One of astronomy's big questions is why galaxies forming as recently as 1 billion years after the Big Bang contain so much dust. The leading hypothesis is that supernovae, stars that explode at the end of their lives, contain large amounts of metal-enriched material that, in turn, harbors key ingredients of dust, like silicon, iron and carbon.
Amsterdam, 25 March 2009 - The journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ybbrc) (BBRC), published by Elsevier, will publish an important review this week online, by M. Daniel Lane and colleagues at Johns Hopkins, building on the suggested link between the consumption of fructose and increased food intake, which may contribute to a high incidence of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
Oxford, 25 March 2009 - In the May-June 2009 issue of the prestigious Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, an international journal published by Elsevier, Prof. Dr.
Graduates of the Program in Clinical Effectiveness (PCE), which has trained almost 1,900 physicians to be clinical investigators since 1986, have achieved significant success in receiving grant support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other funders, along with other accomplishments considered key to establishing a research career. A report on the PCE – a joint program of Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) with strong input from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) – from a team of investigators at the three institutions appears in the April issue of Academic Medicine, along with several other articles addressing the NIH vision for clinical and translational research.
Tracking Acute Kidney Injury
Dr. Eisei Noiri and colleagues at the University of Tokyo, Japan identified a novel biomarker to monitor acute kidney injury. They present their data in the April 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology.
Acute kidney injury may be reversible if treated promptly and appropriately. Novel biomarkers therefore need to be developed to identify injury at early time points as well as to estimate the severity of the damage.
UVALDE – Intensifying drought conditions in Texas and other parts of the U.S. plus increasing worldwide water consumption makes ongoing water conservation research at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Uvalde even more relevant, said the center's director.
"Our research includes develop methods of augmenting aquifers, ways to determine their uniqueness, and ways to increase the efficiency of water taken from them," said Dr. Bill Holloway of Texas AgriLife Research, resident director of the center. "We have several ongoing research projects tied to water conservation."
Washington, DC (March 24, 2009) - In meetings with USDA, FDA, NSF, EPA, the Office of Management and Budget, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy last week, key leaders from The American Phytopathological Society (APS) Public Policy Board (PPB) addressed concerns related to human pathogens on plants and noted that significantly more research is needed to ensure national food safety.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University have found one gene in the human body that appears to be a master regulator for skin development, in research that could help address everything from skin diseases such as eczema or psoriasis to the wrinkling of skin as people age.
Inadequate or loss of expression of this gene, called CTIP2, may play a role in some skin disorders, scientists believe, and understanding the mechanisms of gene action could provide a solution to them.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Older adults who worry about their health engage in less physical activity, and those who participate in less activity are more likely to report having difficulty walking, according to a new study.
The research, featured in the current issue of Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, was conducted by lead author Kin-Kit Li of The University of Hong Kong when he was a doctoral student at Oregon State University, and coauthored by Bradley Cardinal and Samuel Vuchinich, faculty members at OSU.
The "are you driving yet?" talk should become part of every pediatrician's regular physical exam for teenagers, Hopkins Children's experts say.
Pediatrician Letitia Dzirasa, M.D., notes that car accidents kill more 15- to -20-year-olds than any disease, so teenage driving should be considered a risky behavior, in need of as much attention as unprotected sex or underage drinking.
"Pediatricians talk to their teen patients about eating disorders, alcohol, marijuana use," Dzirasa says, "but the one conversation that is not happening often enough is about the number-one killer of teenagers: car accidents."
The American Academy of Pediatrics advises pediatricians to:
Stanford, CA— Photosynthesis produces the food that we eat and the oxygen that we breathe ― could it also help satisfy our future energy needs by producing clean-burning hydrogen? Researchers studying a hydrogen-producing, single-celled green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, have unmasked a previously unknown fermentation pathway that may open up possibilities for increasing hydrogen production.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A growth factor used in clinical experiments to rescue dying brain cells in Parkinson patients may cause unwanted weight loss if delivered to specific areas of the brain, according to University of Florida researchers in the March online edition of Molecular Therapy.
The discovery is a cautionary warning for experimental treatments to treat Parkinson's disease that use GDNF, short for glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor.
In addition, the finding broadens understanding of the brain's role in the regulation of metabolism and body weight, suggesting that gene therapy techniques in the brain potentially could control obesity.
Unless it is amended, the new EU Directive on the Protection of Animals used for Scientific Purposes, as proposed by European Commission and European Parliament, could seriously impede the further advancement of European medical and veterinary research. The Directive requires amendments and further reinforcement of the fundamental principles applied to the use of animals in scientific research. These conclusions are published in a position paper from the European Medical Research Councils (EMRC), the Standing Committee for Medical Sciences at the European Science Foundation (ESF). This position paper also has the support of the Champalimaud Foundation, EUROHORCs, Foundation for Polish Science, the Pasteur Institute and the Wellcome Trust.
