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Rat and human HSCs express the 5-HT1B, 5-HT1F 5-HT2A 5-HT2B, and 5-HT7 receptors, with expression of 5-HT1B 5-HT2A and 5-HT2B being induced on HSC activation.Antagonists that selectively target the 5-HT class of receptors may be exploited as antifibrotic drugs.

We face a number of threats, which the program covered. But climate change or that nasty word “global warming” caused to me sit erect in my seat.

NASA Thursday selected Lockheed Martin Corp., based in Bethesda, Md., as the prime contractor to design, develop, and build Orion, America’s spacecraft for a new generation of explorers. Orion will be capable of transporting four crewmembers for lunar missions and later supporting crew transfers for Mars missions. Orion could also carry up to six crew members to and from the International Space Station.

Getting old may be a pain, but for most people it sure beats the alternative. It is also getting much more expensive to live longer.

A team of researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has demonstrated sustained regression of advanced melanoma in a study of 17 patients by genetically engineering patients’ own white blood cells to recognize and attack cancer cells. “These results represent the first time gene therapy has been used successfully to treat cancer. Moreover, we hope it will be applicable not only to melanoma, but also for a broad range of common cancers, such as breast and lung cancer,” said NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D.

Pregnant women who seek prenatal diagnostic testing to identify genetic or chromosomal abnormalities have a lower risk of miscarriage than previously believed, according to a UCSF study.

Longstanding anger and hostility compromise lung function and hasten the natural decline in lung power that is a normal part of aging, reveals research published ahead of print in Thorax.

In a large epidemiological study, researchers found that people who drank three or more servings of fruit and vegetable juices per week had a 76 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than those who drank juice less than once per week.

Amateur astronomers, grab your telescopes. A spaceship is about to crash into the Moon, and you may be able to see the impact. The spacecraft: SMART-1, a lunar orbiter belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA). The impact site: Lacus Excellentiae (The Lake of Excellence), an ancient, 100-mile wide crater in the Moon’s southern hemisphere. The time to watch: Saturday, September 2nd at 10:41 p.m. PDT (Sept. 3rd, 0541 UT).

Transferring knowledge through a chain of generations is a behavior not exclusive to humans, according to new findings by researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University and the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. For the first time, researchers have shown chimpanzees exhibit generational learning behavior similar to that in humans. Unlike previous findings that indicated chimpanzees simply conform to the social norms of the group, this study shows behavior and traditions can be passed along a chain of individual chimpanzees. These findings, based upon behavioral data gathered at the Yerkes Field Station in Lawrenceville, Ga., will publish online in the August 28 early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A former astronaut and researcher at the San Francisco VA Medical Center will be traveling to the Cosmodrome space-launch site at Baikonur, Kazakhstan, this Saturday, Sept. 2, 2006, to prepare a crucial experiment designed to demonstrate how human immune response is suppressed in the weightless environment of space.

Cultures that favour male babies have bred a surplus of men who will struggle to find sexual partners and could find themselves marginalised in society, warns a new paper co-authored by a UCL (University College London) researcher. As more men discover their lack of marriage prospects, this could lead to antisocial behaviour, violence and possibly more opportunities for organised crime and terrorism, threatening the stability and security of many societies.

Bacteria have hair-like protrusions with a sticky protein on the tip that lets them cling to surfaces. The coiled, bungee cord-like structure of the protrusions helps the bacteria hang on tightly, even under rough fluid flow inside the body, researchers report in the journal PLoS Biology.

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin or ibuprofen may prevent or delay benign prostatic hyperplasia, an enlarged prostate which can cause urinary symptoms in men as they age such as frequent urination, trouble starting urination, awakening frequently at night to urinate, weak urine stream and an urgent need to urinate. Details will be published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Research confirming the human body is designed to strongly resist attempts to lose weight will be presented at an international gathering of obesity experts hosted by QUT this week.

A new study suggests that prehistoric birds of prey made meals out of some of our earliest human ancestors. Researchers drew this conclusion after studying more than 600 bones from modern-day monkeys. They had collected the bones from beneath the nests of African crowned eagles in the Ivory Coast’s Tai rainforest. A full-grown African crowned eagle is roughly the size of an American bald eagle, which typically weighs about 10 to 12 pounds.

Stress hormones appear to rapidly exacerbate the formation of brain lesions that are the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, according to researchers at UC Irvine. The findings suggest that managing stress and reducing certain medications prescribed for the elderly could slow down the progression of this devastating disease.

Interesting Census figures today — income is up, poverty hasn’t changed, health insurance rates are down. Connect the dots.

A new study at the Université de Montréal has concluded that there is no single God spot in the brain. In other words, mystical experiences are mediated by several brain regions and systems normally implicated in a variety of functions (self-consciousness, emotion, body representation).

A NASA-funded study shows that satellites can track the growth and health of forests and detect the impact of a changing climate on them. Although predicting how future climate change will affect forests remains uncertain, new tools, including satellite data, are giving scientists the information they need to better understand the various factors at play and how they may change forest composition and health.