Category Biology/Biotechnology

There are a whole lot of good reasons to eat wholegrain products , including the health-promoting benzoxazinoids. Credit: Colourbox

Rye bread and other wholegrain foods contain a particular group of health-promoting substances: benzoxazinoids, or BX. Scientists have documented the uptake of these compounds in humans and their possible beneficial effect on the immune system. Their presence in wholegrain was discovered by scientists from Aarhus University in 2010. Now, the scientists have dug more deeply to discover the BX factor’s secrets.

“Certain medicinal plants and green cereals have previously been found to contain BX, but it was a revelation that they are also found in ripened rye and other wholegrains...

Dr. Ian Corbin (left) and Dr. Xiaodong Wen look over lab samples from their study of an experimental nanoparticle therapy that shows promise for fighting primary liver cancer. Credit: UT Southwestern Medical Center

“This approach offers a potentially new and safe way of treating liver cancer, and possibly other cancers,” said study Assistant Professor/ Dr. Ian Corbin . “The method utilizes the cholesterol carrier LDL, combined with fish oil to produce a unique nanoparticle that is selectively toxic to cancer cells.”

Primary liver cancer, or hepatocellular carcinoma, is the 6th most prevalent type of cancer and 3rd-leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Incidence of the disease is rising in the US, principally in relation to the spread of hepatitis C.

Fish oils are particularly r...

In 1-D, electrons cannot “pass each other”. Credit: Osaka University

A step for prediction of electronic properties of extremely-fine metal nanowires in next-generation semiconductors. In 1D, various exotic phenomena are predicted that are totally different from those in the 3D world in which we live. One of the reasons of this is that particles cannot pass each other in 1D.

Researchers in Japan and France artificially created such unique 1D nano electronic systems on the surface of a solid, and observed the 1D electronic state (energy and kinetic momentum of electrons) by analyzing photo-emitted electrons from the sample, and verified the electronic structure...

A cell nucleus from a normal, healthy brain is shown at left. The lamin nucleoskeleton forms the perimeter around the nucleus. By contrast, tunnel-like anomalies are evident in the nucleus of the Alzheimer’s disease-affected cell shown at right. This image is from the laboratory of Bess Frost, Ph.D., of the School of Medicine and Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Credit: Laboratory of Bess Frost, Ph.D./UT Health Science Center San Antonio

A new finding offers a insight into one of the earliest biological events of Alzheimer’s disease and is expected to open new avenues of study. Neuronal cell death in Alzheimer’s disease is linked to disruption of a lamin nucleoskeleton that surrounds the nucleus of the cells...