10/31/2010 PERMALINK
Actroid-F 30 sec preview, the bots just keep looking more real. SOURCE : Kokoro Co. Ltd.'s Actroid-F is shown close-up in this short video preview. We're getting really close to the point where telepresence bots could pass a video Turing Test. Of course, they are just mimicking the remote user, but they sure do look real.

10/31/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers could use plant's light switch to control your cells. SOURCE : Chandra Tucker shines a blue light on yeast and mammalian cells in her Duke University lab and the edges of them start to glow. The effect is the result of a light-activated switch from a plant that has been inserted into the cell. Researchers could use this novel 'on-off switch' to control cell growth or death, grow new tissue or deliver doses of medication directly to diseased cells, said Tucker, an assistant research professor in the biology department at Duke.

10/31/2010 PERMALINK
How does your body kill rogue cells? SOURCE : The first observations that the human immune system could punch holes in target cells was made by the Nobel laureate Jules Bordet over 110 years ago. But how? A team of Melbourne and London researchers have shown how a protein called perforin punches holes in, and kills, rogue cells in our bodies. Their discovery of the mechanism of this assassin is published today in the science journal Nature. 'Perforin is our body's weapon of cleansing and death,' says project leader Prof James Whisstock from Monash University. 'It breaks into cells that have been hijacked by viruses or turned into cancer cells and allows toxic enzymes in, to destroy the cell from within. Without it our immune system can't destroy these cells. Now we know how it works, we can start to fine tune it to fight cancer, malaria and diabetes.'

10/30/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers engineer miniature human livers in the lab. SOURCE : Researchers at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have reached an early, but important, milestone in the quest to grow replacement livers in the lab. They are the first to use human liver cells to successfully engineer miniature livers that function -- at least in a laboratory setting -- like human livers. The next step is to see if the livers will continue to function after transplantation in an animal model.

10/29/2010 PERMALINK
A discussion of how and why humans must get off this rock and colonize space. SOURCE : Futurist, author and cofounder of corporate strategy firm Global Business Network, Peter Schwartz and Simon P. ("Pete") Worden, Ph.D., Brig. Gen., USAF, Ret. and Director of NASA's Ames Research Center talk about the colonization of space.

10/29/2010 PERMALINK
Can Chinese prosperity bail out the struggling world economy? Mish looks at this question on his Global Economic Trend Analysis blog this morning. Here are two excerpts:

Total Chinese money supply is up over 4 times since '03, a 17%/yr. rate at a doubling time of just 4 years; up 66% since Jan. '08, a 19%/yr. rate at a doubling time of 43 months; and up 40% since Jan. '09, a 20%/yr. rate at a doubling time of 40 months.

Knowingly or otherwise, China has experienced a textbook faster-than-exponential money and debt/asset blow off or crack-up bubble that mathematically cannot continue. All faster-than-exponential bubbles burst and collapse, with prices falling back to the levels at which the differential rate of GDP and money began to diverge at an order of exponential magnitude, which was around early '02.

Ironically, Bubble Ben bashers claim the Fed is going off the rails with debt-money reserve growth?! Imagine what would happen to the Renminbi were the currency to be floated/convertible with money growing at arguably near hyper-inflationary rates in China!

Do Schiff, Faber, or Rogers ever talk about China's reckless, hyper-inflationary money supply growth? This kind of money supply growth is banana republic-like, making our feeble efforts appear benign by comparison.

This situation is INSANE, and the crash coming in China-Asia will be unprecedented in world history.

It is important to understand the drivers behind China's growth.

1. Rampant monetary expansion
2. Property bubbles including completely vacant cities
3. US and European outsourcing
4. Malinvestment in infrastructure

Mish also touches on China's bank problem, mentioning that China forced all their banks to make a lot of bad loans during the current crisis. Alas, the situation is actually much worse than that. China has been forcing their banks to bail out failed state enterprises for decades. There is simply no way to know how many worthless or near worthless loans Chinese banks are keeping on their books at full value. I think it is safe to say that the figure is an even higher percentage of their assets than the massive number of bad loans that the US government allowed US banks keep on their books at full value. When they pressuring our nation's accountants to suspend mark to market rules at the start of the current financial crisis our leaders became co-conspirators with the banksters.

Politicos in both the US and Chinese governments are actively complicit in an ongoing conspiracy to defraud the investors and depositors in the banks of their respective nations, by making it possible for them to hide the dire nature of the financial condition of those banks.

This complicity is why, unlike in the savings and loan crisis when over a thousand executives were prosecuted for their malfeasance. None of those responsible for originating the current mountain of clearly fraudulent loans have been prosecuted. The same people that joked among themselves about their ability to package and sell 'liar loans' to unsuspecting investors all over the world are still running America's banks. Indeed, they are still being allowed to give themselves tens of billions in annual bonuses for their orchestration of the continuing fraud. Bonuses funded entirely by taxpayer bailouts and the regulator-sanctioned fraudulent 'profits' of the bankrupt institutions that they run.

Another negative factor in China is its growing instability. Best evidence indicates that something over 1,000 riots were put down by force across China last year alone. Far from an island of economic prosperity in a trouble world economy, China is more like a tender box with a match dropping towards it.

The last time a world reserve currency went down, the USA was solvent enough to bail Britain out, averting a worldwide economic catastrophe. Those looking to China to play that role today will be disappointed. China can't, nor can the Euro-zone or Japan, the world's two other large economies.

All the nations of the world have followed the USA and Europe down the Pied Piper delusional trail of converting their currency into paper backed by nothing more that the promises of politicos to be frugal.

When nations backed paper currencies with gold or silver, politicos were forced into frugality. Print and spend too much paper money, and their national vaults would soon be emptied of gold and silver by citizens and foreigners cashing in the fiat money for money with real intrinsic value. History shows plainly that without a mechanism like this to help keep them honest, politicos will always bankrupt their nations and people.

Fiat money has been tried numerous times all down through history and it has always failed. The longest it has ever lasted is 42 years. America's premier presidential crook, Richard Nixon, converted the dollar into fiat money in 1971, 39 years ago, and we are now suffering the consequences of that folly. We will continue to suffer the consequences until the failed fiat money meme is buried for good.

For the first time in human history, we are about to witness what happens when a fundamentally flawed economic meme like fiat money, gets adopted by every nation on Earth, then hits the iceberg of reality head on. It won't be pretty. Be ready.

