ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Rare blurring of black hole light spotted
• Focal blood-brain-barrier disruption with high-frequency pulsed electric fields
• Is empathy in humans and apes actually different?
• Awake within a dream: lucid dreamers show greater insight in waking life
• Treating mental illness by changing memories of things past
• Our ancestor's 'leaky' membrane answers big questions in biology
• Hijacking the brain's blood supply: Tumor discovery could aid treatment
• Antarctic insect's genome, newly sequenced, is smallest to date: Bare-bones genome is adaptation to deep freeze
• Geckos use toe hairs to turn stickiness on/off
• Climate change, predators, and trickle down effects on ecosystems
• Size matters when convincing your brain to eat healthier foods
• Biomarker could reveal why some develop post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd)
• Follow the radio waves to find hidden exomoons
• Easier way to manipulate malaria genes
• Highly drug resistant, virulent strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa arises in Ohio
• Reconstructions show how some of the earliest animals lived -- and died
• Native bacteria block Wolbachia from being passed to mosquito progeny
• Gloves after hand washing associated with fewer infections in preterm babies
• Elusive viral 'machine' architecture finally rendered
• Bisphosphonates for osteoporosis not associated with reduced breast cancer risk, study suggests
• Trapped atmospheric waves triggering more weather extremes: Trend expected to continue
• Digoxin tied to increased risk of death in patients with atrial fibrillation
• Blacks, women face greater burden from CVD risk factors
• Want to kill creativity of women in teams? Fire up the competition
• Vaccine alternative protects mice against malaria
• Medicinal oil reduces debilitating epileptic seizures associated with glut 1 deficiency, trial shows
• Mapping infant brain growth in first three months of life using MRI technology
• A global temperature conundrum: Cooling or warming climate?
• Therapy for ultraviolet laser beams: Hydrogen-treated fibers
• Synthetic molecule makes cancer self-destruct
• Climate change and drought in ancient times
• Comets forge organic molecules in their dusty atmospheres
• Novel drug action against solid tumors explained
• Long-sought drug candidate can halt tumor growth, scientists demonstrate
• Bioengineers create functional 3-D brain-like tissue: Tissue kept alive for months
• Preemies' gut bacteria may depend more on gestational age than environment
• Malaria medicine chloroquine inhibits tumor growth, metastases, study shows
• Links between city design, health shown in study
• 'Dimmer switch' drug idea could tackle schizophrenia without side effects
• Gene likely to promote childhood cancers pinpointed by researchers
• New cause of osteoarthritis identified by research on a rare disease
• Megascale icebergs ran aground near Greenland in last 800,000 years
• Postmenopausal breast cancer risk decreases rapidly after starting regular physical activity
• Cancer-causing mechanism behind powerful human oncogene identified
• Blood cells are new, unexpected source of neurons in crayfish
• Keeping viruses at bay: How our immunosensory system attacks viruses on a molecular level
• Testosterone in healthy men increases their brains' response to threat
• Interior of cell from moving protein's point of view
• First gene therapy trial launched for heart patients with mechanical pumps

Rare blurring of black hole light spotted Posted: 12 Aug 2014 11:20 AM PDT Scientists have captured an extreme and rare event in the regions immediately surrounding a supermassive black hole. A compact source of X-rays that sits near the black hole, called the corona, has moved closer to the black hole over a period of just days.

Focal blood-brain-barrier disruption with high-frequency pulsed electric fields Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:24 AM PDT A novel method uses bursts of nanosecond duration electric pulses to open the blood-brain-barrier as a potential therapy for brain cancer and neurological disorders. The Vascular Enabled Integrated Nanosecond pulse (VEIN pulse) procedure consists of inserting minimally invasive needle electrodes into the diseased tissue and applying multiple bursts of nanosecond pulses with alternating polarity.

Is empathy in humans and apes actually different? Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:22 AM PDT Whether or not humans are the only empathic beings is still under debate. In a new study, researchers directly compared the 'yawn contagion' effect between humans and bonobos -- our closest evolutionary cousins. By doing so they were able to directly compare the empathic abilities of ourselves with another species, and found that a close relationship between individuals is more important to their empathic response than the fact that individuals might be from the same species.

