EurekAlert! Public News List

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Journal of Biological Chemistry
Snake venom studies yield insights for development of therapies for heart disease and cancer
Researchers seeking to learn more about stroke by studying how the body responds to toxins in snake venom are this week releasing new findings that they hope will aid in the development of therapies for heart disease and, surprisingly, cancer.

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010
Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, August 2010
The following are story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory for August 2010.

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Molecular Cell
Mechanism uncovered behind Salmonella virulence and drug susceptibility
Researchers have discovered a novel mechanism in Salmonella that affects is virulence and its susceptibility to antibiotics. The mechanism changes the bacteria's production of proteins in a previously unheard of manner. It allows Salmonella to selectively change its levels of certain proteins to respond to inhospital conditions. Although the mechanism had not been recognized before, scientists found evidence of a similar mechanism in all five kingdoms of life. The mechanism appears to have been conserved throughout the course of evolution.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Damon-Runyon Cancer Foundation, Canadian Institute of Health Research

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Arthritis & Rheumatism
Resting brain activity associated with spontaneous fibromyalgia pain
A recent study from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and University of Michigan provides the first direct evidence of linkage between elevated intrinsic (resting-state) brain connectivity and spontaneous pain intensity in patients with fibromyalgia. This research shows an interaction of multiple brain networks, offering greater understanding of how pain arises. Details of the study appear online and in the August issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Scientists post lower speed limit for cell-signaling protein assembly
The apparently random self-assembly of molecular threads into the proteins that make the body work is far less frantic than previously thought, Michigan State University scientists say. That discovery could be a key to help unlock the nature of some diseases. How proteins spontaneously "fold" from wiggling chains of amino acids into a wide variety of functional -- or malfunctioning -- 3-D molecules is one of the biggest mysteries in biochemistry.

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Arthritis & Rheumatism
TNF blockers may increase the risk of malignancy in children
The Food and Drug Administration received reports of malignancies in children using tumor necrosis factor a (TNF) blockers, raising concerns of an associated risk and prompting an investigation. Researchers from the FDA set out to identify all reports of malignancy in children using infliximab, etanercept, and adalimumab and their report is published in the August issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology.

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Astrophysical Journal Letters
Brown dwarf found orbiting a young sun-like star
Astronomers have imaged a very young brown dwarf, or failed star, in a tight orbit around a young nearby sun-like star. The discovery is expected to shed light on the early stages of solar system formation.

National Science Foundation, NASA

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Journal of Chemical Physics
Polymer passage takes time
Rice University researchers have created a theoretical method to calculate the time it takes long-chain polymers to pass through nano-sized pores in membranes. The researchers studied how membrane pore geometry affects the translocation of long polymers. They say the new method, which appears this month in the Journal of Chemical Physics, works for pores of any geometry, whether they're straight, conical or made of joined cylinders of different sizes.

Welch Foundation, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Some trees 'farm' bacteria to help supply nutrients
Some trees growing in nutrient-poor forest soil may get what they need by cultivating specific root microbes to create compounds they require. These microbes are exceptionally efficient at turning inorganic minerals into nutrients that the trees can use. Researchers from France report their findings in the July 2010 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Science
Graphene under strain creates gigantic pseudo-magnetic fields
By putting the right kind of strain onto a patch of graphene, Berkeley Lab researchers have created pseudo-magnetic fields far stronger than the strongest magnetic fields ever sustained in a laboratory. This finding opens a new window on a source of important applications and fundamental scientific discoveries going back over a century.

US Department of Energy, Office of Science

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Nature Geoscience
Study finds black carbon implicated in global warming
Increasing the ratio of black carbon to sulfate in the atmosphere increases climate warming, suggests a study conducted by a University of Iowa professor and his colleagues and published in the July 25 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Neuron
Memory's master switch
A new study led by Dr. Inna Slutsky of Tel Aviv University describes GABA (γ-Aminobutyric acid), a natural molecule that occurs in the brain, which could be the main factor in regulating how many new memories we can generate. The understanding of these mechanisms might lead to the development of new memory enhancers and new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

British Journal of Sports Medicine
Most youth hockey injuries caused by accidents, not checking, UB study shows
Hockey fans likely would assume that body-checking -- intentionally slamming an opponent against the boards -- causes the most injuries in youth ice hockey. But they would be wrong.