10/28/2010 PERMALINK
Study says solar systems like appear to be common. SOURCE : A survey of 166 nearby stars like our sun reveals increasing numbers of smaller planets down to the smallest planets detectable today -- super-Earths about three times the mass of the Earth. If this trend continues, UC Berkeley astronomers Andrew Howard and Geoff Marcy estimate, one of every four sun-like stars may have an Earth-like planet. (Species Survival Meme: Our Cosmos is a dangerous enough neighborhood that a species keeping all its eggs in one basket is sure to suffer a premature extinction.)

10/28/2010 PERMALINK
Study shows that you have the ability to consciously exert control over individual neurons. SOURCE : A collaboration between UCLA scientists and colleagues from the California Institute of Technology has shown that humans can actually regulate the activity of specific neurons in the brain, increasing the firing rate of some while decreasing the rate of others. And study subjects were able to do so by manipulating an image on a computer screen using only their thoughts.

10/28/2010 PERMALINK
We don't need no stinking telecos, cheap, unlimited, high bandwidth net access using a person to person grid.. SOURCE : Members of the public could form the backbone of powerful new mobile internet networks by carrying wearable sensors. According to researchers from Queen's University Belfast, the novel sensors could create new ultra high bandwidth mobile internet infrastructures and reduce the density of mobile phone base stations.

10/28/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers find 'Goldilocks' of DNA self-assembly. SOURCE : Researchers from North Carolina State University have found a way to optimize the development of DNA self-assembling materials, which hold promise for technologies ranging from drug delivery to molecular sensors. The key to the advance is the discovery of the 'Goldilocks' length for DNA strands used in self-assembly -- not too long, not too short, but just right.

10/27/2010 PERMALINK
Too much SP2 protein turns stem cells into 'evil twin' cancer cells. SOURCE : Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that the overproduction of a key protein in stem cells causes those stem cells to form cancerous tumors. Their work may lead to new treatments for a variety of cancers.

10/27/2010 PERMALINK
From touchpad to thinkpad, new research shows that digital images can be manipulated with the mind. SOURCE : New research fshows that it is possible to manipulate complex visual images on a computer screen using only the mind. The study found that when research subjects had their brains connected to a computer displaying two merged images, they could force the computer to display one of the images and discard the other. The signals transmitted from each subject's brain to the computer were derived from just a handful of brain cells. "The subjects were able to use their thoughts to override the images they saw on the computer screen," said the study's lead author, Itzhak Fried, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of neurosurgery at the University of California, Los Angeles. The study reflects progress in the development of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), devices that allow people to control computers or other devices with their thoughts. BCIs hold promise for helping paralyzed individuals to communicate or control prosthetic limbs. But in this study, BCI technology was used mostly as a tool to understand how the brain processes information, and especially to understand how thoughts and decisions are shaped by the collective activity of single brain cells. Subjects were able to force the monitor to display the target image in 70 percent of these attempts and tended to learn the task very quickly. Often they were successful on the first try. The brain recordings and the input to the computer were based on the activity of just four cells in the temporal lobe. Prior research has shown that individual cells in this part of the brain respond preferentially – firing impulses at a higher rate – to specific images.

10/27/2010 PERMALINK
Scientists create first cyborg balance implant. SOURCE : Researchers at the University of Washington are pioneering cyborg implants for balance restoration. On October 21st a team at the UW Medical Center, including Jay Rubinstein and James Phillips, successfully installed a cochlear implant in a 56 year old male. Unlike most cochlear implants, this device wasn’t connected to improve the patient’s hearing, but to override misfiring balance signals in his inner ear.

10/27/2010 PERMALINK
Scientists are testing whether brain signals can control sophisticated prosthetic arms. SOURCE : A new generation of much more sophisticated and lifelike prosthetic arms are now beginning human tests. Two different prototypes that move with the dexterity of a natural limb and can theoretically be controlled just as intuitively--with electrical signals recorded directly from the brain.

10/25/2010 PERMALINK
Daily vibration may let your bones maintain their youthful strength and density. SOURCE : A daily dose of whole body vibration may help reduce the usual bone density loss that occurs with age, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.Twelve weeks of daily, 30-minute sessions in 18-month old male mice -- which equate to 55- to 65-year-old humans -- appear to forestall the expected annual loss that can result in fractures, disability and death.

10/21/2010 PERMALINK
Scientists open electrical link to living cells. SOURCE : Berkeley Lab scientists have designed an electrical link to living cells engineered to shuttle electrons across a cell's membrane. This direct channel could yield cells that can read and respond to electronic signals, or efficiently transfer sunlight into electricity.

10/21/2010 PERMALINK
Antigene therapy uses a DNA-based drug to pinpoint light energy to a target gene shutting down its activity. SOURCE : Unlike existing antisense therapies that target RNA, an antigene drug is a triplex-forming oligonucleotide that recognizes and attaches directly to a specific DNA sequence. By attaching a photoreactive agent to the antigene and delivering light energy to the attachment site, the light-sensitive drug complex becomes activated, triggering a cleavage or cross-linking reaction. This photo-induced, site-specific DNA damage effectively silences the gene target. 'Many diseases that are currently incurable or otherwise treatable with limited success could be potentially relevant targets for such an approach,' said Netanel Kolevzon and Eylon Yavin, from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the authors of the study. But they go on to caution that, 'Many obstacles lay ahead before this approach may reach the clinic.'

10/21/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers develop first implant for correcting balance disorders. SOURCE : A University of Washington Medical Center patient on Thursday, Oct. 21, will be the world's first recipient of a device that aims to quell the disabling vertigo associated with Meniere's disease. The UW Medicine clinicians who developed the implantable device hope that success in a 10-person surgical trial of Meniere's patients will lead to exploration of its usefulness against other common balance disorders that torment millions of people worldwide.

10/20/2010 PERMALINK
Replacing refined grains with whole grains lowers your levels of the heart disease triggering type of body fat. SOURCE : People who consume several servings of whole grains per day while limiting daily intake of refined grains appear to have less of a type of fat tissue thought to play a key role in triggering cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, a new study from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University suggests.

10/20/2010 PERMALINK
Gene therapy can offer a powerful new treatment for major depression. SOURCE : Researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center say animal and human data suggest gene therapy to the brain may be able to treat patients with major depression who do not respond to traditional drug treatment.

10/20/2010 PERMALINK
Cancer cure ahead? Mechanism discovered that controls the expression of a protein involved in numerous cancers. SOURCE : A team of researchers lead by Marc Therrien at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer of the Universite de Montreal have identified a new mechanism controlling the transmission of an abnormal signal at the origin of many forms of cancers. The protein complex that controls the RAS/MAPK signalling pathway is responsible for some of the deadliest cancers including pancreatic, colon and lung cancers, and melanomas.

