Brain 'GPS' Illuminated in Migratory Monarch Butterflies

A new study in the vicinity of the brain of the monarch butterfly migration to better understand how these strange insects signals using an internal compass to skylights and North America from Mexico to navigate each fall. The research, published by Cell Press in January 27, the journal Neuron, provides important information in the form of ambiguous sensory signals can be integrated in the brain complexes of direct navigation.

Could Extraterrestrial Intelligence Sway Religious Beliefs?

The discovery of the extraterrestrial life could not shake people' the faith of s in its religious belief, but he could take them to ask himself if the Jesus Christ had incarnations in foreign planets, the scientists and the theologians say. These speculations and appeared more of the investigators who presented/displayed in a meeting of the real society in London that dealed with the past year the potential impacts foreigners in the society, that detailed to its east analysis month in the philosophical transactions of the newspaper of real society A. In one of the studies, that were sent the 10 of January, astrobiologist Chris McKay in center of investigation of the NASA You love observed the consequences that the foreigners depend could have in ignited society if the humanity also discovered only extraterrestrial life or extraterrestrial intelligence… An impact that extraterrestrials could have in society is in the religion sector, said to theologian Ted Peters in the theological seminary of the Lutheran Pacific in Berkeley, California for example, the foreigners could take religions to ask if one second genesis of the life to another part belongs within the Biblical understanding of the creation. Could more in one go the Jesus Christ have appeared in the universe? " It' s now been in favor of uces even of centuries if an incarnation of God like Jesus Christ for the totality of the creation is sufficient, with some thinking that God would make the so appropriate so multiple histories for the capacity of any individual species to include/understand, " Peters said SPACE.com

DMP1 Protein Inhibits Angiogenesis, Could Lead to New Treatments Against Cancer and Other Diseases

This discovery also has taken to the registry of a patent by the three protagonists of the investigation: Doctor to Akeila Bellahcène, associated of at heart national greater investigation for the scientific research (NFSR) that is working with the project, Sophie Pirotte, a TELEVIE investigator (NFSR), and to professor Vincent Castronovo, the Laboratory' director of s. The Dr. Bellahcène been has interested in proteins of the brothers in several years. They are a glycoprotein family open pies initially for its paper in the formation of bones and teeth. Now it has been during for fifteen years that one that the laboratory of Liege was the first one to demonstrate that two of these proteins, sialoprotein of the bone (BSP) and osteopontin (OPN), is produced by the cancerous cells and plays probably a role in the progression of these cancers, remarkably with its implication in the formation of metastasis of the bone. These original observations, confirmed by other international equipment, abrieron the way for the numerous projects studying the role played by these two proteins in cancer. Upon until recently time, DMP1, known coverall for his paper in the mineralization of the teeth, it had not attracted the attention in terms of paper in the development and the progression of the cancer. But doctor Akeila Bellahcène' the majority of the recent investigation of s demonstrates that DMP1 also merits same the special attention. Indeed the results published in the demonstration of the blood of the newspaper that DMP1 is able to block angiogenesis. The angiogenesis is vital yet for the development of tumors beyond some cubical millimeters, as well as for the formation of metastasis. The work demonstrates that DMP1 prevents the endothelial cells (the cells what forms the new blood vessels on the course of the angiogenesis) to respond to VEGF, a molecular signal sent by the cancerous cells to activate the formation of new blood vessels of the feeder. The presence of DMP1 for the diverse stages that take to the formation of new capillaries: the endothelial cells are put in a reclinación of the nonproliferativo state. " In a model in alive of the angiogenesis related to the development of the tumor, we have demonstrated that to the tumors of the cancerous cells in those who overexpressed beforehand DMP1 had a growth reduced combined with vascularisation very modest in comparison with the tumors of the control, " it needs doctor Bellahcène. " The cover of these results indicates that DMP1 could represent a new molecule whose therapeutic implications on the other hand would go beyond their use in pathology of the cancer, " of the anti-angiogenesis; it indicates professor Vincent Castronovo, that directs the research laboratory of the metastasis in the ULg' s GIGA-ResearchUnit. " Indeed the processes of the angiogenesis induced by VEGF also take part in a significant way in the development and the progression of other pathologies such as reumatoide arthritis, psoriasis and retinopathy." diabetic

