Tag Archives: humans

Another Muscular Dystrophy Mystery Solved; MU Scientists Inch Closer to a Therapy for Patients

By Guest PostDecember 9, 2012Healthbony, cell degeneration, chain reaction, damage, death, devastating disease, dmd, dongsheng duan, duchenne muscular dystrophy, dystrophin, fatty tissue, fibrous, function, gene mutation, humans, missouri, molecular compound, muscle cells, muscle tissue, muscular dystrophy, nnos, protein, united states, university, utrophin, yi lai

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Approximately 250,000 people in the United States suffer from muscular dystrophy, which occurs when damaged muscle tissue is replaced with fibrous, bony or fatty tissue and loses function. Three years ago, University of Missouri scientists found a molecular compound that is vital to curing the disease, but they didn’t know how to make the compound bind to the muscle cells. In a new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, MU School of Medicine scientists Yi Lai and Dongsheng Duan have discovered the missing pieces to this puzzle that could ultimately lead to a therapy and, potentially, a longer lifespan for patients suffering from the disease.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), predominantly affecting males, is the most common type of muscular dystrophy. Patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy have a gene mutation that disrupts the production of dystrophin, a protein essential for muscle cell survival and function. Absence of dystrophin starts a chain reaction that eventually leads to muscle cell degeneration and death. While dystrophin is vital for muscle development, the protein also needs several “helpers” to maintain the muscle tissue. One of these “helper” molecular compounds is nNOS, which produces nitric oxide that can keep muscle cells healthy after exercise. (more…)

Mammalian Brain Knows Where It’s at

By Guest PostDecember 8, 2012Sciencebehavior, brain, brain injury, brown university, conventional wisdom, depression, disease, egocentric movement, electrical activity, fish sculpture, frequency, hippocampus, humans, journal, location, memory, neuron, neuropsychiatric diseases, neuroscientist, object, omar ahmed, parahippocampal cortex, pattern, phc, por, postrhinal cortex, primate neuroanatomy, rebecca burwell, region, rhythm, schizophrenia, sharon furtak, Space, spiking, theta, treat

A new study in the journal Neuron suggests that the brain uses a different region than neuroscientists had thought to associate objects and locations in the space around an individual. Knowing where this fundamental process occurs could help treat disease and brain injury as well as inform basic understanding of how the brain supports memory and guides behavior.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Where are you?

Conventional wisdom in brain research says that you just used your hippocampus to answer that question, but that might not be the whole story. The context of place depends on not just how you got there, but also the things you see around you. A new study in Neuron provides evidence that a different part of the brain is important for understanding where you are based on the spatial layout of the objects in that place. The finding, in rats, has a direct analogy to primate neuroanatomy. (more…)

Moral Evaluations of Harm are Instant and Emotional, Brain Study Shows

By Guest PostDecember 2, 2012Scienceaccidental, age, amygdala, brain, brain activity, callous unemotional traits, Chicago, data, emotion, empathy, evolutionary heritage, humans, hurtful action, intentional, jean decety, milliseconds, moral computations, moral response, morality, mri scans, posterior, psychopaths, split second, step, stephanie cacioppo, sulcus, superior, temporal, tpj area, university, ventromedial prefrontal cortex

People are able to detect, within a split second, if a hurtful action they are witnessing is intentional or accidental, new research on the brain at the University of Chicago shows.

The study is the first to explain how the brain is hard-wired to recognize when another person is being intentionally harmed. It also provides new insights into how such recognition is connected with emotion and morality, said lead author Jean Decety, the Irving B. Harris Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at UChicago. (more…)

The Placebo Effect Goes Beyond Humans, UF Researchers Find

By Guest PostDecember 1, 2012Health, Sciencebrain, common, drug abuse, ethical issues, florida, humans, jianguo cheng, john neubert, niall murphy, novel treatment, orthodontics, pain relief, pain specialist, placebo, placebo effects, placebo response, preclinical model, rats, therapeutic targets, university

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Rats and humans have at least one thing in common: They both react the same way to a placebo, according to a new University of Florida study.

“That was the big finding — that the animals that expected pain relief actually got pain relief when you gave them an inert substance,” said co-author John Neubert, a pain specialist and an associate professor with the UF College of Dentistry department of orthodontics. “It helps validate our model that what we do in the rats, we believe, is a good representation of what’s being seen in humans.”

