Biosingularity

RNA molecules have long been known for their role in translating genes to proteins inside a cell, but more recently, scientists have found large numbers of RNA molecules that don’t code for proteins but seem to have other cellular roles. Most research in mammals has focused on tiny RNA molecules called microRNAs, but a new [...]

An experimental pill to prevent blood clots exceeded already high expectations as a better therapy for millions of people with atrial fibrillation, according to final results of a worldwide study released Sunday. The study was featured at the European Society of Cardiology in Paris and simultaneously published on the Web site of The New England [...]

A diet that incorporates cholesterol-lowering foods like soy, nuts, and plant sterols may work better at lowering cholesterol levels than a traditional low-fat diet. A new study shows that people with high cholesterol who followed the portfolio diet, which includes a combination of cholesterol-lowering foods, lowered their low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels by about 13% [...]

Researchers in Canada have shown that a special cholesterol-lowering diet works well – even with only two nutritional counseling sessions over six months. Making dietary changes like eating oat bran for breakfast, drinking soy milk instead of dairy, soy burgers in place of hamburgers, and fruit and nuts instead of a full lunch prompted a [...]

Nine years after getting gene therapy for a rare, inherited immune system disorder often called “bubble boy disease,” 14 out of 16 children are doing well, researchers report. The children were born with severe combined immunodeficiency disease (SCID). They got an experimental gene therapy in the U.K. A new report shows that nine years later, [...]

A new atlas of gene expression in the mouse brain provides insight into how genes work in the outer part of the brain called the cerebral cortex. In humans, the cerebral cortex is the largest part of the brain, and the region responsible for memory, sensory perception and language. Mice and people share 90 percent [...]

A relatively simple combination of naturally occurring sugars and amino acids offers a plausible route to the building blocks of life, according to a paper published in Nature Chemistry co-authored by a professor at the University of California, Merced. The study, “A Route to Enantiopure RNA Precursors from Nearly Racemic Starting Materials,” shows how the precursors [...]

Tiny particles made of polymers hold great promise for targeted delivery of drugs and as structural scaffolds for building artificial tissues. However, current production methods for such microparticles yield a limited array of shapes and can only be made with certain materials, restricting their usefulness. In an advance that could broadly expand the possible applications [...]

Working closely with a team of researchers from Duke University, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have helped identify a molecular pathway that plays a key role in stress-related damage to the genome, the entirety of an organism’s hereditary information. The new findings, published in the journal Nature on August 21, [...]

Aneuploidy—when the cells of an organism contain more or fewer than the standard number of chromosomes for its species—is found in greater than 90 percent of all human cancers. But how exactly it relates to cancer, and whether it is a cause or merely a consequence of genomic instability, has long been a mystery. Two [...]

A new microscope has allowed researchers to watch molecules move within a cell on a millisecond-by-millisecond time scale for the first time. The novel method, which combines two preëxisting microscopic techniques, opens a window onto cellular processes that had previously been undetectable, unveiling molecular activity within a cell at a much finer level than ever [...]

Obese people who are otherwise healthy live as long as normal-weight people, new research from Canada suggests. Some obese but healthy people actually are less likely to die of heart problems than normal-weight people who have some medical conditions, the researchers found. “You shouldn’t just look at body weight alone,” says researcher Jennifer Kuk, PhD, [...]

The study was led by Lori Daiello, PharmD, a research scientist at the Rhode Island Hospital Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center. Data for the analyses was obtained from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), a large multi-center, NIH-funded study that followed older adults with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s Disease for over [...]

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Continuity of sleep, not just the total hours of nightly slumber, is crucial to forming and retaining memories, a new study in mice suggests. Mice couldn’t remember objects they’d seen before after a night of interrupted sleep, Asya Rolls of Stanford and her colleagues report online July 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy [...]

For the last decade cancer research has been guided by a common vision of how a single cell, outcompeting its neighbors, evolves into a malignant tumor. Through a series of random mutations, genes that encourage cellular division are pushed into overdrive, while genes that normally send growth-restraining signals are taken offline. With the accelerator floored [...]

Scientists have pinpointed a rare gene variant that increases a woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer six-fold. The discovery will lead to new diagnostic tests to identify the cancer earlier and provides better information to help doctors choose targeted anti-cancer drugs. Ovarian cancer can develop without many clear symptoms and is the fifth most common [...]

Sleep apnea, a fairly common, treatable disorder that causes people to stop breathing momentarily while they sleep, may lead to cognitive impairment and even dementia, according to a new study of elderly women. Women in the study with sleep apnea or other sleep disorders that affected their breathing were much more likely than those with [...]

German and Spanish mice have rapidly evolved the trait by breeding with an Algerian species from which they have been separate for over a million years. The researchers say this type of gene transfer is highly unusual and normally found in plants and bacteria. The Current Biology report says this process could yield mice resistant [...]

The newly approved drug Xarelto appears to prevent strokes at least as well as the standard treatment warfarin in people who have a heart condition that puts them at high risk for blood clots, a study shows. Xarelto was approved by the FDA in July to prevent dangerous blood clots in people having hip and [...]

Red meat, particularly processed red meats like bacon, sausage, and hot dogs, may increase a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The more processed or unprocessed red meat a person eats, the greater the risk, according to a new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Type 2 diabetes is linked with obesity. [...]