Natural Growth Factor Enhances Memory, Prevents Forgetting in Rats

To our knowledge, this one is the first demonstration of the powerful enhancement of the memory via a natural factor that easily passes through the barrier blood-brain -- and it can maintain therefore the promise for the development of the treatment, " Explained Cristina Alberini, Ph.D., of the Medicine Faculty of the Sinaí mount, New York, concessionaire of the NIH' national institute of s of the mental health (NIMH). Alberini and the colleagues say that IGF-II could become a potential target of the drug for the impulse memory. They disclose on his discovery in the application of the 27 of January of 2011 the nature. " Then we learn more on such mechanisms of the formation and of the extinction of the memory of the fear, we hoped to apply this knowledge to approach clinical problems, including post-traumatic disorder of the tension, " director this Thomas R. Insel, M.D of NIMH. The energy that remains of a memory depends on the synthesis of new proteins and structural changes in the connections between the neurons. These changes of the memory-consolidation happen within windows time-limited the right after learning, when the memories undergo the consolidation, and also straighten after a memory recovers, reconsolidation called of process. The hints of other studies took to the investigators to suspect that IGF-II plays a role in these processes within brain' center of the memory of s, the seahorse, where it is concentrated relatively highly. The factor of growth little known is part of brain' machinery of s for the repair and the regeneration of the weave; it is important during the development and it falls with age. In order to discover how it can be that it works in memory, Alberini' the equipment of s used a standard test of the inhibiting training called memory of the avoidance of the fear. They followed the movement of rats in an atmosphere where the animal learned to associate a dark area to smooth shocks of the foot. At the most an animal avoided the dark area, best its memory of the fear. This class of learning raised the natural expression of IGF-II in the seahorse. The investigators so injected synthetic IGF-II directly in the seahorse during windows of the consolidation or reconsolidation, when the memories are malleable. Notable, rats' the memory improved noticeable -- with the effects lasting at least some weeks. A examinación of animals' the brains revealed that IGF-II had consolidated the cellular connections and the memory of long underlying term of the mechanisms -- a process called the involution of long term. IGF-II consolidated a memory so and delayed their normal decay -- forgetting, well-known Alberini. The investigators were shortage previously that the fragility induced by the recovery of the memory requires new synthesis of the protein in brain' area of the fear of s, amygdala -- but only if the memory is less than two weeks as an older person. In the new study, they found that the enhancement of the memory driven by IGF-II during this window of reconsolidation depended on new synthesis of the protein in the seahorse during the same term. They suggest these time-limited effects were possible to be explained by a gradual change in the site where a memory is stored as it grows older, of the seahorse brain' it castrates external of s, or crust. The study demonstrated that the growth factor works with his the own one -- also known little -- The IGF-II receiver and depends on the activation of an enzyme (GSK3 beta), and on the receivers of AMPA for the chemical glutamato of the messenger, that are implied in memory. The evidence suggests something that the new neurons that they activate, appears to work through connections already activated between the cells -- or synapse -- that is regulated by the enzyme and the receiver. Between the future directions, the investigators could explore if IGF-II could heighten other types of memory, such as extinction that learned, in which a memory of the fear is replaced by a memory of the security, said Alberini. If he is thus he can be that he provides tracks to the new treatments you disorder for them of anxiety like PTSD. Besides NIMH, the investigation also he was financed by NIH' national institute of s in illicit drug possession and national institute of general medical sciences, among others suppliers of bottoms.

Nervous System as a 3-D Map: First Complete Map of Special Connections of Nerve Cells in Zebrafish.

He would be hard to understand how a city is organized without the knowledge of the course of all streets. The scientists face the same problem when trying to understand the operation of the brain. In the case of vertebrates, we have only fragmentary knowledge whose the nervous cells send their connections, supposed axons, in certain regions of the brain. Such knowledge is particularly important to understand the operation of groups of nerves that send the axons to modulate the activity of circuits of the nerves in the moved away regions of the brain. One of these groups consists of the nervous cells that use the very small dopamine of the molecule like messenger to control many types of behavior. He is exact these neurons that die dull in those heartbroken ones with Parkinson' disease of s, a cause that demonstrates to the fundamental paper he plays in medicine.
An equipment of neurobiologists of the university of Freiburg, taken by professor dr. Wolfgang Driever of the faculty of Biology and the Dr. Olaf Ronneberger of the department of of computer science and the Dr. Rolando Nitschke including of the center for the Biology of systems (ZBSA), now has been successful in creating the first complete map of all the axons that use the dopamine like messenger in a vertebrate, that is to say in zebrafish model of the organism. The data identify all the possibilities of the projection, " supposed; projectome, " of each nervous cell for a messenger class in the nervous system that is of great importance for the medicine. The investigators cooperated close by with university' center of s for the Biology of systems (ZBSA) and BIOSS, center for the biological studies of signaling. The results were published the 25 of January of 2011 in the communications of the nature of the newspaper.

