Many U.S. children face a terrible burden of stressors that can harm the development of their brains and nervous systems. These stressors can lead to health problems and diseases throughout their lives, ultimately causing some to die prematurely, according to the lead author of a new study. David W. Brown., D.Sc., an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and colle...

Since the human response to infection is highly complex, research to understand how people fight infection is facilitated by studying how similar processes occur in simpler organisms. Zebrafish are becoming an important model for human disease, since they are easily handled, maintained and manipulated and many fundamental processes between zebrafish and humans are conserved. In addition, the small...

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-funded research, published recently in Chemical Communication, describes how scientists have discovered molecules that could confuse insects’ ability to detect plants by interfering with their sense of smell. This could reduce damage to crops by insect pests and contribute to food security. Lead researcher Dr Antony Hooper of Rot...

Like vampires, cancer tumors require an ample supply of blood to stay alive. Without fresh blood for sustenance, cancer cells shrivel up like raisins and die. To that end, Dr. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro of Tel Aviv University`s Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sackler School of Medicine, and her team of researchers have developed a new drug carrier to deliver compounds straight to the tumor. F...

Juvenile delinquency may be a result of misunderstood social cues. Research published in BioMed Central`s open access journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health shows that male juvenile delinquents frequently misinterpret facial expressions of disgust as anger, providing a possible cause for their aggressive behaviour. Wataru Sato from Kyoto University and Naomi Matsuura from the To...

Many medical conditions, such as chronic pain, cancer and diabetes, require medications that cannot be taken orally, but must be dosed intermittently, on an as-needed basis, over a long period of time. A few delivery techniques have been developed, using an implanted heat source, an implanted electronic chip or other stimuli as an "on-off" switch to release the drugs into the body. But t...

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have found that the lung cancer oncogene PKCiota is necessary for the proliferation of lung cancer stem cells. These stem cells are rare and powerful master cells that manufacture the other cells that make up lung tumors and are resistant to chemotherapy treatment. Their study, published in the Oct. 1 issue of Cancer Research, also shows that an agen...

Turning grape juice into wine is a stressful business for yeasts. Dr Agustin Aranda from the University of Valencia, Spain has identified the genes in yeast that enable it to respond to stress and is investigating ways to improve yeast performance by modifying its stress response mechanism. Speaking at the Society for General Microbiology meeting at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Sept. 9, Dr A...

You`ve heard about flower power. What about tree power? It turns out that it`s there, in small but measurable quantities. There`s enough power in trees for University of Washington researchers to run an electronic circuit, according to results to be published in an upcoming issue of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers` Transactions on Nanotechnology. "As far as we know this ...

A common antibiotic can function as an "off switch" for a gene therapy being developed for Parkinson`s disease, according to University of Florida researchers writing online in advance of September`s Molecular Therapy. The discovery in rats answers an important question — how can new, therapeutic genes that have been irrevocably delivered to the human brain to treat Parkinson`s be ...