Body

International collaboration is a key aspect of the globalization of science and engineering. A recent report and data evaluation released by the National Science Foundation (NSF) showed that one in six scientists and engineers in the United States reported working with individuals in other countries in a given week. International collaboration was more likely to occur among persons working in the for-profit sector, men, and those with higher levels of educational attainment.

(Boston) – A study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has shown that a compound used in some skin creams may halt the progression of emphysema and reverse some of the damage caused by the disease. When the compound Gly-His-Lys (GHK) was applied to lung cells from patients with emphysema, normal gene activity in altered cells was restored and damaged aspects of cellular function were repaired.

Details of a treatment that could help asthmatics fight infections that trigger 80% of asthma attacks, developed by University of Southampton spin-out company Synairgen, will be presented to European respiratory experts on Sunday 2 September.

The study provides the first evidence that boosting asthmatics' immune systems can help reduce the number of asthma attacks due to the common cold and other viral infections for the 5.4 million asthmatics in the UK.

The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) has published practical guidelines to assist clinicians in assessing treatment efficacy in patients who experience a fracture while on medication for osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis drug therapy typically reduces the risk of fracture in the range of 30-70% for vertebral fractures, 40-50% for hip fractures and 15-20% for non-vertebral fractures. Nevertheless, even an effective therapy does not completely eliminate the risk of fracture, and some patients will experience a fracture while complying with their prescribed treatment.

It is likely that the protein is also highly significant for other inflammatory diseases.

The research results have been published in the American journal Gastroenterology.

Excessive alcohol intake and gall stones are known risk factors for acute pancreatitis. However, as yet no explanation has been found for what actually happens in the body in cases of acute pancreatitis.

Current research shows that calcium-sensitive proteins found in the body, for example calcineurin, promote inflammation, but it is not known exactly how.

Scientists at the research centre MEMBRANES at Aarhus University, Denmark, have completed an old puzzle, which since the 60s from many sides has been regarded as impossible to complete. The challenge was to solve the structure of the protecting protein complex that forms when haemoglobin is released from red cells and becomes toxic. This toxic release of haemoglobin occurs in many diseases affecting red cell stability, e.g. malaria.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new nanolithography technique that is less expensive than other approaches and can be used to create technologies with biomedical applications.

A catastrophic event – such as a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, or market collapse – often strikes twice. There is the damage caused by the event itself, as lives are lost or left in ruin. But there is also the second act, catalyzed by our response to the catastrophic event. This second act has the potential to cause just as much damage as the first.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida State University researchers led by physics doctoral student Campion Loong have achieved significant benchmarks in a study of the human cardiac protein alpha-tropomyosin, which is an essential, molecular-level component that controls the heart's contraction on every beat.

2 to 3 % of the children are born with an intellectual disability. Possibly by a genetic defect, but in 80% of these cases, we do not know – yet - which genes are responsible. VIB researchers at KU Leuven show that increased production of the HUWE1 protein is the cause in some patients.

Guy Froyen (VIB/KU Leuven): "The fact that HUWE1 regulates the dose of several other proteins in the brains, has an important impact on the quest for new therapies. It would then be possible to intervene in these different proteins. Research into the role of HUWE1 has already started in the lab."

New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Plant Biology shows how targeting two bacterial genes into an ornamental plant (Pelargonium), can produce long-lived and pollen-free plants.

BEIJING (31 AUGUST 2012)—The world's top wheat experts today reported a breakthrough in their ability to track Ug99 and related strains of a deadly and rapidly mutating wheat pathogen called stem rust that threatens wheat fields from East Africa to South Asia.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death in the United States and is thought to affect almost three million people in the UK. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Medicine has identified genes whose activity is altered with increasing lung damage and, using a database of drug effects on gene activity (the Connectivity Map), finds that the compound Gly-His-Lys (GHK) affects the activity of these genes.

The use of "smoky coal" for household cooking and heating is associated with a substantial increase in the lifetime risk of developing lung cancer, finds a study from China published on bmj.com today.

This represents one of the strongest effects of environmental pollution reported for cancer risk in any population, say the authors. It also underlines the importance of taking action to minimise exposure to the most hazardous types of fuel.

Research: Lifestyle, social factors, and survival after age 75: population based study

Living a healthy lifestyle into old age can add five years to women's lives and six years to men's, finds a study from Sweden published on bmj.com today.

The authors say this is the first study that directly provides information about differences in longevity according to several modifiable factors.