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Scientists Shed Light on Body’s Master Energy Regulator
‘Cupcake bans’ rare, but policies may reduce overexposure to sugary treats
Funding aids new test for ‘river blindness’
A new approach to treating brain cancer
Toward understanding the dangers of the fake marijuana called 'Spice' or 'K2'
The pain lingers for white teen girls who are told they are too fat
Scientists Develop New Process to Create Artificial Cell Membranes
Brain and song structure in zebra finches are strongly influenced by the environment

Scientists Shed Light on Body’s Master Energy Regulator

Posted: 02 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered some key features that explain just what turns on a protein that is considered to be a master regulator of how the human body uses and stores energy.

The new discoveries could help in the design and development of new therapeutics to treat metabolic disease such as diabetes and obesity—and perhaps some cancers as well.

‘Cupcake bans’ rare, but policies may reduce overexposure to sugary treats

Posted: 02 Oct 2013 03:55 PM PDT

Nearly 1 in 3 American children are overweight or obese, but sugary sweets are often on the menu at elementary school classroom parties.

But schools with a district policy or state law discouraging sugary foods and beverages were 2.5 times more likely to restrict those foods at parties than were schools with no such policy or law, according to a new study published online in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

Funding aids new test for ‘river blindness’

Posted: 02 Oct 2013 03:43 PM PDT

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received nearly $2 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a new diagnostic test for “river blindness,” a neglected tropical disease.

A new approach to treating brain cancer

Posted: 02 Oct 2013 03:36 PM PDT

A new experimental approach to treating a type of brain cancer called medulloblastoma has been developed by researchers at Sanford-Burnham. The method targets cancer stem cells—the cells that are critical for maintaining tumor growth—and halts their ability to proliferate by inhibiting enzymes that are essential for tumor progression. The process destroys the ability of the cancer cells to grow and divide, paving the way for a new type of treatment for patients with this disease.

Toward understanding the dangers of the fake marijuana called 'Spice' or 'K2'

Posted: 02 Oct 2013 09:17 AM PDT

The harmful effects of increasingly popular designer cannabis products called "Spice" or "K2" have puzzled scientists for years, but now a group of researchers is reporting progress toward understanding what makes them so toxic. The study, published in the ACS journal Analytical Chemistry, describes development of a method that could someday help physicians diagnose and treat the thousands of young adults and teens who end up in emergency rooms after taking the drugs.

The pain lingers for white teen girls who are told they are too fat

Posted: 02 Oct 2013 08:42 AM PDT

White teenage girls who are told by their parents or friends that they are too fat have more depressive symptoms when they are young adults, according to new research from Purdue University.

Scientists Develop New Process to Create Artificial Cell Membranes

Posted: 02 Oct 2013 08:36 AM PDT

The membranes surrounding and inside cells are involved in every aspect of biological function. They separate the cell’s various metabolic functions, compartmentalize the genetic material, and drive evolution by separating a cell’s biochemical activities. They are also the largest and most complex structures that cells synthesize.

Understanding the myriad biochemical roles of membranes requires the ability to prepare synthetic versions of these complex multi-layered structures, which has been a long-standing challenge.

Brain and song structure in zebra finches are strongly influenced by the environment

Posted: 02 Oct 2013 08:27 AM PDT

The song of songbirds is a learned, complex behavior and subject to strong selective forces. However, it is difficult to tease apart the influence of the genetic background and the environment on the expression of individual variation in song. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen in collaboration with international researchers now compared song and brain structure of parents and offspring in zebra finches that have been raised either with their genetic or foster parents. They also varied the amount of food during breeding.