Digestion in Biological News

Cost-effective farm waste-to-energy technology focus of research

... valuable products. MSU's planned Anaerobic digestion Research and Education Center will consolidate ... bench-scale, pilot-scale and farm-scale anaerobic digestion research," said Steven Safferman, the center's ... can be processed into biofuels. Anaerobic digestion is not a new concept, and has been applied in ...

Biogas production is all in the mixing

... with it. The major end product of anaerobic digestion is methane, which can be converted to methanol ... mention bad odors. Treating manure by anaerobic digestion gets rid of the environmental threats and ... failure often is a consequence. Anaerobic digestion of manure is opaque, which means to understand ...

Down to earth remedies for chimps

... as T. rubescens leaves from young trees in the same area. They designed a digestion model to replicate the digestive process of mastication, gastric and intestinal digestion in the laboratory. The samples were then analyzed for bioactive ...

Probiotics help gastric-bypass patients lose weight more quickly, Stanford study shows

... the supplements. Probiotics are the so-called "good" bacteria found in yogurt as well as in over-the-counter dietary supplements that help in the digestion of food. "Surprisingly, the probiotic group attained a significantly greater percent of excess weight loss than that of control group," said ...

Antibiotics take toll on beneficial microbes in gut

... in the gut a distinctive mix for each person, and thought to be passed on from mother to baby. The microbes, including many different bacteria, aid digestion and nutrition, appear to help maintain a healthy immune system, and keep order when harmful microbes invade. "Biodiversity is a well-known ...

CSIRO deal to commercialize 'artificial gut'

... than the current in vivo (human) method. The GI and RS Analyser is the first of its kind in the world. The prototype works by mimicking the human digestion process and was originally developed to test the properties of new grains being developed by the Flagship. Dr Bruce Lee, Director of the Food ...

Researchers engineer metabolic pathway in mice to prevent diet-induced obesity

... two aspects of the problem that needed to be addressed," Liao said. "One is the regulation; fatty acid metabolism is highly regulated. The other is digestion of the fatty acid; there needs to be a channel to burn this fat." "We came up with an unconventional idea which we borrowed from plants and ...

DNA blueprint for healthier and more efficient cows

... a minimum of 22,000 genes. Of major interest to scientists are the differences in the organisation of the genes involved in lactation, reproduction, digestion and metabolism in cows compared to other mammals. One of the lead authors of the report on the project's latest findings, CSIRO Livestock ...

Sequencing the cow's genetic code -- a new agricultural era dawns

... acquisition of differences between mammals. In cattle biology, they have an influence on the genes involved in the processes of immunity, lactation, digestion and metabolism. These changes could help explain the amazing ability of cattle to efficiently convert low-quality forage into energy-dense meat and ...

Scientists develop method for comprehensive proteome analysis

... of human stem cells in collaboration with Burnham's stem cell program director, Evan Snyder." The method developed by Burnham scientists involved digestion of the proteins into smaller peptides, then separation of the peptides based on electrostatic charge using strong anionic exchange chromatography. ...

The Prestige oil spill caused changes in the cell structure of mussels

... study showed there had been changes at cell level in the mussels. Up to 2004 it could be seen that the lysosomes organs responsible for cellular digestion suffered drastic changes in size and the cell membrane had destabilised. From 2004 on the situation showed signs of recovery and the size of the ...

Single gene lets bacteria jump from host to host

... of Medicine and Public Health. "We pick up our microbial partners from the environment and they provide us with a raft of services from helping digestion to protection from disease." In the Pacific, a species of bacteria known as Vibrio fischeri lives in luminescent harmony with two distinct hosts: ...

Fish guts explain marine carbon cycle mystery

... crystals in the gut. The fish then simply excrete these unwanted chalky solids, sometimes called 'gut rocks', in a process that is separate from digestion and production of faeces. The study reveals that carbonates excreted by fish are chemically quite different from those produced by plankton. This ...

Modified plants may yield more biofuel

... which can cause ruminants like cows to get sick. Their digestive enzymes go into overdrive to break down the lignin, creating a lot of gas and digestion problems for the animals. "All animals produce enzymes in their digestive process that break down amino acids and small proteins that can be ...

Clinical trial for new tuberculosis vaccine

... GmbH (VPM), describes the process: "The vaccine bacteria are taken up by the scavenger cells of the human immune system and end up in their digestion chambers. The genetically engineered modification allows them to escape from the chambers and arm the immune system against the tuberculosis ...

Sesame seed extract and konjac gum may help ward off Salmonella and E. coli

... from latching onto the host. Dr Becker said: 'The importance of fibre, particularly from certain foodstuffs, in maintaining a healthy gut and digestion cannot be underestimated. The study shows that these foods bind certain bacteria and may be a means of stopping bacteria from entering host cells ...

UCF professor develops vaccine to protect against black plague bioterror attack

... protein found on the outside of Yersinia pestis. The vaccine was inside the plant cells, which were given to the rats. The vaccine was protected from digestion in the stomach and was then absorbed in the gut. It kick started the immune system into producing antibodies, which protects against the deadly ...

NYU Langone Medical Center's tip sheet to the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease 2008

... tau protein in the brain. The research provides a new model for Alzheimer's onset and progression. Presentation #04-01-05 Study Further Ties digestion of Harmful Protein to Alzheimer's Disease Dun-Sheng Yang, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, NYU Langone Medical Center; Research ...

