http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have identified a new enzyme that plays a far more important role than expected in controlling the breakdown of fat. In a new study to be published Jan. 11 in the journal Nature Medicine, researchers report that mice that have had this enzyme disabled remained lean despite eating a high-fat diet and losing a hormone that suppresses appetite. http://phys.org/news150905309.html Medicine & Health Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:08:29 EST news150905309 (PhysOrg.com) -- A naturally occurring DNA repair system that normally protects cells from damage can cause retinal degeneration and blindness when overstimulated, according to a new study by MIT researchers. http://phys.org/news150727857.html Medicine & Health Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:50:57 EST news150727857 University of Utah researchers dusted wild deer mice with fluorescent pink, blue, green, yellow and orange talcum powders to show which rodents most often fought or mated with others and thus were most likely to spread deadly hantavirus. The study identified bigger, older mice as the culprits. http://phys.org/news150537571.html Biology Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:59:31 EST news150537571 Research on the mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, stroke, dementia, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis, to name a few, has taken a step forward thanks to the work of biological sciences Ph.D. student Sonia Do Carmo, supervised by Professor Éric Rassart of the Université du Québec à Montreal (UQAM) Biological Sciences Department, in collaboration with researchers at the Armand-Frappier Institute and the University of Valladolid in Spain. http://phys.org/news150468573.html Medicine & Health Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:49:33 EST news150468573 (PhysOrg.com) -- The discovery more than a decade ago of leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone secreted by fat tissue, generated headlines and great hopes for an effective treatment for obesity. But hopes dimmed when it was found that obese people are unresponsive to leptin due to development of leptin resistance in the brain. Now, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report the first agents demonstrated to sensitize the brain to leptin: oral drugs that are already FDA-approved and known to be safe. Findings were published January 7 by the journal Cell Metabolism. http://phys.org/news150468469.html Biology Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:47:49 EST news150468469 Shredded extracellular matrix (ECM) is toxic to neurons. Chen et al. reveal a new mechanism for how ECM demolition causes brain damage. The study will appear in the December 29, 2008 issue of The Journal of Cell Biology. http://phys.org/news149769426.html Biology Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:37:06 EST news149769426 Researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health recently described studies that support the link between the severity of community-acquired antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA MRSA) infections and the Panton Valentine leukocidin (PVL). http://phys.org/news149270510.html Medicine & Health Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:01:50 EST news149270510 Familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM) is an inherited form of severe migraine that is accompanied by visual disturbances known as aura. As with other types of migraine, it affects women more frequently than men. Most cases of FHM are caused by mutations in the CACNA1A gene, but whether these lead to spreading depression, the event in the brain that suppresses nerve cell activity and that has been linked to nongenetic forms of migraine with aura, has not been determined. http://phys.org/news149188723.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:18:43 EST news149188723 A new study published online in The FASEB Journal shows that the equivalent of one dose of caffeine (just two cups of coffee) ingested during pregnancy may be enough to affect fetal heart development and then reduce heart function over the entire lifespan of the child. In addition, the researchers also found that this relatively minimal amount of exposure may lead to higher body fat among males, when compared to those who were not exposed to caffeine. Although the study was in mice, the biological cause and effect described in the research paper is plausible in humans. http://phys.org/news148658650.html Medicine & Health Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:04:10 EST news148658650 Researchers at New York University's Center for Neural Science and the Baylor College of Medicine have identified a protein that when removed from mice results in behaviors that are akin to those with autism and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Their findings, which appear in the latest issue of the journal Neuron, may enhance our understanding of these and other neurological disorders. http://phys.org/news148134207.html Medicine & Health Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:23:27 EST news148134207 (PhysOrg.com) -- Purdue University scientists found that mice raised in cages may relieve stress with behaviors associated with mice in the wild. And for researchers using lab mice, this may mean that by allowing mice to express these behaviors they can conduct research with animals that act and respond more naturally, hopefully making research data more reliable. http://phys.org/news147974728.html Biology Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:05:28 EST news147974728 A University of Iowa researcher and colleagues at the University of Michigan have discovered a direct link between disruption of a critical cellular housekeeping process and fatty liver disease, a condition that causes fat to accumulate in the liver. http://phys.org/news147966719.html Biology Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:51:59 EST news147966719 A worldwide group of scientists has created an infectious prion disease in a mouse model, in a step that may help unravel the mystery of this progressive disease that affects the nervous system in humans and animals. The research team, including Christina J. Sigurdson, D.V.M., Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, also discovered that changing the structure of the prion protein by altering just two nucleic acids leads to a fatal neurological disorder in mice. Their findings will be published on line in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) the week of December 1. http://phys.org/news147702312.html Biology Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:25:12 EST news147702312 Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and the Scripps Research Institute have found novel prion infectivity in white and brown fat tissues of mice. The study appears December 5 