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. (PhysOrg.com) -- Fingerprints do not help primates grip, as previously thought, scientists have discovered. They actually reduce the friction needed to hold onto flat surfaces. Now Dr Roland Ennos and his team at The University of Manchester are trying to find out: why do we have them? http://www.physorg.com/news162822562.html Biology Fri, 29 May 2009 13:33:32 EST news162822562 An experimental drug derived from cottonseed shows promise in treating the recurrence of glioblastoma multiforme, widely considered the most lethal brain cancer, said researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). http://www.physorg.com/news162725213.html Medicine & Health Thu, 28 May 2009 10:31:50 EST news162725213 A multicenter research team has announced encouraging results for an experimental therapy using elements of the body's immune system to improve cure rates for children with neuroblastoma, a challenging cancer of the nervous system. http://www.physorg.com/news162665086.html Medicine & Health Wed, 27 May 2009 17:45:02 EST news162665086 Researchers at Iowa State University have found that increased expression of a form of cytochrome P-450 (CYP4B1) is a key marker of inhibition of colitis in mice by caffeic acid, an anti-inflammatory antioxidant compound widely distributed in foods. http://www.physorg.com/news162553970.html Medicine & Health Tue, 26 May 2009 10:53:31 EST news162553970 If we imagine our immune system to be a police force for our bodies, then previous work has suggested that the Lymph nodes would be the best candidate structures within the body to act as police stations - the regions in which the immune response is organised. http://www.physorg.com/news162548684.html Biology Tue, 26 May 2009 09:25:23 EST news162548684 Thank parasites for making some of our immune proteins into the inflammatory defenders they are today, according to a population genetics study that will appear in the June 8 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine (online May 25). The study, conducted by a team of researchers in Italy, also suggests that you might blame parasites for sculpting some of those genes into risk factors for intestinal disorders. http://www.physorg.com/news162464032.html Medicine & Health Mon, 25 May 2009 10:03:33 EST news162464032 An experimental vaccine applied the surface of the skin appears to protect against certain types of ear infections. Scientists from the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, report their findings today at the 109th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Philadelphia. http://www.physorg.com/news162134969.html Biology Thu, 21 May 2009 14:30:16 EST news162134969 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists are investigating whether or not noise generated by the oil and gas industry might affect the day-to-day behaviour of sperm whales. http://www.physorg.com/news160934516.html Biology Thu, 07 May 2009 17:02:55 EST news160934516 Dolphins have a clever trick for overcoming sleep deprivation. Sam Ridgway from the US Navy Marine Mammal Program explains that they are able to send half of their brains to sleep while the other half remains conscious. What is more, the mammals seem to be able to remain continually vigilant for sounds for days on end. http://www.physorg.com/news160384772.html Biology Fri, 01 May 2009 08:19:57 EST news160384772 Dengue fever is a terrible viral disease blighting many of the world's tropical regions. Carried by mosquitoes, such as Aedes aegypti, 40% of the world's population is believed to be at risk from the infection. What is more, previous exposure to other strains of the fever does not confer protection. In fact, subsequent infections are significantly worse, and can result in fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever. http://www.physorg.com/news160383165.html Biology Fri, 01 May 2009 07:53:39 EST news160383165 (PhysOrg.com) -- Approximately 20 years ago, scientists discovered that is is possible for an electric current to flow endlessly in a ring made of a normal metal. One might think that such an 'old' finding would be well understood and no longer interesting to today's researchers, but scientists are still studying the phenomenon. http://www.physorg.com/news160142165.html Physics Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:56:30 EST news160142165 On the heels of dismaying reports that a promising antitumor drug could, in theory, shorten patients' long-term survival, comes a promising study by a Japanese team of researchers that suggests a potentially better option. The study appears in the May 11 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine (online April 27). http://www.physorg.com/news160129043.html Medicine & Health Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:17:43 EST news160129043 Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania have discovered that the efficacy of the Opioid Growth Factor (OGF, [Met5]-enkephalin), a clinically important antitumor agent, is dependent on nucleocytoplasmic translocation and reliant on the integrity of nuclear localization signals in the OGF receptor (OGFr). http://www.physorg.com/news159706269.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:51:37 EST news159706269 http://www.physorg.com/news159687067.