going hunting: Which works better?

Posted: 02 Nov 2012 07:34 AM PDT

For the kinds of animals that are most familiar to us — ones that are big enough to see — it’s a no-brainer: Is it better to sit around and wait for food to come to you, or to move around and find it? Larger animals that opt to sit around aren’t likely to last long.

But for bacteria out in the ocean, the question is a far more complicated one.

New Clues For Overcoming Tamoxifen-Resistant Breast Cancer

Posted: 02 Nov 2012 07:25 AM PDT

A University of Cincinnati (UC) cancer biology team reports breakthrough findings about specific cellular mechanisms that may help overcome endocrine (hormone) therapy-resistance in patients with estrogen-positive breast cancers, combating a widespread problem in effective medical management of the disease.

Brain May ‘See’ More Than the Eyes, Study Indicates

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:39 AM PDT

Vision may be less important to “seeing” than is the brain’s ability to process points of light into complex images, according to a new study of the fruit fly visual system currently published in the online journal Nature Communications.

University of Virginia researchers have found that the very simple eyes of fruit fly larvae, with only 24 total photoreceptors (the human eye contains more than 125 million), provide just enough light or visual input to allow the animal’s relatively large brain to assemble that input into images.

Cheap, simple bacteria test could spare newborns deadly infections

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:31 AM PDT

For babies, the trip from the womb to the outside world is a transition from a blank, sterile slate to host for what will eventually be trillions of microscopic organisms.

Unfortunately, the demographics of a burgeoning microbial community can easily tip in favor of dangerous bacteria.

Weight, Age, and Gender Affect Duration, Intensity of Toxicity for Stem Cell Donors

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:25 AM PDT

Results from a first-time analysis comparing toxicity experienced by bone marrow stem cell donors and peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donors suggest that a donor’s age, weight, or gender can affect the intensity and duration of their post-donation side effects. Study results are published in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).

Computational Medicine Begins to Enhance the Way Doctors Detect and Treat Disease

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 10:26 AM PDT

Computational medicine, a fast-growing method of using computer models and sophisticated software to figure out how disease develops–and how to thwart it–has begun to leap off the drawing board and land in the hands of doctors who treat patients for heart ailments, cancer and other illnesses. Using digital tools, researchers have begun to use experimental and clinical data to build models that can unravel complex medical mysteries.

Novel Technique To Produce Stem Cells from Peripheral Blood

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:19 AM PDT

Stem cells are a valuable resource for medical and biological research, but are difficult to study due to ethical and societal barriers. However, genetically manipulated cells from adults may provide a path to study stem cells that avoid any ethical concerns. A new video-protocol in JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments), details steps to generate human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from cells in the peripheral blood. The technique has been developed by Boston University's Dr. Gustavo Mostoslavsky and his colleagues.

Caffeine’s effect on the brain’s adenosine receptors visualized for the first time

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:19 AM PDT

Molecular imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) has enabled scientists for the first time to visualize binding sites of caffeine in the living human brain to explore possible positive and negative effects of caffeine consumption. According to research published in the November issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, PET imaging with F-18-8-cyclopentyl-3-(3-fluoropropyl)-1-propylxanthine (F-18-CPFPX) shows that repeated intake of caffeinated beverages throughout a day results in up to 50 percent occupancy of the brain’s A1 adenosine receptors.

Scientists Create “Endless Supply” of Myelin-Forming Cells

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:12 AM PDT

In a new study appearing this month in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers have unlocked the complex cellular mechanics that instruct specific brain cells to continue to divide. This discovery overcomes a significant technical hurdle to potential human stem cell therapies; ensuring that an abundant supply of cells is available to study and ultimately treat people with diseases.

Brain computer interface based neuroprosthesis in limb paralysis

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:00 AM PDT

A new study reports the development of a brain computer interface for flexing and extending fingers towards finding a solution for limb paralysis due to brain damage.

Asteroid Vesta has unique ‘space weathering’

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 08:45 AM PDT

Space weathering — a darkening of lunar surfaces by solar wind and metal nanoparticles from vaporized meteorites — appears to happen differently on Vesta, the largest body in the asteroid belt. The discovery, from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, has planetary geologists returning to their lunar data for another look and further analysis.

Gen X overtaking baby boomers on obesity

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 08:34 AM PDT

New research from the University of Adelaide shows that Generation X is already on the path to becoming more obese than their baby boomer predecessors.

Studies show that boomers currently have the highest level of obesity of any age group in Australia. However, new research by University of Adelaide PhD student Rhiannon Pilkington has revealed some alarming statistics. As part of her research, she has compared obesity levels between the two generations at equivalent ages.

New Technique Enables High-Sensitivity View of Cellular Functions

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 08:29 AM PDT

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed an ultrasensitive method for detecting sugar molecules — or glycans — coming from living organisms, a breakthrough that will make possible a more detailed understanding of cellular functions than either genetic or proteomic (the study of proteins) information can provide. The researchers hope the new technique will revolutionize the study of glycans, which has been hampered by an inability to easily detect and identify minute quantities of these molecules.