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The cells from a human fetus have been injected into baby mice to create animals which have brains that are half human. Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical said it was like “ramping up the power” of the mouse brain, because human cells are so much more advanced. They found that mice with the human brain cells had memories that were four times better than their siblings who did not have the injections. […] The team created the hybrid mice by injecting “glial” cells from donated human fetuses—left over from IVF—into mouse pups. Glial cells provide support and protection...

"Laboratory mice are one of the most common animal models used in biological and medical research...However, the artificial selection process also caused the mice to lose the very important trait of being able to survive in the wild. Besides these lost traits, the female lab mice developed the tendency to immediately mate with every male in their vicinity, including siblings and parents" '

The history of science is one chock-full of mice and men. Historically, biological and medical research has largely depended on rodents, which provide scientists with everything from cells and organs to behavioral data. That's why a new study in which researchers found that mice actually fear men, but not women, has the potential to be so disruptive. It might mean that a number of researchers have published mouse studies in which their results reflect this male-induced stress effect — and they know nothing about it. "People have not paid attention to this in the entire history of scientific research of...

Colorado Republican Rep. Cory Gardner is demanding an emergency waiver from the Endangered Species Act for a species of mouse that threatens to delay flood recovery in Colorado. The Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse is a threatened species under the ESA, meaning that any governmental action—such as flood recovery—must first consider potential impacts on the tiny animal’s habitat, even if that habitat was also destroyed in the flood that wiped out entire Colorado communities in September. On Monday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency sent a notice to Colorado officials that the presence of the mouse in the flood zone “may cause...

To date, we know of only two things that can reverse the effects of aging: caloric restriction and extensive exercise. But in a recent experiment, researchers applied a new compound to 2-year old mice, causing their muscles to regenerate to 6-month old levels. Incredibly, human trials may start next year. The new compound, nicotinamide mono nucleotide (NMN), worked surprisingly quickly when tested on mice. When administered early enough in the aging process, it was found to work within one week; the muscles of older 2-year old mice were "indistinguishable" from the younger 6-month old animals. It improved muscle wastage, restored...

Yes, it’s official: lying to the government is now legally sanctioned.   “I did not have sex with that woman; Ms. Lewinski.” Because, as we all know, everyone lies about sex. The president’s “reforms” aim to turn doctors into government agents, pressuring them financially to ask questions they consider inappropriate and unnecessary, and to violate their Hippocratic Oath to keep patients’ records confidential.(snip) Doctors and hospitals who don’t comply with the federal government’s electronic-health-records requirements forgo incentive payments now; starting in 2015, they’ll face financial penalties from Medicare and Medicaid. The Department of Health and Human Services has already paid...

Researchers manipulate mouse neurons to create a false memory; the work could lead to a better understanding of how memories form. Remember this: The red neurons are the brain cells in the hippocampus of a mouse carrying a new memory of a particular place. Scientists have created a false memory in mice by manipulating neurons that bear the memory of a place. The work further demonstrates just how unreliable memory can be. It also lays new ground for understanding the cell behavior and circuitry that controls memory, and could one day help researchers discover new ways to treat mental illnesses...

X-rays may not heal broken bones, but low doses of ionizing radiation may spark other health benefits, a new study of mice suggests. Radiation in high doses has well-known harmful effects. Scientists had thought low doses would do less extensive damage but could add up to big problems later. But radiation acts differently at low doses, producing health benefits for mice with an unusual genetic makeup, Randy Jirtle of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and colleagues report online November 1 in the FASEB Journal. Antioxidant vitamins, such as vitamins C and E, erased those health gains. “What goes on at high...

Enlarge Image Young at heart. Cross-sections of mouse ventricles show the visible change in size when old hearts are immersed in young blood. Credit: Francesco Loffredo It's time to turn back the clock on an aging ticker. Drawing on an odd experimental technique invented more than a century ago but rarely done now, researchers have found that a blood-borne protein makes old mouse hearts appear young and healthy again. It's not clear yet whether humans would react the same way, but scientists are hopeful that this discovery may help treat one of the heart's most frustrating ailments. "This is probably...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Cancer painfully ends more than 500,000 lives in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The scientific crusade against cancer recently achieved a victory under the leadership of University of Missouri Curators’ Professor M. Frederick Hawthorne. Hawthorne’s team has developed a new form of radiation therapy that successfully put cancer into remission in mice. This innovative treatment produced none of the harmful side-effects of conventional chemo and radiation cancer therapies. Clinical trials in humans could begin soon after Hawthorne secures funding. “Since the 1930s, scientists have sought success with a...

