Potential target for treatment of obesity-related diseases identified

Scientists have identified a specific gene as potential new target for treating obesity-related diseases. Two recent research studies examined the role of a gene called STAT4 in the development of type 2 diabetes and other obesity-related cardiovascular diseases.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 16 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

Scientists isolate portion of virus that causes pink eye

Viral keratoconjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, is a common, uncomfortable and highly contagious condition. But now, relief may be in sight with a new understanding of how the eye reacts to this virus. Researchers used a novel model to determine what part of the virus is responsible for inflammation in pink eye.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 16 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

Materialistic people liked less by peers than 'experiential' people

People who pursue happiness through material possessions are liked less by their peers than people who pursue happiness through life experiences, according to a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 16 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

Classic Maya history is embedded in commoners' homes

They were illiterate farmers, builders and servants, but Maya commoners found a way to record their own history -- by burying it within their homes. A new study of the objects embedded in the floors of homes occupied more than 1,000 years ago in central Belize begins to decode their story.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 16 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

Breakthrough for babies born with severe cleft palates after experiments at ISIS

Scientists working on a treatment for babies born with cleft palates have made a promising breakthrough and the first clinical trials are planned for early next year. Clefts are the most common birth defect in Britain, with one in every 700 babies affected; currently in severe cases radical surgery is required to correct the problem, and in addition future complications can occur as the child grows into an adult.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 16 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

Electronic 'nose' can predict pleasantness of novel odors

Scientists have 'trained' an electronic system to be able to predict the pleasantness of novel odors, just like a human would perceive them. The researchers argue that the perception of an odor's pleasantness is innately hard-wired to its molecular structure, and it is only within specific contexts that personal or cultural differences are made apparent.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 16 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

Source of zodiac glow identified

The eerie glow that straddles the night time zodiac in the eastern sky is no longer a mystery. First explained by Joshua Childrey in 1661 as sunlight scattered in our direction by dust particles in the solar system, the source of that dust was long debated. David Nesvorny and Peter Jenniskens put the stake in asteroids. More than 85 percent of the dust, they conclude, originated from Jupiter Family comets, not asteroids.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 16 Apr 2010 | 6:00 am

Sequence is scaffold to study sleeping sickness

Researchers have published the genome sequence for T. b. gambiense -- the strain of Trypanosoma brucei responsible for almost all cases of sleeping sickness in humans. A remarkable level of similarity with the previously sequenced bovine infecting strain suggests the sequences provide a foundation for studies into how these parasites cause disease. The team found no genetic cause for T. b. gambiense's human infectivity, but suggest new avenues for future studies to understand the disease.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 16 Apr 2010 | 6:00 am

Drug shared by addicts seems to protect against HIV brain dementia

To their surprise, researchers have discovered that morphine (a derivate of the opium poppy that is similar to heroin) protects rat neurons against HIV toxicity -- a finding they say might help in the design of new neuroprotective therapies for patients with the infection.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 16 Apr 2010 | 6:00 am

Personalized medicine for cancer patients in a new technology era

A paper authored by over 200 members of the International Cancer Genome Consortium describes the beginnings of a Brave New World: a new era of personalized medicine for cancer patients. Formed in 2008, the consortium brings together leading cancer researchers from around the world, working together to catalog the genetic changes of the 50 most common cancers -- 500 genomes from each cancer type -- and make the results freely available on the Internet.