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Science
Behind the secrets of silk lie high-tech opportunities
Tougher than a bullet-proof vest yet synonymous with beauty and luxury, silks spun by worms and spiders are a masterpiece of nature whose properties have yet to be fully replicated in the laboratory. But scientists have begun to unravel the secrets of silk. Tufts biomedical engineers report that silk-based materials have been transformed from commodity textile to a growing web of high tech applications.

National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, US Air Force Office of Science Research, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
Plant compound resveratrol shown to suppresses inflammation, free radicals in humans
Resveratrol, a popular plant extract shown to prolong life in yeast and lower animals due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, appears also to suppress inflammation in humans, based on results from the first prospective human trial of the extract conducted by University at Buffalo endocrinologists.

National Institutes of Health, American Diabetes Association

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Molecular Cell
New pathway to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases
Sanford-Burnham researchers uncover new clues about the cause of brain cell death in neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases.

National Institutes of Health, San Diego chapter of the American Parkinson's Disease Association

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Joint Statistical Meeting
Ear bones reveal spawning secrets of Lake Erie walleye
Ecologists have long believed that fish tend to return to the same river where they hatched in order to spawn. But researchers at Ohio State University have determined that the old rule doesn't always apply -- not for Lake Erie walleye, at least. Using a statistical analysis of chemicals found in walleye ear bones, the researchers were able to calculate the percentage of walleye hatched in the Sandusky and Maumee rivers that returned home to spawn, and the percentage that strayed elsewhere.

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Journal of the Early Republic
Discovered: Audubon's first engraving of a bird
In 1824, John James Audubon (1785-1851), the eminent American artist, created a drawing of a running grouse for use in the design for a New Jersey bank note. Although the artist mentions the drawing and the resulting engraved paper money in two separate diary entries, no one has ever been able to locate or identify such an illustration. Until now.

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Nano Letters
'White graphene' to the rescue
Researchers in the lab of Pulickel Ajayan, Rice's Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and of chemistry, have figured out how to make sheets of h-BN, which could turn out to be the complementary apple to graphene's orange.

Rice University, US Office of Naval Research MURI program on graphene, Basic Energy Science division of the US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Welch Foundation, International Balzan Foundation, Chinese State Scholar

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

American Surgeon
Male breast cancer in family leads to high perception of risk, low likelihood of genetic counseling
People with a family history of male breast cancer perceive themselves to be at higher risk of developing the disease than do patients with a family history of female breast cancer; however those with male breast cancer in their families are less likely to know about or seek genetic testing than those with a family history of female breast cancer, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Louisville's James Graham Brown Cancer Center.

University of Louisville Department of Surgery

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Journal of Biomolecular Screening
Carnegie Mellon researchers create fluorescent biosensor to aid in drug development
Carnegie Mellon University has developed a new fluorescent biosensor that could aid in the development of an important class of drugs that target a crucial class of proteins called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs are popular drug targets because of the pivotal role they play in cells' communication circuits responsible for regulating functions critical to health, including circuits involved in heart and lung function, mood, cognition and memory, digestion and the inflammatory response.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

American Journal of Infection Control
Study finds respiratory symptoms more reliable indicator of H1N1, not fever alone
New research shows that individuals with mild H1N1 infection may go undetected using standard diagnostic criteria, according to a study in the August issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. The study concludes that coughing or other respiratory symptoms are more accurate in determining influenza infection than presence of a fever.

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
Gender-bending fish on the rise in southern Alberta
Chemicals present in two rivers in southern Alberta are likely the cause of the feminization of fish say researchers at the University of Calgary who have published results of their study in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Psychology of Men & Masculinity
Rutgers study finds male modesty a turn off for women (and men)
A Rutgers researcher who explored the consequences for men (and women) when they acted modestly in job interviews found that "modest" males were less liked, a sign of social backlash. Modesty was viewed as a sign of weakness, a low-status character trait for males that could adversely affect their employability or earnings potential. Modesty in women, however, was not viewed negatively nor was it linked to status.

National Science Foundation, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, US Department of Education, Jacon K. Javits Fellowship

Public Release: 29-Jul-2010

Science Express
Researchers identify key enzyme in DNA repair pathway
Researchers have discovered an enzyme crucial to a type of DNA repair that also causes resistance to a class of cancer drugs most commonly used against ovarian cancer.


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