science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Παρασκευή 25 Απριλίου 2014

Science News SciGuru.com

Skin layer grown in lab could replace animal testing
Researchers Build New "Off Switch" to Shut Down Neural Activity
Oxygen diminishes the heart’s ability to regenerate, researchers discover
Take Notes by Hand for Better Long-Term Comprehension
Antimicrobial peptides induce mutagenesis and mucoid conversion
Ocean microbes display remarkable genetic diversity
Researchers Discover New Genetic Brain Disorder in Humans

Skin layer grown in lab could replace animal testing

Posted: 25 Apr 2014 05:37 AM PDT

Skin layer grown from human stem cells could replace animals in drug and cosmetics testing. An international team led by King’s College London and the San Francisco Veteran Affairs Medical Center (SFVAMC) has developed the first lab-grown epidermis – the outermost skin layer - with a functional permeability barrier akin to real skin. The new epidermis, grown from human pluripotent stem cells, offers a cost-effective alternative lab model for testing drugs and cosmetics, and could also help to develop new therapies for rare and common skin disorders.

Researchers Build New "Off Switch" to Shut Down Neural Activity

Posted: 24 Apr 2014 11:23 AM PDT

Nearly a decade ago, the era of optogenetics was ushered in with the development of channelrhodopsins, light-activated ion channels that can, with the flick of a switch, instantaneously turn on neurons in which they are genetically expressed. What has lagged behind, however, is the ability to use light to inactivate neurons with an equal level of reliability and efficiency.

Oxygen diminishes the heart’s ability to regenerate, researchers discover

Posted: 24 Apr 2014 10:00 AM PDT

Scientific research at UT Southwestern Medical Center previously discovered that the newborn animal heart can heal itself completely, whereas the adult heart lacks this ability. New research by the same team today has revealed why the heart loses its incredible regenerative capability in adulthood, and the answer is quite simple – oxygen.

Take Notes by Hand for Better Long-Term Comprehension

Posted: 24 Apr 2014 08:30 AM PDT

Dust off those Bic ballpoints and college-ruled notebooks — research shows that taking notes by hand is better than taking notes on a laptop for remembering conceptual information over the long term. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Antimicrobial peptides induce mutagenesis and mucoid conversion

Posted: 24 Apr 2014 05:33 AM PDT

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacteria that commonly infects the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, often with lethal consequences. A cationic antimicrobial peptide called LL-37 produced from neutrophils, one of the major cellular components of the innate immune response, can induce mutations in P. aeruginosa bacterial DNA that can paradoxically increase bacterial lethality. This is the major finding of a new study in the journal PLoS Pathogens from a team of researchers in different US institutions.

Ocean microbes display remarkable genetic diversity

Posted: 24 Apr 2014 04:49 AM PDT

The smallest, most abundant marine microbe, Prochlorococcus, is a photosynthetic bacteria species essential to the marine ecosystem. An estimated billion billion billion of the single-cell creatures live in the oceans, forming the base of the marine food chain and occupying a range of ecological niches based on temperature, light and chemical preferences, and interactions with other species. But the full extent and characteristics of diversity within this single species remains a puzzle.

Researchers Discover New Genetic Brain Disorder in Humans

Posted: 24 Apr 2014 03:02 AM PDT

A newly identified disorder affecting the human nervous system is caused by a mutation in a gene never before implicated in human disease, according to two studies published by Cell Press April 24th in the journal Cell. By performing DNA sequencing of children affected by neurological problems, two research teams independently discovered that a disease marked by reduced brain size, as well as sensory and motor defects, is caused by a mutation in a gene called CLP1. Insights into this rare disorder may have important implications for the treatment of common disorders.