Channel 42
Science is the answer to everything.

Scientists at the Robarts Research Institute at the University of Western Ontario, working in collaboration with researchers in Brazil, have used a unique genetically modified mouse line to reveal a previously unidentified mechanism contributing to heart failure. The study, led by Marco Prado, Robert Gros and Vania Prado of London, Canada, and Silvia Guatimosim of Brazil, shows how the decreased release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, a chemical messenger which slows cardiac activity, contributes to heart failure.

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Everyone checks themselves in the mirror now and then, but that experience can be horrifying for individuals suffering from body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD, a psychiatric condition that causes them to believe, wrongly, that they appear …

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Researchers have found that three different degenerative brain disorders are linked by a toxic form of the same protein. Elk-1 was found in clumps of misshaped proteins that are the hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Huntington’s disease. This suggests a molecular link between the presence of inclusions and neuronal loss that is shared across a spectrum of neurodegenerative disease. Identifying these links could open up novel avenues for therapeutic intervention.

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A 60-million-year-old relative of crocodiles described this week by University of Florida researchers in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology was likely a food source for Titanoboa, the largest snake the world has ever known.

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Agricultural Research Service scientists have developed an efficient and cost-effective method to speed up the breeding of scab-resistant barley cultivars, thus improving crop quality for small-grain breeders in the Northern Plains.

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The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Cataract Surgery Trainer, a virtual training tool which helps to train physicians to perform cataract surgery, has been shown to enhance teaching in cataract surgery when compared to traditional teaching methods. The results of a multi-center study evaluating the program’s effectiveness as a supplement to traditional teaching tools was published in the February issue of Ophthalmology.

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Prostate cancer cells are more likely to spread to other parts of the body if a specific gene quits functioning normally, according to new data from researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

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Tropical Storm Oli is headed between the islands of Bora Bora and Raratonga in the South Pacific, while maintaining its intensity as a tropical storm. Infrared satellite data from NASA’s Aqua satellite reveals that Oli is a large storm, so those islands will experience gusty winds, some moderate to heavy rainfall, and heavy swells along their coasts.

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A new weight-loss supplement tested by the University of Oklahoma Health and Exercise Science Department has the potential to burn as many calories as a 20-minute walk, according to Joel T. Cramer, assistant professor of exercise physiology.

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NASA’s Aqua satellite caught the thirteenth tropical cyclone in the southern Indian Ocean form very quickly. In 12 hours a low grew into a tropical storm named Fami and made a fast landfall in Madagascar around 1 a.m. ET today, Feb. 2.

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