Mitochondrial uncoupling demonstrated in human skeletal muscle
With obesity still on the increase, it appears that the main weapon in the fight against it - reducing energy consumption by eating less - is ineffective. There is evident need to search for new treatment strategies dealing with the opposite aspect of the energy balance: increasing energy consumption. Researchers at Maastricht University have now found a way to increase cells energy consumption: mitochondrial uncoupling. The findings are published in this weeks PLoS ONE.
Scientists at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), in Portugal, have shown that Malaria eradication in Africa is sustainable, and any re-emergence of malaria in industrialized nations is highly unlikely. Working with colleagues in Kenya, the IGC researchers created a mathematical model of malaria transmission throughout sub-Saharan Africa, published in this weeks PLoS ONE.
DURHAM, N.C. Though they perch far apart on the avian family tree, birds with the ability to learn songs use similar brain structures to sing their tunes. Neurobiologists at Duke University Medical Center now have an explanation for this puzzling likeness.
Most cells in the human brain are not nerve cells, but supporting cells (glial cells). They serve as a framework for nerve cells and play an important role in the wound reaction that occurs with injuries to the brain. However, what these reactive glial cells in the brains of mice and men originate from, and which cells they evolve into was hitherto unknown.
Pirated microchips -- chips stolen from legitimate factories or made from stolen blueprints -- account for billions of dollars in annual losses to chipmakers.
But a series of novel techniques developed at Rice University over the past year could stop pirates by allowing chip designers to lock and remotely activate chips with a unique ID tag. When a chip is locked with the new technology, only the patent-holder can decipher the key and activate the chip -- meaning knockoffs and stolen chips are worthless.
NEW YORK (March 11, 2008) -- A test that profiles molecular biomarkers in blood could become the first accurate diagnostic test for Parkinson's disease, new research shows.
The screen relies on changes in dozens of small molecules in serum. These "metabolomic" alterations form a unique pattern in people with Parkinson's disease, according to a team led by researchers at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.
They published the findings in the journal Brain.
Irvine, Calif. — Short-term stress lasting as little as a few hours can impair brain-cell communication in areas associated with learning and memory, University of California, Irvine researchers have found.
It has been known that severe stress lasting weeks or months can impair cell communication in the brains learning and memory region, but this study provides the first evidence that short-term stress has the same effect. The study appears in the March 12 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have discovered that a change in the location of a protein in the brain could serve as a biomarker for depression, allowing a simple, rapid, laboratory test to identify patients with depression and to determine whether a particular antidepressant therapy will provide a successful response.
The research is published in the March 12 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
1. ATP Receptor Involvement in Neuropathic Pain
Kimiko Kobayashi, Hiroki Yamanaka, Tetsuo Fukuoka, Yi Dai, Koichi Obata, and Koichi Noguchi
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