A research work on molluscs nacre opens new doors for its possible use in biomedicine

... and protects it from sea water when the animal goes into its shell. Such superficial membrane must carry out different tasks in order to permit the prodcution ... according to the authors of this work. This article has showed how the superficial membrane organizes nacre in towers and how mineral blocks are conected ...

Galloping and breathing at high speed

... forward movement. The first is the springy "pogo-stick" quality of the superficial digital flexor tendon, which provides the "bouncing" effect, which allows ... to Dr. Hermanson, "Fatigue of the deep flexor muscle may overload the superficial digital flexor muscle and tendon, especially towards the end of intense, ...

Climbing to new heights in the forest canopy

... source of support without firmly attaching to it, a notable difference from the other types of climbers. Although it is possible to observe the superficial differences among the vines in their climbing methods, it is more difficult to observe structural traits of the stems that play an integral role in ...

What really prompts the dog's 'guilty look'

... natural human tendency to interpret animal behavior in human terms. Anthropomorphisms compare animal behavior to human behavior, and if there is some superficial similarity, then the animal behavior will be interpreted in the same terms as superficially similar human actions. This can include the attribution ...

New technology shows promise against resistant staph infections

... published this month in the online version of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology . Staphylococcus aureus bacteria cause the majority of superficial and invasive skin infections, resulting in more than 11 million outpatient/emergency room visits and 464,000 hospital admissions annually in the U.S. ...

Research uncovers promising target to treat chronic abdominal pain

... said this approach appears to be effective for visceral pain only, and not for somatic pain, which is pain resulting from injuries to the skin, superficial tissues or muscles and bones. The transgenic mice engineered to contain higher-than-normal levels of the protein are otherwise healthy. Stephens ...

Sea bed provides information about present climatic change

... to an excess of carbon. Such CO 2 is later fixed, in the way of organic matter, and removed of the atmospheric reservoir inducing a fall in Earth's superficial temperature. ...

Snails and humans use same genes to tell right from left

... in snails and other organisms, and the cascade of gene activation that leads to complex shapes, such as coiled shells. Despite humans' superficial symmetry - our left and right sides appear to be mirror images - we are anything but symmetric. Most people's hearts are towards the left side of the ...

Superglue from the sea

... don't want to have the glue permanently in the fracture." Stewart says some synthetic superglues or "instant glues" are used instead of sutures for superficial skin wounds. But because of toxicity or toxic byproducts, "they are not suitable for deep tissue use," including bone repair, he adds. Building a ...

Breakthrough optical technology to assess colon cancer risk, accuracy

... can be seen under a microscope, and even before polyps form. "It's fascinating," said Roy, "to very precisely know that you're looking at the most superficial layer of tissue -- which is where all polyps and cancer start -- and the accuracy with which these things can be measured." Researchers used the ...

Photo reveals rare okapi survived poaching onslaught

... okapi has survived." Measuring up to 8 feet in length and standing up to 6 feet at the shoulder, the okapi has striped legs that give the animal a superficial resemblance to a zebra. It is, in fact, a close relative of the much larger giraffe. The animal's current range occurs in the Ituri Forest in ...

Primate's scent speaks volumes about who he is

... DURHAM, N.C. -- Perhaps judging a man by his cologne isn't as superficial as it seems. Duke University researchers, using sophisticated machinery to analyze hundreds of chemical components in a ringtailed lemur's ...

Fuzzy logic water quality

... In the present study, the fuzzy analysis of the river Kerayong reveals that it is highly polluted river with a very low water quality index, despite superficial analysis of individual parameters are necessary. This suggests that the quality of life of those relying on the river as a freshwater source could be ...

New fish has a face even Dale Chihuly could love

... Divers and take additional photos of the new find. "They must have pretty tough skin to keep from being scraped and cut, but there is no evidence of superficial injury or scars in my photographs." With its unusual flattened face, the fish's eyes appear to be directed forward, something Pietsch says he's ...

American Chemical Society's weekly PressPac -- Jan. 2, 2008

... of dollars. Two decades of research have produced significant progress, the report acknowledges. However, medical science still has only a superficial understanding of how and why IDRs occur and a growing recognition that the mechanisms behind IDRs may be as complicated as those involved in cancer ...

UF's new owl butterfly species naming rights auctioned for $40,800

... of its coloration, it appears most similar to another owl butterfly, Opsiphanes boisduvallii, but differs from that species in many structural and superficial characters. Owl butterflies are some of the most familiar and best-known butterflies in the world due to their large size and striking wing ...

Selfish DNA and the Genetic Control of Vector-Borne Diseases

... of organisms. This is a challenge because most individual researchers tend to interact only with others in their fields and often have only a superficial understanding and appreciation for work on other aspects of selfish genetic elements. In part this is because scientists from these different ...

Bee strategy helps servers run more sweetly

... (the study of how biological principles can be applied to design and engineering), you have to look for a close analogy between two systems never a superficial one. And this definitely fit the bill. The more Tovey and Nakrani discussed bees and servers, the surer they became that somehow the bees ...

Clot-dissolving agent may be beneficial in treatment of severe frostbite

... or pyrophosphate scanning. Initiation of therapy within 24 hours of rewarming also appears to be necessary. Exclusion criteria would include superficial frostbite, involvement of the tips of the distal phalanges and contraindications to tPA, including concurrent trauma, neurological impairment or ...

Researchers design pulsed mircrojet system to deliver protein drugs without pain or bruising

... used to effectively deliver drugs for local and systemic applications without using needles. "The microjet system delivers precise doses into superficial skin layers, thereby mitigating pain," says Samir Mitragotri, a professor of chemical engineering at UCSB and a lead author of the paper. The system ...

Antifungal drug kills TB bug

... more exciting for the team was the knowledge that existing anti-fungal drugs already target P450s as a way to treat, for example, systemic and more superficial infections caused by fungi such as Candida albicans (the causative agent of thrush). "The class of drugs called azoles are able to kill off ...

Researchers give name to ancient mystery creature

... 10 centimetres in length and due to its powerful jaws, likely had a strong bite. Most confounding are the animal's teeth, which resemble in superficial ways, those of primitive relatives of ungulates, the group of mammals which includes horses and cows. But despite that link to ungulates, which are ...

Anemone genes reveal versatile building blocks for body plans

... they possess a radial body plan that is distinct from the familiar bilateral body plan exhibited by vertebrates and many other animals. Despite their superficial dissimilarities, Cnidarians and other animals share a common ancestor--which existed over 500 million years ago--and, consequently, many genes. As ...

CO2 sensing proves critical for fungal pathogens to adapt to life in air and human hosts

... in C. albicans and the capsule biosynthesis in C. neoformans. The authors go on to show that CO2 sensing in C. albicans is essential for superficial (skin) infections, in which yeast must be able to grow despite significantly lowered CO2 levels present at the skin surface. Based on their findings, ...