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. (AP) -- Prosecutors demanded a four-year prison term Monday for a South Korean scientist disgraced in a cloning scandal that shook the international scientific community and led to his trial on fraud and other charges. http://www.physorg.com/news170317359.html Biology Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:23:19 EST news170317359 In the area of genetic diagnosis of embryos, the choice of words matters as they can influence policies and perceptions, according to an analysis in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://www.physorg.com/news169735563.html Medicine & Health Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:00:02 EST news169735563 (PhysOrg.com) -- In an advance that could help transform embryonic stem cells into a multipurpose medical tool, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have transformed these versatile cells into progenitors of white blood cells and into six types of mature white blood and immune cells. http://www.physorg.com/news169151069.html Medicine & Health Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:00:02 EST news169151069 Scientists at Leeds and Bradford have discovered a unique 'DNA signature' in human sperm, which may act as a key that unlocks an egg's fertility and triggers new life. http://www.physorg.com/news168510810.html Biology Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:34:29 EST news168510810 Researchers have found a way to directly convert spermatogonial stem cells, the precursors of sperm cells, into tissues of the prostate, skin and uterus. Their approach, described this month in the journal Stem Cells, may prove to be an effective alternative to the medical use of embryonic stem cells. http://www.physorg.com/news168014826.html Biology Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:50:03 EST news168014826 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have developed a new technique that allows them to make a movie of bacteria infecting their living host. http://www.physorg.com/news167918449.html Biology Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:01:28 EST news167918449 The mode of reproduction seen in modern sharks is nearly 400 million years old. That is the conclusion drawn by Professor Per Erik Ahlberg, Uppsala University, from his discovery of a so-called "clasper" in a primitive fossil fish earlier this year. The research results are published today in Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news166710780.html Other Sciences Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:33:27 EST news166710780 Scientists have identified a gene that is essential for embryonic stem cells to maintain their all-purpose, pluripotent state. Exploiting the finding may lead to a greater understanding of how cells acquire their specialized states and provide a strategy to efficiently reprogram mature cells back into the pluripotent state, an elusive step in stem cell research but one crucial to a range of potential clinical treatments. http://www.physorg.com/news166279790.html Biology Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:50:31 EST news166279790 The US government on Monday unveiled final rules for embryonic stem cell research, laying out ground rules for "ethically responsible, scientifically worthy" studies eligible for federal funds. http://www.physorg.com/news166163911.html Biology Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:30:09 EST news166163911 (AP) -- The government is creating a master list of which embryonic stem cells qualify for taxpayer-funded research, now that President Barack Obama has lifted restrictions on the field. http://www.physorg.com/news166106191.html Biology Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:36:42 EST news166106191 (PhysOrg.com) -- A newly discovered mechanism controls whether muscle cells in blood vessels hasten the development of both atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's disease, according to an article published online today in the journal Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news166020056.html Medicine & Health Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:41:26 EST news166020056 (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 Because females carry two copies of the X chromosome to males' one X and one Y, they harbor a potentially toxic double dose of the over 1000 genes that reside on the X chromosome. http://www.physorg.com/news165675004.html Medicine & Health Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:40:02 EST news165675004 Transferring just one embryo at a time to a woman's womb after embryos have undergone preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and freezing at the blastocyst stage has become a real option after researchers achieved pregnancy rates that were as good as those for blastocysts that had not had a cell removed for PGD before freezing. Their results mean that it will be possible to reduce the number of multiple pregnancies after PGD and the consequent complications associated with these pregnancies. http://www.physorg.com/news165576792.html Medicine & Health Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:20:01 EST news165576792 Scientists working at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Embryology, with colleagues, have overturned previous research that identified critical genes for making muscle stem cells. It turns out that the genes that make muscle stem cells in the embryo are surprisingly not needed in adult muscle stem cells to regenerate muscles after injury. http://www.physorg.com/news165144902.html Biology Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:35:26 