10/19/2010 PERMALINK
Batteries small than a grain of salt. SOURCE : Lithium-ion batteries have become ubiquitous in today's consumer electronics -- powering our laptops, phones, and iPods. Research funded by DARPA is pushing the limits of this technology and trying to create some of the tiniest batteries on Earth, the largest of which would be no bigger than a grain of sand. These tiny energy storage devices could one day be used to power the electronics and mechanical components of tiny micro- to nano-scale devices.

10/19/2010 PERMALINK
Professors urge one-way Martian colonization missions. SOURCE : Would you sign on for a one-way flight to Mars? It's a question that gives pause to even Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a Washington State University associate professor, who, with colleague Paul Davies, a physicist and cosmologist from Arizona State University, argues for precisely such a one-way manned mission to Mars in an article published this month in the Journal of Cosmology. One-way deep space missions are the only rational strategy, but not to Mars for a very simple reason. It is suicidal for a species to keep all its eggs in one basket for a moment longer than necessary, but the place to colonize is the asteroid belt.

10/19/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers create intricate, curving 3-D nanostructures using capillary action. SOURCE : Twisting spires, concentric rings, and gracefully bending petals are a few of the new three-dimensional shapes that University of Michigan engineers can make from carbon nanotubes using a new manufacturing process. The process is called capillary forming, and it takes advantage of capillary action, the phenomenon at work when liquids seem to defy gravity and travel up a drinking straw of their own accord. The new miniature shapes, which are difficult if not impossible to build using any material, have the potential to harness the exceptional mechanical, thermal, electrical, and chemical properties of carbon nanotubes in a scalable fashion, said A. John Hart, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and in the School of Art & Design. They could lead to probes that can interface with individual cells and tissues, novel microfluidic devices, and new materials with a custom patchwork of surface textures and properties.

10/19/2010 PERMALINK
Scientists find gene that protects against alcoholism. SOURCE : Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have discovered a gene variant that may protect against alcoholism. The variant, in a gene called CYP2E1, is associated with a person's response to alcohol. For the ten to twenty percent of people that possess this variant, those first few drinks leave them feeling more inebriated than the rest of the human population, who harbor a different version of the gene. Previous studies had shown that people who react strongly to alcohol were less likely to become alcoholics later in life, but the genetic basis of this finding was not clear. Now the discovery of CYP2E1's role hints at a new mechanism of how people perceive alcohol, and further, how alcohol affects the brain. "We have found a gene that protects against alcoholism, and on top of that, has a very strong effect," said senior study author Kirk Wilhelmsen, M.D., Ph.D., professor of genetics at UNC. "But alcoholism is a very complex disease, and there are lots of complicated reasons why people drink. This may be just one of the reasons."

10/19/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers report progress in developing a long-lasting vaccine that works against any strain of flu. SOURCE : A novel vaccine developed by microbiologist Peter Palese and collaborators at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York showed protective effects in rodents against three different flu strains, with protection ranging from mild (against hemagglutinin 1, such as that of the H1N1 or 'swine' flu) to middling (against the avian flu H5 subtype) to absolute (against the common H3 flu subtype). While the results are far from perfect, the proof-of-principle demonstrates the potential for a universal flu vaccine.

10/18/2010 PERMALINK
Intestinal enzyme helps maintain population of beneficial bacteria. SOURCE : An enzyme that keeps intestinal bacteria out of the bloodstream may also play an important role in maintaining the normal microbial population of the gastrointestinal system. Since the loss of beneficial bacteria that usually results from antibiotic therapy can sometimes lead to serious health problems, a treatment that maintains microbial levels could have significant benefits. "Our mouse studies confirmed that giving this enzyme by mouth keeps the gut healthy, in terms of the microbes that usually live there," says Richard Hodin, MD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Department of Surgery, senior author of the report. "This could prevent infection with dangerous bacteria like Salmonella and C. difficile, which can occur when the normal bacterial population becomes depleted, and may lead to development of a supplement to maintain intestinal health whenever someone takes an antibiotic."

10/18/2010 PERMALINK
The mystery of how genes are selectively silenced has been solved. SOURCE : Cells read only those genes which are needed at a given moment, while the others are chemically labeled and, thus, selectively turned off. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center have now been the first to discover how these labels are placed at exactly the right spot in the genetic material. Important players are regulatory RNA molecules. They form a plait-like triple helix with the DNA serving as a signpost for the labels.

10/18/2010 PERMALINK
Scientists perform first genome-wide study discover genes that regulate human stem cells. SCORCE : A team of scientists led by the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) have discovered the most important genes in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), a crucial breakthrough in discovering how human stem cells work. Their research is the first ever genome-wide study of human stem cells on such a massive scale, and its results are crucial in understanding how stem cells may one day be used to treat debilitating conditions such as Parkinson's disease and traumatic spinal injury.

10/17/2010 PERMALINK
Researches tweak mice so that they 'smell' light. SOURCE : Harvard University neurobiologists have created mice that can 'smell' light, providing a potent new tool that could help researchers better understand the neural basis of olfaction. The work has implications for the future study of smell and of complex perception systems that do not lend themselves to easy study with traditional methods.

10/17/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers locate the key genetic trigger of depression. SOURCE : Yale University researchers have found a gene that seems to be a key contributor to the onset of depression and is a promising target for a new class of antidepressants. "This could be a primary cause, or at least a major contributing factor, to the signaling abnormalities that lead to depression," said Ronald S. Duman, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at Yale and senior author of the study. As many as 40 percent of depressed patients do not respond to currently available medications, which take weeks to months to produce a therapeutic response. Duman's team did whole genome scans on tissue samples from 21 deceased individuals who had been diagnosed with depression and compared gene expression levels to those of 18 individuals who had not been diagnosed with depression. They found that one gene called MKP-1 was increased more than two-fold in the brain tissues of depressed individuals. This was particularly exciting, say the researchers, because the gene inactivates a molecular pathway crucial to the survival and function of neurons and its impairment has been implicated in depression as well as other disorders. Duman's team also found that when the MKP-1 gene is knocked out in mice, the mice become resilient to stress. When the gene is activated, mice exhibit symptoms that mimic depression. The finding that a negative regulator of a key neuronal signaling pathway is increased in depression also identifies MKP-1 as a potential target for a novel class of therapeutic agents, particularly for treatment resistant depression.