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:31:35 EST news159687067 Can a grape-enriched diet prevent the downhill sequence of heart failure after years of high blood pressure? http://www.physorg.com/news159644910.html Medicine & Health Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:49:01 EST news159644910 University of British Columbia researchers have discovered a "molecular key" that could help increase the success of blood stem cell transplants, a procedure currently used to treat diseases such as leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma and aplastic anemia. http://www.physorg.com/news159630432.html Medicine & Health Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:47:31 EST news159630432 Not all technology meets human needs, and some technologies provide only the illusion of having met your needs. http://www.physorg.com/news159623791.html Medicine & Health Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:57:00 EST news159623791 For almost 20 years, pharmacological companies have known that certain compounds that activate two specific CNS receptors, causing them to release the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, are effective in treating the cognitive and motor problems related to both schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease (AD). http://www.physorg.com/news159452703.html Medicine & Health Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:25:32 EST news159452703 Men and women who chewed Extra(R) sugar-free gum three times hourly in the afternoon chose and consumed less snacks and specifically, less sweet snacks than they did when they did not chew gum. They still reached for a variety of snacks provided but the decrease in overall snack intake was significant at 40 calories and sweet snack intake specifically was significantly lowered by 60 calories. http://www.physorg.com/news159372266.html Medicine & Health Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:04:59 EST news159372266 In earlier studies, researchers at Louisiana State University had found that estrogen - or more precisely, having ovaries - made adult rats exposed for the first time to THC, the primary ingredient in marijuana and hashish, less sensitive to THC's negative effects on tests of learning and memory. http://www.physorg.com/news159372150.html Medicine & Health Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:03:01 EST news159372150 Finally some promising news about pancreatic cancer, one of the most fatal cancers, due to the difficulties of early detection and the lack of effective therapies: Johns Hopkins University pathologist Akhilesh Pandey has identified an epidermal growth factor receptor aberrantly active in approximately a third of the 250 human pancreatic cancers studied. http://www.physorg.com/news159370670.html Biology Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:38:20 EST news159370670 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 (AP) -- Twin 5-year-old girls living with a rare disease are among the first in the country being treated for their condition at a Reno hospital after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted special permission to use an experimental drug. http://www.physorg.com/news159099877.html Medicine & Health Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:25:10 EST news159099877 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. http://www.physorg.com/news158831276.html Medicine & Health Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:48:22 EST news158831276 People grumbling their way through the grimness of winter have better recall than those enjoying a carefree, sunny day, Australian researchers have found. http://www.physorg.com/news158686778.html Medicine & Health Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:40:19 EST news158686778 Comparing different ways of solving math problems is a great way to help middle schoolers learn new math concepts, researchers from Vanderbilt and Harvard universities have found. http://www.physorg.com/news158594397.html Medicine & Health Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:00:30 EST news158594397 Australian scientists have made a discovery that may one day remove the need for a lifetime of toxic immunosuppressive drugs after organ transplants. http://www.physorg.com/news158329558.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:26:25 EST news158329558 Scientists from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, led by Rudolf Grimm offer new insights into the extremely complex few-body problem. For the first time, the quantum physicists provide evidence of universal four-body states that are closely connected to Efimov states, in an ultracold sample of cesium atoms. The scientists have just published their findings in the journal Physical Review Letters. http://www.physorg.com/news158310375.html Physics Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:06:42 EST news158310375 An effective clinical treatment for coeliac disease (or gluten intolerance) is the ultimate objective of WEHI clinician scientist, Dr Bob Anderson. This month will see the beginning of a Phase 1 clinical trial for an experimental vaccine in Melbourne. If the vaccine development and public awareness endeavours of Dr Anderson and his scientific team prove successful, a strict gluten free diet for coeliacs could become a thing of the past, while previously undiagnosed coeliacs could be detected and spared from premature deaths. http://www.physorg.com/news157974189.html Medicine & Health Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:44:16 EST news157974189 (AP) -- Bill Darker grinned as he headed into the operating room for a dramatic experiment: A super-high dose of chemotherapy dripped directly into his cancer-ridden liver, 10 times more than patients normally can tolerate. http://www.physorg.com/news157647007.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:50:40 EST news157647007