A biochemical pathway long associated with diarrhea and intestinal function may provide a new therapeutic target for treating ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) other neuropsychiatric disorders, according to a team of scientists from China and the United States reporting Aug. 11 in Science. Scientists have for the last quarter century studied the intestinal membrane receptor [...]

New measurement technologies and techniques provide researchers more complete look at neurological activity In 1991, Carl Lewis was both the fastest man on earth and a profound long jumper, perhaps the greatest track-and-field star of all time in the prime of his career. On June 14th of that year, however, Carl Lewis was human. Leroy [...]

The discovery of a fundamental, previously unknown property of microbial nanowires in the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens that allows electron transport across long distances could revolutionize nanotechnology and bioelectronics, says a team of physicists and microbiologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Their findings reported in the Aug. 7 advance online issue of Nature Nanotechnology may [...]

Discovery has implications for autoimmune diseases, HIV infection and possibly in cancer as a biomarker and in the development of new treatments New research led by Derya Unutmaz, MD associate professor, the Departments of Pathology, Medicine, and Microbiology at NYU School of Medicine and Mark Sundrud, PhD, of Tempero Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has identified a novel [...]

Squishy, doughnut-shaped disks can make the difference between a pain-free, active lifestyle or years of back discomfort. When the disks that normally cushion each vertebra in the spine start to degenerate, due to aging or injury, nerves can be pinched and movement impeded. But degenerating disks may soon be replaceable with bioengineered disk implants grown [...]

Anyone who follows science has read enthusiastic stories about medical breakthroughs that include the standard disclaimer that the results were obtained in mice and might not carry over to humans. Much later, there might be reports that a drug has been abandoned because clinical trials turned up unforeseen side effects or responses in humans. Given [...]

FINDINGS: A man-made fat called Intralipid, which is currently used as a component of intravenous nutrition and to treat rare overdoses of local anesthetics, may also offer protection for patients suffering from heart attacks.

Columbia University Medical Center researchers have for the first time directly converted human skin cells into functional forebrain neurons, without the need for stem cells of any kind. The findings offer a new and potentially more direct way to produce replacement cell therapies for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.  Such cells may prove especially useful [...]

French scientists have developed a novel hepatitis C vaccine that may offer the first effective way to prevent an infection that can cause chronic liver disease and cancer. There is currently no available vaccine for hepatitis C, though some companies are developing so-called “therapeutic vaccines,” which are designed to help patients who are already infected. [...]

Plaque buildup in the arteries is a major risk factor for strokes and heart attack, but some plaques are far more dangerous than others. The problem is there is no good way to distinguish relatively benign plaque on artery walls from plaque that will break off and cause harm, but that may soon change. Researchers [...]

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, introduces the Genome Viewer, a new interactive feature on SciVerse ScienceDirect for applicable life sciences journals. The Genome Viewer is a SciVerse application that displays detailed gene or genomic sequence information on the genes mentioned in an article. The Genome Viewer utilizes [...]

Female cognitive ability can limit how melodious or handsome males become over evolutionary time, biologists from The University of Texas at Austin, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute have observed. Males across the animal world have evolved elaborate traits to attract females, from huge peacock tails to complex bird [...]

n 1758 the Swedish taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus dubbed our species Homo sapiens, Latin for “wise man.” It’s a matter of open debate whether we actually live up to that moniker. If Linnaeus had wanted to stand on more solid ground, he could have instead called us Homo megalencephalus: “man with a giant brain. ”Regardless of [...]

Rejoice ye vampires, the pursuit of an endless supply of blood took a major leap forward this month. Researchers at the Ontario Cancer Institute, led by John Dick, have found a way to hunt down and isolate the stem cells from which your entire blood supply is derived. Until now, these hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) [...]

The human brain is adept at recognizing similar items and placing them into categories — for example, dog versus cat, or chair versus table. In a new study, MIT neuroscientists have identified the brain activity that appears to control this skill. The findings, published in the July 27 issue of the journal Neuron, suggest a [...]

If one is good, two can sometimes be better. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have certainly found this to be the case when it comes to a small HIV-fighting protein. The protein, called cyanovirin-N (CV-N), is produced by a type of blue-green algae and has gained attention for its ability to ward [...]

Regenerating blood vessels is important for combating the aftereffects of a heart attack or peripheral arterial disease, and for ensuring that transplanted organs receive a sufficient supply of blood. Now researchers at Northwestern University have created a nanomaterial that could help the body to grow new blood vessels. Samuel Stupp and his colleagues developed a [...]

People who smoke, are overweight, and have other health problems in middle age may be at increased risk of developing signs of brain shrinkage and diminished planning and organization skills as they age, new research indicates. Other health problems linked to brain shrinkage and mental decline include high blood pressure and diabetes. “Our findings provide [...]

Colon cleansing, promoted as a natural way to boost well-being, has no proven benefits and may be risky, according to a new report. Ranit Mishori, MD, a family medicine doctor at Georgetown University School of Medicine, looked at studies that evaluated colon hydrotherapy or irrigation. She also looked at studies of cleansing by the use [...]

When most people hear the word amyloid, they immediately think of Alzheimer’s disease. And indeed, it was in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients that these dense protein masses were first identified. But it turns out that besides playing a role in a number of diseases, amyloids also play an important structural role in many organisms [...]