10/15/2010 PERMALINK
More coverage of the amino acids supplement mix that extended the lives of middle-aged mice. SOURCE : Amino acids have extended mouse life by 12% Could you be next? Researchers in Italy may have struck upon a health supplement that could extend life. Enzo Nisoli and colleagues developed a cocktail of amino acids and gave it to mice via their water supply. Those mice that received the supplement had a longer median lifespan – 869 days compared to 774 days in the control group, an impressive 12% increase. As recently reported in the journal Cell Metabolism, the mice were all middle aged when testing began, and those given amino acids showed increased energy, muscle coordination, and stamina. Essentially the cocktail helped the middle aged mice stay more youthful. Nisoli believes that the antiaging effects of the amino acids were due to increased production of mitochondria, and lower incidence of damage caused by reactive oxygen species, associated with free radicals. The amino acids used in the cocktail leusine, isoleusine, and valine are known as branched-chain amino acids and are already found in many widely used health supplements!

10/15/2010 PERMALINK
First babies born from genetic screening study. SOURCE : Two women taking part in the world's first controlled study of a comprehensive genetic screening test before IVF have given birth to healthy babies. The babies, twin girls born in Germany in June and a singleton boy born in Italy in September, are the first deliveries in a pilot study of comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) by microarray, a new method of screening oocytes for IVF for a full range of chromosomal disorders. Dr Cristina Magli, embryologist at the SISMER Centre in Bologna, one of the two centres taking part in the trial, said: 'All the babies and their mothers are doing very well in terms of weight and overall developmental performance.' The births, as well as several ongoing pregnancies in the study group, are the final stage in the 'proof of principle' that the screening of oocytes and embryos before transfer in IVF can increase birth rates; both these pregnancies were derived from oocytes whose complete chromosomal status had been assessed by microarray CGH.

10/15/2010 PERMALINK
Breakthrough could make it possible to block starlight completely to find extrasolar planets. SOURCE : Planet hunting telescopes will no longer be blinded by starlight. Using new optics technology developed at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, an international team of astronomers has obtained images of a planet on a much closer orbit around its parent star than any other extrasolar planet previously found. Installed on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, or VLT, atop Paranal Mountain in Chile, the new technology enabled an international team of astronomers to confirm the existence and orbital movement of Beta Pictoris b, a planet about seven to 10 times the mass of Jupiter, around its parent star, Beta Pictoris, 63 light years away. At the core of the system is a small piece of glass with a highly complex pattern inscribed into its surface. Called an Apodizing Phase Plate, or APP, the device blocks out the starlight in a very defined way, allowing planets to show up in the image whose signals were previously drowned out by the star's glare. The breakthrough, which may allow observers to even block out starlight completely with further refinements, was made possible through highly complex mathematical modeling.

10/15/2010 PERMALINK
Mayo Clinic finds early success with laser that destroys tumors with heat. SOURCE : Physicians at Mayo Clinic's Florida campus are among the first in the nation to use a technique known as MRI-guided laser ablation to heat up and destroy kidney and liver tumors. So far, five patients have been successfully treated -- meaning no visible tumors remained after the procedure. This sounds like another great triumph for American medicine. However, what it is instead, is a scandalous indictment of the disincentives to bringing the most effective life saving treatments into the USA.
You see, the Chinese discovered nearly a decade ago that tumors in solid tissue like the pancreas, liver, and kidney can be precisely imaged using devices like ultrasound and MRI. And the tumors can then be precisely and completely destroyed by using those computer images to direct computer controlled beams of sound or laser light to destroy the tumors. The Chinese have been curing people with inoperable tumors for nearly a decade with these computer controlled imaging and beams. People getting these treatments can go right home the same day, cured of their cancer. There is no need to suffer the ravages of chemo, which against pancreatic and liver cancers enjoy only a tiny success rate.
Despite this, however, these revolutionary computer technologies, so effective for so long in China, still remained unavailable here. Because these treatments are so effective and quick, that they are much less profitable for a hospital than the current long regiment of chemo treatments.
Sure they are vastly more effective, but the expenses and difficulties involved in getting something like this through the FDA gestapo has kept it from happening here for nearly a decade already. By the time this gets approved for a full roll out to hospitals, America will be 15 years behind China, all due to the ludicrous costly regulator regime called the FDA. We simply don't know how many hundreds of thousands of Americans will be forced to endure painful and debilitating chemo over that 15 years of regulator delay. Only to eventually die of their pancreatic, liver or kidney cancer because chemo is not very effective for tumors in those organs. All because a know effective cure was being kept off the market by the murderous actions of the bureaucratic executioners at the FDA. Only AIDS suffers have been able to defeat them. By picketing these murders homes, speeches and offices, they were finally able to fast track AIDS drugs. Only when other disease suffer's families are willing to be as militant as AIDS suffers, will this FDA-produced holocaust, which has caused so much death and suffering to so many millions, become a thing of the past.

10/14/2010 PERMALINK
Physicists detect and control quantum states in diamond with light. SOURCE : Physicists at University of California, Santa Barbara have succeeded in combining laser light with trapped electrons to detect and control the electrons' fragile quantum state without erasing it. This is an important step toward using quantum physics to expand computing power and to communicate over long distances without the possibility of eavesdropping.

10/14/2010 PERMALINK
Genetic research finds a pathway that could bring about a cure for age-related hearing loss. : James Ervasti, Ph.D., and colleague Ben Perrin, Ph.D., studied how two very closely related genes contribute to hearing function in mice. Mutations in the same genes are associated with deafness in humans. The duo discovered two key cellular processes that are required to maintain auditory function. The genes encode proteins called β-actin and γ-actin. In humans, deafness-causing mutations have been linked to both proteins. β- and γ-actin comprise the primary structural elements of stereocilia (hair-like fibers in the ear), which convert mechanical sound energy into the nerve signals that allow humans to hear. The two proteins are 99 percent identical; however, their slight differences have been exactly conserved through evolution from birds to mammals, suggesting that each protein may have important and distinct functions. Ervasti and Perrin tested the idea that two closely linked proteins have separate, but important, roles in hearing by knocking out each gene in mouse auditory hair cells.

