Press monitoring
Do lazy mammals live longer?
15.9.2011 | Press monitoring
Experiments with Djugarian hamsters native to Siberia showed that when the tiny rodents temporarily lower their metabolism and body temperatures, a state called torpor, it stops and even reverses a natural breakdown of chromosomes linked to ageing. Previous studies had hinted at a causal link between hibernation and longevity, but this is the...
Dangers of exposure to “white” light
14.9.2011 | Press monitoring
White” light bulbs that emit light at shorter wavelengths are greater suppressors of the body’s production of melatonin than bulbs emitting orange-yellow light, a new international study has revealed. Melatonin is a compound that adjusts our biological clock and is known for its anti-oxidant and anti-cancerous properties. The fact that “white”...
Innovative nanoparticle purification system uses magnetic fields
13.9.2011 | Press monitoring
The team's paper shows how magnetic fields can be used to separate and distinguish between hybrid nanoparticles in a mixture of slightly different structures and shapes. A team of Penn State University scientists has invented a new system that uses magnetism to purify hybrid nanoparticles -- structures that are composed of two or more kinds of...
Diabetes: New Drug Target That Stimulates Beta Cell Growth Identified
12.9.2011 | Press monitoring
One of the holy grails in diabetes research is to discover molecules that stimulate beta cell growth and to find drugs that target these molecules. The work appears in the September 7 issue of Cell Metabolism. After screening possible molecules that could snip Tmem27, Dr. Stoffel and his team found the culprit: Bace2, an enzyme protein that, like...
Scientists Create Mammalian Cells With Single Chromosome Set
9.9.2011 | Press monitoring
Researchers have created mammalian cells containing a single set of chromosomes for the first time. The technique should allow scientists to better establish the relationships between genes and their function. Now, in research published in the journal Nature, Drs Anton Wutz and Martin Leeb from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research at...
New polymer research could boost probiotics industry
8.9.2011 | Press monitoring
A protective delivery vehicle that shuttles friendly bacteria safely through the stomach to the intestines could provide a major boost for the probiotics industry. The new technology could also be used for the delivery of certain drugs and even increase calcium absorption, according to research presented at the Society for General Microbiology's...
Prenatal exposure to phthalates linked to decreased mental and motor development
7.9.2011 | Press monitoring
A newly published study by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health heightens concerns over the potential health effects on children of a group of ubiquitous chemicals known as phthalates. Phthalates are a class of chemicals that are known to disrupt the endocrine system, and are widely used in consumer products ranging...
Harmless soil-dwelling bacteria successfully kill cancer
6.9.2011 | Press monitoring
A bacterial strain that specifically targets tumours could soon be used as a vehicle to deliver drugs in frontline cancer therapy. The strain is expected to be tested in cancer patients in 2013. The therapy uses Clostridium sporogenes – a bacterium that is widespread in the soil. Spores of the bacterium are injected into patients and only grow in...
Chickens eject sperm from males they don't fancy
5.9.2011 | Press monitoring
Female domestic chickens generally mate with multiple males and are known to sometimes eject sperm following mating encounters. A team led by Oxford researcher Rebecca Dean investigated the phenomenon in a group of feral chickens kept at Stockholm University in Sweden. "These results show that promiscuous females can actively bias sperm...
Researchers develop new way to predict heart transplant survival
2.9.2011 | Press monitoring
Johns Hopkins researchers say they have developed a formula to predict which heart transplant patients are at greatest risk of death in the year following their surgeries, information that could help medical teams figure out who would benefit most from the small number of available organs. Conte and his colleagues, writing in the September issue...