New nanotechnology can be used for Type 1 diabetes, food allergies and asthma New nanoparticle tricks and resets immune system in mice with MSFirst MS approach that doesn't suppress immune systemClinical trial for MS patients shows why nanoparticle is best optionNanoparticle now being tested in Type 1 diabetes and asthma CHICAGO --- In a breakthrough for nanotechnology and multiple sclerosis, a biodegradable nanoparticle turns out to be the perfect vehicle to stealthily deliver an antigen that tricks the immune system into stopping its attack on myelin and halt a model of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) in mice, according...

Scientists at Indiana University and international collaborators have found a way to link two hormones into a single molecule, producing a more effective therapy with fewer side effects for potential use as treatment for obesity and related medical conditions. The studies were carried out in the laboratories of Richard DiMarchi, the Standiford H. Cox Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and the Linda & Jack Gill Chair in Biomolecular Sciences in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences, and of Matthias Tschöp, professor of medicine and director of the Institute of Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Center Munich, Germany. Results were published...

Last sum­mer a team of researchers from the Massa­chusetts Institute of Technology set out to better understand the effects of yogurt on obesity. They were following up on the results of a long-term study from the Harvard School of Public Health that had suggested yogurt, more than any other food, helped to prevent age-related weight gain. The M.I.T. team, led by cancer biologist Susan Erdman and evolutionary geneticist Eric Alm, wanted to replicate the work in mice. The researchers took a group of 40 males and 40 females and either fed the animals a high-fat, low-fiber, low-nutrient diet meant to...

A team of Weizmann Institute scientists has turned the tables on an autoimmune disease. In such diseases, including Crohn's and rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's tissues. But the scientists managed to trick the immune systems of mice into targeting one of the body's players in autoimmune processes, an enzyme known as MMP9. The results of their research appear today in Nature Medicine. Prof. Irit Sagi of the Biological Regulation Department and her research group have spent years looking for ways to home in on and block members of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) enzyme family. These proteins...

Tissue with wound-like conditions allows tumors to grow and spread. In mouse lung cancer cells, treatment with silibinin, a major component of milk thistle, removed the molecular billboards that signal these wound-like conditions and so stopped the spread of these lung cancers, according to a recent study published in the journal Molecular Carcinogenesis. Though the natural extract has been used for more than 2,000 years, mostly to treat disorders of the liver and gallbladder, this is one of the first carefully controlled and reported studies to find benefit. Here is how it works:Basically, in a cell there can be a...

A natural lipid in the fluid lining the lungs inhibits influenza infections in both cell cultures and mouse models, according to researchers at National Jewish Health. These findings, combined with previous studies demonstrating effectiveness against respiratory syncytial virus, suggest that the molecule, known as POPG, may have broad antiviral activity. “Supplemental POPG could be an important, inexpensive and novel approach for the prevention and treatment of influenza and other respiratory virus infections,” said Dennis Voelker, PhD, Professor of Medicine, and senior author in the report, published online in the American journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology.

Enlarge Image Turn it on. A fused human egg cell and skin cell form an early embryo that turns on the skin cell's green fluorescent protein on day 4 of development and forms a blastocyst by day 6. Credit: Noggle et al., Nature 478 (6 October 2011) Researchers have found a new way to turn adult cells into embryonic stem (ES) cells: using human eggs, or oocytes. The feat comes after more than a decade of failed attempts, and it is still a work in progress. The resulting stem cells are not normal; they carry the genomes of both...

Enlarge Image Gene fix. Red cells in this slice of mouse liver are making a human protein called A1At. Credit: K. YUSA ET AL., NATURE (ADVANCED ONLINE EDITION) ©2011 MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS LTD. Researchers have taken a step toward showing how stem cells might one day be used to help patients born with a deadly liver disease. The researchers corrected a DNA spelling error in patient skin cells that had been converted into so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, then coaxed the cells to form liver cells that seemed to function normally in mice. The approach is still a long...

State inspectors say a New Mexico school district's food warehouse is infested with rodent droppings, food hazards and improperly placed rat poison, and district officials refused to discard the food in question. The state Environment Department says officials cited last week five "high risk violations" at the food warehouse of Gallup-McKinley County Schools. State inspector Andrew Wilson wrote in a memo that the warehouse was littered with rodent droppings throughout, contained rat poison in a walk-in refrigerator and had cases of food with ice accumulation on top.

A wayward mouse forced the grounding of a US-bound SAS flight on Tuesday, leaving 250 travellers stranded at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport as crews tried in vain to capture the rogue rodent. Police return stolen bike after 15 years (23 Aug 11) McDonald's advert fakes 'Swedish' farmland (23 Aug 11) Sweden fears swimming Danish raccoon invasion (23 Aug 11) Shortly before the scheduled 10.30am take off of the Chicago-bound Airbus 330, a security guard spotted the mischievous mouse scurrying across the floor of the aircraft. “Unfortunately the mouse has not been found and caught, despite an extensive search onboard and numerous...