10/14/2010 PERMALINK
Discovery of molecular switch controling melanin production promises real tanning without the risk of sun or tanning UV exposure. SOURCE : Discovery of a molecular switch that turns off the natural process of skin pigmentation promises to allow activation of the tanning process without exposure to cancer-causing UV radiation. Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cutaneous Biology Research Center (CBRC) describe how blocking the action of this switch, an enzyme called PDE-4D3, in the skin of mice led to a significant increase in melanin production. "The primary goal of inducing melanin production in human skin would be prevention of skin cancer, since all the common forms are known to be associated with UV exposure, " explains David Fisher, MD, PhD, director of the hospital's Department of Dermatology and an investigator at the MGH CBRC, who led the study. "Not only would increased melanin directly block UV radiation, but an alternative way to activate the tanning response could help dissuade people from sun tanning or indoor tanning, both of which are known to raise skin cancer risk."

10/14/2010 PERMALINK
Gene identified that prevents stem cells from turning cancerous. SOURCE : Stem cells, the prodigious precursors of all the tissues in our body, can make almost anything, given the right circumstances. Including, unfortunately, cancer. Now research from Rockefeller University shows that having too many stem cells, or stem cells that live for too long, can increase the odds of developing cancer. By identifying a mechanism that regulates programmed cell death in precursor cells for blood, or hematopoietic stem cells, the work is the first to connect the death of such cells to a later susceptibility to tumors in mice. It also provides evidence of the potentially carcinogenic downside to stem cell treatments, and suggests that nature has sought to balance stem cells' regenerative power against their potentially lethal potency. The research provides a pathway to overcoming what has been a risk associated with using the tremendous power of stem cells to regenerate human tissues to provide cures for numerous diseases and turn back the negative effects of aging.

10/13/2010 PERMALINK
Walking can protect your memory from age-related problems. SOURCE : New research suggests that walking at least six miles per week may protect brain size and in turn, preserve memory in old age. "Brain size shrinks in late adulthood, which can cause memory problems. Our results should encourage well-designed trials of physical exercise in older adults as a promising approach for preventing dementia and Alzheimer's disease," said study author Kirk I. Erickson, PhD, with the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh. For the study, 299 dementia-free people recorded the number of blocks they walked in one week. Then nine years later, scientists took brain scans of the participants to measure their brain size. After four more years, the participants were tested to see if they had developed cognitive impairment or dementia.

10/13/2010 PERMALINK
Compound found in celery, carrots, olive oil and peppers reduces age-related memory deficits. SOURCE : A diet rich in the plant compound luteolin reduces age-related inflammation in the brain and related memory deficits by directly inhibiting the release of inflammatory molecules in the brain, researchers report. Luteolin (LOOT-ee-oh-lin) is found in many plants, including carrots, peppers, celery, olive oil, peppermint, rosemary and chamomile. The researchers focused on microglial cells, specialized immune cells that reside in the brain and spinal cord. Infections stimulate microglia to produce signaling molecules, called cytokines, which spur a cascade of chemical changes in the brain. Some of these signaling molecules, the inflammatory cytokines, induce "sickness behavior": the sleepiness, loss of appetite, memory deficits and depressive behaviors that often accompany illness. Inflammation in the brain also appears to be a key contributor to age-related memory problems, said University of Illinois animal sciences professor Rodney Johnson, who led the new study. Johnson directs the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Illinois. "We found previously that during normal aging, microglial cells become dysregulated and begin producing excessive levels of inflammatory cytokines," he said. "We think this contributes to cognitive aging and is a predisposing factor for the development of neurodegenerative diseases."

10/12/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers have developed a new experimental compound that can improve memory and cognitive function in ageing mice. SOURCE : Researchers at the University of Edinburgh are investigating a new compound with a view to developing a drug that could slow the natural decline in memory associated with ageing. The team has identified a preclinical candidate that they hope to take into human trials within a year. Many people find they become more forgetful as they get older and we generally accept it as a natural part of the ageing process. Absent mindedness and a difficulty to concentrate are not uncommon, it takes longer to recall a person's name, and we can't remember where we left the car keys. These can all be early signs of the onset of dementia, but for most of us it's just part of getting old. Such memory loss has been linked with high levels of 'stress' steroid hormones known as glucocorticoids which have a deleterious effect on the part of the brain that helps us to remember. An enzyme called 11beta-HSD1 is involved in making these hormones and has been shown to be more active in the brain during ageing. The new synthetic compound selectively blocks 11beta-HSD1, improving the ability of mice to complete a standard memory task called the Y maze.

10/12/2010 PERMALINK
Diabetes gene linked to degeneration of enzyme involved in Alzheimer's disease onset and progression. SOURCE : Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have found that a gene associated with the onset of type 2 diabetes also is found at lower-than-normal levels in people with Alzheimer's disease. The research, led by professor in neurology, psychiatry and geriatrics, Giulio Maria Pasinetti, M.D., Ph.D. of Mount Sinai School of Medicine was published this month in Aging Cell. Recent evidence indicates that healthy elderly subjects affected by Type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, but researchers have previously been unable to explain how.

10/12/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers find genetic defect that causes progressive brain atrophy. SOURCE : Prof. Ohad Birk of the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev has detected a genetic mutation and determined that the defect is associated with the production of the 21st amino acid, selenocysteine, which leads to progressive brain atrophy. Development of a genetic fix for this gene defect could prevent the progressive disease of severe mental retardation and epilepsy that begins in infancy. The research was just published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

10/12/2010 PERMALINK
New long-lasting cyborg heart implanted in heart-failure patient. SOURCE : In another step toward the development of permanent cyborg hearts, the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre is now implanting a new kind of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) to treat advanced heart failure. The new device is longer lasting than older generation LVADs that frequently require replacement implants.

10/12/2010 PERMALINK
Global research effort finding the genes that can prevent obesity. SOURCE : Two major international studies looking at data from a quarter of a million people around the globe have found a new set of genes associated with body fat distribution and obesity. Researchers at 280 institutions worldwide, including Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, conducted the studies. The research sheds light on the biological processes involved in body fat distribution, possibly leading to new ways of treating obesity.

10/12/2010 PERMALINK
Technique lets biologists design and assemble large pieces of DNA much more quickly than before. SOURCE : A rapid DNA-synthesis technique has been used to synthesize a complete mitochondrial genome from scratch. Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland, used the method to make the entire genome of a cellular organelle called the mitochondria, a step that could lead to therapies for metabolic diseases. The new method will also be used to make vaccines rapidly by a startup company called Synthetic Genomics Vaccines.

