Channel 42
Science is the answer to everything.

Data from a new study suggests that individuals who engage in compassion meditation may benefit by reductions in inflammatory and behavioral responses to stress that have been linked to depression and a number of medical illnesses. The study’s findings are published online and in the medical journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. Charles L. Raison, MD, clinical director of the Mind-Body Program, Emory University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, is a lead author on the study.

More: continued here

The diagnosis of asthma in a young child may well be more challenging to pediatricians than previously appreciated, according to a review of research and clinical experience literature by Howard Eigen, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine and Riley Hospital for Children appearing in the October 2008 issue of Clinical Pediatrics.

More: continued here

As medicine undergoes rapid transformation, North American leaders in continuing medical education have joined together to transform CME itself. Their goal is to see that physicians have the best professional development resources available throughout their careers to translate new research into better patient care.

More: continued here

An atomic resolution view of an enzyme found only in the eye is providing clues about how the enzyme is activated. The enzyme, PDE6, is critical to the way light entering the retina is converted into signals to the brain.

More: continued here

Astronomers studying new images of a nearby galaxy cluster have found evidence that high-speed collisions between large elliptical galaxies may prevent new stars from forming, according to a paper to be published in a November 2008 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

More: continued here

Burnham Institute for Medical Research today announced that scientists have created a peptide that binds to Bcl-2, a protein that protects cancer cells from programmed cell death, and converts it into a cancer cell killer. The research, which was published as the featured article in the Oct. 7 edition of Cancer Cell, may lead to new cancer treatments.

More: continued here

Researchers have identified a gene variant that causes a potentially fatal human heart rhythm disorder called sinus node disease. While the newly discovered gene variant is rare, the study provides insight into cellular mechanisms that regulate sinus node function and identifies an unanticipated new pathway for developing future therapies to regulate more common forms of sinus node disease.

More: continued here

Scientists have identified one of the genes implicated in age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in developed countries.

More: continued here

When it comes to understanding the effectiveness and safety of using herbal therapies with other drugs, much is unknown. Now, a University of Missouri researcher will study how black cohosh — an herbal supplement often used to relieve hot flashes in menopausal women — interacts with tamoxifen, a common drug used to treat breast cancer.

More: continued here

The Stowers Institute’s Rong Li Lab has characterized a mechanism that allows for asymmetrical cell division during meiosis in oocytes. By tracking chromosome movement in live mouse oocytes, the team discovered that chromosomes can recruit to their vicinity a protein called formin-2. This protein allows the oocyte to retain the majority of the cytoplasm — a requirement for embryonic development after fertilization — while the other daughter cell (called a polar body) resulting from the asymmetric division gets only a minimal amount and subsequently dies.

More: continued here