energy

Bioartificial kidney under study at MCG

...s in failure. Kidneys require a lot of oxygen and energy to perform their endless task, which makes them easy targets in the ICU, Dr. Szerlip explains. As examples, kidneys can become ischemic and begin to fail if blood pressure drops because of a long surgery with significant blood loss. Infection can fur...

Enzyme, lost in most mammals, is shown to protect against UV-induced skin cancer

... CPD or 6-4PP lesions by using visible light as an energy source,expression of the transgenes allowed rapid photolyase-mediated repairof these lesions. The researchers found that transgenic mice bearingthe CPD photolyase transgene, in contrast to mice bearing the 6-4PPphotolyase transgene, showed superior r...

W.M. Keck Foundation funds study of friendly microbes

...ese microbes also regulate the amount of extracted energy that is stored in fat cells. The implication of these findings is that variations in the composition of gut microbial communities among different people may be an important factor that influences predisposition to obesity and obesity-related disorder...

Yellowstone microbes fueled by hydrogen, according to U. of Colorado study

...the popular idea that sulfur is the main source of energy fortiny organisms living in thermal features. "Itwas a surprise to find hydrogen was the main energy source for microbesin the hot springs," Pace said. "This project is also interesting inthe context o...

Timing is everything: First step in protein building revealed

...ed this phenomenon, known asfluorescence resonance energy transfer or FRET, to monitor therelationship between eIF1 and its relative as the ribosome complexassembled and after RNA was added to the mix."We weren't even sure the two fluorescent molecules would be closeenough together to create a FRET signal a...

Tiny particles could solve billion-dollar problem

...ruction costs for surface treatment facilities and energy costs of lifting water to the surface. Nanotechnology is critical to the scheme because only a nanoscale catalyst will be efficient enough to provide the throughput needed to make the whole approach effective. Tests in Wong's lab have found that the...

Plants respond similarly to signals from friends, enemies

...the plant and, in return, take some of the plant's energy to survive. A similar relationship appeared when Weerasinghe studied the signals between plants and nematodes, even though the nematode provides no benefit to its host. Root-knot nematodes form feeding cells ?so-called giant cells ?in the plant and l...

The secret to longevity in tubeworms

...ep where the worm lives. These chemoautotrophs use energy from hydrocarbons to reduce sulfate to sulfide, which L. luymesi absorbs through its unique "roots," extensions of its body that it tunnels into the sediments. However, current measurements of sulfide and sulfate fluxes in the water near the vents do...

The secret lives of whales

... their decomposing bodies and skeletons provide an energy source for specialized communities of animals that can last 50 to 100 years. Smith and his colleagues first happened upon a whale skeleton in 1987 while doing a deep-sea survey using the submersible Alvin. They were amazed to find hundreds of specie...

Muscle-targeted gene therapy reverses rare muscular dystrophy in mice

...ed form of sugar, into glucose, the body's primary energy source. As a result, glycogen builds up in muscles throughout the body, including the heart, causing muscles to degenerate. Using genetically altered mice in which the gene for the enzyme had been rendered nonfunctional, the researchers demonstrated...

Plant hemoglobins: Oxygen handlers critical for nitrogen fixation

...hemoglobins are important for oxygen transport and energy metabolism in plant root nodules. Furthermore, these proteins help to maintain free-oxygen concentrations in nodules at levels low enough to avoid damage of oxygen-sensitive nitrogenase, the bacterial enzyme complex responsible for symbiotic nitrogen...

Critical role in programmed cell death identified

...chondria, the organelles responsible for producing energy to fuel cell processes, also appear to release molecules that set the cell death program in motion. While their activity in mammalian cell death was known, mitochondrial involvement in worms had not previously been shown. The new work, led by Dr. Ba...

Highly adaptable genome in gut bacterium key to intestinal health

...e intestine and harvests, stores and redistributes energy from the diet." Because changes in the composition of this "microbial organ" may be deleterious to human health, it is important to understand how gut microbes adapt to the dynamic environment of the gut and ensure the functional stability of the in...

DNA Recombination and Repair—A New Twist to RecA Function

Molecular motors harness the energy of ATP (or GTP, a related energy currency) and transform it into mechanical force. Well-known examples of motors include myosin and d...

