December 2011
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End of the Year
The editors of Laboratory Equipment would like to wish you and yours a very happy New Year’s. Enjoy it! Here’s to the year that was that the year that will be! We’ll be back on Tuesday.
“In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant, even petty. And...”
– Carl Sagan (via crookedindifference)
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Scientists Discover Brain Cell Malfunction in...
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered that DNA stays too tightly wound in certain brain cells of schizophrenic subjects. The findings suggest that drugs already in development for other diseases might eventually offer hope as a treatment for schizophrenia and related conditions in the elderly. The research, now available online in the new Nature journal, Translational...
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Dead Brain Cells Linked to Elderly Memory Loss
New research links ‘silent strokes,’ or small spots of dead brain cells, found in about one out of four older adults to memory loss in the elderly. The study is published in the January 3, 2012, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-dead-brain-cells-linked-to-elderly-memory-loss-122911.aspx
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Protein Class May Answer Drug Interaction...
Half the drugs used today target a single class of proteins– and now scientists have identified an important molecular player critical to the proper workings of those proteins critical to our health. A protein known as Ric-8 plays a vital role, according to new results from a team led by Gregory Tall, assistant professor of Pharmacology and Physiology at the Univ. of Rochester Medical Center. The...
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Graphite Key to Designing Better Implants
Graphite may be the key to designing new materials for hip implants that last longer and are less susceptible to wear and tear. Prosthetic materials for hips, which include metals, polymers, and ceramics, have a lifetime typically exceeding 10 years. Beyond that, however, the failure rate generally increases, particularly in young, active individuals. The aim is to see that lifespan increased to...
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Diet Linked to Cognitive Ability, Brain Shrinkage
New research has found that elderly people with higher levels of several vitamins and omega 3 fatty acids in their blood had better performance on mental acuity tests and less of the brain shrinkage typical of Alzheimer’s disease – while “junk food” diets produced just the opposite result. The study was among the first of its type to specifically measure a wide range of blood...
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“Their physics-focused work suggests each hair acts like a single, independent...”
– Spiders’ Hundreds of Fine Hairs Are Hundreds of Ears (via outofcontextscience)
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Farmed Fish Harm Wild Gene Pool
Oregon State Univ. scientists have found that it takes only a single generation for steelhead trout raised in fish hatcheries to pass along bad genetic traits to populations in the wild. The findings are the latest in a growing body of evidence showing the downside to hatcheries as a way to rebuild threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead runs. Studies of Hood River steelhead had previously...
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WatchPests Destroying Cali’s Citrus Industry Univ. of California, Riverside scientists released a natural enemy of the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) on campus to help control the spread of the psyllid, an invasive pest that could devastate the state’s $1.1 billion citrus industry and citrus trees in home landscapes. This is the first time the psyllid’s natural enemy has been released in California....
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Machine Learning Method Anticipates Neuro Changes
At UCLA’s Laboratory of Integrative Neuroimaging Technology, researchers use functional MRI brain scans to observe brain signal changes that take place during mental activity. They then employ computerized machine learning (ML) methods to study these patterns and identify the cognitive state—or sometimes the thought process—of human subjects. The technique is called “brain...
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