EurekAlert! Public News List

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Cancer Cell
Study helps resolve debate about how tumors spread
A team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has shown for the first time how cancer cells control the ON/OFF switch of a program used by developing embryos to effectively metastasize in vivo, breaking free and spreading to other parts of the body, where they can proliferate and grow into secondary tumors.

American Cancer Society, National Institutes of Health, Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Molecular Cell
UW-Madison scientists create roadmap to metabolic reprogramming for aging
To survey previously uncharted territory, a team of researchers at UW-Madison created an "atlas" that maps more than 1,500 unique landmarks within mitochondria that could provide clues to the metabolic connections between caloric restriction and aging.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Science
Jigsaw a critical piece of the Notch puzzle
The Notch signaling pathway helps determine cell fate determination, differentiation and proliferative ability of numerous cells. How it accomplishes these tasks has been a puzzle, but researchers led by those at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital have identified a key piece -- a specific domain within the Notch receptor that is critical for determining the specific ligand to which the receptor binds.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Chinese Science Bulletin
An engraved stone artifact found at the Shuidonggou Paleolithic site, northwest China
An engraved stone artifact was recently discovered by archaeologists in a stone tool assemblage unearthed at Shuidonggou Paleolithic site in northwest China. It provides new evidence for the study of early modern human behavior and cognition in East Asia during the Pleistocene. This study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Chinese Science Bulletin, No. 26.

Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Knowledge Innovation Program

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

SCIENCE CHINA:Chemistry
The neural toxicity of lanthanides: An update and interpretations
The major progresses made within the past decade in studies on the biological/toxicological effects of lanthanides on neural systems were reviewed in an article published in Sci. China Chem. [2012;42(9):1308]. The authors introduced new results and described the implications for permeation of lanthanides across the brain–blood barrier, the responses of neural systems to lanthanide exposure, and the actions and molecular mechanisms of lanthanides on neural cells.

National Natural Science Foundation of China, Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Science China: Information Sciences
Significant progress in intelligent radio-over-fiber (I-ROF) systems
Chinese researchers have conducted extensive research into enabling technologies for intelligent radio-over-fiber systems and have made significant progress toward providing an effective method to achieve broadband and ubiquitous information access. The study was published in SCIENCE CHINA Information Sciences, 2012, vol. 42, (10).

National Program for Key Basic Research Project of China, National High-Tech R&D Program of China

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

2012 AGU Fall Meeting

Science
Clearest evidence yet of polar ice losses
The Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise has confirmed that both Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice.

European Space Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Phillip Leverhulme Prize, UK Natural Environment Research Council, and others

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Journal of American Society of Nephrology
Treating coronary heart disease in kidney failure patients
For kidney failure patients with blocked arteries surrounding the heart, open heart surgery is linked with a lower risk of dying or having a heart attack compared with angioplasty. Among patients undergoing these revascularization procedures, the five-year survival of patients without kidney disease is over 90 percent, but survival in kidney failure patients is dismal. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in patients with kidney failure. Coronary heart disease affects 30 percent to 60 percent of kidney failure patients.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Journal of American Society of Nephrology
Kidney disease progresses faster in African Americans than other races
Among individuals with chronic kidney disease, African Americans experience faster progression of the disease during later stages compared with other races. Screening of African Americans with chronic kidney disease can help improve care and is cost-effective. Chronic kidney disease affects an estimated 26 million adults in the United States.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Immunity
Traffic cops of the immune system
A certain type of immune cell -- the regulatory T cell, or Treg for short -- is in charge of putting on the brakes on the immune response. In a way, this cell type might be considered the immune system's traffic cops.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Science
Grand Canyon as old as the dinosaurs, suggests new study led by CU-Boulder
An analysis of mineral grains from the bottom of the western Grand Canyon indicates it was largely carved out by about 70 million years ago -- a time when dinosaurs were around and may have even peeked over the rim, says a study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Science
Harvard's Wyss Institute team creates versatile 3d nanostructures using DNA 'bricks'
Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have created more than 100 three-dimensional nanostructures using DNA building blocks that function like Lego bricks -- a major advance from the two-dimensional structures the same team built a few months ago.

Office of Naval Research, Army Research Office, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Harvard/Wyss Institute

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Science
Molecular root of 'exhausted' T cells in chronic viral infection
In the case of such pathogens as hepatitis C, HIV, and malaria, the body and the pathogen essentially fight to a prolonged stalemate, neither able to gain an advantage. Over time, however, the cells become "exhausted" and the immune system can collapse, giving the pathogen the edge. A new study is showing how that happens, suggesting a novel approach that might shift the balance of power in chronic infections.

