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Cold plasma successful against brain cancer cells, study suggests

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 8:57am
For the first time, physicists, biologists and physicians demonstrated the synergistic effect of cold atmospheric plasma - a partly ionized gas - and chemo therapy on aggressive brain tumor cells. Laboratory tests showed that the proliferation of glioblastoma cells – the most common and aggressive brain tumor in adults – is arrested and that even resistant cell populations become sensitive to treatment with chemo therapy if pre-treated with cold atmospheric plasma. This could be the first step on the way to a new combination therapy, providing new hope for fighting this lethal cancer.
Categories: A Broader View

Cold plasma successful against brain cancer cells, study suggests

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 8:57am
For the first time, physicists, biologists and physicians demonstrated the synergistic effect of cold atmospheric plasma - a partly ionized gas - and chemo therapy on aggressive brain tumor cells. Laboratory tests showed that the proliferation of glioblastoma cells – the most common and aggressive brain tumor in adults – is arrested and that even resistant cell populations become sensitive to treatment with chemo therapy if pre-treated with cold atmospheric plasma. This could be the first step on the way to a new combination therapy, providing new hope for fighting this lethal cancer.
Categories: A Broader View

How healthy are you for your age?

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 8:53am
A new technique measures the health of human genetic material in relation to a patient's age. This could lead to the use of a "genetic thermometer" to assess a patient's health in relation to other individuals of the same age.
Categories: A Broader View

Neuroscientists explain how the sensation of brain freeze works

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 8:53am
Brain freeze is practically a rite of summer. It happens when you eat ice cream or gulp something ice cold too quickly. The scientific term is sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, but that's a mouthful. Brain freeze is your body's way of putting on the brakes, telling you to slow down and take it easy.
Categories: A Broader View

Neuroscientists explain how the sensation of brain freeze works

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 8:53am
Brain freeze is practically a rite of summer. It happens when you eat ice cream or gulp something ice cold too quickly. The scientific term is sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, but that's a mouthful. Brain freeze is your body's way of putting on the brakes, telling you to slow down and take it easy.
Categories: A Broader View

Genetic marker associated with risk for pulmonary fibrosis

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:54am
New research finds that a genetic risk factor for pulmonary fibrosis, an uncommon but deadly lung disease, may be effective in identifying individuals at risk for this disease.
Categories: A Broader View

Genetic marker associated with risk for pulmonary fibrosis

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:54am
New research finds that a genetic risk factor for pulmonary fibrosis, an uncommon but deadly lung disease, may be effective in identifying individuals at risk for this disease.
Categories: A Broader View

New archaeological 'high definition' sourcing sharpens understanding of the past

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:54am
A new method of sourcing the origins of artefacts in high definition is set to improve our understanding of the past.
Categories: A Broader View

New archaeological 'high definition' sourcing sharpens understanding of the past

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:54am
A new method of sourcing the origins of artefacts in high definition is set to improve our understanding of the past.
Categories: A Broader View

Bee and wild flower biodiversity loss slows

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:54am
Declines in the biodiversity of pollinating insects and wild plants have slowed in recent years, according to a new study. Researchers found evidence of dramatic reductions in the diversity of species in Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands between the 1950s and 1980s. But the picture brightened markedly after 1990, with a slowdown in local and national biodiversity losses among bees, hoverflies and wild plants.
Categories: A Broader View

Empathy plays a key role in moral judgments

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:54am
Utilitarian judgment may arise not simply from enhanced cognitive control but also from diminished emotional processing and reduced empathy, according to new research.
Categories: A Broader View

DNA damage: The dark side of respiration

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:53am
Adventitious changes in cellular DNA can endanger the whole organism, as they may lead to life-threatening illnesses like cancer. Researchers now report how byproducts of respiration cause mispairing of subunits in the double helix.
Categories: A Broader View

DNA damage: The dark side of respiration

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:53am
Adventitious changes in cellular DNA can endanger the whole organism, as they may lead to life-threatening illnesses like cancer. Researchers now report how byproducts of respiration cause mispairing of subunits in the double helix.
Categories: A Broader View

Drought makes Borneo's trees flower at the same time

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:53am
Tropical plants flower at supra-annual irregular intervals. In addition, mass flowering is typical for the tropical forests in Borneo and elsewhere, where hundreds of different plant timber species from the Dipterocarpaceae family flower synchronously. This phenomenon is all the more puzzling because both temperature and day length are relatively constant all year round due to geographical proximity to the equator.
Categories: A Broader View

Volcanoes cause climate gas concentrations to vary

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:53am
Trace gases and aerosols are major factors influencing the climate. With the help of highly complex installations, such as MIPAS on board of the ENVISAT satellite, researchers try to better understand the processes in the upper atmosphere. Now, scientists have completed a comprehensive overview of sulfur dioxide measurements.
Categories: A Broader View

Polymer breakthrough inspired by trees and ancient celtic knots

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:53am
A new slow-motion method of controlling the synthesis of polymers, which takes inspiration from both trees and Celtic knots, opens up new possibilities in areas including medical devices, drug delivery, elastics and adhesives.
Categories: A Broader View

Mechanism discovered which aids Legionella to camouflage itself in the organism

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:52am
The feared Legionella pneumophilabacteria is responsible for legionellosis, an infectious disease that can lead to pneumonia. In order to infect us, this pathogen has developed a complex method enabling it to camouflage itself and go unnoticed in our cells, thus avoiding these acting against the infectious bacteria.
Categories: A Broader View

Oral vaccine against diarrhea promising

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:52am
Medical researchers have announced promising results in a placebo controlled phase I study of an oral, inactivated Escherichia coli diarrhea vaccine.
Categories: A Broader View

Top-class biofuel from the depths of the forest

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:52am
Tops and branches from tree-felling sites are reborn in the laboratory as compact pellets. However, the energy industry will not act until the price is right.
Categories: A Broader View

Unique method creates correct mirror image of molecule

Science News Daily - May 22, 2013 - 7:52am
Many molecules have a right and a left form, just like shoes. In pharmaceuticals, it is important that the correct form of the molecule is used. Researchers have been able to produce the one mirror image by using crystals with special properties. This can have a major impact on the production of pharmaceuticals.
Categories: A Broader View