It has five times the tensile strength of steel and is stronger than even the best currently available synthetic fibers: Spider thread is a fascinating material. Yet, to date no one has managed to produce the material on an industrial scale. Scientists of the TU Muenchen (TUM) and the Universitaet Bayreuth (UBT) have now succeeded in unveiling a further secret of silk proteins and the mechanism that imparts spider silk with its strength. They have published the results of their work in the professional journal Angewandte Chemie.
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Stem cell researchers at UCLA have discovered that three types of cells derived from human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells are similar to each other, but are much more developmentally immature than previously thought when compared to those same cell types taken directly from human tissue.
Black bears hibernate, sleeping their way through winter, and who can blame them? New research in BMC Physiology shows that, despite low heart rates and respiration, hibernating black bears are always alert to danger and ready to act. Additionally, the heart rates of pregnant bears, which give birth during winter months, increase as the pregnancy progresses but return to hibernation levels after the cubs are born.
Researchers have discovered a faster, cheaper method for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). A major barrier in TB prevention, especially in developing countries, is that diagnosis is slow and costly. Dr. Olivier Braissant and his colleagues have developed a method which could potentially decrease the time taken to make a diagnosis. Their method is also cheaper than the current fastest methods. This research has been published today in the Society for Applied Microbiology's Journal of Applied Microbiology.
There is a large variation in unplanned reoperation rates after colorectal surgery in English NHS hospitals, finds a study published online today.
OrbusNeich today announced that the that the company's Genous Stent showed no significant difference in the rate of target vessel failure (TVF) at two years compared to the Taxus Liberte™ paclitaxel-eluting stent in patients with de novo coronary artery lesions carrying a high risk for restenosis.
The two-year follow-up data from the prospective, randomized TRIAS pilot study were published in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions.
Researchers from VIB (Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) and Ghent University have shown that a defective gene can contribute to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, an often-crippling inflammation of the joints that afflicts about 1% of the world's population.
New research has identified five inherited genetic variants that are strongly associated with aggressive, lethal prostate cancer. The discovery ultimately could lead to the development of a simple blood test that could be given upon diagnosis to determine which men should receive aggressive treatment versus a more conservative “watchful waiting” approach.
Stem cell researchers at UCLA have uncovered for the first time why adult human cardiac myocytes — specialized muscle cells in the heart — have lost their ability to proliferate, perhaps explaining why the human heart has little regenerative capacity. The study, done in cell lines and mice, may lead to methods of reprogramming a patient's own cardiac myocytes within the heart itself to create new muscle to repair damage, said Dr.
Depending on the total dosage of zinc and the composition, zinc lozenges may shorten the duration of common cold episodes by up to 40%, according to a recent meta-analysis published in the Open Respiratory Medicine Journal.
An observational study of 416,175 Taiwanese shows that low-volume, moderate intensity exercise reduces death rates and extends life expectancy by three years.
They also found that a person's risk of death from any cause decreased by 4 percent for every additional 15 minutes of exercise up to 100 minutes a day over the course of the study. Those exercising for 30 minutes daily added about four years to life expectancy.
The indication that vitamin D and its derivatives have a protective effect against various types of cancer is not new. In the field of colon cancer, numerous experimental and epidemiological studies show that vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) and some of its derivatives inhibit the growth of cancerous cells.
Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have discovered a new mechanism controlling aging in white blood cells. The research, published in the September issue of the Journal of Immunology, opens up the possibility of temporarily reversing the effects of aging on immunity and could, in the future, allow for the short-term boosting of the immune systems of older people.
More than a decade of targeted Muscular Dystrophy Association-funded research, made possible as a result of generous public support of the MDA Labor Day Telethon and thousands of grass-roots special events, has today culminated in MDA providing financial assistance for the start of the first Phase 2 placebo-controlled, multiple dose efficacy, safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics clinical trial of an exon-51 skipping drug, eteplirsen, as a potential therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
Drink coffee? Maybe just slather it on your skin too, and prevent skin cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, sunlight-induced skin cancer is the most prevalent cancer in the United States with more than 1 million new cases each year.