Gene expression study made easy: Just sequence all of it Next-generation sequencers / Eric Morrow, postdoctoral scholar Ece Gamsiz, and colleagues have sequenced the entire “transcriptome” of the mouse neural retina. They used “game-changing” technology that would have been prohibitively expensive even five years ago./Credit: Mike Cohea/Brown University In a new study, researchers have gained new insights into neural […]

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Good or bad: Surprises drive learning in same neural circuits Neurosurgeons hoping to find ways to accelerate re-learning after a stroke or brain injury are trying to tease out the circuitry that governs learning. A new study of how the brain processes unexpected events found that neurons in two important structures handle both positive and […]

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Chinese health coverage improves with government efforts A new study of health insurance in nine Chinese provinces shows that individual coverage surged within a two-year time frame, from 2004-2006, coinciding with new government interventions designed to improve access to health care. The changes were most dramatic in rural areas. PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Health care […]

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Infectious fungus, thought to be asexual, isn’t Candida tropicalis turns out to have sex, making it the second medically important member of the genus to be capable of mating. Sex may improve the survival of the species, particularly when it’s under pressure. It may also mean the species can achieve greater virulence or drug resistance more […]

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Are doing harm and allowing harm equivalent? Individuals and courts deal more harshly with people who actively commit harm than with people who willfully allow the same harm to occur. A new study finds that this moral distinction is psychologically automatic. It requires more thought to see each harmful behavior as morally equivalent. Looking at […]

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Brown integrates aging throughout medical school curriculum With the mantra “every student, every course, every year” and a $2-million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the Warren Alpert Medical School has integrated content on aging into its curriculum, from first-year lectures through continuing education. The team of faculty members is making its materials and […]

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New compound defeats drug-resistant bacteria Chemists at Brown University have synthesized a new compound that makes drug-resistant bacteria susceptible again to antibiotics. The compound — BU-005 — blocks pumps that a bacterium employs to expel an antibacterial agent called chloramphenicol. The team used a new and highly efficient method for the synthesis of BU-005 and […]

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Nanowrinkles, nanofolds yield strange hidden channels Wrinkles and folds, common in nature, do something unusual at the nanoscale. Researchers at Brown University and in Korea have discovered that wrinkles on super-thin films have hidden long waves. The team also found that folds in the film produce nanochannels, like thousands of tiny subsurface pipes. The research […]

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Frogs’ amazing leaps due to springy tendons The secret to frogs’ superlative jumping lies in their tendons. Researchers at Brown University, filming frogs jumping at 500 frames per second with special X-ray technology, show that the frog’s tendon stretches as it readies its leap and then recoils, much like a spring, when the frog jumps. […]

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Enzyme boosts metabolism, prevents weight gain in mice Male and female mice engineered to express the inflammatory enzyme IKKbeta in their fat tissue ate more but gained less weight. They burned sugar and fat more effectively than mice who were left unaltered. The research may shed light on how obesity and inflammation affect insulin resistance and sensitivity. Reduced […]

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