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    Category Biology/Biotechnology

    Confirming a Source of the Process behind Auroras and the Formation of Stars

    February 20, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Figure 4
    Ionization fraction and system size dependence of (a) the global reconnection rate, (b) the local inflow velocity, and (c) the ion diffusion region thickness for series B–D. 

    Fast magnetic reconnection, the rapid convergence, separation and explosive snapping together of magnetic field lines, gives rise to northern lights, solar flares and geomagnetic storms that can disrupt cell phone service and electric power grids. The phenomenon takes place in plasma, the state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei, or ions, that makes up 99 percent of the visible universe. But whether fast reconnection can occur in partially ionized plasma – plasma that includes atoms as well as free electrons and ions – is not well understood.

    Researchers at the U.S...

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    Why Getting Enough Sleep Reduces Cardiovascular Disease Risk

    February 19, 2019, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    Images of plaque from the artery of a mouse model of atherosclerosis that experienced a normal sleeping pattern (left) and an image of arterial plaque from a mouse model that underwent sleep fragmentation (right). The amount of arterial plaque in the sleep-fragmented mouse is significantly larger.
    Credit: Filip Swirski, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School

    Sleep-modulating hormone hypocretin found to also control production of inflammatory cells. Getting enough sleep is key to good health, and studies have shown that insufficient sleep increases the risk of serious problems, including cardiovascular disease. Now Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have discovered one way that sleep protects against the buildup of arterial plaques called atherosclerosis...

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    Drug to Rejuvenate Muscle Cells

    February 17, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology


    Small molecule nicotinamide N-methyltransferase inhibitor activates senescent muscle stem cells and improves regenerative capacity of aged skeletal muscle

    Elderly to feel fitter, faster and stronger. Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have developed a promising drug that has proven to significantly increase muscle size, strength and metabolic state in aged mice, according to a study just published in Biochemical Pharmacology.

    As we age, our bodies increasingly lose the ability to repair and rebuild degenerating skeletal muscles. Beginning around age 35, muscle mass, strength and function continually decline as we get older. This can dramatically limit the ability of older adults to live fully active and independent lives.

    “We identified a protein in m...

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    Push-Up Capacity Linked with Lower Incidence of Cardiovascular Disease events among Men

    February 17, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Man doing push-ups
    “Association Between Push-up Exercise Capacity and Future Cardiovascular Events Among Active Adult Men,” Justin Yang, Costas A. Christophi, Andrea Farioli, Dorothee M. Baur, Steven Moffat, Terrell W. Zollinger, Stefanos N. Kales, JAMA Network Open, February 15, 2019, doi: 10.1001./jamanetworkopen.2018.8341

    Active, middle-aged men able to complete more than 40 push-ups had a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes – including diagnoses of coronary artery disease and major events such as heart failure – during 10 years of follow-up compared with those who were able to do less than 10 push-ups during the baseline exam.

    “Our findings provide evidence that push-up capacity could be an easy, no-cost method to help assess cardiovascular disease risk in almos...

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