science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Σάββατο 23 Φεβρουαρίου 2013

Science News SciGuru.com

Fragile X makes brain cells talk too much
'NanoVelcro' device to grab single cancer cells from blood further refined
Secrets of Human Speech Uncovered
Stash of Stem Cells Found in a Human Parasite
Cancer drug Imatinib a possible treatment for Multiple Sclerosis
Immune cells keep cholesterol down
Fruit flies force their young to drink alcohol -- for their own good

Fragile X makes brain cells talk too much

Posted: 23 Feb 2013 06:53 AM PST

The most common inherited form of mental retardation and autism, fragile X syndrome, turns some brain cells into chatterboxes, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report.

The extra talk may make it harder for brain cells to identify and attend to important signals, potentially establishing an intriguing parallel at the cellular level to the attention problems seen in autism.

'NanoVelcro' device to grab single cancer cells from blood further refined

Posted: 23 Feb 2013 06:43 AM PST

Researchers at UCLA report that they have refined a method they previously developed for capturing and analyzing cancer cells that break away from patients' tumors and circulate in the blood. With the improvements to their device, which uses a Velcro-like nanoscale technology, they can now detect and isolate single cancer cells from patient blood samples for analysis.

Secrets of Human Speech Uncovered

Posted: 22 Feb 2013 12:16 PM PST

A team of researchers at UC San Francisco has uncovered the neurological basis of speech motor control, the complex coordinated activity of tiny brain regions that controls our lips, jaw, tongue and larynx as we speak.

Described this week in the journal Nature, the work has potential implications for developing computer-brain interfaces for artificial speech communication and for the treatment of speech disorders. It also sheds light on an ability that is unique to humans among living creatures but poorly understood.

Stash of Stem Cells Found in a Human Parasite

Posted: 22 Feb 2013 11:53 AM PST

The parasites that cause schistosomiasis, one of the most common parasitic infections in the world, are notoriously long-lived. Researchers have now found stem cells inside the parasite that can regenerate worn-down organs, which may help explain how they can live for years or even decades inside their host.

Cancer drug Imatinib a possible treatment for Multiple Sclerosis

Posted: 22 Feb 2013 07:49 AM PST

A drug that is currently used for cancer can relieve and slow down the progression of the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS) in rats, according to a new study published in PLOS ONE. The discovery, which was made by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, might one day lead to better forms of treatment for patients with MS.
Ingrid Nilsson Photo: Stefan Zimmerman

Immune cells keep cholesterol down

Posted: 22 Feb 2013 07:41 AM PST

Recent research at Karolinska Institutet describes how liver uptake of cholesterol from the blood is regulated by the immune system. These findings, which are published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, can explain how a certain type of immune cell prevents atherosclerosis.

Fruit flies force their young to drink alcohol -- for their own good

Posted: 22 Feb 2013 07:33 AM PST

When fruit flies sense parasitic wasps in their environment, they lay their eggs in an alcohol-soaked environment, essentially forcing their larvae to consume booze as a drug to combat the deadly wasps.

The discovery by biologists at Emory University is being published in the journal Science on Friday, February 22.