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Astronomers Observe Planets Around Another Star Like Never Before
Sleep loss precedes Alzheimer’s symptoms
Bitter melon juice prevents pancreatic cancer in mouse models
Neural “Synchrony” May be Key to Understanding How the Human Brain Perceives
Study Shows How One Insect Got Its Wings
Tiny Piece of RNA Keeps ‘Clock’ Running in Earliest Stages of Life
Combination therapy provides similar clinical benefit as single drug treatment in Multiple Sclerosis
Frustration May Increase Attraction to Violent Video Games
Study provides key insight into how cells fuse
New Research Shows that While Niacin Added to Statin Therapy Increases HDL Cholesterol Levels It Does Not Improve HDL Functionality
Researchers Solve Riddle of What Has Been Holding Two Unlikely Materials Together

Astronomers Observe Planets Around Another Star Like Never Before

Posted: 12 Mar 2013 06:01 PM PDT

Thanks to a new high-tech gadget, astronomers have observed four planets orbiting a star relatively close to the sun in unprecedented detail, revealing the roughly ten-Jupiter-mass planets to be among the most exotic ones known.

The team, which includes several researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), describes its findings in a paper accepted for publication by the Astrophysical Journal.

Sleep loss precedes Alzheimer’s symptoms

Posted: 12 Mar 2013 01:58 PM PDT

Sleep is disrupted in people who likely have early Alzheimer’s disease but do not yet have the memory loss or other cognitive problems characteristic of full-blown disease, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report March 11 in JAMA Neurology.

Bitter melon juice prevents pancreatic cancer in mouse models

Posted: 12 Mar 2013 10:41 AM PDT

A University of Colorado Cancer study published this week in the journal Carcinogenesis shows that bitter melon juice restricts the ability of pancreatic cancer cells to metabolize glucose, thus cutting the cells’ energy source and eventually killing them.

Neural “Synchrony” May be Key to Understanding How the Human Brain Perceives

Posted: 12 Mar 2013 10:32 AM PDT

Despite many remarkable discoveries in the field of neuroscience during the past several decades, researchers have not been able to fully crack the brain’s “neural code.” The neural code details how the brain’s roughly 100 billion neurons turn raw sensory inputs into information we can use to see, hear and feel things in our environment.

Study Shows How One Insect Got Its Wings

Posted: 12 Mar 2013 07:22 AM PDT

Scientists have delved deeper into the evolutionary history of the fruit fly than ever before to reveal the genetic activity that led to the development of wings – a key to the insect’s ability to survive.

The wings themselves are common research models for this and other species’ appendages. But until now, scientists did not know how the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, first sprouted tiny buds that became flat wings.

Tiny Piece of RNA Keeps ‘Clock’ Running in Earliest Stages of Life

Posted: 11 Mar 2013 10:46 AM PDT

New research shows that a tiny piece of RNA has an essential role in ensuring that embryonic tissue segments form properly.

The study, conducted in chicken embryos, determined that this piece of RNA regulates cyclical gene activity that defines the timing of the formation of tissue segments that later become muscle and vertebrae.

Combination therapy provides similar clinical benefit as single drug treatment in Multiple Sclerosis

Posted: 11 Mar 2013 10:24 AM PDT

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) who were treated with combination therapy did not see significant clinical benefit over those treated with single drug therapy, but combination therapy did reduce the development of new lesions, according to an international research team led by The Mount Sinai Medical Center. The findings, part of the largest-ever MS trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, are published in the March 11 issue of Annals of Neurology.

Frustration May Increase Attraction to Violent Video Games

Posted: 11 Mar 2013 10:15 AM PDT

The temptation to steal or cheat is sometimes great — especially when the risk of being caught is low. A new study suggests that denying people the opportunity to engage in these taboo behaviors may lead them to seek out violent video games as a way of managing their frustration.

The study, led by researcher Brad Bushman of Ohio State University, is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Study provides key insight into how cells fuse

Posted: 11 Mar 2013 10:05 AM PDT

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have established a high-efficiency cell-cell fusion system, providing a new model to study how fusion works. The scientists showed that fusion between two cells is not equal and mutual as some assumed, but, rather, is initiated and driven by one of the fusion partners. The discovery, they say, could lead to improved treatments for muscular dystrophy, since muscle regeneration relies on cell fusion to make muscle fibers that contain hundreds or even thousands of nuclei.

New Research Shows that While Niacin Added to Statin Therapy Increases HDL Cholesterol Levels It Does Not Improve HDL Functionality

Posted: 11 Mar 2013 08:16 AM PDT

While two large clinical trials recently showed that adding niacin to statin therapy failed to improve clinical outcomes despite a significant increase in HDL-C levels, little is known about exactly why the increased HDL-C levels did not reduce the risk of cardiovascular events, including heart attack and stroke.

Researchers Solve Riddle of What Has Been Holding Two Unlikely Materials Together

Posted: 11 Mar 2013 08:08 AM PDT

For years, researchers have developed thin films of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) – which converts heat into electricity or electricity to cooling – on top of gallium arsenide (GaAs) to create cooling devices for electronics. But while they knew it could be done, it was not clear how – because the atomic structures of those unlikely pair of materials do not appear to be compatible. Now researchers from North Carolina State University and RTI International have solved the mystery, opening the door to new research in the field.