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Dr. Michael Collins publishes paper on ivory-billed woodpecker

Dr. Michael Collins, Naval Research Laboratory scientist and bird watcher, has published an article titled "Putative audio recordings of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis)" which appears in the March issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The audio recordings were captured in two videos of birds with characteristics consistent with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. This footage was obtained near the Pearl River in Louisiana, where there is a history of unconfirmed reports of this species.

New insight into chromosome segregation: Centromere-independent kinetochore assembly

One of the most critical tasks that a dividing cell must accomplish is the successful delivery of a complete set of genetic information to each new daughter cell. Now, a study published by Cell Press in the April 29th issue of the journal Cell, provides fascinating new insight into the complex of proteins that orchestrates the proper segregation of human chromosomes during cell division.

Nanotechnologists must take lessons from nature

It's common knowledge that the perfect is the enemy of the good, but in the nanoscale world, perfection can act as the enemy of the best.

In the workaday world, engineers and scientists go to great lengths to make the devices we use as perfect as possible. When we flip on a light switch or turn the key on the car, we expect the lights to come on and the engine to start every time, with only rare exceptions. They have done so by using a top-down design process combined with the application of large amounts of energy to increase reliability by suppressing natural variability.

Mystery solved: How sickle hemoglobin protects against malaria

The latest issue of the journal Cell* carries an article that is likely to help solve one of the long-standing mysteries of biomedicine. In a study that challenges currently held views, researchers at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), in Portugal, unravel the molecular mechanism whereby sickle cell hemoglobin confers a survival advantage against malaria, the disease caused by Plasmodium infection. These findings, by the research team lead by Miguel P.

Video captures cellular 'workhorses' in action

Scientists at Yale University and in Grenoble France have succeeded in creating a movie showing the breakup of actin filaments, the thread-like structures inside cells that are crucial to their movement, maintenance and division.

Actin filaments are the muscular workhorses of our cells — pushing on membranes to move cells to the proper location within tissues and applying pressure within the interior to keep all working parts of the cell where they need to be. These filaments do their jobs through a mysterious process of continual splitting and reassembly.

2 unsuspected proteins may hold the key to creating artificial chromosomes

FINDINGS: Whitehead Institute scientists report that two proteins once thought to have only supporting roles, are the true "stars" of the kinetochore assembly process in human cells.

NIH study finds Avastin and Lucentis are equally effective in treating AMD

Researchers are reporting results from the first year of a two-year clinical trial that Avastin, a drug approved to treat some cancers and that is commonly used off-label to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is as effective as the Food and Drug Administration-approved drug Lucentis for the treatment of AMD.

The report, from the Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials (CATT), was published online in the New England Journal of Medicine on Sunday, May 1, 2011. CATT is funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), a part of the National Institutes of Health.

Extreme testing for rotor blades

Performance goals needed now for offshore wind turbine industry in US

WASHINGTON — Structural Integrity of Offshore Wind Turbines: Oversight of Design, Fabrication, and Installation, a new report from the National Research Council's Transportation Research Board, examines standards and practices that could be used to design U.S. offshore wind installations.

JAMA study reports on fatty liver disease in children and teens

INDIANAPOLIS – The largest study of its type has found that neither vitamin E, which is an antioxidant, nor the diabetes drug metformin, successfully reduced liver enzymes in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in children or teens, according to a paper published in the April 27, 2011 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association. The study also found that in patients with a severe type of fatty liver disease, a biopsy of the liver showed improvement in the injury pattern with vitamin E therapy.

Melatonin might help in controlling weight gain and preventing heart diseases associated with obesity

and Spanish.

University of Granada researchers have proven that melatonin –a natural hormone produced by the body– helps in controlling weight gain –even without reducing the intake of food–, improves blood lipid profile –as it reduces triglicerids–, increases HDL cholesterol and reduces LDL cholesterol.

New gene therapy technique on iPS cells holds promise in treating immune system disease

(WASHINGTON, April 28, 2011) – Researchers have developed an effective technique that uses gene therapy on stem cells to correct chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) in cell culture, which could eventually serve as a treatment for this rare, inherited immune disorder, according to a study published in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology.

New immigrants less likely to have premature babies in the first 5 years in Canada: Study

TORONTO, On – April 28, 2011 – Immigrants living less than five years in Canada are less likely than their Canadian-born counterparts to have premature babies regardless of where they live, according to a new study by St. Michael's Hospital.

Folic acid for everybody -- arguments in favor of food fortification

Neural tube defects in neonates are common in Germany compared with the rest of Europe. Extensive folic acid fortification of foods in Germany might prevent these in 85-100% of cases, Wolfgang Herrmann and Rima Obeid argue in this issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108[15]; 249-54).

Obesity: Conclusive results for the Montreal Heart Institute's EPIC Centre Kilo-Actif program

Montreal, April 28, 2011 – A program which combines interval training and healthy eating practices seems to be perfectly indicated for those suffering from obesity, according to the results of a new study from the Montreal Hearth Institute's centre for preventive medicine and physical activity (ÉPIC Centre). Results of the study were announced at the National Obesity Summit, currently taking place in Montreal.