http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Even before they start school, many young girls worry that they are fat. But a new study suggests watching a movie starring a stereotypically thin and beautiful princess may not increase children's anxieties. http://www.physorg.com/news178279727.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:20:03 EST news178279727 An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, is taking the first step in developing a treatment for a rare genetic disorder called fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), in which the body's skeletal muscles and soft connective tissue turns to bone, immobilizing patients over a lifetime with a second skeleton. http://www.physorg.com/news177258526.html Medicine & Health Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:50:03 EST news177258526 The vast majority of school-aged children can focus on the voice of a teacher amid the cacophony of the typical classroom thanks to a brain that automatically focuses on relevant, predictable and repeating auditory information, according to new research from Northwestern University. http://www.physorg.com/news177165357.html Medicine & Health Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:10:01 EST news177165357 The loss of a gene through deletion of genetic material on chromosome 15 is associated with significant abnormalities in learning and behavior, said a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online today in the journal Nature Genetics. http://www.physorg.com/news176908780.html Medicine & Health Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:21:46 EST news176908780 (PhysOrg.com) -- While studying how the heart is formed, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine serendipitously found a novel cellular source of atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common type of abnormal heart beat. http://www.physorg.com/news176408803.html Medicine & Health Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:50:04 EST news176408803 Vertebrates have in common a skeleton made of segments, the vertebrae. During development of the embryo, each segment is added in a time dependent manner, from the head-end to the tail-end: the first segments to be added become the vertebrae of the neck, later segments become the vertebrae with ribs and the last ones the vertebra located in the tail (in the case of a mouse, for example). In this process, it is crucial that, on the one hand, each segment, as it matures, becomes the correct type of vertebra and, on the other, that the number of vertebrae in the skeleton, and therefore the size of the spine, are minutely controlled. http://www.physorg.com/news175861637.html Medicine & Health Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:40:01 EST news175861637 Chinese-speaking children with dyslexia have a disorder that is distinctly different, and perhaps more complicated and severe, than that of English speakers. Those differences can be seen in the brain and in the performance of Chinese children on visual and oral language tasks, reveals a report published online on October 12th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. http://www.physorg.com/news174568936.html Medicine & Health Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:23:53 EST news174568936 Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have proposed a novel model that differs from a widely held hypothesis about the mechanisms by which developing animals pattern their tissues and structures. http://www.physorg.com/news173418958.html Biology Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:50:05 EST news173418958 A new study resolves a 130-year-old mystery over the developmental origin of specialized skin cells involved in touch sensation. The findings will appear in the October 5, 2009 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news173354601.html Biology Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:20:03 EST news173354601 Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the College of Arts & Sciences have identified a new biological process that spurs the growth of new blood vessels. http://www.physorg.com/news172168679.html Medicine & Health Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:50:03 EST news172168679 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, that they have discovered a prime example of this in fish. http://www.physorg.com/news171199623.html Biology Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:27:54 EST news171199623 Autism can build a wall of poor communication between those struggling with the condition and their families. While a personal computer can help bridge the divide, the distraction and complexity of a keyboard can be an insurmountable obstacle. http://www.physorg.com/news170927377.html Electronics Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:50:18 EST news170927377 Parkinson's disease is caused by the degeneration of neurons in the midbrain. The mechanisms leading to the loss of these neurons, however, are largely unknown. Recent research revealed that about ten per cent of cases are caused by defects in so-called Parkinson-associated genes. Furthermore, mitochondria, the cellular powerhouses, seem to play a major role. http://www.physorg.com/news170330985.html Chemistry Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:10:13 EST news170330985 (PhysOrg.com) -- Why do some plants blossom even when days are short and gray? Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology have found the answer to this question: An endogenous mechanism allows them to flower in the absence of external influences such as long days. A small piece of RNA, a so-called microRNA, has a central role in this process, as a decline of its concentration in the shoot apex triggers flowering. http://www.physorg.com/news169995560.html Biology Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:20:02 EST news169995560 A study from the Center for Molecular Genetics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine shows that a gene called HPRT plays an important role in setting the program by which primitive or precursor cells decide to become normal nerve cells in the human brain. This unconventional view of metabolic genes known as "housekeeping" genes is now online at the journal Molecular Therapy. http://www.physorg.com/news169985095.html Medicine & Health Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:20:03 EST news169985095 Want your children to eat less? Let them serve themselves. They probably won't dole out a supersize portion on their own. http://www.physorg.com/news169964605.html Medicine & Health Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:40:01 EST news169964605 (PhysOrg.com) -- Humans might not be walking the face of the Earth were it not for the ancient fusing of two prokaryotes -- tiny life forms that do not have a cellular nucleus. UCLA molecular biologist James A. Lake reports important new insights about prokaryotes and the evolution of life in the Aug. 20 advance online edition of the journal Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news169907476.html Biology Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:20:01 EST news169907476 A tissue-repair-and-regeneration pathway in the human body, including wound healing, is essential for the early lung to develop properly. Genetically engineered mice fail to develop lungs when two molecules in this pathway, Wnt2 and Wnt2b, are knocked out. The findings are described this week in Developmental Cell. http://www.physorg.com/news169741332.html Biology Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:50:02 EST news169741332 Language is a central element of social life. It is not only a prerequisite for personal relationships, but also for employment prospects. If a child's language development is impaired, this can have far-reaching negative consequences. Thus, it would be beneficial if those children who would benefit from targeted help could be identified at a very early stage. http://www.physorg.com/news169727307.html Medicine & Health Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:28:53 EST news169727307 Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have isolated a unique protein that appears to have a dual function and could lead to a "boon in medicine." The findings are published in the August issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news168691168.html Biology Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:10:01 EST news168691168 A common variation of the gene involved in regulating serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain may be linked to problem behaviors in adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, new research indicates. http://www.physorg.com/news167400248.html Medicine & Health Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:20:02 EST news167400248 How evolution acts to bridge the chasm between two discrete physiological states is a question that's long puzzled scientists. Most evolutionary changes, after all, happen in tiny increments: an elephant grows a little larger, a giraffe's neck a little longer. If those tiny changes prove advantageous, there's a better chance of passing them to the next generation, which might then add its own mutations. And so on, and so on, until you have a huge pachyderm or the characteristic stretched neck of a giraffe. http://www.physorg.com/news167319476.html Biology Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:30:05 EST news167319476 New research shows babies have a handle on the meaning of different dog barks - despite little or no previous exposure to dogs. http://www.physorg.com/news167317313.html Medicine & Health Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:02:27 EST news167317313 According to a recent paper entitled "Laughter Differs in Children with Autism: An Acoustic Analysis of Laughter Produced by Children with and without the Disorder" in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, children diagnosed with autism produce different laughs than their nonautistic peers. http://www.physorg.com/news166452052.html Medicine & Health Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:00:01 EST news166452052 Using zebrafish, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have identified and described an enzyme inhibitor that allows them to increase the number of cardiac progenitor cells and therefore influence the size of the developing heart. The findings are described in the advance online version of Nature Chemical Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news166020510.html Chemistry Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:49:08 EST news166020510 Skinning a knee, swallowing habanero salsa, and installing snow chains bare-handed might seem pretty different at first. But all have one thing in common -- they're guaranteed to hurt. http://www.physorg.com/news165766405.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:30:01 EST news165766405 (PhysOrg.com) -- UCLA researchers have found that embryonic stem cells and skin cells reprogrammed into embryonic-like cells have inherent molecular differences, demonstrating for the first time that the two cell types are clearly distinguishable from one another. http://www.physorg.com/news165756445.html Biology Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:28:03 EST news165756445 When a zebra finch hears a new song from a member of its own species, the experience changes gene expression in its brain in unexpected ways, researchers report. The sequential switching on and off of thousands of genes after a bird hears a new tune offers a new picture of memory in the songbird brain. http://www.physorg.com/news165239600.html Biology Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:00:01 EST news165239600 While tobacco use is an ongoing health hazard for the entire population, its consequences for people with developmental or intellectual disabilities can be especially severe. And the medical community often tends to overlook the tobacco-related burdens these people face. An extensive review of published research on this topic appears in the June edition of the journal Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. http://www.physorg.com/news163504386.html Medicine & Health Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:53:23 EST news163504386 (AP) -- Tourette syndrome occurs in 3 out of every 1,000 school-aged children, and is more than twice as common in white kids as in blacks or Hispanics, according to the largest U.S. study to estimate how many have the disorder. http://www.physorg.com/news163345483.html Medicine & Health Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:45:14 EST news163345483