10/11/2010 PERMALINK
Two companies to sequence over a million genomes within 5 years. SOURCE : For the new personal genetic era of medicine to really take hold. Lots of genomes must be sequenced to determine baseline norms and which variation cause particular diseases or contribute to the effects of aging. Complete Genomics has announced it will sequence a million genomes in the next five years and GATC Biotech has announced that it will sequence 100,000 human genomes by 2014. GATC plans on using sequencing technology from other industry leaders, including Illumina’s HiSeq2000 and Pacific Bio’s PacBio RS single molecule platform, to achieve their goal. This should create a large enough database of genomic data for researchers to begin rapidly advancing the field of personal genetic medicine. Provided that the data is made available to many genetic researchers, which presumably these companies intend to do.

10/10/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers develop oral RNA delivery system for treating inflammatory bowel diseases. SOURCE : Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University have developed a novel approach for delivering small bits of genetic material into the body to improve the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. Delivering short strands of RNA into cells has become a popular research area because of its potential therapeutic applications, but how to deliver them into targeted cells in a living organism has been an obstacle. 'The thioketal nanoparticles we designed are stable in both acids and bases and only break open to release the pieces of RNA in the presence of reactive oxygen species, which are found in and around inflamed tissue in the gastrointestinal tract of individuals with inflammatory bowel diseases,' said Niren Murthy, an associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.

10/10/2010 PERMALINK
A lightweight retinal projector that enhances your reality with relevant data has debuted in Japan. SOURCE : The headset, created by Olympus and phone-maker NTT Docomo, weighs just 20 grams and uses Reality Enhancement Software (RES) running on an attached phone. While RES glasses are not new, the miniature projecting retinal display featured on these specs make the device seem much more practical for an ordinary user.

10/08/2010 PERMALINK
Four leading bioethicists condemn the FDA gestapo's efforts to obstruct direct-to-consumer genetic tests. SOURCE : 'Many genetic tests make long-term predictions, and there may be decades of uncertainty before their risks and benefits are fully known,' said Amy L. McGuire of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. 'If we wait until robust premarket data are available, that could delay development of new tests and essentially regulate many DTC companies out of existence.' Personalized medicine is the future of medicine, but because PM develops treatments is that are uniquely tailored to match an individual's personal genetic and microbiome makeup, it is anathema to regulators. Regulators kill millions annually by keeping effective new treatments unavailable for years. Hundreds are quietly killed daily for every one that might be saved by keeping a dangerous drug off the market. And holding back the arrival of personalized genetic medicine is about to cause the death toll from this regulatory holocaust to exploding upward even further. All the needless death and suffering will not end until the families of the tens of millions of sick and dying people, who could be helped by technologies being held off the market for years longer than necessary by these despicable regulators, do what the homosexual community did to get their drugs fast-tracked. They went after the regulators that were murdering their friends and lovers personally, follow them around and picketing their speeches, offices and homes.

10/08/2010 PERMALINK
Stem cells repair damaged spinal cord tissue. SOURCE : Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown how stem cells, together with other cells, repair damaged tissue in the mouse spinal cord. The results are of potential significance to the development of therapies for spinal cord injury. The research group has identified a type of stem cell, called an ependymal cell, in the spinal cord. They show that these cells are inactive in the healthy spinal cord, and that the cell formation that takes place does so mainly through the division of more mature cells. When the spinal cord is injured, however, these stem cells are activated to become the dominant source of new cells.

10/08/2010 PERMALINK
How close is a workable brain/computer interface? SOURCE : Scientists led by Eduardo Ianez of Miguel Hernandez University have for the first time combined a number of desirable features into a single brain-computer interface that is non-invasive, spontaneous, and asynchronous. Users drive the system simply by imagining what they want to happen -- for example, they could visualize moving their hand in the direction they want the arm to move.

10/07/2010 PERMALINK
Your neural responses are different when a member of your group suffers. SOURCE : If you witnessing a person from your own group suffer pain, a different region of your brain lights up in scans than when you witness an outsider suffering pain. And, the specific region activated reveals whether or not you will help the person in need. Researchers at the University of Zurich studied the brain responses of soccer fans to create this neurobiological evidence for why humans are most willing to help those they identify as members of their own group. It's easy to see how this might have evolved. Since in tribal societies, members of your own group would always share more of your own genes than members of another tribe.

10/07/2010 PERMALINK
Researcher discovers mechanism for changing adult cells into stem-like cells. SOURCE : University of Colorado Cancer Center researcher Chuan-Yuan Li, PhD, and his group have discovered that so-called 'grim-reaper' caspase genes are the gatekeepers that can open the door to allow differentiated adult cells to regress to undifferentiated iPSCs.

10/07/2010 PERMALINK
Stem cell differentiation found to be strongly influenced by the shape of their surroundings. SOURCE : Many scientists aspire to take control over the stem cell differentiation process, so that we can grow organs and implants perfectly matched to each patient in the future. New research by Laura McNamara of the University of Glasgow's Centre for Cell Engineering and colleagues from Columbia University's Nanotechnology Centre for Mechanics in Regenerative Medicine and the Bone and Joint Research Group at the University of Southampton shows how engineering the topography on which stem cells grow, and the mechanical forces working on them, can be as powerful an agent for change as their chemical environment.

10/07/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers take the next step in 'personalized medicine'. SOURCE : Dr. Noam Shomron of Tel Aviv University is developing a new method for the advancement of personalized medicine. With the help of a deep sequencer, a machine that reads the human genome and its expression, Dr. Shomron is looking at how the genetic expression of small regulatory genes, called microRNAs, affects the way a patient reacts to medication. This could mean fewer dangerous side-effect and deaths from adverse drug reactions and more effective regulation of dosages. Twenty years from now, people will judge the idea of one treatment fits all medicine as only a little above going to a witch doctor. Medicine is changing into a new discipline that accesses your unique genetic and microbiome factors and tweaks those to correct problems and prevent illnesses. Most docs and hospitals are way behind the curve on this. Finding one that keeps up is vital to your future good health.

10/07/2010 PERMALINK
America spends twice as much of our GDP on health care as other developed nations, but our life expectancy keeps falling further behind theirs. SOURCE : America continues to lag behind other nations when it comes to gains in life expectancy, and commonly cited causes for our poor performance -- obesity, smoking, traffic fatalities and homicide -- are not to blame. When rated against 12 developed nations -- Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, they beat us on every metric of health, while we spend twice as much as any of them do. Why? Because America's health care system incentivizes hospitals to give more drugs and perform more procedures. So the focus gets shifted away from keeping patients healthy and millions of unnecessary drugs and procedures are inflicted on hospital patients in America each year. If a government or private insurance provider will pay for a treatment, patients are far more likely in America to get it. Many millions of unnecessary drugs and procedures are inflicted on Americans every year, and every one of these unnecessary procedures carries risk. That is why the 12 other developed nations can spend half what we do and still get better results.

