The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), based at Baylor College of Medicine, is a consortium of biomedical institutions that study the health risks related to long-duration spaceflight and developing the technologies and countermeasures needed for human space exploration missions.

The EyeBox^CNS, a diagnostic device developed to assess brain health through tracking eye movement, and eFormulations, software enabled therapeutics which combine prescription medicines with customized software apps for brain-related conditions, have both been funded for further development by NSBRI.

Some genetic diseases caused by an abnormal repeat in the DNA are known to become more severe with each new generation - this dreadful trait is called anticipation. Now a study by Portuguese researchers from Porto University has proved for the first time the existence of anticipation in diseases caused by a different type of errors that not a DNA repeat, in this case in the fatal neurodegenerative disorder Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy (FAP). 

XBiotech, a company involved in commercializing biological therapies, has published the results from its Phase I/II oncology study conducted at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

The study describes the outcome in 52 advanced cancer patients treated with their Xilonix™ non-cytotoxic, anti-tumor therapy. The so-called true human antibody therapy was reported to have an excellent safety profile and the report describes comprehensive measures of patient performance during therapy with Xilonix.

Chronic pain is an unknown issue with unknown causes and a subjective definition but some people clearly have it. Researchers recently analyzed 2,721 people, all taking prescription opioid pain medications, for genes COMT, DRD2, DRD1 and OPRK1. The participants also rated their perception of pain on a scale from zero to 10. People who rated their pain as zero were not included in the study.

Low pain perception was defined as a score of one, two or three; moderate pain perception was a score of four, five or six; and high pain perception was a score of seven, eight, nine or 10. 

9 percent of the participants had low pain perception, 46 percent had moderate pain perception and 45 percent had high pain perception.

Environmentalists generally regard people as the enemy, but that is a mythology only held by urban fundraisers working for environmental corporations. In actuality, sportsmen are some of the biggest protectors of the environment. They are even more protective of the environmental than the US Environmental Protection Agency, they are just more practical and not motivated by the latest political fads.


Photo credit: Brendan Burns.
Link: Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska.

Between 2000 and 2010, native-born Californians had fewer children and a giant chunk of the middle class fled the state, but California's population still grew by 3,390,000.

A new study conducted in mice has implicated a single type of cell, in the lining of the bladder, as responsible for most cases of invasive bladder cancer.

The study is the first to pinpoint the normal cell type that can give rise to invasive bladder cancers and the first to show that most bladder cancers and their associated precancerous lesions arise from just one cell, which would also explain why many human bladder cancers recur after therapy.

Stem cells – the body's master cells – demonstrate a bizarre property never before seen at a cellular level, according to a study published today from scientists at the University of Cambridge. The property – known as auxeticity – is one which may have application as wide-ranging as soundproofing, super-absorbent sponges and bulletproof vests.

Biofuels - ethanol - were trumpeted as being a renewable alternative to fossil fuels for decades. Finally, in 2005, it got the mandates and subsidies environmentalists insisted were necessary to make inroads against a mature industry like petroleum.

Immediately, what scientists knew became evident - they were more resource intensive to produce, were no better for emissions, and subsidies insured there was no reason to get more efficient. Worse, the gold rush of government money drove up corn prices, unfairly impacting the poor.

In biology, anticipation is the term for genetic diseases caused by an abnormal repeat in DNA that becomes more severe with each new generation.

Now there is a twist. A study has found the existence of anticipation in diseases caused by different errors - not a DNA repeat - in fatal neurodegenerative disorder Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy (FAP).