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Two medications used to treat erectile dysfunction in men (tadalafil and sildenafil) do not appear to have visual side effects when taken daily for six months, despite concerns about eye-related complications, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Ann Arbor, MI--Patients with a rare, blinding eye disease saw their vision improve after treatment with drugs to suppress their immune systems, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. Because autoimmune retinopathy (AIR) is difficult to diagnose, the biggest challenge now is to find biologic markers that identify patients who can benefit from treatment.

SAN DIEGO – College students who use Facebook spend less time studying and have lower grade point averages than students who have not signed up for the social networking website, according to a pilot study at one university.

However, more than three-quarters of Facebook users claimed that their use of the social networking site didn't interfere with their studies.

The new science of epigenetics explains how genes can be modified by the environment, and a prime result of epigenetic inquiry has just been published online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org): You are what your mother did not eat during pregnancy. In the research report, scientists from the University of Utah show that rat fetuses receiving poor nutrition in the womb become genetically primed to be born into an environment lacking proper nutrition.

LA JOLLA, Calif., April 13, 2009 -- Investigators at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have developed a protocol to rapidly differentiate human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into neural progenitor cells that may be ideal for transplantation. The research, conducted by Alexei Terskikh, Ph.D., and colleagues, outlines a method to create these committed neural precursor cells (C-NPCs) that is replicable, does not produce mutations in the cells and could be useful for clinical applications.

According to researchers with Kansas State University's Physical Activity and Public Health Laboratory, active commuting -- walking or biking to school or work -- can be an easy, effective and efficient way to integrate physical activity into the daily routine.

RICHMOND, Va. (April 13, 2009) – While the number of Americans registered as organ and tissue donors is rising, the registry still only includes 38 percent of licensed drivers, according to a report card issued by Donate Life America this year. Yet, according to a new survey of Americans, 72 percent of people want their decision to donate honored, even if their family disagrees.

Kansas State University engineers think the possibilities are deep for a very thin material.

Vikas Berry, assistant professor of chemical engineering, is leading research combining biological materials with graphene, a recently developed carbon material that is only a single atom thick.

"The biological interfacing of graphene is taking this material to the next level," Berry said. "Discovered only four years ago, this material has already shown a large number of capabilities. K-Staters are the first to do bio-integrated research with graphene."

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Though a high-fiber diet has long been considered good for you and beneficial in staving off colon cancer, Medical College of Georgia researchers have discovered a reason why: roughage activates a receptor with cancer-killing potential.

Our modern age has become accustomed to regular improvements in information technology, says Slava Rotkin, but these advances do not come without a cost.

Take the laptop, for example. Its components, especially its billions of semiconductor electronic circuits, are growing ever tinier while the instrument's power and capacity increase. But heat generated by electric current can cause the circuits to melt and the laptop hardware to fail.

In an Early Edition issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on April 9, 2009, the researchers report that they have been able to determine the molecular structure of a plant photolyase protein that is surprisingly similar to two cryptochrome proteins that control the "master clock" in humans and other mammals. They have also been able to test how structural changes affect the function of these proteins.

Providence, RI---In 1994, University of Utah mathematician Ken Goldenwent to the Eastern Weddell Sea for the Antarctic Zone FluxExperiment. The sea's surface is normally covered with sea ice, thecomplex composite material that results when sea water is frozen.During a powerful winter storm, Golden observed liquid sea waterwelling up and flooding the sea ice surface, producing a slushymixture of sea water and snow that freezes into snow-ice. With hismathematician's eyes he observed this phenomenon and said to himself:"That's percolation!"

Yuan et al. have identified another anti-cancer effect of the "longevity" protein SIRT1. By speeding the destruction of the tumor promoter c-Myc, SIRT1 curbs cell division. The study will be published online April 13 (www.jcb.org) and will appear in the April 20 print issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.

Like a climber scaling a rock face, a migrating cancer cell has to keep a tight grip on the surface but also let go at the right moment to move ahead. Chan et al. reveal that the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) coordinates these processes to permit forward movement. The study will be published online April 13 (www.jcb.org) and will appear in the April 20 print issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.

Mutations that help HIV hide from the immune system undermine the virus's ability to replicate, show an international team of researchers in the April 13 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine. The study was published online on March 23.

When HIV infects a cell, a complex of human immune proteins called HLA (short for human leukocyte antigen) alert killer T cells by displaying bits of the virus on the surface of the cell. The T cells recognize these HIV fragments and mobilize an attack.