Traffic Noise Increases the Risk of Having a Stroke, Study Suggests

The study, that is between the first one to investigate the connections between the noise of way traffic and the risk of movement, found that for each 10 decibels more noise the risk of having a movement increased in 14% between the 51,485 participants of the study. When the Danish investigators watched the data more close by, they found that for aged people less than 65 years there was significant statistical no increasing risk of movement; nevertheless, the risk above increased in 27% for each 10dB of the noise of traffic of a higher way in those aged 65 years and. In addition, in oldest people it found indications of a limit of the threshold in the DB approximately 60, on which the risk for the movement seemed to increase still more. The Dr. Mette Sørensen, senior investigator in the institute of the epidemiology of the cancer, Society of the Danish Cancer in Copenhagen, Denmark, that took the investigation, said: " Our study demonstrates that the exhibition to the noise of way traffic seems to increase the risk of movement. The previous studies have bound noise of the traffic to the arterial pressure and raised attacks of the heart, and our study adds to the accumulation evidence that the noise of the traffic can cause a range of cardiovascular diseases. These studies emphasize the necessity of the action to reduce people' exhibition of s to the noise. " This one is the first study never to investigate the association enters the exhibition the noise of way traffic and the movement risk, and, therefore, more investigation is necessary before any firm conclusion can be made." The study was based on " Danish; Diet, cancer, and Health" the fictitious study, that recruited to a total of 57,053 people aged between 50 and 64, in the areas of Copenhagen and Aarhus between 1993 and 1997. Medical and residential histories were available for 51,485 of the participants and their average time of the recordativa letter era ten years. A total of 1,881 underwent a movement in this time. The Dr. Sørensen and their colleagues done permissions in its calculations for the effect of the air pollution, exhibition to the railroad and the noise of airplanes, as well as a range of other factors of the form of life of the confusion such as consumption smoking, of the diet, the alcohol and caffein. The data on the participants of the study and where they lived were connected to a program of the calculation of the noise that has been used to draw up the noise levels in a variety of locations in Scandinavia by several years. The program takes account from the composition and speed of the traffic, type of the way (rural freeways, highways etc) and the surfaces, constructive polygons and the position and the heights of people' homes of s on the ways. At the time of assembling the cohorte 35% of people majors were exposed at the noise levels that 60dB, and 72% lived in the same direction through period of the study. Researchers' the lowest estimation for the exhibition of noise was 40dB and the highest era 82dB. in addition, older people tend to have fact fragments dream landlords and are more susceptible to the disturbances of the dream. This could explain because the association between the noise of way traffic and the risk of movement was considered mainly in participants." older; The Dr. Sørensen glides to realise the additional investigation in the effects of the noise on a range of cardiovascular diseases and raised arterial pressure.

Making a worm do more than squirm.”

Satirist Stephen Colbert envisions his “Colbert Nation” mentally marching in lockstep with his special brand of patriotism.  But scientists have done him one better, by creating tiny worm-bots completely under their control.
Rather than comedic persuasion, these scientists are using a dot of laser light. With it they can make a worm turn left, freeze or lay an egg. The researchers report their work online January 16 in Nature Methods.
The new system, named CoLBeRT for “Controlling Locomotion and Behavior in Real Time,” doesn’t just create a mindless zombie-worm, though. It gives scientists the ability to pick apart complicated behaviors on a cell-by-cell basis.
“This system is really remarkable,” says biological physicist William Ryu of the University of Toronto, who was not involved in the research. “It’s a very important advance in pursuit of the goal of understanding behavior.”
Transparent and small, the nematode C. elegans is particularly amenable to light-based mind control. Another benefit of the worm is that researchers know the precise location of all 302 of its nerve cells. But until now, there wasn’t a good way to study each cell by itself, especially in a wriggling animal.
“This tool allows us to go in and poke and prod at those neurons in an animal as it’s moving, and see exactly what each neuron does,” says study coauthor Andrew Leifer of Harvard University.
The system is based on the emerging field of optogenetics, in which light is used to turn cells on or off. Leifer and his colleagues genetically engineered light-responsive molecules into particular groups of cells in the worm.
Then, a computer program that the team developed figures out where in the microscope’s field of view a target cell is. Once the cell is pinpointed, the program directs lasers so that a tiny beam of light hits the cell.
“When we’re shining light on a neuron, we’re hitting that neuron and nothing else,” Leifer says.
The whole process, from finding the cell to light hitting its target, takes about 20 milliseconds. As the worm’s position changes, that information is fed back into the computer program, and the laser is adjusted. If the worm crawls too far, a motorized microscope stage brings the animal back.
One of the biggest benefits of the new method, Ryu says, is that it works in a roving animal. “The worms are not held down in any way — they’re freely moving. There aren’t many systems where you can look at such truly free organisms.”
In early tests of their technique, Leifer and his team forced worms to freeze, change directions, turn left or right, and even lay eggs. In later tests, the team focused on two nerve cells that help the worm respond to touch. Researchers knew that a gentle tickle on the head causes worms to move backward, but after too many touches, the worms grow desensitized and stop responding. By mimicking touches with light, the researchers found that a weary cell that’s been touched too many times can also tire out its partner cell that hasn’t been touched, suggesting that these cells don’t act alone.
Another group of scientists, led by Jeffrey Stirman of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, reports a similar technique for worm mind-control, also online January 16 in Nature Methods. Ryu says the two methods are similar. The CoLBeRT method appears to be a little faster, he says, but if the worm is crawling slowly, the method used by Stirman’s group may offer more precise laser targeting. “Do both papers contribute to understanding behavior at a holistic level? Yes, definitely.”
Neuroengineer Ed Boyden of MIT says the new work could allow scientists to figure out how every cell in an animal works together to generate a behavior. “The ability to
target a single cell is really important, because it allows you to understand precisely what each of these cells does.”