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens. http://phys.org/news147698270.html Biology Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:17:50 EST news147698270 A research team led by Mitchell Lazar, MD, PhD, Director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has discovered a key molecular partnership that coordinates body rhythms and metabolism. http://phys.org/news146931299.html Medicine & Health Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:14:59 EST news146931299 Genetic mouse models have provided surprising insight into mechanisms linking serotoninergic compounds with the regulation of feeding behavior and body weight. The research, published by Cell Press in the November 26th issue of the journal Neuron, pinpoints a specific group of brain cells that mediate energy balance and may lead to the development of antiobesity drugs with fewer side effects. http://phys.org/news146922799.html Medicine & Health Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:53:19 EST news146922799 Researchers at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Canada, have discovered that adiponectin, a protein secreted from adipocytes, is a metabolic link that can explain, in part, the known positive relationship between obesity and both bone mineral density and reduced susceptibility to fractures. This study appears in the December issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine. http://phys.org/news146853539.html Medicine & Health Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:38:59 EST news146853539 Dieters or those who consume fewer calories during flu season could have a harder time fighting off the flu virus, according to research by Michigan State University nutritional immunology professor Elizabeth Gardner. http://phys.org/news146830814.html Medicine & Health Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:20:14 EST news146830814 Singapore researchers have developed an unlimited number of pure insulin-producing cells from mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs). http://phys.org/news146409227.html Biology Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:13:47 EST news146409227 Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have identified pathways by which a reduced-calorie diet and exercise can modify a postmenopausal woman's risk of breast cancer. http://phys.org/news146242334.html Medicine & Health Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:52:14 EST news146242334 New research in mice suggests that high levels of social support may provide some protection against strokes by reducing the amount of damaging inflammation in the brain. http://phys.org/news146228810.html Medicine & Health Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:06:50 EST news146228810 A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the mouse brain, and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical which promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells. http://phys.org/news146219732.html Medicine & Health Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:35:32 EST news146219732 Dense networks of blood vessels thought to spur cancer's growth could actually hinder rather than promote tumor progression, according to a new study at the University of California, San Diego. http://phys.org/news145529976.html Medicine & Health Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:59:36 EST news145529976 An over-the-counter vitamin in high doses prevented memory loss in mice with Alzheimer's disease, and UC Irvine scientists now are conducting a clinical trial to determine its effect in humans. http://phys.org/news145042729.html Medicine & Health Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:38:49 EST news145042729 By injecting a hormone produced by fat and other tissues into mice, researchers report in the November Cell Metabolism that they significantly lowered blood sugar levels in normal and obese mice. The findings suggest that the hormone known as apelin might be a promising target for managing insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. http://phys.org/news145021686.html Biology Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:48:06 EST news145021686 A new study reveals an important and newly discovered pathway used by disease-causing bacteria to evade the host immune system and survive and grow within the very cells meant to destroy them. This discovery may lead to new treatments and vaccines for tuberculosis (TB) and certain other chronic bacterial and parasitic infections. http://phys.org/news144852911.html Medicine & Health Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:55:11 EST news144852911 Multiple sclerosis (MS) results when the body's own defense system attacks nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Now scientists led by John Russell, Ph.D., at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that interferon-gamma plays a deciding role in whether immune cells attack and injure the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) in mice. http://phys.org/news144597341.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:55:41 EST news144597341 A team of Université Laval researchers has shown that the main neurological markers for Alzheimer's disease are exacerbated in the brains of mice fed a diet rich in animal fat and poor in omega-3s. Details of the study—which suggests that diets typical of most industrialized countries promote the development of Alzheimer's—are outlined in the latest online edition of Neurobiology of Aging. http://phys.org/news144409492.html Medicine & Health Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:44:52 EST news144409492 Carbon nanotubes have significant potential for delivering both imaging and therapeutic agents to tumors, but there is still a need to better quantify how well these rolled-up sheets of graphite can target tumors. Now, thanks to the development of a microscope capable of measuring Raman spectroscopic signals from living mice, researchers have a noninvasive tool to study where carbon nanotubes travel once they are injected into the blood stream. http://phys.org/news144349973.html Nanotechnology Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:12:53 EST news144349973 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the first study ever to genetically link the immune system to normal behavior, scientists at Rockefeller and Columbia universities show that mast cells, known as the pharmacologic bombshells of the immune system, directly influence how mice respond to stressful situations. The work, to appear this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and to be highlighted in Science, chips away at the increasingly stale idea that the two most complex systems in the body have entirely separate modes of operation. http://phys.org/news144343743.html Medicine & Health Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:29:03 EST news144343743