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) -- A paper by University of Notre Dame biologist Giles Duffield and a team of researchers offers new insights into a gene that plays a key role in modulating the body`s Circadian system and may also simultaneously modulate its metabolic system. http://www.physorg.com/news177682464.html Chemistry Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:16:12 EST news177682464 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the air, it is a serious pollutant. In the body, it plays a role in heart rate, blood flow, nerve signals and immune function. http://www.physorg.com/news173109068.html Chemistry Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:10:01 EST news173109068 Neurons communicate with each other with the help of nano-sized vesicles. Disruption of this communication process is responsible for many diseases and mental disorders like e.g. depression. Nerve signals travel from one neuron to another through vesicles - a nano-sized container loaded with neurotransmitter molecules. A vesicle fuses with the membrane surrounding a neuron, releases neurotransmitters into the surroundings that are detected by the next neuron in line. However, we still lack a more detailed understanding of how the fusion of vesicles occurs on the nano-scale. http://www.physorg.com/news168770252.html Nanotechnology Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:50:05 EST news168770252 An international team of scientists and clinicians from the United States and Saudi Arabia are working to develop gene therapy for treating a rare, hereditary retinal disease. The therapy has been shown to restore lost vision in animal models of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Their work is being funded in part by a $1.5 million grant from the Prince Salman Center for Disability Research in Saudi Arabia, where the recessive gene mutation that leads to the eye disease RP has been found in children from several families. http://www.physorg.com/news168094180.html Medicine & Health Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:20:02 EST news168094180 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Karolinska Institutet and Linköping University (Sweden) are well on the way to creating the first artificial nerve cell that can communicate specifically with nerve cells in the body using neurotransmitters. The technology has been published in an article in Nature Materials. http://www.physorg.com/news166109773.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:37:27 EST news166109773 An Australian stroke victim paralysed for more than 20 years has walked again thanks to anti-wrinkle drug botox, in a case hailed as extraordinary by his medical team. http://www.physorg.com/news164687986.html Medicine & Health Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:40:01 EST news164687986 Nerve signals that tell the brain that we are being slowly stroked on the skin have their own specialised nerve fibres in the skin. This is shown by a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The discovery may explain why touching the skin can relieve pain. http://www.physorg.com/news158931155.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:33:15 EST news158931155 Studies at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine on brain electrical signaling offer a fresh perspective on vertebrate evolution, provide additional evidence supporting Darwinian views of evolution, and may also lead to more effective treatment of epileptic seizures in infants. Researchers discovered how evolutionary changes produced a series of improvements in molecules generating electrical signals in nerves between 550 and 400 million years ago. By making nervous systems faster and smarter, these innovations appear to have contributed to the evolutionary success and diversity of vertebrate animals. http://www.physorg.com/news151687890.html Medicine & Health Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:32:26 EST news151687890