Body

More than half of U.S. women ages 35 and over are having less sex during menopause than before menopause. According to the recent Sex & Menopause Survey, commissioned by The Red Hot Mamas®, a leading menopause patient organization, sponsored by Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and conducted by Harris Interactive®, 54 percent of those polled reported a decrease in the frequency of sex after entering menopause.

Researchers at Cornell and elsewhere have determined that 97.9 percent of all white rice is derived from a mutation (a deletion of DNA) in a single gene originating in the Japonica subspecies of rice.

Their report, published in the journal PloS Genetics, suggests that early farmers favored, bred and spread white rice around the world.

Behavioral research over the past 15 years has confirmed what anyone who has purchased a house or dumped a significant other could tell you: When people make decisions, they anticipate that they may regret their choices. It is important that we maintain this ability, because as the aforementioned house-buyers and spouse-dumpers know, regret can be a terrible feeling.

The ability of bacteria to evolve resistance to antibiotics has been much reported in recent years. It is less well-known that within populations of bacteria there are cells which are resistant due to a non-inherited phenotypic switch to a slow-growing state.

Vampire bats live only in Central and South America and weigh 30 - 40 g. Vampires share food among unrelated group members, a behaviour known as reciprocal altruism, which vampire bats have in common with humans. However, sharing may be a lot tougher these days because of ecological changes.

Nerve cells must perform millions of neuronal processes and form connections between them during embryonic development to ensure that the nervous system will function properly. Dr. Marta Rosário and Prof. Walter Birchmeier from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch (Germany), a member of the Helmholtz-Association of National Research Centres, have discovered a novel regulator which is crucial for this process and which they named NOMA-GAP (Neurite-Outgrowth MultiAdaptor RhoGAP).

It will soon be easy to determine whether a person has an alcohol problem. With a tiny prick of the finger a new method can detect any abuse from the last two weeks. It can also reveal injurious and risky consumption, such as repeated weekend binges. The method is quicker, cheaper, and more accurate than present variants, which makes it interesting to primary care clinics, workplaces, and other venues where it is important to carry out health checks.

In the U.S. this year more than 55,000 Americans will develop cancer of the head and neck (most of which is preventable) and nearly 13,000 of them will die from it. The American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) reports that many of these cancer-related deaths are caused by the use of smokeless tobacco products, like chewing tobacco and snuff.

If you’re among the creatures that produce scads of genetically identical offspring – like microbes, plants or water fleas - you have a good evolutionary strategy, a new study says.

These creatures provide a chance to wonder about the clones raised in near-identical environments that turn out differently than their kin. In this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a Michigan State University zoologist and others report how the greater good of a genetic pool of identical organisms is affected when a few individuals break from the developmental pack.

About 40 percent of deaths worldwide are caused by water, air and soil pollution, concludes a Cornell researcher. Such environmental degradation, coupled with the growth in world population, are major causes behind the rapid increase in human diseases, which the World Health Organization has recently reported. Both factors contribute to the malnourishment and disease susceptibility of 3.7 billion people, he says.

A new imaging technique developed at MIT has allowed scientists to create the first 3D images of a living cell, using a method similar to the X-ray CT scans doctors use to see inside the body.

The technique, described in a paper published in the Aug. 12 online edition of Nature Methods, could be used to produce the most detailed images yet of what goes on inside a living cell without the help of fluorescent markers or other externally added contrast agents, said Michael Feld, director of MIT's George R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory and a professor of physics.

After binding DNA segments to tiny iron-containing spheres called nanoparticles, researchers have used magnetic fields to direct the nanoparticles into arterial muscle cells, where the DNA could have a therapeutic effect. Although the research, done in cell cultures, is in early stages, it may represent a new method for delivering gene therapy to benefit blood vessels damaged by arterial disease.Transmission electron microscopy image of a magnetic nanoparticle. Credit: CHildren's Hospital of Philadelphia

Measurement scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have reduced the uncertainty of thermocouple temperature sensors at high temperatures to within a degree. This may allow manufacturers to improve efficiency and reduce wastage in the quest for more efficient jet engines and lower aircraft emissions.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that proteins known to promote cell death are also necessary for the maturation and proliferation of immune cells. Activation of T-cell receptors on the surface of lymphocytes by foreign antigens initiate a calcium-mediated signaling pathway that ends in cell differentiation and growth.

When molecular disaster strikes, causing structural damage to DNA, players in two important pathways talk to each other to help contain the wreckage, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the August edition of Cell.