Awake within a dream: lucid dreamers show greater insight in waking life Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:18 AM PDT People who are aware they are asleep when they are dreaming have better than average problem-solving abilities, new research has discovered. Experts say that those who experience 'lucid dreaming' – a phenomena where someone who is asleep can recognize that they are dreaming – can solve problems in the waking world better than those who remain unaware of the dream until they wake up. The concept of lucid dreaming was explored in the 2010 film Inception, where the dreamers were able to spot incongruities within their dream. It is thought some people are able to do this because of a higher level of insight, meaning their brains detect they are in a dream because events would not make sense otherwise.

Treating mental illness by changing memories of things past Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:18 AM PDT Author Marcel Proust makes a compelling case that our identities and decisions are shaped in profound and ongoing ways by our memories. This truth is powerfully reflected in mental illnesses, like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addictions. In PTSD, memories of traumas intrude vividly upon consciousness, causing distress, driving people to avoid reminders of their traumas, and increasing risk for addiction and suicide. In addiction, memories of drug use influence reactions to drug-related cues and motivate compulsive drug use.

Our ancestor's 'leaky' membrane answers big questions in biology Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:17 AM PDT All life on Earth came from one common ancestor –- a single-celled organism -– but what it looked like, how it lived and how it evolved into today's modern cells is a four billion year old mystery being solved by researchers at using mathematical modelling. Findings suggest for the first time that life's Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) had a 'leaky' membrane, which helps scientists answer two of biology's biggest questions.

Hijacking the brain's blood supply: Tumor discovery could aid treatment Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:16 AM PDT Dangerous brain tumors hijack the brain's existing blood supply throughout their progression, by growing only within narrow potential spaces between and along the brain's thousands of small blood vessels. The findings help explain why drugs that aim to stop growth of new vessels have failed in brain tumor clinical trials.

Antarctic insect's genome, newly sequenced, is smallest to date: Bare-bones genome is adaptation to deep freeze Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:13 AM PDT Scientists who sequenced the genome of the Antarctic midge suspect the genome's small size – the smallest in insects described to date – can probably be explained by the midge's adaptation to its extreme living environment.

Geckos use toe hairs to turn stickiness on/off Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:13 AM PDT If you've ever watched a gecko, you probably wondered about their uncanny ability to adhere to any surface -- including upside down. It turns out the little lizards can turn the "stickiness" of toe hairs on their feet on and off, which enables them to run at great speeds or cling to ceilings without expending much energy. Researchers describe new work exploring the subtleties of geckos' adhesion system mechanism.

Climate change, predators, and trickle down effects on ecosystems Posted: 11 Aug 2014 03:03 PM PDT Because predator species are animals that survive by preying on other organisms, they send ripples throughout the food web, regulating the effects other animals have on that ecosystem. Ecologists are just beginning to understand how the impacts of climate change are affecting predatory keystone species and their ecosystems.

Size matters when convincing your brain to eat healthier foods Posted: 11 Aug 2014 03:02 PM PDT Playing with the portions of good and not-so-good-for-you foods is better than trying to eliminate bad foods, according to a study. The idea is to not give up entirely foods that provide pleasure but aren't nutritious. Instead, the focus should be on lowering the portion of the "vice" foods and correspondingly raising the portion of a healthy food to replace it, researchers report.

Biomarker could reveal why some develop post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) Posted: 11 Aug 2014 03:02 PM PDT Blood expression levels of genes targeted by the stress hormones called glucocorticoids could be a physical measure, or biomarker, of risk for developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), researchers report. PTSD is triggered by a terrifying event, either witnessed or experienced. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD, which is why the study aimed to identify biomarkers that could better measure each person's vulnerability to the disorder.

Follow the radio waves to find hidden exomoons Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:02 PM PDT Scientists hunting for life beyond Earth have discovered more than 1,800 planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, in recent years, but so far, no one has been able to confirm an exomoon. Now, physicists believe following a trail of radio wave emissions may lead them to that discovery.

Easier way to manipulate malaria genes Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:02 PM PDT A new approach to knocking out parasite's genes could make it easier to identify drug targets. Biological engineers have now demonstrated that a new genome-editing technique, called CRISPR, can disrupt a single parasite gene with a success rate of up to 100 percent -- in a matter of weeks. This approach could enable much more rapid gene analysis and boost drug-development efforts, they say.

Highly drug resistant, virulent strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa arises in Ohio Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:02 PM PDT A team of clinician researchers has discovered a highly virulent, multidrug resistant form of the pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in patient samples in Ohio. Their investigation suggests that the particular genetic element involved, which is still rare in the United States, has been spreading heretofore unnoticed, and that surveillance is urgently needed.

