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The Sequencing Of The Genome Of The 'Sacred Lotus' May Release Anti-Aging Secrets
Date: May-15-2013A team of 70 scientists from the U.S., China, Australia and Japan reports having sequenced and annotated the genome of the "sacred lotus," which is believed to have a powerful genetic system that repairs genetic defects, and may hold secrets about aging successfully. The scientists sequenced more than 86 percent of the nearly 27,000 genes of the plant, Nelumbo nucifera, which is revered in China and elsewhere as a symbol of spiritual purity and longevity...
Improving Food Security In Africa By Educating Women
Date: May-15-2013The author of the thesis, Simon Wagura Ndiritu, has studied gender-related issues concerning agriculture and food management in Kenya and Tanzania. He found significant differences between men and women, where women are often forced to farm lower-quality lands and do not typically use the most productive farming methods to the same extent as men. As this seems to be a structural problem, measures targeting women can be expected to be very effective. 'African women are crucial in farming. They are in charge of their families' food security and all household work...
New HPA Guidance Includes DIFICLIR™ (fidaxomicin) To Curb Clostridium Difficile infection
Date: May-15-2013New antibiotic treatment recommended for all recurrent cases of potentially fatal hospital-acquired infection The Department of Health (DH) and Health Protection Agency (HPA) (Public Health England) have issued new best practice guidance recommending fidaxomicin, a first-in-class antibiotic for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) for the treatment of CDI in adults with CDI recurrence and/or with severe cases of the infection who are considered at high risk for recurrence (elderly patients with multiple comorbidities who are receiving concomitant antibiotics)...
Performance Appraisal Unaffected By Being Openly Gay
Date: May-15-2013Although knowing an actor is gay significantly affected ratings of his masculinity, there was no significant effect on ratings of his acting performance, researchers say. A team of researchers tested the hypothesis claimed by recent news columns that an "out" actor cannot convincingly play a heterosexual because knowing someone is gay will bias perceptions of his or her performance. Led by Paul Merritt, a professor in the psychology department at Clemson University, the researchers published their findings in the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture...
Body Clocks Of Depressed People Out Of Sync With The World
Date: May-15-2013Every cell in our bodies runs on a 24-hour clock, tuned to the night-day, light-dark cycles that have ruled us since the dawn of humanity. The brain acts as timekeeper, keeping the cellular clock in sync with the outside world so that it can govern our appetites, sleep, moods and much more. But new research shows that the clock may be broken in the brains of people with depression -- even at the level of the gene activity inside their brain cells...
Discovery Could Increase The Effectiveness Of Certain Antibiotics
Date: May-15-2013Scientists at Imperial College London have identified four new proteins that act as receptors for an essential signalling molecule in bacteria such as MRSA. The receptors are thought to play an important role in enabling bacteria to respond to their environment. Their discovery provides scientists with vital clues in the hunt for new antibiotics, which are increasingly in need as bacteria become resistant to existing treatments. The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus causes life-threatening diseases in hospital patients and in previously healthy people. Methicillin-resistant S...
How Much A Single Cell Breathes
Date: May-15-2013Scanning electrochemical microscopy decisively optimized How active a living cell is can be seen by its oxygen consumption. The method for determining this consumption has now been significantly improved by chemists in Bochum. The problem up to now was that the measuring electrode altered the oxygen consumption in the cell's environment much more than the cell itself. "We already found that out twelve years ago," says Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuhmann from the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the Ruhr-Universitat. "Now we have finally managed to make the measuring electrode an spectator...
Researchers Develop Implant To Regenerate Nerves
Date: May-15-2013Some parts of the body, like the liver, can regenerate themselves after damage. But others, such as our nervous system, are considered either irreparable or slow to recover, leaving thousands with a lifetime of pain, limited mobility, or even paralysis. Now a team of Tel Aviv University researchers, including Dr. Shimon Rochkind of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Prof. Zvi Nevo of TAU's Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, has invented a method for repairing damaged peripheral nerves...
Human Intelligence Cannot Be Explained By The Size Of The Brain's Frontal Lobes
Date: May-15-2013Research into the comparative size of the frontal lobes in humans and other species has determined that they are not - as previously thought - disproportionately enlarged relative to other areas of the brain, according to the most accurate and conclusive study of this area of the brain. It concludes that the size of our frontal lobes cannot solely account for humans' superior cognitive abilities. The study by Durham and Reading universities suggests that supposedly more 'primitive' areas, such as the cerebellum, were equally important in the expansion of the human brain...
Drug Improves Memory In Mice With Alzheimer's Disease
Date: May-15-2013A novel drug candidate, J147, is able to reverse memory deficits and improve several aspects of brain function in mice with advanced symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD), finds research in BioMed Central's open access journal Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. Previous studies have demonstrated that several compounds, including J147, are able to prevent or delay onset of AD-like symptoms in young mice. This does not mimic the situation in humans where symptoms usually precede the diagnosis...
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