Eureka Alert

(North Carolina State University) Picture a turtle the size of a Smart car, with a shell large enough to double as a kiddie pool.

(University of Washington) Scientists have taken a first step toward understanding how rare genetic differences among people contribute to leading chronic illnesses. One-letter DNA code changes occur frequently in human genomes, but each variant is usually found in only a few individuals. This phenomenon is consistent with the population explosion of the past 5,000 years. Studying the evolution of rare genetic variants and their health impact is critical as low cost, rapid sequencing enters clinical use. Such information would help doctors interpret personal genomes.

(University of Wisconsin-Madison) An international team of researchers has discovered how adding trace amounts of water can tremendously speed up chemical reactions -- such as hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis -- in which hydrogen is one of the reactants, or starting materials.

(Virginia Tech) Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have found that suspicion resides in two distinct regions of the brain: the amygdala, which plays a central role in processing fear and emotional memories, and the parahippocampal gyrus, which is associated with declarative memory and the recognition of scenes.

(NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute) People have increasing opportunities to participate in genetic testing that can indicate their range of risk for developing a disease. Receiving these results does not appreciably drive up or diminish test recipients' demand for potentially costly follow-up health services, according to a study performed by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and colleagues at other institutions.

(SomaLogic, Inc.) SomaLogic and NEC Corporation today announced the release of SomaSuite, a professional software tool developed by NEC that provides simple, reliable and direct access to the highly multiplexed proteomic data generated by SomaLogic's SOMAscan assay technology.

(Group Health Research Institute) Receiving results of genetic testing doesn't appreciably drive up -- or diminish -- test recipients' demand for potentially costly follow-up health services, according to a new study in the May 17, 2012, early online issue of Genetics in Medicine. The study was conducted by researchers with the Multiplex Initiative, a multi-center collaborative initiative involving investigators from the National Institutes of Health's Intramural Research Program, Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, and the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.

(University of Copenhagen) Defects in the gene that encodes the XIAP protein result in a serious immune malfunction. Scientists used biochemical analyses to map the protein's ability to activate vital components of the immune system. Their results have recently been published in Molecular Cell, a journal of international scientific repute.

(Salk Institute) It turns out that when we eat may be as important as what we eat. Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found that regular eating times and extending the daily fasting period may override the adverse health effects of a high-fat diet and prevent obesity, diabetes and liver disease in mice.

(University of Chicago) A multi-institutional research team has used a new technique to map 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) in DNA from human and mouse embryonic stem cells, revealing new information about their patterns of distribution. These studies have revealed that these DNA modifications play major roles in fundamental life processes such as cell differentiation, cancer and brain function.

(Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute) The team created a catalog of all the mutations in the genomes of the 21 breast cancer genomes. They identified entirely new mutational processes that drive breast cancer development, including one remarkable process defined by localized regions of hypermutation found in most of the breast cancers. This phenomenon has never been seen before. They also found that, once many mutations have accumulated in a cell, the cell then diverges into different subgroups, one of which is destined to become the aggressive, dominant, breast cancer tumor.

(New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College) Over the past decade, research in the field of epigenetics has revealed that chemically modified bases are abundant components of the human genome and has forced us to abandon the notion we've had since high school genetics that DNA consists of only four bases.

(Cell Press) When it comes to weight gain, when you eat might be at least as important as what you eat. That's the conclusion of a study reported in the Cell Press journal Cell Metabolism published early online on May 17.

(Brown University) Pollination could be a chaotic disaster. With hundreds of pollen grains growing long tubes to ovules to deliver their sperm to female gametes, how can a flower ensure that exactly two fertile sperm reach every ovule? In a new study, Brown University biologists report the discovery of how plants optimize the distribution of pollen for successful reproduction.

(Wiley-Blackwell) Lake Mead, on the Colorado River, is the largest reservoir in the United States, but users are consuming more water than flows down the river in an average year, which threatens the water supply for agriculture and households. To solve this imbalance scientists are proposing a Cap and Trade system of interstate water trading. The proposal, published in Journal of the American Water Resources Association, builds on the success of such an initiative in Australia.

(Kennedy Krieger Institute) A new prospective study of six-month-old infants at high genetic risk for autism identified weak head and neck control as a red flag for autism spectrum disorder and language and/or social developmental delays. Researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute concluded that a simple "pull-to-sit" task could be added to existing developmental screenings at pediatric well visits to improve early detection of developmental delays.

(University of Nottingham) Scientists at the University of Nottingham have opened the way for more accurate research into new ways to fight dangerous bacterial infections by proving a long-held theory about how bacteria communicate with each other.

(IntegraGen) By focusing on the identification of common genetic variants, IntegraGen researchers have identified 57 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that predict -- with a high degree of certainty -- the risk that siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder will also develop the condition. The 57 SNPS maintained their association with autism in both initial research and replication studies in addition to eight SNPs identified in a previously published study.

(Stanford University) The Bay Area Photovoltaic Consortium -- an industry-supported program led by Stanford University and the University of California-Berkeley -- has announced its first research grants aimed at making utility-scale solar power cost-competitive by the end of the decade.

(Wellcome Trust) Video games, pioneering gene therapies and new medical devices are set to transform treatments on the NHS, with support from the Department of Health and the Wellcome Trust.