Body

EAST LANSING, MI—One way to maximize the eco-friendly factor of a structure is to include a green roof—and this doesn't refer to the paint color. "Greening" a roof, or covering a roof with vegetation, is gaining popularity in North America, where the number of green roofs increased 30% from 2006 to 2007. Benefits of green roofs include improved storm water management, energy conservation, reduced noise and air pollution, improved biodiversity, and even a better return on investment than traditional roofing.

Eat less, exercise more. Now there is new evidence to support adding another "must" to the weight-loss mantra: eat at the right time of day.

A Northwestern University study has found that eating at irregular times -- the equivalent of the middle of the night for humans, when the body wants to sleep -- influences weight gain. The regulation of energy by the body's circadian rhythms may play a significant role. The study is the first causal evidence linking meal timing and increased weight gain.

Scientists have suspected that spare parts in the genome—extra copies of functional genes that arise when genes or whole genomes get duplicated—might sometimes provide the raw materials for the evolution of new traits. Now, researchers report in a study published online on September 3rd in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, that they have discovered a prime example of this in fish.

HOUSTON - (Sept. 4, 2009) – As part of the intricate ballet of synaptic transmission from one neuron to the next, tiny vesicles – bubbles containing the chemical neurotransmitters that make information exchange possible—travel to the tip of neurons (synapses), where they fuse with the cell's membrane (a process called exocytosis). The extra membrane is then captured in a process called endocytosis and recycled to form a new vesicle to enable the next cycle of release.

When researchers first reported the sequence of the human Y chromosome, they referred to it as a "literal hall of mirrors." That is, the male sex chromosome, and in particular the genes essential for sperm production, are encoded in long stretches of mirror-image sequence. That unique pattern provides the lone Y chromosome with pairs of genes within its own structure that can back each other up, helping to maintain its integrity.

A study in the September 4th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, identifies a gene that springs into action in response to a high fat diet. Mice that lack the gene become essentially immune to growing obese, regardless of their eating habits.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---University of Michigan researchers have identified a gene that acts as a master switch to control obesity in mice. When the switch is turned off, even high-fat-diet mice remain thin.

Deleting the gene, called IKKE, also appears to protect mice against conditions that, in humans, lead to Type 2 diabetes, which is associated with obesity and is on the rise among Americans, including children and adolescents.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (September 3, 2009) – The unique mechanism behind the evolutionary survival of the human Y chromosome may also be responsible for a range of sex disorders, from failed sperm production to sex reversal to Turner Syndrome.

LA JOLLA, CA – September 1, 2009 –A team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a genetic cause of progressive hearing loss. The findings will help scientists better understand the nature of age-related decline in hearing and may lead to new therapies to prevent or treat the condition.

The findings were published the September 3, 2009, in an advance, online issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, a publication of Cell Press.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – People with type 2 diabetes are not consuming sufficiently healthy diets and could benefit from ongoing nutritional education and counseling, according to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues.

The study appears in the August issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — "I request to ban trans fats from the American diet."

Thus begins a 3,000-word petition to the Food and Drug Administration, the work of a man on a dogged, decades-old crusade to eradicate trans fats from food.

Athens, Ga. – The antioxidant quercetin is increasingly being marketed as a supplement that boosts athletic performance, but a new University of Georgia study finds that it is no better than a placebo.

In the new era of personalized medicine, physicians hope to provide earlier diagnoses and improve therapy byevaluating patients' genetic blueprints. But, as a new bioinformatics study emphasizes, the first step must be tocorrectly decipher the deluge of information locked in our DNA and determine its impact on human health.

Flowering plants are all around us and are phenomenally successful—but how did they get to be so successful and where did they come from? This question bothered Darwin and others and a paper published in the September issue of the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society indicates that their ability to adapt anatomically may be the answer.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Kudzu, the fast-growing vine that has gobbled up some 10 million acres in the Southeast, may prove to be a valuable dietary supplement for metabolic syndrome, a condition that affects 50 million Americans, say researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).