science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Σάββατο 21 Δεκεμβρίου 2013

Science News SciGuru.com

Parasitic DNA proliferates in aging tissues
Researchers Grow Liquid Crystal 'Flowers' That Can Be Used as Lenses
A New Role for Milk: Delivering Polyphenols with Anti-Cancer Activity
Weight loss surgery effective, but risk remains
Treatment for eating disorders effective

Parasitic DNA proliferates in aging tissues

Posted: 20 Dec 2013 12:16 PM PST

As mice age, cells in tissues such as the liver and skeletal muscle lose control over rogue sequences of DNA called “retrotransposable elements,” according to new research in the journal Aging. The elements, which may undermine health, could proliferate in old mice and were also abundant in cancerous tissue. A low-calorie diet, however, restrained their advance.

Researchers Grow Liquid Crystal 'Flowers' That Can Be Used as Lenses

Posted: 20 Dec 2013 12:10 PM PST

A team of material scientists, chemical engineers and physicists from the University of Pennsylvania has made another advance in their effort to use liquid crystals as a medium for assembling structures.

In their earlier studies, the team produced patterns of “defects,” useful disruptions in the repeating patterns found in liquid crystals, in nanoscale grids and rings. The new study adds a more complex pattern out of an even simpler template: a three-dimensional array in the shape of a flower.

A New Role for Milk: Delivering Polyphenols with Anti-Cancer Activity

Posted: 20 Dec 2013 08:01 AM PST

Polyphenols found in tea manifest anti-cancer effects but their use is limited by poor bioavailability and disagreeable taste. A new study in the Journal of Dairy Science® finds that when epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the major extractable polyphenol in green tea and the most biologically active, when diluted in skim milk or other milk complexes remains bioactive and continues to reduce colon cancer cell proliferation in culture at concentrations higher than 0.03 mg of EGCG/mL

Weight loss surgery effective, but risk remains

Posted: 20 Dec 2013 07:57 AM PST

Bariatric surgery is effective at helping patients lose weight and improve obesity-related conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and sleep apnea, according to a review of published studies. Complications are possible following these procedures, but death rates generally are low, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who performed the analysis.

Their study appears Dec. 18 in JAMA Surgery.

Treatment for eating disorders effective

Posted: 20 Dec 2013 07:53 AM PST

A new follow-up study shows that the so called Mandometer method for treating patients with eating disorders is effective. The method was developed at Karolinska Institutet and is today used in clinical treatment worldwide.