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Making Memories: Researchers Explore the Anatomy of Recollection
Dream symbols could help in psychotherapy
Strange diet for methane consuming microorganisms
Stem cells + nanofibers = promising nerve research
Spread of human melanoma cells in mice correlates with clinical outcomes in patients
Sharks: bad creatures or bad image?
Platelet Behavior in Heart Attacks: Clots Can Sense Blood Flow
Persistent sync for neurons
Bone marrow stem cells do not improve short-term recovery after heart attack
New cell type developed for possible treatment of Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases
New drug target found for cystic fibrosis lung disease
Medical devices powered by the ear itself
How Butterfly Wings Can Inspire New High-Tech Surfaces
Bacterial signals in sarcoidosis

Making Memories: Researchers Explore the Anatomy of Recollection

Posted: 08 Nov 2012 07:52 AM PST

Dream symbols could help in psychotherapy

Posted: 08 Nov 2012 07:43 AM PST

Dream images could provide insights into people's mental health problems and may help with their treatment, according to a psychology researcher from the University of Adelaide.

Dr Lance Storm, a Visiting Research Fellow with the University of Adelaide's School of Psychology, has been studying dream symbols (or "archetypes") and their meanings, as described by the famous psychologist and psychiatrist Carl Jung.

Strange diet for methane consuming microorganisms

Posted: 08 Nov 2012 05:19 AM PST

Methane is formed under the absence of oxygen by natural biological and physical processes, e.g. in the sea floor. It is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Thanks to the activity of microorganisms this gas is inactivated before it reaches the atmosphere and unfolds its harmful effects on Earth's climate. Researchers from Bremen have now proven that these microorganisms are quite picky about their diet.

Stem cells + nanofibers = promising nerve research

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 02:23 PM PST

Every week in his clinic at the University of Michigan, neurologist Joseph Corey, M.D., Ph.D., treats patients whose nerves are dying or shrinking due to disease or injury.

He sees the pain, the loss of ability and the other effects that nerve-destroying conditions cause – and wishes he could give patients more effective treatments than what’s available, or regenerate their nerves. Then he heads to his research lab at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, where his team is working toward that exact goal.

Spread of human melanoma cells in mice correlates with clinical outcomes in patients

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 02:09 PM PST

UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists led by Dr. Sean Morrison, director of the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern, have developed an innovative model for predicting the progression of skin cancer in patients.

Sharks: bad creatures or bad image?

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 02:01 PM PST

Historically, the media have been particularly harsh to sharks, and it’s affecting their survival.

The results of a Michigan State University study, appearing in the current issue of the journal Conservation Biology, reviewed worldwide media coverage of sharks – and the majority isn’t good.

Platelet Behavior in Heart Attacks: Clots Can Sense Blood Flow

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 01:49 PM PST

The disease atherosclerosis involves the build up of fatty tissue within arterial walls, creating unstable structures known as plaques. These plaques grow until they burst, rupturing the wall and causing the formation of a blood clot within the artery. These clots also grow until they block blood flow; in the case of the coronary artery, this can cause a heart attack.

Persistent sync for neurons

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 11:03 AM PST

A team of Brazilian physicists working with neuroscientists studying freely behaving rats have found that their neurons often act in precise coordination over time, in a study about to be published in EPJ B. These findings stem from the work of Bruno Silva, a researcher at Bahia Federal University in Salvador, and his colleagues from other universities in the Northeastern region of Brazil, and suggest that neuronal networks’ memory could be explored in the future.

Bone marrow stem cells do not improve short-term recovery after heart attack

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 10:34 AM PST

Administering stem cells derived from patients’ own bone marrow either three or seven days after a heart attack is safe but does not improve heart function six months later, according to a clinical trial supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

New cell type developed for possible treatment of Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 10:31 AM PST

UC Irvine researchers have created a new stem cell-derived cell type with unique promise for treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Dr. Edwin Monuki of UCI’s Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, developmental & cell biology graduate student Momoko Watanabe and colleagues developed these cells — called choroid plexus epithelial cells — from existing mouse and human embryonic stem cell lines.

New drug target found for cystic fibrosis lung disease

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 10:24 AM PST

Vancouver researchers have discovered the cellular pathway that causes lung-damaging inflammation in cystic fibrosis (CF), and that reducing the pathway’s activity also decreases inflammation. The finding offers a potential new drug target for treating CF lung disease, which is a major cause of illness and death for people with CF.

“Developing new drugs that target lung inflammation would be a big step forward,” says

Medical devices powered by the ear itself

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 10:08 AM PST

Deep in the inner ear of mammals is a natural battery — a chamber filled with ions that produces an electrical potential to drive neural signals. In today’s issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology, a team of researchers from MIT, the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) demonstrate for the first time that this battery could power implantable electronic devices without impairing hearing.

How Butterfly Wings Can Inspire New High-Tech Surfaces

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 09:46 AM PST

A South American butterfly flapped its wings, and caused a flurry of nanotechnology research to happen in Ohio.

Researchers here have taken a new look at butterfly wings and rice leaves, and learned things about their microscopic texture that could improve a variety of products.

For example, the researchers were able to clean up to 85 percent of dust off a coated plastic surface that mimicked the texture of a butterfly wing, compared to only 70 percent off a flat surface.

Bacterial signals in sarcoidosis

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 09:26 AM PST

In sarcoidosis, nodules of inflammatory cells (called granulomas) can form in the lungs, lymph nodes or other organs. The condition can resolve on its own, but for some patients, chronic symptoms – especially with lung nodules – can result in respiratory failure and death. While there is no definitive cause of sarcoidosis, several infectious agents have been implicated. Recent evidence favors a role for mycobacteria (a class that includes the tuberculosis bacterium) and propionibacteria (skin bacteria linked to acne).