Green tea extract shows promise as an anti-cancer agent, UCLA study finds
...ea extract interrupts a process that is crucial in allowing bladder cancer to become invasive and spread to other areas of the body. Green tea extract affects actin remodeling, an event associated with cell movement. When a human moves, the muscles and skeletal structure operate together to facilitate that mo......r higher resolution at vastly reduced dose levels, allowing early-stage cancer diagnosis at dramatically reduced risk. Microscopes furnished with this source would make nanometer-sized biomolecules perceivable in their natural surrounding (in vivo). It may take many years before this dream comes true, but the...Novel sulfide-binding mechanism found in deep-sea tubeworms
...ecules that could block the oxygen-carrying sites, allowing the molecule to simultaneously carry oxygen and sulfide." Flores says that the hollow spherical structure is unique. "Human and other hemoglobins have a 'globular' form, but none have been discovered with this symmetrical sphere. This sphere is a v...Map of human genetic variation across populations may promise improved disease treatments
...se or common disease could have immediate utility, allowing existing treatment options to be matched to individual patients without requiring additional knowledge of the mechanisms by which the genetic differences lead to different outcomes." The Science paper, "Whole Genome Patterns of Common DNA Variation...Teams build robots that walk like humans
...uses a learning program that exploits this design, allowing the robot to teach itself to walk in less than 20 minutes, or about 600 steps. Dubbed "Toddler" because it learns to walk and because it toddles when it does so, the robot "is one of the first walking robots to use a learning program, and it is the ...Robots walk with close-to-human efficiency
...ed walking toys work by swaying from side to side, allowing first one foot and then the other to swing forward. Human beings minimize the swaying and bend their knees to allow the moving foot to clear the ground, and two of the three new robots do the same. All three robots have arms synchronized to swing wit...A more accurate screening test for prostate cancer?
...men do have prostate cancer, but have normal PSAs, allowing the cancer to spread undetected. A preliminary study from Children's Hospital Boston, led by Dr. Bruce Zetter, shows that a simple urine test may improve upon PSA screening. Results appear in the Jan. 21 online edition of the journal Prostate. Zette...Technological revolutions in sensors, robotics, and telecommunications allow new views of ocean
...the number of damaging trawls along the bottom and allowing them to use lighter, more environmentally safe gea...ing devices at sea take away this element of luck, allowing around-the-clock observations and the real time connectivity needed to study short-lived and often u...Genome of deadly amoeba shows surprising complexity, evidence of lateral gene transfer
...e says the DNA typing from the genome sequenced is allowing the development of "new diagnostic tests that help distinguish the most deadly substrains of the parasite." Dr. Alok Bhattacharya, a collaborator at the School of Life Sciences at India's Jawaharlal Nehru University, says having the genome sequ...Antarctic ice shelf retreats happened before
...that about 9500 years ago the ice shelf retreated, allowing the sea to flood into the lake. The ice shelf didn't reform until 1500 years later, and has been present ever since. The findings are particularly relevant for other studies on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet where scientists have found that a relativel...Elusive HIV shape change revealed; Key clue to how virus infects cells
...change is an important "escape mechanism" for HIV, allowing the virus to bind to and enter a cell before the immune system can "see" it, notes Harrison. "We can now compare the bound and unbound forms and try to understand whether there are any immunologic properties that differ and that might provide a r...Virginia Tech patents advance microprocessors, vaccines, vision, vibration control, more
...onnect to abstract phenomena at an early age, thus allowing them more accessibility and comfort in scientific and engineering fields. "The books explain abstract concepts, such as magnetic fields, through metaphor and imagery, which is more familiar to children," Vernon said. She received an NSF planning gran...'Grubby' research promises environmental/economic benefits
...4 feet in size, were placed under each calf. After allowing manure to accumulate for two weeks, he inoculated four of the manure buildups with 2,000 immature black soldier fly larvae. "That's about a 1/4 pint of larvae," Tomberlin said. He repeated treatment four times over the course of the study, which las...Scientists discover that three overlapping signals in embryo help get the backbone right
...he bones in the skull, and thus may be critical to allowing the brain to grow larger after birth. All of these findings are from mice or amphibians, but the researchers say that the same is almost certain to be the case in humans. "One of the things that's been nicely shown is that the organizer itself, while...Biochemists report discovery of structure of major piece of telomerase; implications for cancer
...ends of chromosomes that act as protective caps -- allowing DNA ends to be copied completely when cells are replicated. This is the first major piece of telomerase for which the structure is known. Telomerase plays a key role in most cancers, and this work ultimately may lead to targets for drug intervention,...Childhood deficits in the cerebellum may be linked to adult alcoholism
...ly on the welfare of children. It's possible that allowing children to live in poverty, or stressful and/or abusive environments could be contributing in a physical way to their vulnerability to becoming alcoholics. These kinds of negative life circumstances have always been identified with addictive diso...Probing the promise and perils of nanoparticles
...ale hole formation may be at least as important in allowing materials to travel through membranes. The work that Banaszak Holl, Hong and Leroueil will discuss is one of several major research programs under way in the U-M Center for Biologic Nanotechnology---a multi-disciplinary group includes researchers fr...High cholesterol levels accelerate growth of prostate cancer
...de through the process known as apoptosis, thereby allowing the cancer to proliferate. Increased cholesterol levels didn't trigger new cancers in the mice, but six weeks after tumor cells were injected, the incidence of tumors was more than doubled in the mice on high-cholesterol diets, and the tumors wer...Highlights of chemical society national meeting in San Diego, March 13-17
...rapies, have been unlocked by gene therapy vectors allowing medical practitioners to target areas of the brain in a manner not ever before attainable. An overview of the gene therapy field and some recent advances will be discussed in this keynote address on CNS cellular and gene therapies. In addition, stem ...Scientists discover how fish evolved to float at different sea depths
...s drive oxygen from the blood into the swimbladder allowing the fish to float at different levels in the sea without coming to the surface of the water for air. A similar system is also present in the eye of the fish, which provides oxygen to the retina. Dr Berenbrink explains: "I am interested in how the mec...