Sometimes known as "nature's origami", the way that proteins fold is vital to ensuring they function correctly. But researchers at the University of Leeds have discovered this is a 'hit and miss' process, with proteins potentially folding wrongly many times before they form the correct structure for their intended purpose. 

The body's proteins carry out numerous functions and play a crucial role in the growth, repair and workings of cells. Sheena Radford, Professor of Structural Molecular Biology at the University of Leeds, says: "There's a fine balance between a protein folding into the correct shape so that it can carry out its job efficiently and it folding incorrectly, which can lead to disease. Just one wrong step can tip that balance."

Women can take pride that they are more efficient than men in many ways, including one that is not so great; storing fat.

It's a paradox women have discussed for generations – their apparent ability to store fat more efficiently than men, despite eating proportionally fewer calories.   While it has long been suspected that female sex hormones are responsible, a University of New South Wales (UNSW) research review has for the first time drawn a link between one hormone – estrogen – and its impact on fat storage for childbearing.

Did you ever get called impulsive by a teacher?   You're lucky you don't live in Montreal.

PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, March 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- New Citation-based Service Helps Institutions Demonstrate Research Impact

The Healthcare and Science business of Thomson Reuters today announced the launch of InCites(TM) - a customized Web-based solution that provides users with the tools needed to demonstrate the impact and importance of their institution's research. Through InCites, Thomson Reuters empowers its customers with a one-stop system to quantitatively evaluate productivity and influence in order to make strategic decisions.

BANGKOK, March 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- CHAMP's Cargospot to publish real-time rates on OAG AFRA

CHAMP Cargosystems (www.champ.aero), the leading provider of air cargo IT solutions, and OAG Cargo (www.oagcargo.com), the foremost data and online information services business for the global airfreight industry, today announced their global co-operation for the provision of real-time rate and booking services. This alliance will deliver a direct interface between CHAMP's Cargospot system and OAG's Air Freight Rates (AFRA) application.

LONDON, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Foundation is pleased to support the licensed use of VIDAZA in the United Kingdom and Ireland to treat a subset of patients with intermediate-2 and higher-risk MDS, chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML with 20-30% blasts).

LONDON, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The granting by EMEA of full marketing authorisation for Celgene's VIDAZA will bring new hope to MDS patients, particularly those with high risk forms of these diseases that historically have been associated with a bleak outlook.

Patients who are ineligible for stem cell transplant therapy are often subjected to the discomfort, inconvenience and complications that can be associated with essential, regular blood transfusions, a life saving procedure which remains the mainstay of MDS treatment.

Below is a detailed response to my latest post, which Ken graciously sent me for publication here. After that, you will find a few additional notes from yours truly.

Dear Massimo,

Thanks, of course, for the very kind comments about my presentation at Brown. At your invitation, I’m writing a few comments to clarify and correct what I think are some mistaken impressions and also to point out a few areas of genuine disagreement. You wrote:

Titan's vast dune fields, which may act like weather vanes to determine general wind direction on Saturn's biggest moon, have been mapped by scientists who compiled four years of radar data collected by the Cassini spacecraft. 

Titan's rippled dunes are generally oriented east-west. Surprisingly, their orientation and characteristics indicate that near the surface, Titan's winds blow toward the east instead of toward the west. This means that Titan's surface winds blow opposite the direction suggested by previous global circulation models of Titan. 

A study in the March 1 issue of  SLEEP suggests the presence of an intrinsic sleep problem specific to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and supports the idea that children with ADHD may be chronically sleep deprived and have abnormal REM sleep. 

Results show that children with ADHD have a total sleep time that is significantly shorter than that of controls. Children in the ADHD group had an average total sleep time of eight hours, 19 minutes; this was 33 minutes less than the average sleep time of eight hours, 52 minutes, in controls. Children with ADHD also had an average rapid eye movement (REM) sleep time that was significantly reduced by 16 minutes.