science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Τετάρτη 7 Μαΐου 2014

Science News SciGuru.com

Having eczema may reduce your risk of skin cancer
Detecting Fetal Chromosomal Defects Without Risk
“Dinosaurs aren’t extinct”: Birds are an avian dinosaur lineage that evolved by shrinking body size
Two-lock box delivers cancer therapy
Researcher Discovers the Mechanisms That Link Brain Alertness and Increased Heart Rate
Scientists identify new protein in the neurological disorder dystonia, potential for treatments anticipated

Having eczema may reduce your risk of skin cancer

Posted: 07 May 2014 04:41 AM PDT

Eczema caused by defects in the skin could reduce the risk of developing skin cancer, according to new research by King’s College London. The immune response triggered by eczema could help prevent tumour formation by shedding potentially cancerous cells from the skin.

Detecting Fetal Chromosomal Defects Without Risk

Posted: 07 May 2014 04:24 AM PDT

Chromosomal abnormalities that result in birth defects and genetic disorders like Down syndrome remain a significant health burden in the United States and throughout the world, with some current prenatal screening procedures invasive and a potential risk to mother and unborn child.

“Dinosaurs aren’t extinct”: Birds are an avian dinosaur lineage that evolved by shrinking body size

Posted: 06 May 2014 03:10 PM PDT

Non-avian dinosaurs became extinct following a catastrophic event that occurred 65 million years ago. However, one dinosaur lineage is still with us: birds. There are approximately 10,000 known species of ornithine birds and they are considered to be a major evolutionary success story. A new study from an international team of researchers suggests that their success may be due to rapid evolutionary rates in avian dinosaurs that continued over long time scales, after evolution of terrestrial dinosaurs had slowed.

Two-lock box delivers cancer therapy

Posted: 06 May 2014 12:58 PM PDT

Rice University scientists have designed a tunable virus that works like a safe deposit box. It takes two keys to open it and release its therapeutic cargo.

The Rice lab of bioengineer Junghae Suh has developed an adeno-associated virus (AAV) that unlocks only in the presence of two selected proteases, enzymes that cut up other proteins for disposal. Because certain proteases are elevated at tumor sites, the viruses can be designed to target and destroy the cancer cells.

The work appears online this week in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano.

Researcher Discovers the Mechanisms That Link Brain Alertness and Increased Heart Rate

Posted: 06 May 2014 09:03 AM PDT

George Washington University (GW) researcher David Mendelowitz, Ph.D., was recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience for his research on how heart rate increases in response to alertness in the brain. Specifically, Mendelowitz looked at the interactions between neurons that fire upon increased attention and anxiety and neurons that control heart rate to discover the “why,” “how,” and “where to next” behind this phenomenon.

Scientists identify new protein in the neurological disorder dystonia, potential for treatments anticipated

Posted: 06 May 2014 08:34 AM PDT

A collaborative discovery involving Kansas State University researchers may lead to the first universal treatment for dystonia, a neurological disorder that affects nearly half a million Americans.