Reconstructions show how some of the earliest animals lived -- and died Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:02 PM PDT A bizarre group of uniquely shaped organisms known as rangeomorphs may have been some of the earliest animals to appear on Earth, uniquely suited to ocean conditions 575 million years ago. A new model has resolved many of the mysteries around the structure, evolution and extinction of these 'proto animals.'

Native bacteria block Wolbachia from being passed to mosquito progeny Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:01 PM PDT Native bacteria living inside mosquitoes prevent the insects from passing Wolbachia bacteria -- which can make the mosquitoes resistant to the malaria parasite -- to their offspring, according to a team of researchers. The team found that Asaia, a type of bacteria that occurs naturally in Anopheles mosquitoes, blocks invasion of Wolbachia into the mosquitoes' germlines -- the cells that are passed on through successive generations of an organism -- thus stopping the insects from transmitting Wolbachia to their offspring.

Gloves after hand washing associated with fewer infections in preterm babies Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:01 PM PDT Extremely premature babies in a neonatal intensive care unit had fewer infections when medical staff wore gloves after washing their hands compared with hand washing alone. Even after hand washing, medical staff can still have microorganisms on their hands. This can be dangerous for extremely preterm newborns because of their immature immune systems and underdeveloped skin and mucosal barriers.

Elusive viral 'machine' architecture finally rendered Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:01 PM PDT Biologists have worked with the Lambda virus as a model system for more than 50 years but they've never had an overarching picture of the molecular machines that allow it to insert or remove DNA from the cells that it infects. Now they can, thanks to an advance that highlights the intriguingly intricate way the virus accomplishes its genetic manipulations.

Bisphosphonates for osteoporosis not associated with reduced breast cancer risk, study suggests Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:01 PM PDT An analysis of data from two randomized clinical trials finds that 3-4 years of treatment with bisphosphonates to improve bone density is not linked to reduced risk of invasive postmenopausal breast cancer. Some studies have suggested that bisphosphonates, which are commonly used to treat osteoporosis, may have antitumor and antimetastatic properties. Some observational studies have suggested bisphosphonates may protect women from breast cancer.

Trapped atmospheric waves triggering more weather extremes: Trend expected to continue Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:01 PM PDT Weather extremes in the summer -- such as the record heat wave in the United States that hit corn farmers and worsened wildfires in 2012 -- have reached an exceptional number in the last ten years. Human-made global warming can explain a gradual increase in periods of severe heat, but the observed change in the magnitude and duration of some events is not so easily explained.

Digoxin tied to increased risk of death in patients with atrial fibrillation Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:01 PM PDT In 'An Account of the Foxglove and Some of its Medical Uses,' published in 1785, Sir William Withering cautioned readers that extracts from the plant foxglove, also called digitalis, was not a perfect drug. 'Time will fix the real value upon this discovery,' he wrote. Now, more than 200 years later, researchers have validated Withering's warning with the discovery that patients with atrial fibrillation who are treated with the digitalis-derivative digoxin are more likely to die than similar patients who received different treatments.

Blacks, women face greater burden from CVD risk factors Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:00 PM PDT The impact of major cardiovascular risk factors combined is greater in women than men and in blacks than whites, research shows. While the gender gap may be narrowing, differences by race may be increasing. Researchers studied population attributable risk (PAR) changes for the five major modifiable cardiovascular risk factors -- high cholesterol, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. The PAR is a measure that considers how common a risk factor is and by how much the factor raises the chance of future cardiovascular disease.

Want to kill creativity of women in teams? Fire up the competition Posted: 11 Aug 2014 01:59 PM PDT Women tend to outperform men when it comes to collaboration and creativity in small working groups, but force teams to go head to head in highly competitive environments and the benefits of a female approach are soon reversed, suggests new research. The study suggests that men benefit creatively from going head-to-head with other groups, while groups of women operate better in less competitive situations.

Vaccine alternative protects mice against malaria Posted: 11 Aug 2014 01:58 PM PDT Injecting a vaccine-like compound into mice was effective in protecting them from malaria, a study suggests. The findings suggest a potential new path toward the elusive goal of malaria immunization. Malaria is one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases, killing as many as 1 million people per year, the majority of them children in Africa.

Medicinal oil reduces debilitating epileptic seizures associated with glut 1 deficiency, trial shows Posted: 11 Aug 2014 01:58 PM PDT A rare metabolic disease that caused hundreds of seizures daily for a 6-year-old is now significantly under control as part of a clinical trial that uses a medicinal oil for treatment. Within hours, treatment with an edible oil dramatically reduced the number of seizures for then-4-year-old.

