Genetic mutations in the Toll-like receptor 4 gene appear to have significant association with inflammatory injury to the placenta and developing baby, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh's department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences report. "This indicates a possible genetic predisposition to a kind of misfire in immune system response that could contribute to placental inflammation and spontaneous preterm birth," researchers said.
Adults who were abused as children have about half the symptoms of moderate to severe depression if they have certain variations in a specific gene, compared to people with different variations in the same gene. The gene makes a receptor, on brain cells, for a stress-related hormone. The variations were protective in two separate studies, one mostly of African Americans and the other of whites, across socioeconomic levels.
Approximately one-third of popular songs include reference to explicit drug, alcohol or tobacco use, although this portrayal varies widely by musical genre, according to a new report.
DNA of the common black rat has shed light on the ancient spread of rats, people and diseases around the globe. Studying the mitochondrial DNA of 165 black rat specimens from 32 countries around the world, a scientists have identified six distinct lineages in the black rat's family tree, each originating from a different part of Asia.
Theoretical physicists are suggesting how thin spouts of magma in the Earth's mantle can persist long enough to form hotspot volcanism of the type that might have created the Hawaiian Islands.
Patients with diabetes, cardiac problems, kidney disorders or high blood pressure could benefit from the development of new hologram technology. The new "smart" holograms, which can detect changes in, for example, blood-glucose levels, should make self-diagnosis much simpler, cheaper and more reliable.
The continuous fabrication of complex, 3-D nanoscale structures and the ability to grow individual nanowires of unlimited length are now possible with a new process. Based on the rapid evaporation of solvent from simple "inks," the process has been used to fabricate freestanding nanofibers, stacked arrays of nanofibers and continuously wound spools of nanowires. Potential applications include electronic interconnects, biocompatible scaffolds and nanofluidic networks.
Four days' exposure to a REM sleep deprivation procedure reduces cell proliferation in the part of the forebrain that contributes to long-term memory of rats. REM sleep deprivation was achieved by a brief treadmill movement initiated by automatic online detection of REM sleep. A yoked-control (YC) rat was placed in the same treadmill and experienced the identical movement regardless of the stage of the sleep-wake cycle.
In an achievement some see as the "holy grail" of nanoscience, researchers have for the first time used DNA to guide the creation of 3-D, ordered, crystalline structures of nanoparticles. The ability to engineer such 3-D structures is essential to producing functional materials that take advantage of the unique properties that may exist at the nanoscale -- for example, enhanced magnetism, improved catalytic activity, or new optical properties.
Heavy marijuana use has been found to contribute to gum disease, apart from the known effects that tobacco smoke was already known to have. In a group of more than 900 New Zealanders, smoking cannabis more than 40 times a year since age 18 was found to be responsible for more than one-third of the new cases of periodontal disease between ages 26 and 32, according to a new study.
DHAKA (Reuters) - Bird flu has spread to the Bangladesh capital Dhaka and to the port city Chittagong despite efforts by authorities to contain it, livestock officials said on Wednesday.
It might look like an artwork, a surreal photo-negative based on the natural world, but this is a very real photograph, taken at London Zoo using a camera that detects only heat. In it, a pelican wanders away from a pool of water, leaving a trail of warmer footprints behind it. Its body stays warm under a covering of feathers, leaving it looking dark blue to the camera, which only detects the infra-red radiation coming off the animal. Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 6 Feb 2008 | 10:09 am
Scientists have been sailing across the Atlantic in a bid to track down sand from the Sahara Desert. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 6 Feb 2008 | 9:00 am
Europe hopes finally to get its space station laboratory, Columbus, into orbit this Thursday. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 6 Feb 2008 | 2:03 am
British scientists have created human embryos using genetic material from two women and a man, in a procedure that might one day prevent babies from inheriting serious diseases, such as muscular dystrophy Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 6 Feb 2008 | 12:54 am
Mobile phone users have no greater risk of developing brain tumours than people who have never used them, according to a detailed study of cancer patients. By Ian Sample Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 5 Feb 2008 | 11:48 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Smoking marijuana, much like smoking tobacco, may increase a person's risk for gum disease that can lead to tooth loss, researchers said on Tuesday.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA managers on Tuesday cleared space shuttle Atlantis for liftoff in two days on a mission to deliver Europe's first permanent space laboratory to the International Space Station.
• Scientists studied 1,000 brain tumour patients• Wider investigation into phones due later this year Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 5 Feb 2008 | 7:31 pm
LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists have created human embryos with three parents in a development they hope could lead to effective treatments for a range of serious hereditary diseases within five years.
France's Alstom unveils a new high-speed AGV train which will travel at up to 360km/h (224mph). Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 5 Feb 2008 | 1:41 pm
A firm says it has designed a hypersonic passenger jet to fly from Europe to Australia in less than five hours. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 5 Feb 2008 | 1:32 pm
Britons will be asked to "leave it off" by a campaign showing the link between energy use and climate change. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 5 Feb 2008 | 1:21 pm
KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - Authorities in eastern India banned the trade and consumption of poultry on Tuesday to stamp out a bird flu outbreak that officials said was now nearly under control.
Some of the biggest names in European aviation team up with the EU to develop cleaner aircraft. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 5 Feb 2008 | 12:31 pm
Scientists create a human embryo with three separate parents, raising hopes of new treatment for genetic disease. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 5 Feb 2008 | 11:13 am
