news 2014

Is it possible to change the amount of information the brain can store? Maybe , according to a new international study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). Their research has identified a molecule that puts a brake on brain processing and when removed, brain function and memory recall is improved.

Our structure (research) Impact of our research Postgraduate research 14 Nov 2014 Scientists at The University of Manchester have identified an important new factor behind one of the major causes of blindness, which they hope could lead to new treatments. Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the major cause of blindness in the western world, affecting around 50 million people.

U of'T researchers have developed a genetic test to identify which men are at highest risk for their prostate cancer to come back after localized treatment with surgery or radiotherapy. "The clinical potential is enormous for thousands of patients," said Professor Robert Bristow . "This is personalized cancer medicine to the hilt - the ability to provide more targeted treatment to patients based on their unique cancer genetic fingerprint plus what's going on in the cancer cell's surrounding environment." The findings are published online in Lancet Oncology .

Neuroscientists have discovered an unexpected benefit of getting older - a more nuanced understanding of social signals, such as the age of others. In a new study published today (Friday 14 November) in the journal Current Biology , University of Glasgow researchers show that older people have richer mental representations of the ageing process.

Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London have proposed that repetitive negative thinking (RNT), a common symptom of many psychological disorders, may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Until recently, research into Alzheimer's disease has focused on how physical factors are linked to the onset of symptoms.

Our structure (research) Impact of our research Postgraduate research 14 Nov 2014 Cancer Research UK scientists working at The University of Manchester have found more than 400 'blind spots' in DNA which could hide cancer-causing gene faults, according to research published today (14 November) in Cancer Research.

Researchers have gained fresh insights into how 'local' body clocks control waking and sleeping. All animals, from ants to humans, have internal 'circadian' clocks that respond to changes in light and tell the body to rest and go to sleep, or wake up and become active. A master clock found in part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is thought to synchronise lots of 'local' clocks that regulate many aspects of our metabolism, for example in the liver.

Lawren Sack Researchers measured leaves' drought tolerance at the "turgor loss point" - the level of dehydration that causes them to wilt. Plants all over the world are more sensitive to drought than many experts realized, according to a new study by scientists at UCLA and China's Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have succeeded in explaining how stem cells in the brain change to allow one type of stem cell to produce different cell types at different stages. In a study being published in the journal Neuron , researchers show that the signal molecule TGF-beta acts as a time signal that regulates the nerve stem cells' potential at different stages of the brain's development - knowledge that may be significant for future pharmaceutical development.

Press release issued: 13 November 2014 Just as soldiers on sentry duty constantly adjust their behaviour to match the current threat level, dwarf mongoose sentinels exhibit flexible decision-making in relation to predation risk, new research from the University of Bristol has shown. Biologists Julie Kern and Dr Andy Radford found that decisions about when to go on duty, what position to adopt and how long to remain on post were all affected by information about the likelihood of danger.

Press release issued: 12 November 2014 Shark populations in the Mediterranean are highly divided, an international team of scientists, led by Dr Andrew Griffiths of the University of Bristol, has shown. Many previous studies on sharks suggest they move over large distances. But catsharks in the Mediterranean Sea appear to move and migrate much less, as revealed by this study.

A trawl through a library of more than 50,000 'small molecules' has identified a potential candidate to inhibit the spread of cancer cells throughout the body. Reported today Communications, the molecule targets a mechanism of tumour development that had previously been considered 'undruggable'- in other words, extremely difficult, if not impossible, to target with a drug - and could open the door to further promising new candidates.

"Clinicians should routinely screen for anxiety in people who have memory problems because anxiety signals that these people are at greater risk for developing Alzheimer's," says Linda Mah People with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are at increased risk of converting to Alzheimer's disease within a few years, but a new study warns the risk increases significantly if they suffer from anxiety.

When food is scarce, tool use among non-human primates does not increase. This counterintuitive finding leads researchers to suggest that the driving force behind tool use is ecological opportunity - and that the environment shapes development of culture. Ecological opportunities influence the occurrence of tool use.

Oxford University scientists have developed a new method of boosting the ageing immune system using a naturally occurring chemical compound. Early tests in mice carried out by the research team have shown that the compound restores the immune system's inbuilt 'memory', enabling the body to mount a more powerful protective immune response following vaccination.

Animal biology professor Ken Paige (left) and postdoctoral fellow Daniel Scholes found that a plant's ability to duplicate its genome within individual cells influences its ability to regenerate. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. When munched by grazing animals (or mauled by scientists in the lab), some herbaceous plants overcompensate - producing more plant matter and becoming more fertile than they otherwise would.

A predatory tiger beetle, Cicindela tranquebarica, chases a high contrast prey dummy moved by hand on a nylon monofilament in an experimental arena. During the chase the beetle opens its jaws in anticipation of catching the prey and closes them again when the prey moves away. Opening and closing of the jaws are triggered by visual expansion and contraction, respectively, of the target image.

Stanford hosted the second annual Breakthrough Prize Symposium to celebrate the biggest advances in physics, life sciences and mathematics, and to discuss strategies for generating funding and excitement for basic research. The payoff of fundamental research is often far from scientists' minds. For instance, the GPS in smartphones would not be possible without Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which he published in 1916.

Research involving Nottingham academics has shown that a signal protein that plays a crucial role in controlling the growth of blood vessels could be used to suppress tumours in prostate cancer. The discovery by Dr Sebastian Oltean at Bristol University and Nottingham's David Bates , Professor of Oncology in The University of Nottingham's Cancer Biology Unit and academics at UWE Bristol , could be used to develop new drugs to improve the long-term management and prognosis for prostate cancer patients.

Press release issued: 10 November 2014 Scientists believe a new treatment, shown to be effective in mice, could halt the growth of tumours in patients with prostate cancer. Pioneering research, by academics at the Universities of Bristol, Nottingham and the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), shows that a specific compound can inhibit the activity of a molecule which is key to how tumours form new blood vessels.