Using the bright X-ray beam of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, an international team of researchers has found that a 150 million year old “dinobird” fossil, long thought to contain nothing but fossilized bone and rock, has been hiding remnants of the animal’s original chemistry.
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A tiny gene mutation in human liver cells could one day influence how high or low a dose patients need of about half of the clinically used drugs on the market, new research suggests. Scientists have identified this mutation, and have shown that it alters the level of a protein in the liver responsible for [...]
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Researchers have carried out the first study in which the quantum phenomenon known as “entanglement” has been observed and characterized in a real biological system. Quantum entanglement is thought to be a critical factor behind the ability of green plants and certain bacteria, through photosynthesis, to transfer energy from sunlight and initiate its conversion into [...]
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Air pollution is a risk factor for heart disease; however, people can take action to reduce their individual risk, according to an updated American Heart Association scientific statement. Exposure to fine particulate matter over a few hours or weeks can trigger cardiovascular deaths, heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and irregular heartbeats, especially in susceptible individuals. [...]
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In the race to find answers about ovarian cancer, researchers now have something to cluck about. The researchers have been using the chicken as a model to study this deadly disease and have recently discovered that a diet enriched with flaxseed decreases severity of ovarian cancer and increases survival in hens.
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Zero tolerance policy in schools — which can mandate automatic punishment for weapons, drugs, profanity and various forms of disruptive behavior — is failing to make students feel safe, contends a new study.
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Astronomers have found a possible supermassive black hole that is recoiling out of a distant galaxy at high speed. The black hole, visible with X-rays as a clear star, is not located in the center of the galaxy, as would normally be the case. Recoiling black holes are interesting because they provide insights into how [...]
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Apoptosis, the natural ‘programmed’ death of cells, is arrested in the aftermath of strenuous exercise. Researchers studied peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), isolated from whole blood samples taken from people after finishing a marathon, finding that the balance between expression of pro- and anti-apoptotic genes is shifted after the race.
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Researchers have used time-lapse photography to document satellite cell movements and behaviors when they interact with their “host” myofiber. Scientists hope that if they can understand more about what satellite cells do in healthy muscle, obstacles to cell or gene therapies for muscular dystrophy might be overcome.
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Proton pump inhibitors, medications that suppress acid in the stomach, appear to be associated with fractures in postmenopausal women and bacterial infections in many patients, and higher doses do not appear any more beneficial for treating bleeding ulcers, according to a series of reports. An additional report finds that introducing guidelines for proton pump inhibitor [...]