A group of researchers from Nagasaki University, led by Dr Matsuo Tomohiro, has studied salt intake in a group of 321 men and women who had a high salt intake and had problems sleeping -- Japanese people tend to have a higher than average salt intake. The patients were given guidance and support to reduce salt consumption. They were followed for 12 weeks, and salt consumption measured biochemically. 223 members of the group were able to reduce their salt intake from 10.7 gm per day to 8.0 gm/...

  Semiconductor nanowires, with lasing emission at room temperature, can be transferred in a controlled way to specific locations on diverse substrates and organized into bespoke spatial patterns. Semiconductor nanowire (NW) lasers provide coherent light sources with highly localized emission and extremely small footprints. Such lasers may thus have the potential to revolutionize the field of photonics. Indeed, NW lasers are expected to play a key role in future optoelectronic sys...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today granted accelerated approval to Bavencio (avelumab) for the treatment of adults and pediatric patients 12 years and older with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), including those who have not received prior chemotherapy. This is the first FDA-approved treatment for metastatic MCC, a rare, aggressive form of skin cancer. “While skin cancer is one of the most common cancers, patients with a rare form called Merkel cell cancer have not had an appro...

To cope with negative experiences or to share an insight, people often use the word "you" rather than "I." "You" is an overlooked word that people use to express norms and rules, new University of Michigan research found. Researchers conducted nine experiments with nearly 2,500 people to understand why people curiously use "you" not only to refer to specific others, but also to reflect on their own experiences. "It's something we all do as a way to explain how things work and to find me...

UNSW researchers have identified a critical step in the molecular process that allows cells to repair damaged DNA – and it could mean big things for the future of anti-ageing drugs, childhood cancer survivors and even astronauts. Professor David Sinclair (front) and Dr Lindsay Wu (far left) with the UNSW research team. Photo: Britta Campion UNSW researchers have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing, improves DNA repa...

A protein originally discovered at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) appears to be involved in how the body controls breathing, according to a new study led by scientists at TSRI and Harvard Medical School. The study, published in Nature, shows how the Piezo2 protein, previously shown to be the principal sensor of touch and proprioception, also plays a critical role in sensing lung expansion. “The discoveries here could provide important clues on how to treat patients with respiratory dis...

DNA is a precious molecule. It encodes vital information about cellular content and function. There are only two copies of each chromosome in the cell, and once the sequence is lost no replacement is possible. The irreplaceable nature of the DNA sets it apart from other cellular molecules, and makes it a critical target for age-related deterioration. To prevent DNA damage cells have evolved elaborate DNA repair machinery. Paradoxically, DNA repair can itself be subject to age-related changes ...

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are developing and testing a new peptide that they hope will lead to better treatment options for familial hypercholesterolemia. FH is a genetic condition that results from the body’s inability to clear low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or bad cholesterol, from the blood. This results in startlingly high cholesterol levels. There are two forms of FH: heterozygous FH (HeFH) and homozygous HoFH, which is the most serious type of FH. If untreat...

A nanosensor technology has been developed using nanostructures: single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), combined with a silicon-based microfabrication and micromachining process. This technology provides a sensor array that can accommodate different nanostructures for specific applications with the advantages of high sensitivity, low power consumption, compactness, high yield and low cost. BenefitNanotechnology based chemical sensors can provide high sensitivity, low power and low cost p...

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a technique that uses light to get two-dimensional (2-D) plastic sheets to curve into three-dimensional (3-D) structures, such as spheres, tubes or bowls. The advance builds on earlier work by the same research team, which focused on self-folding 3-D structures. The key advance here is that rather than having the plastic fold along sharp lines – into polygonal shapes such as cubes or pyramids – the plastics bend and curve. Res...

A research team led by Professors Doman Kim and Tae Sub Park of the Graduate School of International Agricultural Technology found that chicken feed including naturally fermented buckwheat increases the production of eggs by over 8%. The researchers used Rhizopus – a fungus causing the group of infections referred to as zygomycosis and usually found in decaying breads, fruits, and vegetables - to ferment the buckwheat. The team found that chickens eating the buckwheat feed laid more and larger e...

A Stanford electrical engineer has invented a way to wirelessly transfer power deep inside the body, and then use this power to run tiny electronic medical gadgets such as pacemakers, nerve stimulators or new sensors and devices yet to be developed. The discoveries reported May 19 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences culminate years of efforts by Ada Poon, assistant professor of electrical engineering, to eliminate the bulky batteries and clumsy recharging systems that preve...

Doctors may soon be able to detect and monitor a patient’s cancer with a simple blood test, reducing or eliminating the need for more invasive procedures, according to Purdue University research. W. Andy Tao, a professor of biochemistry and member of the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research and colleagues identified a series of proteins in blood plasma that, when elevated, signify that the patient has cancer. Their findings were published in the early edition of the Proceedings of the N...

A group of University of Tokyo researchers and their collaborators identified for the first time in monkeys the neural substrate, or functional units in the nervous system, underlying the ability, known as metamemory, that enables objective self-evaluation of memory. The group also demonstrated that the neural substrate for metamemory is distinct from that for memory recollection. Metamemory is a sophisticated mental process that requires introspective evaluation of one’s own cognitive proces...

We’re just beginning to understand how the brain participates in experiences that believers interpret as spiritual, divine or transcendent,” says senior author and neuroradiologist Jeff Anderson, who also has an unpaid faculty position in the U’s bioengineering department. “In the last few years, brain imaging technologies have matured in ways that are letting us approach questions that have been around for millennia.” Specifically, the investigators set out to determine which brain networks ar...

Purdue University researchers are developing software in a “haptic device” that could give people with visual impairments the ability to identify scientific images on a computer screen using their other senses. Ting Zhang, a graduate student in the Purdue School of Industrial Engineering, is developing a system that involves a specially designed joystick attached to a computer. The joystick controls a cursor. When the cursor moves across an object on the screen, force feedback, vibrations and...

The Tsimane people—a forager-horticulturalist population of the Bolivian Amazon—have the lowest reported levels of vascular aging for any population, with coronary atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) being five times less common than in the U.S., according to a study published today in The Lancet and presented at the American College of Cardiology. Senior author of the study is Gregory S. Thomas, M.D., MPH, Medical Director, MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute, Long Beach (CA)...

New study by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health showed that B vitamins may play a critical role in reducing the impact of air pollution on the epigenome, further demonstrating the epigenetic effects of air pollution on health. This is the first study to detail a course of research for developing interventions that prevent or minimize the adverse effects of air pollution on potential automatic markers. The results are published online in the journal PNAS. An e...

There is a widely held and influential view that physical activity begins to decline at adolescence. This study aimed to identify the timing of changes in physical activity during childhood and adolescence. John Reilly from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, in Scotland research study found that sedentary behaviors begin to set in shortly after the ripe old age of 7. Longitudinal cohort study (Gateshead Millennium Study) with eight years of follow-up, from Northeast England. Cohort me...

Stress response is associated with manifestations of various psychosomatic and psychiatric disorders. Hence, it is important to understand the underlying mechanisms that influence this association. Moreover, men and women tend to react differently with stress–both psychologically and biologically. These differences also need to be studied in order to have a better understanding in the gender difference observed for many disorders, which are likely to be contributed by the gender difference in...