US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute announces new genome sequencing projects

... the ability of shipworms to consume wood depends on symbiotic bacteria that provide enzymes, including cellulases and other hydrolases critical for digestion of wood by the host and potentially valuable for commercial bioconversion of lignocellulose to ethanol. Analysis of the shipworm symbiont community ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- June 25, 2008

... stomach, scientists in Israel are reporting, wine's bounty of healthful chemical compounds may thwart formation of harmful substances released during digestion of fat in the meat. The study, which reinforces the benefits of consuming wine and other foods rich in so-called polyphenols during meals, appears in ...

Diet prior to pregnancy determines sheep's gender

... effects, especially in terms of inflammation, immunity and central nervous system signalling. The omega-6 fats used in this study were protected from digestion by naturally occurring rumen bacteria to ensure that they would be absorbed through the intestines of the sheep. In animal social groups where a ...

UNH receives $380,000 grant to study organic dairy as closed ecosystem

... be utilized for animal bedding, which is becoming increasingly expensive; woodlands might also provide fuel for small cogeneration plants. Methane digestion could produce usable methane from manure. The first step for Aber, his faculty co-investigators, and UNH students who are working on the project ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- April 30, 2008

... bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, scientists report the design of an artificial mouth that mimics the first vital steps of human digestion chewing, saliva release and the initial breakdown of food. In the study, Galle Arvisenet and colleagues point out that a number of factors are ...

New discovery could reduce the health risk of high-fat foods

... At various points during the study, researchers took blood and urine samples to measure levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), a natural byproduct of fat digestion known to increase the risk for heart disease and other chronic conditions. The researchers found that MDA levels nearly quintupled after the control ...

'Bad carbs' not the enemy, University of Virginia professor finds

... diets use glycemic index as a key feature for optimum weight control, but it is not a reliable description of carbohydrate quality, Gaesser says. digestion is a complicated process. Its very difficult to determine the GI of a whole meal, for instance, so it doesnt really make sense to use GI or glycemic ...

McBride shows DNA detective work with paper-eating bacteria that 'glide'

... insects, is also difficult to break down. McBride hypothesizes that digestion of cellulose and chitin may also be linked to cell movement, or motility. ... of ability to digest chitin," he says. "This suggests that motility and digestion of some carbohydrate polymers may be connected in both gliding microbes." ...

Gut microbes' partnership helps body extract energy from food, store it as fat

... of its ability to consume hydrogen and other byproducts of bacterial digestion of polysaccharides. Accumulation of such byproducts slows polysaccharide ... Gordon speculated that M. smithii could improve the overall efficiency of digestion of dietary polysaccharides, and wondered whether it also affected which ...

New evidence questions the simple link between prion proteins and madcow disease

... of PrP from other tissues. This will then be exposed to 48 hours or more digestion before it arrives in the gut, and our experiments show that after this, ... theoretical probability of this being due to an invisible sub-fraction of digestion resistant PrP molecules is unlikely. The possibility of there being ...

Highly adaptable genome in gut bacterium key to intestinal health

... group of high-activity genes were involved in the acquisition and digestion of carbohydrates. "In mice fed complex carbohydrates, we found that the ... fact, it can call on a larger repertoire of genes related to carbohydrate digestion than any other microbe we know of." Next, the researchers will use ...

Parallel evolution: Proteins do it, too

... "So it looks like, after gene duplication, there is a division of labor," Zhang said. "Before duplication, the gene is supposed to do both jobs: digestion and degrading double-stranded RNA. After duplication, one copy seems to retain the activity of degrading double-stranded RNA while the other copy has ...

Scientists take 'snapshots' of enzyme action

... known as "fish odor syndrome," which results from defective FMOs. Affected individuals are unable to oxygenate trimethylamine, a byproduct of protein digestion released by bacteria living in the gut. People with the disorder release trimethylamine through breath, sweat, and urine, producing a fish-like odor ...

Johns hopkins researchers find link between cell's energy use and genome health

... machinery is "like finding out that an enzyme that breaks down food in the stomach also helps you remember telephone numbers or that preventing such digestion makes you forget them," Boeke added. The research, to be published in the July 21 issue of Molecular Cell, could lead to new strategies one day ...

Seaweed could make junk food healthier

... coloured powder. The paper shows that alginate has been proved to strengthen mucus, the body's natural protection of the gut wall, can slow digestion down, and can slow the uptake of nutrients in the body. Moreover, alginate is high in fibre and has been proved to be palatable and safe, and as ...

A frog's life is food for thought

... she said. "Within 36 hours of the ingestion of the first meal the gut had all but returned to its pre-aestivation state, and by the completion of digestion of the first meal the gut was operating on par with that of non-aestivating frogs," she said. "This rate of rectification of gut morphology is ...

Study of genomic DNA leads to new advances in cancer diagnostics

... human genome, Dr. Maniotis's group classified cells based on sensitivity or resistance to DNA digestion. Non-malignant cells were sensitive to DNA digestion by Alu I while highly malignant cells were resistant. These results suggest that a cell's DNA, or chromatin, is protected during malignancy. This ...

Bacteria collection sheds light on urinary tract infections

... bacteria found in humans and animals. Thousands of E.coli live in the organs of humans and animals and provide multiple benefits such as aiding in digestion of certain nutrients. However, E.coli is also commonly associated with illnesses caused by eating undercooked beef or drinking contaminated water. ...