A blast of gamma radiation could toughen up plastic prosthetic joints to make them strong enough to last for years, according to researchers in China writing in the current issue of the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology.
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Quebec City, September 22, 2011 -- Boosting up microprocessors -the heart of modern computers- at the speed of light, reducing consumptions and costs, may now be a reality thanks to the development of a new high-performance chip, the results of which have been published in Nature Photonics. Fruit of an international scientific team effort, this important step forward has been made by Alessia Pasquazi, a postdoctoral fellow with the team of professor Roberto Morandotti of the Energy, Materials and Telecommunications Centre at INRS. With this new chip, Dr.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Bisphenol A (BPA), a common component of plastic used in many consumer products, has recently become infamous -- and banned in some places -- because it can mimic natural estrogen in the body. A new study by Brown University toxicologists, however, finds that male mice whose mothers were exposed even to high doses of BPA while pregnant developed no signs of harm to their testes as adults.
BOSTON (September 22, 2011) -- Identifying the cellular origins of breast cancer might lead to earlier diagnosis and more efficient management of the disease. New research led by Charlotte Kuperwasser of Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) has determined that common forms of breast cancer originate from breast cells known as luminal epithelial cells while rarer forms of breast cancer, such as metaplastic carcinomas, originate from basal epithelial cell types.
An angry glare from the family goldfish might not be the result of a missed meal, but a too-humble abode. Fish in a cramped, barren space turn mean, a study from Case Western Reserve University has found. Ornamental fishes across the U.S. might be at risk, all 182.9 million of them.
"The welfare of aquarium fishes may not seem important, but with that many of them in captivity, they become a big deal," said Ronald Oldfield, an instructor of biology at Case Western Reserve. Why, then, has the welfare of pet fishes been overlooked among the scientific community?
The voice can reveal a lot about a person - their sex, their age, how they are feeling - and recent studies have even suggested that women's voices might also contain cues that men can read about how close they are to ovulation. A new study, however, published today in the journal PLoS ONE, challenges the view that women broadcast reproductive information in their voice.
PHILADELPHIA — After more than three decades of research, University of Pennsylvania veterinarians and vision-research scientists, with associates at Cornell University, have identified a gene responsible for a blindness-inducing disease that afflicts dogs. In the process, the Penn scientists may have discovered clues about how retinal cells, and perhaps even neurons, can be regenerated.
La Jolla--A strain of genetically enhanced bacteria developed by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies may pave the way for new synthetic drugs and new ways of manufacturing medicines and biofuels, according to a paper published September 18 in Nature Chemical Biology.
Knowledge about the biological origin of diseases like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychiatric conditions is critical to improving diagnosis and treatment.
In an effort to push the field forward, three UCLA researchers, along with scientists from more than 20 countries, have been taking part in one of the largest collaborative efforts in psychiatry — a genome-wide study involving more than 50,000 study participants aimed at identifying which genetic variants make people susceptible to psychiatric disease.
Sirtuins, proteins believed to significantly increase lifespan in a number of organisms – and the claimed target of some anti-aging creams – do not, in fact, affect animal longevity, according to new research funded by the Wellcome Trust and the European Union.
Sirtuins had previously been linked to aging and longevity in yeast, the nematode worm and the fruit fly, organisms commonly used as models for the biology of human aging. Researchers had shown that when the organism's genes overproduced sirtuin, its lifespan was significantly extended, in nematodes by as much as 50%.
Scientists have made an exciting breakthrough in unraveling the genetic basis of two debilitating neurodegenerative disorders, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Two independent studies, published online this week by Cell Press in the journal Neuron, identify a new human genetic mutation as the most common cause of ALS and FTD identified to date. This mutation explains at least a third of all familial cases of ALS and FTD within the European population.
A team led by scientists from Johns Hopkins and the National Institutes of Health has discovered a new genetic mutation for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and a related disease called frontotemporal dementia (FTD) that appears to account for more than a third of all inherited cases of these diseases. The researchers show in a new study published online on September 21 in Neuron that this mutation, found within a gene called C9ORF72, is about twice as common as all the other mutations discovered thus far for the disease combined.
Scientists are reporting deep new insights into whys and hows of the famous caste system that dominates honey bee societies, with a select few bee larvae destined for royalty and the masses for worker status. Their study probing the innermost biological makings of queen bees and worker bees appears in ACS's Journal of Proteome Research.
Snails, mussels, squids – as different as they may look, they do have something in common: they all belong to the phylum Mollusca, also called molluscs. An international team of researchers headed by Kevin Kocot and Professor Ken Halanych, USA, with the participation of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany, has carried out research into the relationships among different molluscs as part of a wide-ranging molecular phylogenetic study. This phylum includes more than 100,000 extant species which are divided into eight major lineages.
ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell University researchers are utilizing the complete genome sequences of people alive today to shed light on events at the dawn of human history, such as the times of divergence of early human populations and of the "out of Africa" migration of the ancestors of modern Europeans, Asians, and other non-African groups.