Daily non-political popular news in brief.

'Heftier' atoms reduce friction at the nanoscale, study led by Penn researcher reveals

11-01-2007 · EurekAlert!

A research team led by a University of Pennsylvania mechanical engineer has discovered that friction between two sliding bodies can be reduced at the molecular, or nanoscale, level by changing the mass of the atoms at the surface. 'Heavier' atoms vibrate at a lower frequency, reducing energy lost during sliding.

Keywords: heftier, atoms, friction, nanoscale, study, led, penn, researcher, reveals, atom, reveal

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Study reveals lakes a major source of prehistoric methane
10-25-2007 · EurekAlert!
A team of scientists led by a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has identified a new likely source of a spike in atmospheric methane coming out of the North during the end of the last ice age.
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Scientists reveal structure of gateways to gene control
03-28-2007 · EurekAlert!
The first complete high-resolution map of structures that control how genes are packaged and regulated throughout an entire genome has been compiled by Penn State scientists. The research suggests how certain nucleosomes control whether a gene's function can be turned on. The study reveals an intimate relationship between the architecture of nucleosomes and the underlying DNA sequences they regulate, including a critical gateway that must be unlocked before a gene can be transcribed.
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Study reveals 2 genes linked to disabling arthritis
10-21-2007 · EurekAlert!
An international team of researchers led by a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center geneticist has discovered two genes linked to a disabling form of arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis.
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New study reveals for first time how BRCA1 mutations cause breast cancer
12-09-2007 · EurekAlert!
An international team of researchers led by Columbia University Medical Center's Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and Sweden's Lund University has, for the first time, revealed how mutations in the BRCA1 gene lead to breast cancer. Findings show that one way BRCA1 mutations cause cancer is by knocking out a powerful tumor suppressor gene known as PTEN.
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Delay in use of nevirapine-based AIDS treatment can improve outcomes
01-10-2007 · EurekAlert!
Delaying the use of nevirapine-containing antiretroviral therapy (ART) for at least six months after labor may improve treatment outcomes among HIV-infected women in developing countries who took nevirapine during labor to prevent their babies from becoming infected, suggests a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, led by a researcher at Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital, appears in the January 11, 2007, issue of the journal.
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Pittsburgh ear study finds that fluid in the ear does not impair development in children
01-19-2007 · EurekAlert!
Early insertion of ear tubes in otherwise healthy infants and young children with persistent fluid in the middle ear does not improve developmental outcomes up to nine to 11 years of age, according to results of an important study at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC led by otitis media researcher Jack Paradise, MD.
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Advance in understanding of blood pressure gene could lead to new treatments
02-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
Research by scientists at UCL (University College London) has clearly demonstrated for the first time the structure and function of a gene crucial to the regulation of blood pressure. The discovery could be important in the search for new treatments for illnesses such as heart disease, the UK's biggest killer. In a paper published online today in Nature Medicine, the team, led by Professor Patrick Vallance and Dr James Leiper, UCL Department of Medicine, reveal the role of the human gene dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH), showing that loss of DDAH activity disrupts nitric oxide (NO) production. NO is critical in the regulation of blood pressure, nervous system functions and the immune system. The role of DDAH is to break down modified amino acids (Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA)) that are produced by the body and have been shown to inhibit NO synthase. These molecules accumulate in various disease states including diabetes, renal failure and pulmonary and systemic hypertension, and their concentration in plasma (the fluid component of blood) is strongly predicative of cardiovascular disease and death. In a healthy human body, the majority of ADMA is eliminated through active metabolism by DDAH. Scientists have hypothesised that if DDAH function is impaired, NO production is reduced, and that this could be an important feature of increased cardiovascular risk. To examine this pathway in more detail, the researchers deleted the DDAH gene in mice. These mice went on to develop hypertension, or high blood pressure. They also designed specific inhibitors (small molecules) which bind to the active site of human DDAH. These small molecule inhibitors also induced hypertension in mice, confirming the importance of DDAH in the regulation of blood pressure. Dr Leiper, UCL Medicine, said: “These genetic and chemical approaches to disrupt DDAH showed remarkably consistent results, and provide compelling evidence that loss of DDAH function increases the concentration of ADMA and thereby disrupts vascular NO signalling. “There has been considerable scientific interest in this pathway and the role of ADMA as a novel risk factor, but so far there's been little evidence to support the idea that it's a cause of disease, rather than just a marker. Genes and their pathways are crucial to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and a better understanding of DDAH-1 could lead to important new treatments. “It could help us to establish if genetic variation predisposes certain people to these diseases, or whether environmental factors exert some of their effects through modulation of DDAH activity. “Our research also shows that this pathway could be harnessed therapeutically to limit production of NO in certain situations where too much nitric oxide is a bad thing; for example, hypotension and septic shock. These are some of the biggest problems in intensive care medicine and there is a huge unmet need for drug treatments.” The study, which was carried out at UCL's Rayne Institute, was funded by grants from the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The unexpected finding in the 1980s that a simple gas, nitric oxide (NO), is made by cells in the blood vessel wall and is a powerful control of blood vessel relaxation led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 1998 to its discoverers. "More recently, there has been increasing evidence that impairment of NO production is likely to be an important factor in the development of heart and circulatory disease, but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. "This study suggests for the first time that the loss of the activity of the enzyme DDAH-1 leads to reduced NO production and may cause heart and circulatory disease. These findings are likely to be important in the search for new ways to optimise the health of our blood vessels." ### Notes for Editors 1. For more information, please contact Ruth Metcalfe in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9739, mobile: +44 (0)7990 675 947, out of hours: +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail: r.metcalfe@ucl.ac.uk2. 'Disruption of methylarginine metabolism impairs vascular homeostasis' is published in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Advance online publication is embargoed to 18.00 GMT (13.00 US Eastern) Sunday 4 February 2007. Journalists can obtain copies of the paper by contacting the UCL Media Relations Office.3. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. About UCL Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence. UCL is the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2006 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Mahatma Gandhi (Laws 1889, Indian political and spiritual leader); Jonathan Dimbleby (Philosophy 1969, writer and television presenter); Junichiro Koizumi (Economics 1969, Prime Minister of Japan); Lord Woolf (Laws 1954, Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales); Alexander Graham Bell (Phonetics 1860s, inventor of the telephone), and members of the band Coldplay.
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Innovative research technique reveals another natural wonder in Yellowstone Park
07-26-2007 · EurekAlert!
In the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, a team of researchers partially funded by the National Science Foundation discovered a new bacterium that transforms light into chemical energy. The discovery of the chlorophyll-producing bacterium, Candidatus chloracidobacterium (Cab.) thermophilum, is described in the July 27, 2007, issue of Science in a paper led by Don Bryant of Penn State University and David M. Ward of Montana State University.
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New study reveals gender disparity in anti-TNF treatment for rheumatoid arthritis
06-14-2007 · EurekAlert!
Findings reported today at EULAR 2007, the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology in Barcelona, Spain, reveal a treatment disparity between female and male patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Data from a study at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, show that women receive anti-TNFs -- very effective but expensive modern medications against this disease -- at a higher perceived level of disease activity, and when they are reporting more severe pain than their male counterparts.
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Low doses of anti-depressant may help some women suffering from moderate-to-severe PMS
10-13-2006 · EurekAlert!
Some women who experience moderate-to-severe premenstrual syndrome may benefit from treatment with low doses of anti-depressant medication, according to a new study led by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher.
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