Archive for December, 2007



Cell-death Receptor Links Cancer Susceptibility And Inflammation

Monday, December 31st, 2007
Researchers demonstrated for the first time a link between cell-death-inducing TRAIL’s receptor and cancer susceptibility. Unexpectedly, they also found a connection — via TRAIL — between inflammation and cancer susceptibility.
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Physicists Find New Explanation For Superconductivity’s ‘Glue’

Monday, December 31st, 2007
Researchers have identified an alternative explanation for the microscopic origins of the “glue” that binds electrons during high-temperature superconductivity.
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A Real Attention Grabber: Scientist Finds Way To Measure Covert Attention

Monday, December 31st, 2007
The person you’re speaking with may be looking at you, but are they really paying attention? Or has the person covertly shifted their attention, without moving their eyes? Dr. Brian Corneil, of the Center for Brain and Mind at the University of Western Ontario has found a way of actually measuring covert attention. His research “Neuromuscular consequences of reflexive covert orienting” is posted on the Advance Online Publication of Nature Neuroscience.
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New Drug Targets May Fight Tuberculosis And Other Bacterial Infections In Novel Way

Monday, December 31st, 2007
Over the course of the 20th Century, doctors waged war against infectious bacterial illness with the best new weapon they had: antibiotics. But the emergence of dangerous, multi-drug resistant strains of tuberculosis and other killer infections means that in the 21st century antibiotics are losing ground against bacterial disease. Researchers now say exciting new molecular targets — so-called “virulence factors” that bacteria use to thrive once they are in the host — present an alternative, potent means of stopping TB, leprosy and other bacterial illness.
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Buyer Beware: Stressed Plants Won’t Survive Shipping

Monday, December 31st, 2007
It’s a common springtime disappointment: you buy beautiful, flourishing potted plants from your local retailer, only to watch the once-healthy flowers wither and die shortly after you place them on your patio or porch. How do you know you are actually buying plants that will thrive after they leave the garden store?
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Scientists Discover New Role For MiRNA In Leukemia

Monday, December 31st, 2007
Scientists here have found that mini-molecules called micro-RNA may play a critical role in the progression of chronic myeloid leukemia from its more treatable chronic phase to a life-threatening phase, called blast crisis. Furthermore, they discovered an entirely new function for these molecules. The researchers show that microRNAs can sometimes directly control a protein’s function — not just whether or not the protein is made by the cell, as has been believed.
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Mapmaking For The Masses: User-generated Content Can Profoundly Impact Geographic Information Systems

Monday, December 31st, 2007
Sites such as Wikimapia and OpenStreetMap are empowering citizens to create a global patchwork of geographic information. According to Michael Goodchild from the University of California in Santa Barbara, ‘volunteered geographic information’ has the potential to be a significant source of geographers’ understanding of the surface of the Earth. His review has just been published online in Springer’s GeoJournal.
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Nurses Working Extended Shifts, Are Tired At Work And Sleep Little Likely To Drive Drowsy

Monday, December 31st, 2007
Hospital staff nurses who work extended hours, work at night, struggle to remain awake at work, or obtain less sleep are more likely to experience a drowsy driving episode.
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This year of Google blogging

Monday, December 31st, 2007

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Overeating And Obesity Triggered By Lack Of One Gene

Monday, December 31st, 2007
Neuroscience researchers demonstrate for the first time that brain-derived neurotrophic factor is an essential component of neural circuits which regulate body weight in adult mice and that its expression in two particular brain regions is required to suppress appetite.
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