EurekAlert! Public News List

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Nature
Fragile mega-galaxy is missing link in history of cosmos
Two hungry young galaxies that collided 11 billion years ago are rapidly forming a massive galaxy about 10 times the size of the Milky Way, according to UC Irvine-led research published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

NASA

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Nature
Researchers reveal model of Sun's magnetic field
Researchers at the Universities of Leeds and Chicago have uncovered an important mechanism behind the generation of astrophysical magnetic fields such as that of the Sun.

Science and Technology Facilities Council, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Journal of Archaeological Science
New archaeological 'high definition' sourcing sharpens understanding of the past
A new method of sourcing the origins of artefacts in high definition is set to improve our understanding of the past.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Nature
The Norway spruce genome sequenced
Swedish scientists have mapped the gene sequence of Norway spruce (the Christmas tree) -- a species with huge economic and ecological importance -- and that is the largest genome to have ever been mapped. The genome is complex and seven times larger than that of humans. The results have been published in the prestigious journal Nature.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Nature
Researchers complete largest genetic sequencing study of human disease
Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London have led the largest sequencing study of human disease to date, investigating the genetic basis of six autoimmune diseases.

Medical Research Council, Coeliac UK

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Virology Journal
What the smallest infectious agents reveal about evolution
Radically different viruses share genes and are likely to share ancestry, according to research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Virology Journal this week. The comprehensive phylogenomic analysis compares giant viruses that infect amoeba with tiny viruses known as virophages and to several groups of transposable elements. The complex network of evolutionary relationships the authors describe suggests that viruses evolved from non-viral mobile genetic elements and vice versa, on more than one occasion.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

PLOS ONE
Swine flu pandemic of 2009 more deadly for younger adults, UCI study finds
As the world prepares for what may be the next pandemic strain of influenza virus, in the H7N9 bird flu, a new UC Irvine study reveals that the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic was deadliest for people under the age of 65, while those 65 and over had greater immunity due to previous exposure to similar viruses.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
Calcium supplements linked to longer lifespans in women
Taking a calcium supplement of up to 1,000 mg per day can help women live longer, according to a recent study accepted for publication in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
Fish oil supplements may help fight against Type 2 diabetes
Widely-used fish oil supplements modestly increase amounts of a hormone that is associated with lower risk of diabetes and heart disease, according to a study accepted for publication in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
Mild hypothyroidism raises mortality risk among heart failure patients
Patients with underlying heart failure are more likely to experience adverse outcomes from mild hypothyroidism, according to a recent study accepted for publication in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Nature
Penn study shows how immune system peacefully co-exists with 'good' bacteria
The human gut is loaded with helpful bacteria microbes, yet the immune system seemingly turns a blind eye. Now, researchers know how this friendly truce is kept intact. Innate lymphoid cells directly limit the response by inflammatory T cells to commensal bacteria in the gut of mice. Loss of this ILC function effectively puts the immune system on an extended war footing against the commensal bacteria a condition observed in multiple chronic inflammatory diseases.

National Institutes of Health, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, Burroughs Wellcome Fund

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Nature
NIH researchers conduct first genomic survey of human skin fungal diversity
In the first study of human fungal skin diversity, National Institutes of Health researchers sequenced the DNA of fungi at skin sites of healthy adults to define the normal populations across the skin and to provide a framework for investigating fungal skin conditions. The study appears in the May 22, 2013, early online issue of Nature.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Nature
Slowing the aging process -- only with antibiotics
EPFL scientists reveal the mechanism responsible for aging hidden deep within mitochondria -- and dramatically slow it down in worms by administering antibiotics to the young.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Nature
Mega genomes of spruce species decoded
Canadian and Swedish scientists today released genome sequences of two of the most economically important forest trees in the world.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Neuron
Taming suspect gene reverses schizophrenia-like abnormalities in mice
Scientists have reversed behavioral and brain abnormalities in adult mice that resemble some features of schizophrenia, by restoring normal expression to a suspect gene that is over-expressed in humans with the illness. Targeting expression of the gene Neuregulin1, which makes a protein important for brain development, may hold promise for treating at least some patients with the brain disorder.

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Science Translational Medicine
Enzyme-activating antibodies revealed as marker for most severe form of rheumatoid arthritis
In a series of lab experiments designed to unravel the workings of a key enzyme widely considered a possible trigger of rheumatoid arthritis, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that in the most severe cases of the disease, the immune system makes a unique subset of antibodies that have a disease-promoting role.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Journal of Public Health
Calorie information in fast food restaurants used by 40 percent of 9-18 year olds when making food choices
A new study published online today in the Journal of Public Health has found that of young people who visited fast food or chain restaurants in the US in 2010, girls and youth who were obese were more likely to use calorie information given in the restaurants to inform their food choices.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association
Costs to treat stroke in America may double by 2030
Stroke costs are predicted to more than double in the next 20 years. Americans 45-64 years old are expected to have the highest increase in stroke incidence.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

PLOS ONE
Fetch, boy! Study shows homes with dogs have more types of bacteria
New research from North Carolina State University and the University of Colorado shows that households with dogs are home to more types of bacteria -- including bacteria that are rarely found in households that do not have dogs. The finding is part of a larger study to improve our understanding of the microscopic life forms that live in our homes.

Sloan Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Public Release: 22-May-2013

New England Journal of Medicine
Baby's life saved with groundbreaking 3-D printed device that restored his breathing
A specially-designed tracheal splint, made from a biopolymer using 3D printing, was created and used at the University of Michigan to save a baby from life-threatening tracheobronchomalacia.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

Journal of Visualized Experiments
How healthy are you for your age?
On May 22, JoVE will publish details of a technique to measure the health of human genetic material in relation to a patient's age. The method is demonstrated by the laboratory of Dr. Gil Atzmon at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Atzmon hopes that the dissemination of this technique will lead to the development of a "genetic thermometer" to assess a patient's health in relation to other individuals of the same age.

Public Release: 22-May-2013
Addiction as a disorder of decision-making
New research shows that craving drugs such as nicotine can be visualized in specific regions of the brain that are implicated in determining the value of actions, in planning actions and in motivation. Dr. Alain Dagher, from McGill University, suggests abnormal interactions between these decision-making brain regions could underlie addiction. These results were presented at the 2013 Canadian Neuroscience Meeting, the annual meeting of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience -- Association Canadienne des Neurosciences.

Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Cancer Institute of Canada

Public Release: 22-May-2013
Addiction to unhealthy foods could help explain the global obesity epidemic
Research presented today shows that high-fructose corn syrup can cause behavioral reactions in rats similar to those produced by drugs of abuse such as cocaine. These results, presented by addiction expert Francesco Leri, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Applied Cognitive Science at the University of Guelph, suggest food addiction could explain, at least partly, the current global obesity epidemic. These results were presented at the 2013 Canadian Neuroscience Meeting, the annual meeting of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience -- Association Canadienne des Neurosciences.

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council,Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Public Release: 22-May-2013

PLOS ONE
New cave-dwelling arachnids discovered in Brazil
Two new species of cave-dwelling short-tailed whipscorpions have been discovered in northeastern Brazil, and are described in research published May 22 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Adalberto Santos, from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) and colleagues.

Public Release: 22-May-2013

PLOS ONE
Captive-bred wallabies may carry antibiotic resistant bacteria into wild populations
Endangered brush-tail rock wallabies raised in captive breeding programs carry antibiotic resistance genes in their gut bacteria and may be able to transmit these genes into wild populations, according to research published May 22 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Michelle Power and colleagues from Macquarie University in New South Wales, Australia.


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