University

Caffeine :: Caffeine cuts post-workout pain by nearly 50 percent

Although it’s too soon to recommend dropping by Starbucks before hitting the gym, a new study suggests that caffeine can help reduce the post-workout soreness that discourages some people from exercising. In a study to be published in the February issue of The Journal of Pain, a team of University of Georgia researchers finds that moderate doses of caffeine, roughly equivalent to two cups of coffee, cut post-workout muscle pain by up to 48 percent in a small sample of volunteers.

Memory Loss :: Education does not protect against age-related memory loss

Adults over 70 with higher levels of education forgot words at a greater rate than those with less education, according to a new study from the University of Southern California. The findings, published in the current issue of Research on Aging, suggest that after age 70, educated adults may begin to lose the ability to use their schooling to compensate for normal, age-related memory loss.

Pancreatic Cancer :: Pancreatic cancer surgery 5-year survivors 65 and up live nearly as long as anyone

Pancreatic cancer patients 65 or older who live five years after surgery have nearly as good a chance as anyone to live another five years. Researchers reviewed records of 890 pancreatic cancer patients who over a 30 year-period underwent surgery. They found 23 percent lived five years after surgery, half of whom were 65 or older. Some 65 percent lived another five years compared to 87 percent in the general population at age 70.

Breastfeeding :: Calcium important for nursing mothers’ oral health

Mothers who breastfeed should be sure to have enough calcium in their diet, or may risk bone loss around their teeth and gums, according to a new study that appears in the January issue of the Journal of Periodontology.

DNA :: Spanish scientists reveal dynamic map of proteins

Scientists from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), the Life Sciences Program at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and the National Institute for Bioinformatics (INB) have published a provisional “atlas” of the dynamic behaviour of proteins in the prestigious scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Gene :: Tumor-suppressor gene is critical for placenta development

An important cancer-related gene may play a critical role in the development of the placenta, the organ that controls nutrient and oxygen exchange between a mother and her fetus during pregnancy, and perhaps in miscarriages. Those conclusions come from a new study of the retinoblastoma (Rb) gene in mice. In humans, this gene, when mutated, raises the risk of a rare cancer of the eye called retinoblastoma.

DNA :: Study sheds light on ‘dark states’ in DNA

Chemists at Ohio State University have probed an unusual high-energy state produced in single nucleotides — the building blocks of DNA and RNA — when they absorb ultraviolet (UV) light. This is the first time scientists have been able to probe the “dark” energy state — so called because it cannot be detected by fluorescence techniques used to study other high-energy states created in DNA by UV light.