National Institutes of Health, Dana Foundation

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Current Biology
Hand use improved after spinal cord injury with noninvasive stimulation
By using noninvasive stimulation, researchers were able to temporarily improve the ability of people with spinal cord injuries to use their hands. The findings, reported on November 29th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, hold promise in treating thousands of people in the United States alone who are partially paralyzed due to spinal cord injury.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Current Biology
Alcoholic fly larvae need fix for learning
Fly larvae fed on alcohol-spiked food for a period of days grow dependent on those spirits for learning. The findings, reported in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, on November 29th, show how overuse of alcohol can produce lasting changes in the brain, even after alcohol abuse stops.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Nature
Most of the harmful mutations in people arose in the past 5,000 to 10,000 years
A study of the age of more than 1 million single-letter variations in the human DNA code reveals that most of these mutations are of recent origin, evolutionarily speaking. They arose as a result of explosive population growth, which provides more chances for new mutations to appear in offspring. Many of these mutations are harmful, some have no effect, and others are beneficial now or may provide an adaptive advantage for future generations.

NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Exome Sequencing Project

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Nature
Rules devised for building ideal protein molecules from scratch
By following certain rules, scientists can prepare architectural plans for building ideal protein molecules not found in the real world. Based on computer renditions, previously non-existent proteins can be produced from scratch in the lab. In our imperfect world, proteins can be beset by bulges, kinks, strains, and improperly buried parts, and many diseases arise from protein malformations. The researchers achieved a library of several ideal structures. The principles could aid in designing drugs, vaccines, industrial enzymes, fuels, and pollutant removers.

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Department of Energy, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Japan Society for Promotion of Science

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Journal of Neurophysiology
Moral evaluations of harm are instant and emotional, brain study shows
People are able to detect, within a split second, if a hurtful action they are witnessing is intentional or accidental, new research on the brain at the University of Chicago shows. The study is the first to explain how the brain is hard-wired to recognize when another person is being intentionally harmed. It also provides new insights into how such recognition is connected with emotion and morality.

National Science Foundation, Swiss National Science Foundations, Department of Education

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Environmental Science & Technology
Study IDs kerosene lamps as big source of black carbon
Kerosene lamps, the primary source of light for more than a billion people in developing nations, churns out black carbon at levels previously overlooked in greenhouse gas estimates, according to a new study led by researchers at UC Berkeley and the University of Illinois. The new findings result in a twentyfold increase to previous estimates of black carbon emissions from kerosene-fueled lighting. The good news is that affordable, cleaner alternatives exist.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, US Agency for International Development, US Environmental Protection Agency

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Nature
NASA's Cassini sees abrupt turn in Titan's atmosphere
Data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft tie a shift in seasonal sunlight to a wholesale reversal, at unexpected altitudes, in the circulation of the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. At the south pole, the data show definitive evidence for sinking air where it was upwelling earlier in the mission. So the key to circulation in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan turned out to be a certain slant of light. The paper was published today in the journal Nature.

NASA

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Infrared NASA imagery sees Tropical Storm Bopha grow a tail
Tropical Storm Bopha continues to intensify in the western North Pacific Ocean as it heads toward Yap State, triggering more warnings and watches. Infrared imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite captured over two days revealed that the storm had consolidated, intensified and developed a large band of strong thunderstorms south of the center, that resemble a tail.

NASA

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Geosphere
Geosphere builds momentum with 17 newly published studies and a new series
Geosphere articles posted online Nov. 16, 2012, cover a variety of topics, such as the geophysics of the Hogri fault zone, 5 km offshore of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant; using web-based GIS technologies and readily available global remote sensing datasets for investigations of arid land; the structure and evolution of the US Sierra Nevada; the ANDRILL McMurdo Ice Shelf and Southern McMurdo Sound Drilling Projects; and climate-tectonic interactions in the southern Alaskan orogen.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Clinical Psychological Science
Order of psychiatric diagnoses may influence how clinicians identify symptoms
The diagnostic system used by many mental health practitioners in the United States assumes that symptoms of two disorders that occur at the same time are additive and that the order in which the disorders are presented doesn't matter. But new research published in Clinical Psychological Science suggests that order actually plays a significant role in determining how clinicians think about psychiatric disorders.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

American Schools of Oriental Research 2012 Annual Meeting
URI, IAA archaeologists discover shipwrecks, ancient harbor on coast of Israel
A team of archaeologists have discovered the remains of a fleet of early-19th century ships and ancient harbor structures from the Hellenistic period at the city of Akko, one of the major ancient ports of the eastern Mediterranean. The findings shed light on a period of history that is little known and point to how and where additional remains may be found.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Environmental Research
Women 16-49 at risk of multiple pollutants
In a new analysis of thousands of US women of childbearing age, Brown University researchers found that most exceeded the median blood level for two or more of three environmental pollutants that could harm brain development of fetuses and babies: lead, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls.

NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Sigma Theta Tau


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