10/07/2010 PERMALINK
The Google Goggles reality enhancement system (RES) has been added to the Google Mobile App for iPhone. SOURCE : This clips shows you some of the things that are possible with Google Goggles. Enhancing your surrounding reality with a personal smart bot edited data set overlay is one of the most powerful technologies on the horizon for cognition enhancement. Imagine being able to glance at anything and instantly know as much about it as you need to know.

10/07/2010 PERMALINK
Biologists show good bacteria modulate an important signaling pathway where colorectal cancer takes root. In the latest evidence that properly balancing the microbes in your gut is vital for good health, University of Oregon researchers find that gut microbes could be a target for reducing your cancer risks. Resident microbes in the still-maturing intestine were found to send messages that promote non-disease-related cell proliferation in the same Wnt [pronounced went] signaling pathway where genetic mutations have long been known to give rise to colorectal cancer. Achieving the right balance of healthy gut microbes may be able to mitigate you cancer risk, along with the many other positive health effects that it has been found to provide.

10/06/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers trace the neuronal circuitry between your eyes and brain. SOURCE : By comparing a clearly defined visual input with the electrical output of the retina, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies were able to trace for the first time the neuronal circuitry that connects individual photoreceptors with retinal ganglion cells, the neurons that carry visuals signals from the eye to the brain.

10/06/2010 PERMALINK
A series of clips show the learning capabilities of bots controlled by rat brain cells. SOURCE : The skills of these rat-robot hybrids are very basic at this point. Mainly the neuron control helps the robot to avoid walls. Yet that obstacle avoidance often shows clear improvement over time, demonstrating how networks of neurons can grant simple learning to the machines. Whenever I watch the robots in the videos below I have to do a quick reality check – these machines are being controlled by biological cells! It’s simply amazing.

10/06/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers determine how iron levels in your body cause the brain-destroying plaques leading to dementia. SOURCE : Massachusetts General Hospital researchers say they have determined how iron contributes to the production of brain-destroying plaques found in Alzheimer's patients. The team reports that there is a very close link between elevated levels of iron in the brain and the enhanced production of the amyloid precursor protein, which in Alzheimer's disease breaks down into a peptide that makes up the destructive plaques. Dr. Jack T. Rogers, the head of the hospital's neurochemistry lab who oversaw the team's work, said the findings "lay the foundation for the development of new therapies that will slow or stop the negative effects of iron buildup" in patients with the progressive neurodegenerative disease, symptoms of which include memory loss, impaired judgment, disorientation and personality changes. Under healthy conditions, if there's too much iron in a brain cell, more APP is made, and then APP and a partner molecule escort excess iron out. If there's too little iron, fewer APP molecules are made available to help escort iron out. As a result, iron accumulates, and the process begins again in a feedback loop.
Another important player in the system of checks and balances used to regulate iron in brain cells is IRP1, which stands for iron-regulating protein 1, the special molecule attaches to the messenger RNA that holds the recipe for making APP. When there's less iron in the brain cell, IRP1 is more likely to hook up with the RNA, which prevents the production of APP. When there's abundant iron present, IRP1 doesn't hook up with the RNA, and APP production becomes excessive.

10/06/2010 PERMALINK
Evolutionary theory predicts that globalization will cause more, deeper recessions and slower rates of recovery. SOURCE : Nature exhibits modularity throughout its hierarchy. A few years ago, physicists Jun Sun and Michael Deem of Rice University published a paper explaining why. Modularity, they found, allows a system to more easily evolve and reduces the chances of catastrophic collapse due to some kind of outside influence, such as climate change or disease. They went on to show that modularity emerges spontaneously in a evolutionary algorithms that change relatively slowly and swap information. Simply put, nature has sense enough not to put all its eggs in one basket. Unfortunately, the corporations and politicos that have redesigned the world's economic system in recent years to be a just-in-time delivery, globalized system. Failed to understand that science tells us this model will insure more frequent and catastrophic failures of our economic system. That this natural phenomenon effects economic systems as well as natural ones has been amply confirmed by real world data, say econophysicists.

10/05/2010 PERMALINK
A tracking device that fits on the head of a pin. SOURCE : Prof. Koby Scheuer of Tel Aviv University has developed nano-sized optical gyroscopes that can fit on the head of a pin or, more usefully, on an average-sized computer chip without compromising the device's sensitivity. These gyroscopes will have the ability to pick up smaller rotation rates, delivering higher accuracy locomotion data capture in a nano form-factor.

10/05/2010 PERMALINK
Amino acid supplement makes mice live longer SOURCE : When mice are given drinking water laced with a special concoction of amino acids, they live longer than your average mouse, according to a new report. The key ingredients in the supplemental mixture are so-called branched-chain amino acids, which account for 3 of the 20 amino acids (specifically leucine, isoleucine, and valine) that are the building blocks of proteins. "This is the first demonstration that an amino acid mixture can increase survival in mice," said Enzo Nisoli of Milan University in Italy, noting that researchers last year showed that leucine, isoleucine, and valine extend the life span of single-celled yeast. In the new study, the researchers gave middle-aged, male mice extra branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) in their drinking water. The animals were otherwise healthy and eating standard mouse chow.

10/05/2010 PERMALINK
A smart bot named NELL is learning how to comprehend your language by reading everything on the Web. SOURCE : Can computers learn to read? Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University think so. Read the Web is a research project that attempts to create a computer system that learns over time to read the web. Since January 2010, our computer system called NELL (Never-Ending Language Learner) has been running continuously, attempting to perform two tasks each day. First, it attempts to read, or extract facts from text found in hundreds of millions of web pages (e.g., playsInstrument(George_Harrison, guitar)). Second, it attempts to improve its reading competence, so that tomorrow it can extract more facts from the web, more accurately. As of October 2010, NELL has acquired a knowledge base of nearly 440,000 beliefs that it has read from various web pages. It is not perfect, but NELL is learning. Hopefully, this will turn out to be a fast path to truly smart personal digital assistant bots capable of vastly extending your mind's capabilities.