The investigation of placebo effects might lead to the identification of new therapeutic targets in the brain and of novel treatment strategies for a variety of health conditions. (more…)

Amazonian Tribal Warfare Sheds Light on Modern Violence, Says MU Anthropologist

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2012Culture, Scienceafghanistan, altercation, Amazon, amazon forest, amazonian, amazonian warfare, anthropologist, cause, christianity, civilization, clash, cultural factor, cultural identity, culture influence, deadly attack, death, drew bailey, european contact, europeans, evolutionary history, external raid, frequency, global goal, humans, instinctual motivation, intensity, internal raid, intertribal warfare, libya, missouri, modern gang, mortality, primate ancestor, rival group, river basin, robert walker, south america, tribal life, tribal society, university, us embassy, violence, violent conflict, war, was treachery

Developing a shared sense of global community could help reduce major episodes of violence

In the tribal societies of the Amazon forest, violent conflict accounted for 30 percent of all deaths before contact with Europeans, according to a recent study by University of Missouri anthropologist Robert Walker. Understanding the reasons behind those altercations in the Amazon sheds light on the instinctual motivations that continue to drive human groups to violence, as well as the ways culture influences the intensity and frequency of violence.

“The same reasons – revenge, honor, territory and jealousy over women – that fueled deadly conflicts in the Amazon continue to drive violence in today’s world,” said Walker, lead author and assistant professor of anthropology in MU’s College of Arts and Science. “Humans’ evolutionary history of violent conflict among rival groups goes back to our primate ancestors. It takes a great deal of social training and institutional control to resist our instincts and solve disputes with words instead of weapons. Fortunately, people have developed ways to channel those instincts away from actual deadly conflict. For example, sports and video games often involve the same impulses to defeat a rival group.” (more…)

Relieving Plant Stress Could Eventually Help Humans Relax

By Guest PostSeptember 14, 2012Scienceanimal model, arabidopsis mutant, biologist, biotechnology, cell, cell material, coal mine, disease, Environment, federica brandizzi, human growth, humans, ire1, michigan, multifunctional protein, plant, protein, state university, stress

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Humans could learn from how plants handle stress.

Federica Brandizzi, Michigan State University plant biologist, is using a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how plants overcome stress as they grow. These pathways used to overcome stress are a key to growth. Without them plants, and animals, would die.

“When cells grow, they undergo trauma as growth is quite stressful,” Brandizzi said. “Since it’s very likely that these pathways have much in common between humans and plants, we should be able to gain insights into how plants and animals overcome stress and continue to grow as well.” (more…)

Humans Have Love-Hate Relationship With the Environment

By Guest PostJune 26, 2012Environmentanthropologist, canal irrigation, climate changes, Environment, environmental change, environmental trend, geomorphological characteristics, global warming, hominid ancestors, human pollution, humans, industrial revolution, interaction, irrigation agriculture, james watson, la playa site, local landscape, love hate, methane, mother nature, natural disaster, North America, northern mexico, northern sonora, relationship, soil deposition, sonoran desert, southern arizona, steep slope, toxic gases, village settlement

James Watson, a UA anthropologist, has published chapters describing how long-term environmental trends encourage stable adaptations within local environments.

Human/environment interactions have a history as long as the existence of our species on the planet.

Hominid ancestors began polluting their environment nearly 700,000 years ago with the control of fire, and humans have not looked back since.

The modern phenomenon of global warming is very likely the direct result of human pollution and destruction of the environment, said James Watson, a University of Arizona assistant professor in the School of Anthropology. (more…)

Five-Limbed Brittle Stars Move Bilaterally, Like People

By Guest PostMay 14, 2012Natureanimals, belize, bilateral symmetry, bilaterally symmetrical, brain, brittle stars, brown university, bushnell foundation, david orenstein, direction, five limbed, henry astley, humans, locomotion, mark bertness, move bilaterally, ophiocoma echinata, pentaradially symmetrical, radial symmetrical

Brittle stars and people have something in common: They move in fundamentally similar ways. Though not bilaterally symmetrical like humans and many other animals, brittle stars have come up with a mechanism to choose any of its five limbs to direct its movement on the seabed. It’s as if each arm can be the creature’s front, capable of locomotion and charting direction. Results appear in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — It appears that the brittle star, the humble, five-limbed dragnet of the seabed, moves very similarly to us.

In a series of first-time experiments, Brown University evolutionary biologist Henry Astley discovered that brittle stars, despite having no brain, move in a very coordinated fashion, choosing a central arm to chart direction and then designating other limbs to propel it along. Yet when the brittle star wants to change direction, it designates a new front, meaning that it chooses a new center arm and two other limbs to move. Brittle stars have come up with a mechanism to choose any of its five limbs to be central control, each capable of determining direction or pitching in to help it move. (more…)