A new study reveals that the way fruit bats use biosonar to 'see' their surroundings is significantly more advanced than first thought. The study, published September 13 in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, examines Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus), which use echolocation to orient inside their caves and to find fruit hidden in the branches of trees. Their high-frequency clicks form a sonar beam that spreads across a fan-shaped area, and the returning echoes allow them to locate and identify objects in that region.
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"Form follows function!" was the credo of early 20th century architects making design choices based on the intended use of the structure. Cell biologists may be turning that on its head. New research* by a team working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reinforces the idea that stem cells can be induced to develop into specific types of cells solely by controlling their shape. The results may be important to the design of materials to induce the regeneration of lost or damaged tissues in the body.
CHICAGO – During the past two decades there has been a significant increase in the percentage of patients who have a high number of lymph nodes evaluated during colon cancer operations, but this improvement is not associated with an increase in the overall proportion of colon cancers that are node positive, according to a study in the September 14 issue of JAMA.
If you don't smoke, aren't overweight, get regular physical activity and eat vegetables, you can significantly reduce your risk for heart failure, according to research reported in Circulation: Heart Failure, an American Heart Association journal.
In a new study, people who had one healthy lifestyle behavior decreased their heart failure risk, and each additional healthy behavior further decreased their risk.
Heart failure affects about 5.7 million Americans. At age 40, a person's lifetime risk of developing heart failure is one in five.
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), a hormone produced in the anterior pituitary gland that regulates endocrine function in the thyroid gland, can promote bone growth independent of its usual thyroid functions. The research suggests that TSH, or drugs that mimic its affect on bone, may be key to possible future treatments for osteoporosis and other conditions involving bone loss, such as cancer. The findings were published online this week in the National Academy of Sciences journal PNAS.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil scientist in Colorado is helping farmers grow crops with less nitrogen-based fertilizer.
The fertilizers are a major reason why agriculture is a significant source of both greenhouse gas emissions and pollution in estuaries like the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay. If growers apply too little fertilizer, it reduces crop yields. But if they apply too much, the excess can be released into the atmosphere as nitrous oxide or leach into waterways as nitrate.
DETROIT – A Henry Ford Hospital study has identified 23 microRNAs for laryngeal cancer, a discovery that could yield new insight into what causes certain cells to grow and become cancerous tumors in the voice box.
The role of microRNA (miRNA), the small, non-coding RNA molecules that regulate human genes, has recently come into greater focus as researchers continue to understand the cellular mechanics of cancer development, says Kang Mei Chen, M.D., the study's lead author.
Phytoestrogens are plant compounds which, in the human body, can attach to the receptors for the female sexual hormone estrogen and which are taken in with our daily diet. A number of findings have attributed a cancer protective effect to these plant hormones. At DKFZ, a team headed by Prof. Dr. Jenny Chang-Claude summarized the results of several studies in a meta-analysis last year and showed that a diet rich in phytoestrogens lowers the risk of developing breast cancer after menopause.
DURHAM, N.H. – New research by University of New Hampshire exercise scientists confirms that a low-tech, easy-to-administer test is an effective tool for gauging exercise intensity, but that it does not correspond as neatly as previously assumed to other more objective tests. In a study published recently in the Journal of Sports Sciences, UNH associate professor of kinesiology Timothy Quinn and his former graduate student Benjamin Coons put the so-called "Talk Test" to the test.
A new study published in the American Journal of Transplantation reveals that substitution of a brand name immunosuppressive drug with a generic (manufactured by Sandoz) for preventing rejection of transplanted organs appears to be safe for transplant recipients.
Tacrolimus is an immunosuppressive drug that is used to prevent rejection of transplanted organs following organ transplantation. In August 2009, another pharmaceutical company received approval from the FDA for a generic tacrolimus product.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13—By combining three previously unrelated imaging tools into one new device, a team of researchers from the University of Connecticut and the University of Southern California has proposed a new way to diagnose early-stage ovarian cancer in high-risk women through minimally invasive surgery. The new technique may be better than the current standard procedure of preemptively removing the ovaries.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13—Researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed a new technique that uses a single UV laser pulse to zap away biological tissue at multiple points simultaneously, a method that could help scientists study the mechanical forces at work as organisms grow and change shape.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13—A new imaging technique could help doctors and researchers more accurately assess the extent of nerve damage and healing in a live patient. Researchers at Laval University in Québec and Harvard Medical School in Boston aimed lasers at rats' damaged sciatic nerves to create images of the individual neurons' insulating sheath called myelin. Physical trauma, repetitive stress, bacterial infections, genetic mutations, and neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis can all cause neurons to lose myelin.
A meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies on the association of alcohol consumption with colorectal cancer was carried out, based on 22 studies from Asia, 2 from Australia, 13 from Western Europe, and 24 from North America. The paper provides evidence that alcohol, at least at higher levels of consumption, is associated with an increase in the risk of colorectal cancer.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13—Terahertz (THz) technologies show promise for myriad medical, military, security, and research applications ranging from the detection of cancer to airport security systems to shipment inspection to spectroscopy. Relatively little is known, however, about the effect of THz radiation on biological systems. So a team of researchers, led by Los Alamos National Laboratory, evaluated the cellular response of mouse stem cells exposed to THz radiation.