Mapping infant brain growth in first three months of life using MRI technology Posted: 11 Aug 2014 01:58 PM PDT A new approach to measuring early brain development of infants has been developed by scientists, resulting in more accurate whole brain growth charts and providing the first estimates for growth trajectories of subcortical areas during the first three months after birth. For the first time, researchers used MRI of the newborn brain to calculate the volume of multiple brain regions and to map out regional growth trajectories during the infant's first 90 days of life.

A global temperature conundrum: Cooling or warming climate? Posted: 11 Aug 2014 01:58 PM PDT When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently requested a figure on global temperature trends for its annual report, some scientists knew that was going to be a problem. They describe a consistent global warming trend over the course of the Holocene counter to a study published last year.

Therapy for ultraviolet laser beams: Hydrogen-treated fibers Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:16 PM PDT Scientists have known for years that hydrogen can alter the performance of optical fibers, which are often used to transmit or even generate laser light in optical devices. Now researchers have put this to practical use to make optical fibers that transmit stable, high-power ultraviolet laser light for hundreds of hours without damage.

Synthetic molecule makes cancer self-destruct Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:16 PM PDT A molecule that can cause cancer cells to self-destruct by ferrying sodium and chloride ions into the cancer cells has been developed by scientists. These synthetic ion transporters confirm a two-decades-old hypothesis that could point the way to new anticancer drugs while also benefiting patients with cystic fibrosis.

Climate change and drought in ancient times Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:15 PM PDT The influence of climate on agriculture is believed to be a key factor in the rise and fall of societies in the Ancient Near East. An investigation into archaeological finds of grain has taken place in order to find out what influence climate had on agriculture in early farming societies. The research team analyzed grains of barley up to 12,000 years old from 33 locations across the Fertile Crescent to ascertain if they had had enough water while growing and ripening.

Comets forge organic molecules in their dusty atmospheres Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:11 PM PDT Scientists have made incredible 3D images of the ghostly atmospheres surrounding comets ISON and Lemmon. These new observations provided important insights into how and where comets forge new chemicals, including intriguing organic compounds.

Novel drug action against solid tumors explained Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:11 PM PDT Researchers have discovered how a drug that deprives the cells of a key amino acid specifically kills cancer cells. The study describes how arginine starvation specifically kills tumor cells by a novel mechanism involving mitochondria dysfunction, reactive oxygen species generation, nuclear DNA leakage and chromatin autophagy, where leaked DNA is captured and "eaten" by giant autophagosomes.

Long-sought drug candidate can halt tumor growth, scientists demonstrate Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:11 PM PDT Scientists have disrupted the function of MYC, a cancer regulator thought to be "undruggable." The researchers found that a credit card-like molecule they developed moves in and disrupts critical interactions between MYC and its binding partner. The study also shows the drug candidate can stop tumor growth in animal models.

Bioengineers create functional 3-D brain-like tissue: Tissue kept alive for months Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:11 PM PDT Bioengineers have created three-dimensional brain-like tissue that functions like and has structural features similar to tissue in the rat brain and that can be kept alive in the lab for more than two months. The tissue could provide a superior model for studying normal brain function as well as injury and disease, and could assist in the development of new treatments for brain dysfunction.

Preemies' gut bacteria may depend more on gestational age than environment Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:11 PM PDT In infants born prematurely, researchers have found that the population of bacteria in babies' gastrointestinal tracts may depend more on their biological makeup and gestational age at birth than on environmental factors. The scientists discovered that bacterial communities assemble in an orderly, choreographed progression, with the pace of that assembly slowest in infants born most prematurely.

Malaria medicine chloroquine inhibits tumor growth, metastases, study shows Posted: 11 Aug 2014 10:23 AM PDT The anti-cancer effect of the antimalarial agent chloroquine when combined with conventional chemotherapy has been well documented. To date, it was assumed that chloroquine increases the sensitivity of cancer cells to chemotherapy by means of a direct effect on the cancer cells. However, a recent study has demonstrated that chloroquine also normalizes the abnormal blood vessels in tumors. This blood vessel normalization results in an increased barrier function on the one hand, and in enhanced tumor perfusion on the other hand, which increases the response of the tumor to chemotherapy.

Links between city design, health shown in study Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:51 AM PDT In a rare study of how street network design affects public health, researchers have discovered that older, more compact cities promote more walking and biking and are generally healthier than many newer cities. "We built these dense, connected street networks for thousands of years but only over the last century or so did we switch to designing sparse, tree-like networks with cars in mind," one researcher noted.