10/05/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers develop a flexible diamond-studded electrode that can be implanted for life. SOURCE : In a major step towards developing the capacity to link your brain directly to the net. Two Case Western Reserve University researchers are building implants made of diamond and flexible polymer that are designed to identify chemical and electrical changes in the brain of patients suffering from neural disease, or to stimulate nerves and restore movement in the paralyzed.The tiny implant would last for life and be capable of both stimulating and monitoring nerves.

10/05/2010 PERMALINK
Fish oil linked to increased risk of colon cancer in mice. SOURCE : Fish oil -- long encouraged by doctors as a supplement to support heart and joint health -- induced severe colitis and colon cancer in mice in research led by Michigan State University and published this month in Cancer Research. Jenifer Fenton led the research that supports establishing a dose limit for docosahexaenoic acid, one of the omega-3 fatty acids present in fish oil, particularly in people suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases.

10/04/2010 PERMALINK
Boy gets first permanent cyborg heart implanted. SOURCE : A 15-year-old boy has become the first child patient in the world to be permanently implanted with an artificial heart. The boy, who has not been named, underwent a 10 hour operation last week and is still in intensive care but has woken up following the surgery and said to be well and talking. Dr. Antonio Amodeo carried out the operation with an eight strong team at the Bambino Gesu Children's Hospital in Rome. Since the boy suffers from a muscle wasting illness called Duchenne syndrome he was not eligible to be placed on the heart transplant waiting list. His doctors say that, unlike other artificial heart operations, which are temporary until a heart can be found, this implant is a permanent one and is expected to give the boy another 20-25 years of normal life.

10/04/2010 PERMALINK
Discovery of a cell that suppresses the immune system. SOURCE : Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have identified a new type of cell in mice that dampens the immune system and protects the animal's own cells from immune system attack. '"These CD8+ T suppressor cells represent a potential new lever for lowering the strength of the immune response in autoimmune diseases such as lupus,' said Dr. Harvey Cantor, the leader of the research team.

10/04/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers discover a new repair mechanism for fixing damaged DNA. SOURCE : Researchers at Vanderbilt University, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pittsburgh have discovered a fundamentally new way that DNA-repair enzymes detect and fix damage to the chemical bases that form the letters in the genetic code. All the known glycosylases work in basically the same fashion: They flip out the deformed base and hold it in a special pocket while they excise it. AlkD, by contrast, forces both the deformed base and the base it is paired with to flip to the outside of the double helix. This appears to work because the enzyme only operates on deformed bases that have picked up an excess positive charge, making these bases very unstable. If left alone, the deformed base will detach spontaneously. But AlkD speeds up the process by about 100 times. 'The enzyme might also remain at the location and attract additional repair enzymes to the site,' speculates Brandt Eichman, associate professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt, who directed the project.

10/04/2010 PERMALINK
Scientists build a nanoscale Mobius strip the size of a virus using DNA. SOURCE : Scientists at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University Biodesign Institute, led by Hao Yan and Yan Liu, have reproduced a Möbius strip on a remarkably tiny scale, joining up braid-like segments of DNA to create structures measuring just 50 nanometers across -- roughly the width of a virus particle.

10/04/2010 PERMALINK
Walnuts, walnut oil, improves your body's reaction to stress. SOURCE : A diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil may prepare the body to deal better with stress, according to a team of Penn State researchers who looked at how these foods, which contain polyunsaturated fats, influence blood pressure at rest and under stress.

10/03/2010 PERMALINK
Elasticity can stretch stem cell production levels by 300%. SOURCE : One of the major challenges in stem cell transplants is how to obtain sufficient numbers of these remarkably rare cells to put into patients. To help overcome this issue, research from the Centenary Institute, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the University of Sydney has found a way to increase the number of blood-forming stem cells when growing them outside of the body. By using a unique stretchy surface that allows the cells to pull on it, the researchers found they could generate up to three times more stem cells than using current methods alone. Researchers say that these findings could significantly improve the outcomes of stem cell transplants.

10/03/2010 PERMALINK
Conclusive proof found that the wearing down of your telomeres is what causes you to age. SOURCE : In a breakthrough study, a team led by Jan Karlseder, Ph.D. at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, reports that as cells count down to senescence and telomeres wear down, their DNA undergoes massive changes in the way it is packaged. These changes likely trigger what we call aging. 'Prior to this study we knew that telomeres get shorter and shorter as a cell divides and that when they reach a critical length, cells stop dividing or die,' said Karlseder, an associate professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory. 'Something must translate the local signal at chromosome ends into a huge signal felt throughout the nucleus. But there was a big gap in between.' Karlseder and postdoctoral fellow Roddy O'Sullivan, Ph.D., began to close the gap by comparing levels of proteins called histones in young cells-cells that had divided 30 times-with "late middle-aged" cells, which had divided 75 times and were on the downward slide to senescence, which occurs at 85 divisions. Histone proteins bind linear DNA strands and compress them into nuclear complexes, collectively referred to as chromatin. The researchers found that aging cells simply made less histone protein than do young cells. 'We were surprised to find that histone levels decreased as cells aged,' said O'Sullivan, the study's first author. 'These proteins are required throughout the genome, and therefore any event that disrupts this production line affects the stability of the entire genome.'
The team then undertook exhaustive time-lapse comparisons of histones in young versus aging cells and confirmed that marked differences in the abundance and variety of histones were evident at every step as cells moved through cell division. O'Sullivan calls the default histone pattern displayed by young cells 'happy, healthy chromatin.' By contrast, he says, aging cells appear to undergo stress as they duplicate their chromosomes in preparation for cell division and have difficulty restoring a 'healthy' chromatin pattern once division is complete. Comparisons of histone patterns in cells taken from human subjects-a 9- versus a 92-year-old-dramatically mirrored histone trends seen in cell lines. 'These key experiments suggest that what we observe in cultured cells in a laboratory setting actually occurs and is relevant to aging in a population,' says Karlseder.

10/01/2010 PERMALINK
Gene variations that alter a key enzyme appear to be a cause of prostate cancer. SOURCE : Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found that variations in a gene for an enzyme involved in cell energy metabolism appear to increase the risk for prostate cancer. The genetic variations all impair the enzyme phosphodiesterase 11A, which helps regulate a cell's responses to hormones and other signals.

10/01/2010 PERMALINK
In a significant breakthrough, researchers engineer adult stem cells that do not age. SOURCE : Biomedical researchers at the University at Buffalo have engineered adult stem cells that scientists can grow continuously in culture, a discovery that could speed development of cost-effective tissue regeneration treatments for many diseases including heart disease, diabetes, immune disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.