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Sunday, November 24, 2013

ScienceDaily: Top News

ScienceDaily: Top News


Epigenetic changes may explain chronic kidney disease

Posted: 23 Nov 2013 04:48 PM PST

Researchers found, in a genome-wide survey, significant differences in the pattern of chemical modifications on DNA that affect gene expression in kidney cells from patients with chronic kidney disease versus healthy controls. This is the first study to show that changes in these modifications – the cornerstone of the field of epigenetics – might explain chronic kidney disease.

Acid rain, ozone depletion contributed to ancient extinction

Posted: 22 Nov 2013 01:56 PM PST

Around 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, there was a mass extinction so severe that it remains the most traumatic known species die-off in Earth's history. Some researchers have suggested that this extinction was triggered by contemporaneous volcanic eruptions in Siberia. New results show that the atmospheric effects of these eruptions could have been devastating.

NASA's solar observing fleet to watch Comet ISON's journey around the sun

Posted: 22 Nov 2013 01:56 PM PST

It began in the Oort cloud, almost a light year away. It has traveled for over a million years. It has almost reached the star that has pulled it steadily forward for so long. On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 2013, Comet ISON will finally sling shot around the sun. Here its inward journey through the solar system will end -- either because it will break up due to intense heat and gravity of the sun, or because, still intact, it speeds back away, never to return.

Greenland's shrunken ice sheet: We've been here before

Posted: 22 Nov 2013 01:55 PM PST

Think Greenland's ice sheet is small today? It was smaller — as small as it's been in recent history — from 3-5,000 years ago, according to scientists who studied the ice sheet's history using a new technique they developed for interpreting the Arctic fossil record.

Link between allergies, increased risk of blood cancers in women

Posted: 22 Nov 2013 01:54 PM PST

A team of scientists looking into the interplay of the immune system and cancer have found a link between a history of airborne allergies – in particular to plants, grass and trees – with risk of blood cancers in women.

Tell-tale genes linked to eating disorders

Posted: 22 Nov 2013 01:54 PM PST

Until recently, no one knew how eating disorders occur or what triggers them. Recently published research suggests a new strategy to understand eating disorders, and it may lead to innovative treatments.

Stuck on flu

Posted: 22 Nov 2013 01:54 PM PST

Researchers have shown for the first time how influenza A viruses snip through a protective mucus net to both infect respiratory cells and later cut their way out to infect other cells.

Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption increases endometrial cancer risk

Posted: 22 Nov 2013 10:23 AM PST

Postmenopausal women who consumed sugar-sweetened beverages were more likely to develop the most common type of endometrial cancer compared with women who did not drink sugar-sweetened beverages, according to a study published.

Chemotherapy: When intestinal bacteria provide reinforcement

Posted: 22 Nov 2013 08:57 AM PST

Research has led to a rather surprising discovery on the manner in which cancer chemotherapy treatments act more effectively with the help of the intestinal flora (also known as the intestinal microbiota).

Why some ear, respiratory infections become chronic

Posted: 22 Nov 2013 07:39 AM PST

Scientists have figured out how a bacterium that causes ear and respiratory illnesses is able to elude immune detection in the middle ear, likely contributing to chronic or recurrent infections in adults and children.

Researchers pioneer first patient-specific 3-D virtual birth simulator

Posted: 22 Nov 2013 05:45 AM PST

Computer scientists are working to create a virtual birthing simulator that will help doctors and midwives prepare for unusual or dangerous births. The new program will take into account factors such as the shape of the mother's body and the positioning of the baby to provide patient-specific birth predictions.

'Immune gene' in humans inherited from Neanderthals, study suggests

Posted: 22 Nov 2013 05:44 AM PST

Scientists have discovered a novel receptor, which allows the immune system of modern humans to recognize dangerous invaders, and subsequently elicits an immune response. The blueprint for this advantageous structure was in addition identified in the genome of Neanderthals, hinting at its origin. The presence of this receptor in Europeans but its absence in early humans suggests that it was inherited from Neanderthals.

Better prediction for epileptic seizures through adaptive learning approach

Posted: 21 Nov 2013 01:33 PM PST

An engineering professor has developed a computational model that can more accurately predict when an epileptic seizure will occur next based on the patient's personalized medical information.

Growth stunted in lower-income youth with kidney disease

Posted: 21 Nov 2013 06:15 AM PST

Even with more prescriptions for growth hormone, children and adolescents with chronic kidney disease were less likely to grow to normal height ranges if they came from lower-income families, according to research.

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