Press monitoring
New evidence that bacteria in large intestine have a role in obesity
22.12.2011 | Press monitoring
Bacteria living in people's large intestine may slow down the activity of the "good" kind of fat tissue, a special fat that quickly burns calories and may help prevent obesity, scientists are reporting in a new study. The discovery, published in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research, could shed light on ways to prevent obesity and promote weight...
Study: Eating less keeps the brain young
21.12.2011 | Press monitoring
Overeating may cause brain aging while eating less turns on a molecule that helps the brain stay young. A team of Italian researchers at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart in Rome have discovered that this molecule, called CREB1, is triggered by "caloric restriction" (low caloric diet) in the brain of mice. They found that CREB1 activates...
Scientists May Be Able to Double Efficacy of Radiation Therapy
20.12.2011 | Press monitoring
Scientists may have a way to double the efficacy and reduce the side effects of radiation therapy. Georgia Health Sciences University scientists have devised a way to reduce lung cancer cells' ability to repair the lethal double-strand DNA breaks caused by radiation therapy. "Radiation is a great therapy -- the problem is the side effects," said...
Hand hygiene -- clean hands, healthy body
19.12.2011 | Press monitoring
Our hands are one of the chief ways we interact with our environment. Think about what you touch daily – doors, desks, food, other people, pets. Hundreds or thousands of other people have often touched the things we touch, and most of them have hands that are not sterile. People with colds or sore throats touch their mouth and nose, picking up the...
In Third-Degree Burn Treatment, Hydrogel Helps Grow New, Scar-Free Skin
16.12.2011 | Press monitoring
Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a jelly-like material and wound treatment method that, in early experiments on skin damaged by severe burns, appeared to regenerate healthy, scar-free tissue. The researchers reported their promising results from mouse tissue tests. The new treatment has not yet been tested on human patients. But the...
Scientists identify human proteins that may fuel HIV/AIDS transmission
15.12.2011 | Press monitoring
Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered new protein fragments in semen that enhance the ability of HIV, to infect new cells. Previously, scientists in Germany discovered that HIV transmission is linked to the presence of an amyloid fibril in semen. This fibril -- a small, positively charged structure derived from a larger protein...
New Disinfection Technique Could Revolutionize Hospital Room Cleaning
13.12.2011 | Press monitoring
A Queen's University infectious disease expert has collaborated in the development of a disinfection system that may change the way hospital rooms all over the world are cleaned as well as stop bed bug outbreaks in hotels and apartments. The new technology involves pumping a Medizone-specific ozone and hydrogen peroxide vapour gas mixture into a...
Aging Human Bodies and Aging Human Oocytes Run On Different Clocks
12.12.2011 | Press monitoring
Reproductive and somatic aging use different molecular mechanisms that show little overlap between the types of genes required to keep oocytes healthy and the genes that generally extend life span. The different genetic pathways help explain why a woman's fertility begins to decline after she is 35 years old, while her other cells do not show...
Rice as a source of arsenic exposure
9.12.2011 | Press monitoring
The study just published by a Dartmouth team of scientists in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) advances our understanding of the sources of human exposure to arsenic and focuses attention on the potential for consuming harmful levels of arsenic via rice. Arsenic occurs naturally in the environment and in elevated...
Why aren't we smarter already? Evolutionary limits on cognition
8.12.2011 | Press monitoring
We put a lot of energy into improving our memory, intelligence, and attention. There are even drugs that make us sharper, such as Ritalin and caffeine. But maybe smarter isn’t really all that better. A new paper published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, warns that there are...
