Latest Biology News from Bio-Medicine.Org

Will earlier springs throw nature out of step?

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:09:59 MST

The recent trend towards earlier UK springs and summers has been accelerating, according to a study published today (9 February 2010) in the scientific journal Global Change Biology . The collaborative study, involving scientists from 12 UK research institutions, universities and conservation organisations, is the most comprehensive and rigorous assessment so far of long-term changes in...

Mediterranean diet may lower risk of brain damage that causes thinking problems

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:45:17 MST

ST. PAUL, Minn. A Mediterranean diet may help people avoid the small areas of brain damage that can lead to problems with thinking and memory, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010. The study found that people who ate a Mediterranean-like diet were less likely to have b...

Method of the future uses single-cell imaging to identify gene interactions

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:45:15 MST

February 9, 2010 Cellular imaging offers a wealth of data about how cells respond to stimuli, but harnessing this technique to study biological systems is a daunting challenge. In a study published online in Genome Research ( www.genome.org ), researchers have developed a novel method of interpreting data from single-cell images to identify genetic interactions within biological networks,...

Caltech neuroscientists discover brain area responsible for fear of losing money

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:41:28 MST

PASADENA, Calif.Neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and their colleagues have tied the human aversion to losing money to a specific structure in the brainthe amygdala. The finding, described in the latest online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), offers insight into economic behavior, and also into the role of the...

Brown biologist solves mystery of tropical grasses' origin

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:41:26 MST

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] Around 30 to 40 million years ago, grasses on Earth underwent an epic evolutionary upheaval. An assemblage capitalized on falling levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide by engineering an internal mechanism to concentrate the dwindling CO2 supply that, like a fuel-injection system in a car, could more efficiently convert sunlight and nutrients into energy. ...

Study reveals new details on the dangers of third-hand smoke

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:41:23 MST

Nicotine in third-hand smoke, the residue from tobacco smoke that clings to virtually all surfaces long after a cigarette has been extinguished, reacts with the common indoor air pollutant nitrous acid to produce dangerous carcinogens. This new potential health hazard was revealed in a multi-institutional study led by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)....

S&P Equity Research; Health Care Reform After The Buzzsaw - Where Are We Now?

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:09:42 MST

NEW YORK , Feb. 8 /- With the recent election of Senator Scott Brown in Massachusetts resulting in the loss of the Democratic supermajority, the urgency behind broad-based health care reform with the promise of universal coverage for the majority of uninsured Americans has faded dramatically, according to Standard & Poor's Equity Research. Pr...

The Full Yield, Inc. Launches Breakthrough Collaboration to Put Food Back at the Heart of Healthcare

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:30:07 MST

DANVERS, Mass. , Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The nation's first fully integrated collaboration between the food and healthcare industries to simultaneously improve health and reduce healthcare spending has been launched by The Full Yield, Inc., www.thefullyield.com . The Full Yield rolls out in greater Boston this month in an initially exclusive par...

UC Davis study confirms link between advanced maternal age and autism

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:29:11 MST

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) Advanced maternal age is linked to a significantly elevated risk of having a child with autism, regardless of the father's age, according to an exhaustive study of all births in California during the 1990s by UC Davis Health System researchers. Advanced paternal age is associated with elevated autism risk only when the father is older and the mother is under 30, the study...

Mice shed new light on causes of childhood deafness

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:53:29 MST

Deafness is the most common disorder of the senses. Tragically, it commonly strikes in early childhood, severely damaging an affected child's ability to learn speech and language. In many cases, children gradually lose their hearing to become profoundly deaf over a long period of months to years, but scientists know very little about how this progressive loss happens, making prospects for pre...

A potent suppressor of endometrial cancer is revealed

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:53:26 MST

Endometrial cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductive tract, representing 6% of all cancers. There is currently no screening method or biomarker to indicate early presence of disease. "It is a very common malignancy that affects women of all ages" comments paper author Dr. Diego Castrillon. The cancer forms from the cells that grow along the inner lining of the uterus, whic...

Few women take tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:19:41 MST

PHILADELPHIA Researchers with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have found that the prevalence of tamoxifen use for the prevention of breast cancer among women without a personal history of breast cancer is very low. Tamoxifen can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer in women who are at increased risk for developing the disease. Details of this survey are published in the Februa...

More smokers than non-smokers accept HPV vaccination for their daughters

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:19:37 MST

PHILADELPHIA A parent's existing health habits or behaviors, like cigarette smoking, may influence the likelihood that they will have their daughters vaccinated against HPV. According to survey results on correlates of HPV vaccine use, whether parents would choose to vaccinate their daughters was not associated with one's background or medical history, but was more closely associated wit...

Research reveals link between beer and bone health

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:19:33 MST

A new study suggests that beer is a significant source of dietary silicon, a key ingredient for increasing bone mineral density. Researchers from the Department of Food Science & Technology at the University of California, Davis studied commercial beer production to determine the relationship between beer production methods and the resulting silicon content, concluding that beer is a rich sour...

Soft drink consumption may increase risk of pancreatic cancer

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:19:30 MST

PHILADELPHIA Consuming two or more soft drinks per week increased the risk of developing pancreatic cancer by nearly twofold compared to individuals who did not consume soft drinks, according to a report in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention , a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Although relatively rare, pancreatic cancer remains one of the most deadly,...

Conservation from space: Landscape diversity helps to conserve insects

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:05:40 MST

Rugged, hilly landscapes with a range of different habitat types can help maintain more stable butterfly populations and thus aid their conservation, according to new findings published today (8 February 2010) in the journal Ecology Letters . The research, carried out by scientists from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Butterfly Conservation and the University of York, has implications...

Industrial cleaner linked to increased risk of Parkinson's disease

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:08:54 MST

ST. PAUL, Minn. Workers exposed to tricholorethylene (TCE), a chemical once widely used to clean metal such as auto parts, may be at a significantly higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010. "This is the first time a population-b...

Inhibiting serotonin in gut could cure osteoporosis

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:06:48 MST

NEW YORK An investigational drug that inhibits serotonin synthesis in the gut, administered orally once daily, effectively cured osteoporosis in mice and rats reports an international team led by researchers from Columbia University Medical Center, in the Feb. 7 issue of Nature Medicine . Serotonin in the gut has been shown in recent research to stall bone formation. The finding could lead t...

Virus-free technique enables Stanford scientists to easily make stem cells pluripotent

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:06:45 MST

STANFORD, Calif. - Tiny circles of DNA are the key to a new and easier way to transform stem cells from human fat into induced pluripotent stem cells for use in regenerative medicine, say scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Unlike other commonly used techniques, the method, which is based on standard molecular biology practices, does not use viruses to introduce genes into...

Scientists identify first genetic variant linked to biological aging in humans

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:06:42 MST

Scientists announced today (7 Feb) they have identified for the first time definitive variants associated with biological ageing in humans. The team analyzed more than 500,000 genetic variations across the entire human genome to identify the variants which are located near a gene called TERC. The study in Nature Genetics published today by researchers from the University of Leicester an...