Is a single bout of exercise helpful or harmful in getting a good night's sleep?
Washington, DC Most weight loss experts advocate a sensible diet and regular exercise to shed unwanted pounds. Americans are accepting that advice: low-fat meals are the staples of many diets and both sexes are now engaged in an exercise regimen. As evidence of the latter, marketin...Alcoholism risk linked to gene involved in brain chemistry
...e body's responses to alcohol consumption, such as loss of physical coordination, effect on mood, and alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Alcoholism, which affects nearly 14 million Americans and can cause many social and health problems costing society an estimated $185 billion annually, is what scientists cal...Sticklebacks reveal secrets to evolutionary change in Stanford study
...that the same set of genes was responsible for the loss of hind fins in two widely separated geographic locations. "It looks like evolution is using this gene repeatedly," Kingsley said. The work fits into a growing pattern in evolutionary biology. Although animals look dramatically different, in some cas...Newborn lambs' central heating system could aid fat busting in humans
...now is the underlying mechanism that regulates the loss of UCP-1 activity after birth. If we can establish this then we will be in a much better position to understand how to switch back on the signals that make immature fat cells develop into brown fat." To establish whether PPARs and PGC-1 alpha play a ...Evolution's mirror in a fish's spines
...olutionary changes, among them partial or complete loss of their pelvic spines. These spines are thought to protect the fish from being devoured by predators. As Kingsley points out, however, pelvic spines may be a disadvantage if the fish live in environments that have very low calcium levels available f...Study marks increased trends in infectious disease occurrences in our oceans
...us diseases, mortalities in hosts -- for example a loss of seagrass beds -- can cascade throughout ecosystems. "Although we are concerned that human impacts to the ocean may favor diseases, our study does not simply give the impression that global warming and pollution are making everything sick," Laffert...Conservation International & SC Johnson invest in Ecuador's rainforest to offset climate impacts
...and is expected to greatly accelerate biodiversity loss and species extinctions. Land-used based carbon offset projects are designed to implement actions that simultaneously address global warming and species extinctions. SC Johnson's contribution to Conservation International's Conservation Carbon progra...Surprises found in gene variation associated with schizophrenia
...h as compromised thinking, decreased attention and loss of emotion. "We knew the gene causes a specific form of schizophrenia, but we didn't know that the type was associated with a good prognosis and marked by absence of negative symptoms," Philibert said. "Most individuals with this positive s...Embryonic skin cells committed at an early age
...terious and uncontrolled effects could result from loss of normal growth/ differentiation mechanisms in cells that would be otherwise programmed to differentiate at an accelerated rate."...East Asian governments urged to harness market forces to improve environment, save money
...otection measures would in the longer term imply a loss of income as a result of the depletion of the natural resource base. For example, implementation of the polluter pays principle can have dramatic effects on how industries view their waste effluents and treatment processes." The authors emphasize tha...Carnegie Mellon U. develops microgel to recover enzymes for manufacturing, research assays
...reaction, precipitation and reconstitution with no loss of activity, meaning that the enzyme was not leaching from the microgel, nor was it becoming inactivated. The project demonstrates how effectively chemistry can bridge the biological and materials sciences, according to Armitage. "This is becoming a...Scientists question reports of massive ant supercolonies in California and Europe
...ersity of California-Irvine. He explained that the loss of genetic diversity in the California population probably began a century ago, when the state was invaded by a small population of Argentine ants whose offspring have continued to work cooperatively ever since. "California's Argentine ants a...Lack of specific brain protein causes marked deficits in learning, memory
...eficits. "The brain was able to compensate for the loss of these other two proteins, but it was not able to compensate for the lack of RIM1 alpha ," Dr. Nestler said. "That tells us that RIM1 alpha is involved in so many important functions that, when it is missing, gross changes in behavior occur." Pr...Jefferson scientists use gene therapy to restore function of damaged heart cells in lab
... failing human hearts and which contributes to the loss of the heart's contractile strength during the development of heart failure. When the activity of this enzyme is blocked by the gene therapy, the heart cells were able to contract at normal strength and their overall performance was improved. Dr....Bim notes in the neuronal executioner's song
...leptic seizures. Previous work has indicated that loss of neurons in the hippocampus after seizures may be due to onset of programmed cell death. Members of the Bcl-2 family are known to activate a pathway ending in the release of several caspases, including the 'executioner,' caspase-3. David Henshall...JCI table of contents, 2 April 2004
...leptic seizures. Previous work has indicated that loss of neurons in the hippocampus after seizures may b... of one of its receptors, VEGFR2, they showed that loss of VEGF-A function fully blocked both hemangiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis after suture placement. ...OHSU researchers discover possible connection between infant hormone exposure, obesity
...s have also identified hormones involved in weight loss and weight gain....Leptin rewires the brain's feeding circuits
...ravels to the brain and other tissues, causing fat loss and decreased appetite. In the brain, leptin affects food intake by acting on distinct classes of neurons in the hypothalamus that express the leptin receptor. Leptin decreases feeding and fat deposition by acting on two classes of neurons. Leptin su...AChemS: Cutting edge research in taste, smell, & chemical irritation
...chemical senses. Thousands of Americans experience loss of smell or taste each year resulting from head trauma, sinus disease, normal aging and neurological disorders, such as brain injury, stroke and Alzheimer's disease. By providing a better understanding of the function of chemo-sensory systems, scient......juries not seen in the control rats, including the loss of brain cells and the nerve cell projections crit...y, including the hippocampus, suffered significant loss of brain cells and nerve cell projections in rats exposed to both chemicals. Rats administered eithe...