EST news165144902 How fast can evolution take place? In just a few years, according to a new study on guppies led by UC Riverside's Swanne Gordon, a graduate student in biology. http://www.physorg.com/news163905749.html Biology Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:22:51 EST news163905749 (PhysOrg.com) -- A long-standing mystery surrounding a fundamental process in plant biology has been solved by a team of scientists at the University of California, Davis. http://www.physorg.com/news163343595.html Biology Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:13:51 EST news163343595 When you were a kid your mom poured it on your scraped finger to stave off infection. When you got older you might have even used it to bleach your hair. Now there's another possible function for this over-the-counter colorless liquid: your body might be using hydrogen peroxide as an envoy that marshals troops of healing cells to wounded tissue. http://www.physorg.com/news163253821.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:17:33 EST news163253821 In a controversial achievement, Japanese scientists announced on Wednesday they had created the world's first transgenic primates, breeding monkeys with a gene that made the animals' skin glow a fluorescent green. http://www.physorg.com/news162649086.html Biology Wed, 27 May 2009 13:18:36 EST news162649086 Stem cells play a role in heart muscle rejuvenation by attracting cells from the body that develop into heart muscle cells. They have been successfully used to halt or reverse cardiac injury following heart attack, but not to prevent injury before it occurs. http://www.physorg.com/news161528262.html Biology Thu, 14 May 2009 13:58:22 EST news161528262 (PhysOrg.com) -- Biologists have long wondered why the embryonic heart begins beating so early, before the tissues actually need to be infused with blood. Two groups of researchers from Children's Hospital Boston, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) -- presenting multiple lines of evidence from zebrafish, mice and mouse embryonic stem cells -- provide an intriguing answer: A beating heart and blood flow are necessary for development of the blood system, which relies on mechanical stresses to cue its formation. http://www.physorg.com/news161439308.html Medicine & Health Wed, 13 May 2009 13:15:45 EST news161439308 Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered a method to potentially eliminate the tumor-risk factor in utilizing human embryonic stem cells. http://www.physorg.com/news160816468.html Medicine & Health Wed, 06 May 2009 08:17:09 EST news160816468 Driven mostly by hope, two California families will travel more than 6,000 miles to China for an experimental stem-cell treatment for their children. http://www.physorg.com/news160222416.html Medicine & Health Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:14:15 EST news160222416 A US-based fertility doctor claimed to have cloned 14 human embryos and transferred 11 of them into the wombs of four women in an interview published Wednesday. http://www.physorg.com/news159609841.html Biology Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:04:39 EST news159609841 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Alberta are looking to the tiny zebrafish for a way to regenerate damaged nerve cells in people. http://www.physorg.com/news159194818.html Medicine & Health Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:48:06 EST news159194818 (AP) -- When President Barack Obama eased limits on taxpayer-funded embryonic stem cell research, the big question became how far scientists could go. Friday, the government answered: They must use cells culled from fertility clinic embryos that otherwise would be thrown away. http://www.physorg.com/news159194009.html Biology Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:34:07 EST news159194009 During the last 540 million years, the earth's oxygen levels have fluctuated wildly. Knowing that the dinosaurs appeared around the time when oxygen levels were at their lowest at 12%, Tomasz Owerkowicz, Ruth Elsey and James Hicks wondered how these monsters coped at such low oxygen levels. But without a ready supply of dinosaurs to test their ideas on, Owerkowicz and Hicks turned to a modern relative: the alligator. http://www.physorg.com/news159169181.html Biology Fri, 17 Apr 2009 06:40:33 EST news159169181 The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday claimed its own version of Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal, after the birth of a cloned camel in Dubai this month. http://www.physorg.com/news158906603.html Biology Tue, 14 Apr 2009 05:44:19 EST news158906603 A protein that the heart produces during its early development reactivates the embryonic coronary developmental program and initiates migration of heart cells and blood vessel growth after a heart attack, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. http://www.physorg.com/news158584443.html Medicine & Health Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:14:40 EST news158584443 Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) cause malformations in babies, including facial defects, short stature, and mental and behavioral abnormalities. The African frog, Xenopus, is a valuable tool for understanding early vertebrate development since these embryos are large, easy to work with and very responsive to environmental cues. New research uses this system to address the mechanism underlying the characteristics associated with maternal consumption of alcohol in early pregnancy. http://www.physorg.com/news158206854.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:21:31 EST news158206854