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Galactic Cosmic Radiation consisting of high-energy, high-charged (HZE) particles poses a significant threat to future astronauts in deep space. Aside from cancer, concerns have been raised about late degenerative risks, including effects on the brain. In this study we examined the effects of 56Fe particle irradiation in an APP/PS1 mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We demonstrated 6 months after exposure to 10 and 100 cGy 56Fe radiation at 1 GeV/µ, that APP/PS1 mice show decreased cognitive abilities measured by contextual fear conditioning and novel object recognition tests. Furthermore, in male mice we saw acceleration of Aβ plaque pathology using Congo red and 6E10 staining, which was further confirmed by ELISA measures of Aβ isoforms. Increases were not due to higher levels of amyloid precursor protein (APP) or increased cleavage as measured by levels of the β C-terminal fragment of APP. Additionally, we saw no change in microglial activation levels judging by CD68 and Iba-1 immunoreactivities in and around Aβ plaques or insulin degrading enzyme, which has been shown to degrade Aβ. However, immunohistochemical analysis of ICAM-1 showed evidence of endothelial activation after 100 cGy irradiation in male mice, suggesting possible alterations in Aβ trafficking through the blood brain barrier as a possible cause of plaque increase. Overall, our results show for the first time that HZE particle radiation can increase Aβ plaque pathology in an APP/PS1 mouse model of AD.

good discussion on the replicability/reproducibility of scientific results (also a nice example of how to do it right... in bioinformatics at least)

maybe this would be worth looking into along with our biomemetic idea

Nanoparticles disguised as red blood cells could be used to deliver anti-cancer drugs directly to a tumour.

Is this correct? The conclusions indicate that contrary to what felt extreme weather events are not increasing?? Where is the trick?

The secret is in the details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming_Policy_Foundation#Funding_Sources

don't get fooled, this is the same strategy employed successfully by the tabac industry: installing doubt - all under the cover of science of course and using its methods; remember all these publications showing the overall beneficial effects of smoking, the "un-clear" link to lung cancer etc ... same here

does not taste good but ....

Kary Mullis offers a radical new way to treat infectious diseases as the effectiveness of our current antibiotics wanes

The thing I like about it is that, if I got it right, the last flu infection you had may safe your live once you get cancer... Similar holds for any kind of infection, as long as you got immune to a specific virus and the doctors are able to identify (and reproduce) the virus to which you are immune.

Eve, an artificially-intelligent 'robot scientist' could make drug discovery faster and much cheaper, say researchers writing in the Royal Society journal Interface. The team has demonstrated the success of the approach as Eve discovered that a compound shown to have anti-cancer properties might also be used in the fight against malaria.

Unfortunately, "make drug discovery faster and much cheaper" actually means "increase profit margin for pharmaceutical companies"...

As Stevens says in the new article, researchers now know that increased nighttime light exposure tracks with increased rates of breast cancer, obesity and depression. Correlation isn't causation, of course, and it's easy to imagine all the ways researchers might mistake those findings. The easy availability of electric lighting almost certainly tracks with various disease-causing factors: bad diets, sedentary lifestyles, exposure to they array of chemicals that come along with modernity. Very difficult to prove causation I would think, but there are known relationships between hormone levels and light.

There is actually a windows program called flux, that changes the temperature on your screen to match normal light cycles. When the sun sets it switches to a "warmer" more reddish tint on your screen to promote sleepiness. The typically bright blue/neon white settings of most pc settings is quite "awakening" and keeps your brain running for longer. This impacts your sleeping patterns and all the consequences of that. Amazingly, this flux thing does have an effect. That being said, I wouldn't be too quick to blame it all on PC/artificial lighting time. Sedentary lifestyles, etc can very well place one in a position of long term pc/phone usage so it's quite hard to draw a causal link.

nice - also exists for MAC btw: https://justgetflux.com/news/pages/mac/

Tufts University biologists have discovered the bioelectric mechanism by which a rare genetic disorder causes facial abnormalities, a finding that could lead to preventive measures and treatments for a host of disorders, from birth defects to cancer. For the study, published on Feb.