'Dimmer switch' drug idea could tackle schizophrenia without side effects Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:51 AM PDT The discovery of a new mechanism of drug action could lead to the next generation of drugs to treat schizophrenia. Affecting one per cent of the world's population, schizophrenia is a major health condition. It affects a person's ability to think, feel and act and is associated with distressing symptoms including hallucinations and delusions.

Gene likely to promote childhood cancers pinpointed by researchers Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:51 AM PDT A gene that contributes to the development of several childhood cancers has been pinpointed by researchers in a study conducted with mice designed to model the cancers. The gene Lin28b is an attractive therapeutic target in cancer because it is ordinarily only expressed in embryos, so blocking it in children should specifically hinder cancer growth without introducing many side effects.

New cause of osteoarthritis identified by research on a rare disease Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:49 AM PDT A new mechanism of joint destruction caused by a natural material that grinds away healthy cartilage and worsens osteoarthritis has been identified in human hip joints for the first time. The scientists were studying the hip of a man with the genetic condition, alkaptonuria (AKU). This is a metabolic disease in which a substance called homogentisic acid accumulates in joint cartilage, causing changes to its physical properties.

Megascale icebergs ran aground near Greenland in last 800,000 years Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:49 AM PDT Scientists have found between Greenland and Spitsbergen the scours left behind on the sea bed by gigantic icebergs. "Whenever icebergs run aground, they leave scours on the seabed. Depending on their depth and location, those markings may continue to exist over long periods of time," explained the lead author. Found at a depth of 1,200 metres, the newly found five lineaments are the deepest iceberg scours found to date in the Arctic. The scours are as much as four kilometres long and 15 metres in depth.

Postmenopausal breast cancer risk decreases rapidly after starting regular physical activity Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:48 AM PDT Postmenopausal women who in the past four years had undertaken regular physical activity equivalent to at least four hours of walking per week had a lower risk for invasive breast cancer compared with women who exercised less during those four years, according to new data.

Cancer-causing mechanism behind powerful human oncogene identified Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:47 AM PDT A protein present at high levels in more than half of all human cancers drives cell growth by blocking the expression of just a handful of genes involved in DNA packaging and cell death, according to a new study.

Blood cells are new, unexpected source of neurons in crayfish Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:47 AM PDT Researchers have strived to determine how neurons are produced and integrated into the brain throughout adult life. In an intriguing twist, scientists provide evidence that adult-born neurons are derived from a special type of circulating blood cell produced by the immune system. The findings -- which were made in crayfish -- suggest that the immune system may contribute to the development of the unknown role of certain brain diseases in the development of brain and other tissues.

Keeping viruses at bay: How our immunosensory system attacks viruses on a molecular level Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:46 AM PDT Our immunosensory system detects virus such as influenza via specific characteristics of viral ribonucleic acid. Previously, it was unclear how the immune system prevents viruses from simply donning molecular camouflage in order to escape detection. An international team of researchers has now discovered that our immunosensory system attacks viruses on a molecular level. In this way, a healthy organism can keep rotaviruses, a common cause of diarrheal epidemics, at bay.

Testosterone in healthy men increases their brains' response to threat Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:46 AM PDT Testosterone, a steroid hormone, is well known to contribute to aggressive behavior in males, but the neural circuits through which testosterone exerts these effects have not been clear. Prior studies found that the administration of a single dose of testosterone influenced brain circuit function. Surprisingly, however, these studies were conducted exclusively in women. Researchers have now sought to rectify this gap by conducting a study of the effects of testosterone on the brain's response to threat cues in healthy men.

Interior of cell from moving protein's point of view Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:45 AM PDT Scientists have developed new methods to measure intracellular protein movement. By developing a new fluorescence microscopy-based technique, the researchers were able to measure how long it takes proteins to move over distances ranging from 0.2 to 3 micrometres in living cells.

First gene therapy trial launched for heart patients with mechanical pumps Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:45 AM PDT For the first time in the world, a patient with a mechanical heart pump has received a new gene therapy for heart failure. This is the start of a new clinical trial that will assess gene therapy for patients with heart pumps and provide detailed insight on its impact on the heart muscle. Heart failure occurs when the heart no longer pumps blood effectively. Some individuals with an advanced heart failure can be fitted with a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), which supports the failing heart and aims to restore normal blood flow.

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