Bolstering disintegrating neural connections may help boost brainpower in Alzheimer's disease patients. Researchers zeroed in on the enzymes that manipulate a key scaffolding protein for synapses, the connections through which brain cells communicate. Synapses are weakened and lost in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
In a study of more than 6,000 Los Angeles-area children -- the largest study of its kind -- researchers found that both strabismus (commonly known as cross-eyed or wall-eyed) and amblyopia (often referred to as lazy eye) were more prevalent in older children than in younger children.
Originally native to Ontario, the trumpeter swan disappeared from Eastern Canada early in the 20th century. Restoration efforts were initiated in the early 1980's to reintroduce the trumpeter swan to its former range. Through conservation efforts the Ontario population has now reached 1000, with at least 131 breeding pairs, and the future looks bright.
New research could lead to revolutionary new approaches for treating allergies based on targeting T cells, white blood cells that regulate the immune response. The project will map down to the level of molecules and atoms the chemical structures recognized by the immune system and which cause it to initiate an allergic reaction.
Website policy makers who use robots.txt files as gatekeepers to specify what is open and what is off limits to Web crawlers have a preference for Google over other search engines, say researchers whose study of more than 7,500 Websites revealed Google's advantage. "With the preference, Google can index some information which other search engines can't,"according to one of the researchers.
Researchers conducting one of the first studies to consider both environmental and genetic influences on school readiness found that environment is the most important factor in individual differences in children's readiness for school. The study involved 420 pairs of 5-year old twins whose achievement was rated by teachers after two years. The findings provide further incentive for continued interventions that address school readiness in at-risk children.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has probed the bright core of Comet 17P/Holmes which, to the delight of sky watchers, mysteriously brightened by nearly a million-fold in a 24-hour period beginning Oct. 23, 2007.
For the first time, investigators have identified a way to detect neural progenitor cells, which can develop into neurons and other nervous system cells, in the living human brain using a type of imaging called magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The finding may lead to improved diagnosis and treatment for depression, Parkinson's disease, brain tumors, and a host of other disorders.
As if severely overweight people didn't already have enough health concerns, experts are raising another red flag -- the possibility that some of their prescription medications, especially antibiotics, may not be prescribed at the appropriate dosage and could be ineffective.
The way objects appear to stream by us as we move through the world is a phenomenon called optic flow. Think of the street signs and storefronts that sail across the car windshield as we drive. That's optic flow in action. Cognitive scientists have now shown that optic flow plays a critical role in continuously recalibrating our steps as we walk.
New findings have linked fetal heart rate variation to children's rate of development in the toddler years. Scientists measured the fetal heart rate and variability in fetuses of healthy women at 20 through 38 weeks of gestation. Follow up measurements of mental, motor and language ability were examined in children born to these women at ages 24 and 36 months. Differences in variation of heart rate predicted the rate of developmental progress, including language ability.
Imagine you are taking a biology course. You're studying for an exam and would like to revisit the professor's explanation of RNA interference. Fortunately, a digital recording of the lecture is online, but the 10-minute explanation you want is buried in a 90-minute lecture you don't have time to watch. A new MIT lecture search engine could help. The Web-based technology allows users to search hundreds of MIT lectures for key topics.
Memory consolidation, unconstrained by the interactions between the observer and the world, appears to move between the cortex and the hippocampus at speeds six or seven times faster than the actual events that created the memories.
Researchers have identified a compound that eliminates myotonia -- a symptom of muscular dystrophy -- in mice. Scientists were able to design a synthetic RNA-based molecule that, when injected into mice with myotonic dystrophy, restored a critical cellular mechanism, or pathway, that controls electrical activity in muscles. In people with the disease, this function is essentially disabled and muscle cells cannot relax properly. The researchers found that once this pathway was re-established, normal muscle function returned.
