Researchers have shown that sliding forces applied to cartilage surfaces prompt cells in that tissue to produce molecules that lubricate and protect joints, an important step toward their goal of eventually growing joint tissue for transplantation.
Teenagers who take a daily multivitamin supplement have a healthier diet and lifestyle than those who don’t take vitamins, reports a study in the December Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Dartmouth researchers report that three different steroid hormones all show similar responses to arsenic, suggesting a broader effect and a common mechanism of arsenic on how these hormones function.
A team led by Huan-Cheng Chang (Academia Sinica, Taiwan) has developed a new concept to determine the masses of viruses within one percent.
A database developed by a research team based at Massachusetts General Hospital — the first comprehensive list of emergency departments (EDs) across the country — shows that one-third of all EDs care for less than one patient each hour, on average. The database is the first step in a process that may lead to the development of an ED classification system, similar to what currently exists for trauma centers.
A London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine team revealed that women who are very underweight before they become pregnant are 72% more likely to miscarry in the first three months of pregnancy.
A sugar molecule present on embryonic stem cells also has been found on the surface of a type of adult stem cell, a discovery that may help researchers isolate and purify adult stem cells for use in therapies aimed at bone healing, tendon repair and cartilage regeneration, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center report.
A team of Vanderbilt and University of Dundee scientists envisions a future when computer simulations will be used to predict a tumor’s clinical progression and formulate individualized treatment plans. The group has developed a mathematical model for cancer invasion powerful enough for this purpose. The result was published as an entirely theoretical paper in the journal Cell and represents a “sea change” in how biology is done.
Brain cells derived from human embryonic stem cells improved the condition of rats with Parkinson’s-like symptoms dramatically, but the treatment caused a significant problem — the appearance of brain tumors — that scientists are now working to solve. The study is featured on the cover of the November issue of Nature Medicine.
ESA’s Envisat satellite and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) data relay test satellite Kodama have successfully completed an interoperability test demonstrating that scientific data from Envisat can be transmitted to Kodama and from there transmitted to the Japanese ground receiving station in Tsukuba.