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Pediatric researchers find gene variants that can strongly increase bone strength in girls

Pediatric researchers have found that rare genetic changes strongly increase the likelihood that a child will have higher bone density, but only in girls.

23 Mar 2016

Forensic experts establish science-based standards to identify human remains using X-rays

Forensic researchers have for the first time established science-based standards for identifying human remains based on X-rays of an individual's spine, upper leg or the side of the skull.

23 Mar 2016

Novel approach to cancer risk assessment maximizes public health benefits

Edward Calabrese, the University of Massachusetts Amherst environmental toxicologist who has been an outspoken critic of the current linear no-threshold (LNT) approach to risk assessment for radiation and toxic chemicals, now proposes a new approach integrating LNT with hormetic dose-response models.

23 Mar 2016

Parasitic flatworm rejuvenates its skin to survive in human bloodstream

A parasitic flatworm that infects hundreds of millions of people in the developing world is able to survive in the bloodstream for decades by constantly renewing its skin - a mechanism that could inform potential new treatments against infection.

23 Mar 2016

MU researchers use MRI to study effects of Phenylketonuria

All children are screened for a host of conditions at birth, such as Phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic disorder that is passed by mutated genes from both parents to their offspring. PKU is rare, only affecting one in every 10,000 children in the U.S.; therefore, it is seldom studied.

23 Mar 2016

Synchronized waves of calcium in the brain can reduce depressive symptoms

Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have discovered that the benefits of stimulating the brain with direct current come from its effects on astrocytes -- not neurons -- in the mouse brain.

23 Mar 2016

Exposure to substitute chemical can stimulate formation of fat cells

Exposure to a substitute chemical often used to replace bisphenol A in plastics can encourage the formation of fat cells, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's journal Endocrinology.

23 Mar 2016

Researchers explore new pathways to treat Alzheimer’s

Unless new treatments are found, it is predicted that more than 100 million people worldwide will be affected by Alzheimer's disease by 2050. With very few new drugs in the pipeline, researchers are exploring every possible avenue to treat the disease.

23 Mar 2016

Competition between mixed malaria parasite strains could influence drug resistance

Scientists have documented for the first time how competition among different malaria parasite strains in human hosts could influence the spread of drug resistance.

23 Mar 2016

Sleep suppresses homeostatic rebalancing of brain activity

Why humans and other animals sleep is one of the remaining deep mysteries of physiology. One prominent theory in neuroscience is that sleep is when the brain replays memories "offline" to better encode them ("memory consolidation").

22 Mar 2016

Immunoproteasome inhibits repair function of alveolar macrophages

Scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum München, a partner in the German Center for Lung Research, have observed that the immunoproteasome inhibits the repair function of alveolar macrophages.

22 Mar 2016

Whole genome sequencing of chimpanzee parasite reveals clues about human malaria

Understanding the origins of emerging diseases - as well as more established disease agents -- is critical to gauge future human infection risks and find new treatment and prevention approaches. This holds true for malaria, which kills more than 500,000 people a year. Symptoms, including severe anemia, pregnancy-associated malaria, and cerebral malaria, have been linked to the parasite's ability to cause infected red blood cells to bind to the inner lining of blood vessels.

22 Mar 2016

Chronic lack of sleep lowers grades of students

Students who have a chronic lack of sleep have lower grades and find it harder to concentrate. Around a third of students do not feel well rested enough to be able to study properly.

22 Mar 2016

ORNL-NIST researchers reveal nondestructive way to observe nanoscale objects and processes

When lots of energy hits an atom, it can knock off electrons, making the atom extremely chemically reactive and initiating further destruction. That's why radiation is so dangerous. It's also why high-resolution imaging techniques that use energetic electron beams and X-rays can alter, even obliterate, the samples they explore. For example, monitoring battery dynamics using electron microscopy can introduce artifacts that interfere with electrochemical processes.

22 Mar 2016

TGen investigators help track hypervirulent strep outbreak in southwestern U.S.

The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) has helped state, local and tribal health officials identify an outbreak of "hypervirulent" strep bacteria in the American Southwest.

22 Mar 2016

U of T researchers reveal how people have more control over object-based attention

Stage magicians are not the only ones who can distract the eye: a new cognitive psychology experiment demonstrates how all human beings have a built-in ability to stop paying attention to objects that are right in front of them.

22 Mar 2016

Study identifies nerve cells and brain region behind innate fear response

The odor of bobcat urine, if you ever get a chance to take a whiff, is unforgettable -- like rotten meat combined with sweat, with something indescribably feral underlying it. To humans, it's just nose-wrinklingly disgusting.But to mice, it smells like one thing: fear.

22 Mar 2016

YAP protein plays vital role in development of human neural crest

The Hippo/YAP signalling pathway plays a crucial role when the cells of the neural crest - a structure that generates cell types such as bones and nerve tissue - specialise for a certain function in the human embryo and migrate to their target region within the body.

22 Mar 2016

Researchers develop unique approach to track, label neural stem cells

An overwhelming number of researchers still struggle within the black hole of the effectiveness and safety of stem cell therapy for neurological diseases. While the complexity of understanding how neurons grow, connect and function has long been studied, it remains a mystery, one that graduate student Forrest Goodfellow in the University of Georgia Regenerative Bioscience Center is helping unravel.

22 Mar 2016

Mutations in cancerous lymphoma cells break through four protein locks

Protein chemists at Johns Hopkins report they are closer to explaining why certain blood cancers are able to crack a molecular security system and run rampant.

22 Mar 2016