New genetic mutations responsible for impaired fetal movement, which leads to a multitude or problems in later life as well as early spontaneous abortion, have been identified.
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According to some experts, newly born neuronal stem cells in the adult brain may provide a therapy for brain injury. But if these stem cells are to be utilized in this way, the process by which they are created, neurogenesis, must be regulated.
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Cough and cold medication use in young children has been linked to a significant number of adverse effects and several deaths. Despite these concerns about safety and efficacy, there has been little research on patterns of cough and cold medication use in very young children. Now, a new study from reveals important new statistics about medication use in children under the age of two.
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Since 1983, sports fishermen from the Drammen River in Norway have been saving the scales of Atlantic salmon, caught as they return from years at sea to spawn in fresh water. Researchers are using these scales to solve the mystery of why most of these endangered fish never survive their ocean stay. Climate change may be one of several factors affecting this temperature sensitive species, bringing warmer water to the nursery areas and decreasing the numbers of small fish that salmon depend on for food.
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Scientists have captured a view of proteins during translocation across the bacterial outer membrane, for the first time. This “molecular snapshot” may enlighten scientists to the process of protein secretion across membranes, a problem faced by all cells, and provide a foundation to understanding certain bacterial virulence factors that allow bacteria to cause disease.
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A new study has revealed that effects of the drug ecstasy are compounded when taken in warm environments. Preclinical research shows that ecstasy deaths, which are invariably related to elevated body temperature, may be related to drug users’ failure to recognize their body is abnormally hot.
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Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition that causes widespread pain and tenderness throughout the body. A new study, published in The Journal of Pain, shows that fibromyalgia is associated with central nervous system abnormalities evidenced by patients’ elevated sensitivity to auditory and pressure sensations.
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A single laser pulse can create complex, ordered nanostructure systems. “We have discovered a method for controlling the pattern into which the nanoparticles organize themselves”, says one of the physicists. The researchers started with a layer of disordered nanoparticles of gold or silver on a membrane of nanometer thickness. The patterning is a consequence of several transformations of the light, which finally results in partial melting and moving of the nanoparticles.
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For the first time, research describing a new modified luminescent worm allows scientists to measure — in real time — the metabolism of an entire living organism. The key behind this capacity relies in the fact that the luminescence is produced using the animal’s available energy, which reflects its metabolism that, as such, can be extrapolated from measuring the emitted light.
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Each year the scientific community identifies around 17,000 new animals and plants. To attract people’s attention on the discovery of species, a key for their evolution, survival and conservation, an international committee of experts has just published a list of the 10 most curious and surprising species described in 2007.
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