ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Identical twins with significant weight differences shed light on the phenomenon of metabolically healthy obesity
• What evolved first, a dexterous hand or an agile foot?
• First-ever view of gene activity, transcript patterns in single human cells
• How binge drinking impairs healing of broken bones
• Salt-tolerant bacteria improve crop yields
• Giant channels discovered beneath Antarctic ice shelf: 250 meter high channels will help predict future of Antarctic ice
• Health of honey bees adversely impacted by selenium
• High rates of unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics continue
• Key cellular auto-cleaning mechanism mediates formation of plaques in Alzheimer's brain
• Genetic analysis of individuals with autism finds gene deletions
• 'Mistake' in single-cell organism actually a rewrite essential to life
• Stem cells help repair traumatic brain injury by building 'biobridge'
• Invasive mussel not harmed by toxins, invades freshwaters of Europe, North America

Identical twins with significant weight differences shed light on the phenomenon of metabolically healthy obesity Posted: 06 Oct 2013 05:42 PM PDT A unique study of 16 pairs of identical twins in which one twin is obese and the other lean has yielded some surprising results. In 8 of the pairs of twins, the obese twin was as 'metabolically healthy' as his or her lean co-twin, while in the other 8 pairs, the obese twin had a poorer blood fat profile, higher liver fat and increased insulin production and resistance, and higher blood pressure -- all hallmarks of unhealthy obesity.

What evolved first, a dexterous hand or an agile foot? Posted: 06 Oct 2013 05:41 PM PDT Resolving a long-standing mystery in human evolution, new research indicates that early hominids developed finger dexterity and tool use ability before the development of bipedal locomotion.

First-ever view of gene activity, transcript patterns in single human cells Posted: 06 Oct 2013 01:13 PM PDT Biologists have developed a method to visualize the activity of genes in single cells. The method is so efficient that, for the first time, a thousand genes can be studied in parallel in ten thousand single human cells. Applications lie in fields of basic research and medical diagnostics. The new method shows that the activity of genes, and the spatial organization of the resulting transcript molecules, strongly vary between single cells.

How binge drinking impairs healing of broken bones Posted: 06 Oct 2013 01:13 PM PDT Physicians have long observed that binge drinking impairs healing of broken bones. A new study is providing insights into how alcohol slows healing on the cellular and molecular levels. The findings could lead to better treatments to improve bone healing.

Salt-tolerant bacteria improve crop yields Posted: 06 Oct 2013 11:27 AM PDT Microbiologists hope to apply a new agricultural technique soon to boost the yield of economically important crops such as wheat, cotton, tomato and cucumber.

Giant channels discovered beneath Antarctic ice shelf: 250 meter high channels will help predict future of Antarctic ice Posted: 06 Oct 2013 11:24 AM PDT Scientists have discovered huge ice channels beneath a floating ice shelf in Antarctica. At 250 meters high, the channels are almost as tall as the Eiffel tower and stretch hundreds of kilometers along the ice shelf. The channels are likely to influence the stability of the ice shelf and their discovery will help researchers understand how the ice will respond to changing environmental conditions.

Health of honey bees adversely impacted by selenium Posted: 03 Oct 2013 10:22 AM PDT Traditionally, honey bee research has focused on environmental stressors such as pesticides, pathogens and diseases. Now a research team led by entomologists has published a study that focuses on an anthropogenic pollutant: selenium. The researchers found that the four main forms of Se in plants -- selenate, selenite, methylselenocysteine and selenocystine -- caused mortality and delays in development in the honey bee.

High rates of unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics continue Posted: 03 Oct 2013 09:12 AM PDT For decades, there has been a significant effort to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. Despite this work, new research finds only incremental improvement in antibiotic prescribing for adults with acute bronchitis and sore throat.

Key cellular auto-cleaning mechanism mediates formation of plaques in Alzheimer's brain Posted: 03 Oct 2013 09:12 AM PDT Autophagy, a key cellular auto-cleaning mechanism, mediates the formation of amyloid beta plaques, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. It might be a potential drug target for the treatment of the disease, concludes new research. The study sheds light on the metabolism of amyloid beta, and its role in neurodegeneration and memory loss.

Genetic analysis of individuals with autism finds gene deletions Posted: 03 Oct 2013 09:11 AM PDT Using powerful genetic sequencing technology, a team of investigators scanned the genome of hundreds of individuals, and discovered those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were more likely to have gene deletions than were people without the disorder. That means those individuals -- seven percent of the study group -- had one copy of one or more genes when they should have had two.

'Mistake' in single-cell organism actually a rewrite essential to life Posted: 03 Oct 2013 09:11 AM PDT A tiny but unexpected change to a segment of RNA in a single-cell organism looks a lot like a mistake, but is instead a change to the genetic information that is essential to the organism's survival.

Stem cells help repair traumatic brain injury by building 'biobridge' Posted: 03 Oct 2013 08:12 AM PDT Researchers suggest a new view of how stem cells may help repair the brain following trauma.

Invasive mussel not harmed by toxins, invades freshwaters of Europe, North America Posted: 03 Oct 2013 08:11 AM PDT While most freshwater mussels react stressfully and weaken when exposed to the toxins in blue-green algae in their water environment, the little zebra mussel is rather indifferent. It is not affected by the toxins, and this helps it outmatch stressed and weakened mussels, report researchers. This is bad for the biodiversity, and in some countries the superior zebra mussels imposes great costs to the industry.

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