Novel ultrafast laser detection of cancer cells also may improve understanding of stem cells

...ter around the nucleus and work together to supply energy to the healthy, functioning cell. In contrast, the...pparently, the rapidly growing cancer cells derive energy from an alternative source such as free glucose in the cell." Fortunately, the mitochondrion is nea...

Duke Chemists Isolating Individual Molecules Of Toxic Protein In Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Disease

...sharp microscopic tip to image surfaces and detect energy differences by mechanically probing molecular surf...uch bonds, the Duke scientists can deduce how much energy was required to bring the molecules together. Then, using their knowledge of protein chemistry, they...

South America's vast pantanal wetland may become next everglades, UNU experts warn

...ing intensive agriculture, modern cattle ranching, energy production, mining and other changes in land use i...cattle ranching, transport industry, hydroelectric energy production and mining. The Pantanal's distinctive ecosystem is also increasingly under threat from t...

X-Ray Beams And Fruit Fly 'Flight Simulator' Aid Scientists' View Of Muscle Power

... “Both insect flight and human heart muscles store energy during each beat that is later used to help flap t...ound that flying insects store much of the elastic energy in the protein filaments themselves, which minimizes the power costs,?Maughan said. A previous publ...

In the migratory marathon, parasitized monarchs drop out early

...rasite fly slower, tire out faster and expend more energy flying than healthy monarchs. These results, published in the March issue of Ecology Letters, could explain why parasite infections are much lower in migratory monarch populations compared to year-round residents that do not migrate. Habitat loss at...

Special Imaging Study Shows Failing Hearts Are 'Energy Starved'

...e spectroscopy (MRS) for the first time to examine energy production biochemistry in a beating human heart, Johns Hopkins researchers have found substantial energy deficits in failing hearts. The findings, published in the January 18 issue of the Proceedings of t...

LUCA technologies confirms real-time methane generation

...ay offer the potential of turning currently finite energy reserves into methane "farms" capable of long-term, sustainable energy generation. "The hydrocarbon resources available in the Monument Butte oilfield are very large, mak...

DuPont's first biologically derived polymer receives global recognition

...l process that requires over 40 percent less total energy than the traditional petrochemical feedstock. It will be commercially available in 2006. In 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented DuPont with its annual "Presidential Green Chemistry Award" for the company's research leading to th...

Fleshing out the genome

...ses of the cell, playing a role in everything from energy transport and metabolism to cellular communication. This new ability to rank hypothetical sequences according to their likelihood to encode proteins "will be vital for any further experimentation and, eventually, for predicting biological function,"...

A frog's life is food for thought

...estivation frogs would shut down all non-essential energy consuming processes. Her results contradict this theory. "It was really interesting to us that they do not appear to shut down the functional aspect of their gut biology," she said. "It is important that they are able to eat and digest from the fir...

Robot-based system developed at Carnegie Mellon detects life in Chile's Atacama desert

...le in the shade of the rover. The rover uses solar energy to operate so it needs to travel during daylight hours. Many times, the images we capture may only reveal a faint signal. Any sunlight that leaks in to the camera of a conventional fluorescence imager would obscure the signal," said Waggoner. "To av...

A human parasite with a streamlined mitochondrion

...luding our own--because they make large amounts of energy as they use oxygen. However, some eukaryotic cells, including important parasites of humans--such as Entamoeba histolytica, the causal agent of amoebic dysentery--live in environments that are too oxygen poor to support this process. Nevertheless, En...

New winter hulless barley has high protein

...ulled barley cultivars that have higher starch and energy content, therefore, better feed quality, such as cultivars named 'Thoroughbred' and 'Price,' have recently been released by Virginia Tech," said Carl Griffey, professor of crop and soil environmental science at Virginia Tech. "Similar to wheat in app...

Scientists discover how plants disarm the toxic effects of excessive sunlight

... of the National Academy of Sciences. Plants turn energy from sunlight into bioenergy through a chemical pr... the harmful effects of singlet oxygen and enhance energy production." Reactive oxygen also plays an important role in human, animal and plant health, becaus...

Researchers identify protein crucial for survival of Lyme-disease bacterium

...s or humans during the tick's feeding process. The energy for replication is believed to come from the proteins and nutrients made available as the tick breaks down whole blood. "For some reason, bacteria lacking the BptA protein either can't utilize the blood meal in the way the wild-type bacteria do, or ...

Microbial fuel cell: High yield hydrogen source and wastewater cleaner

... a global hydrogen economy, this form of renewable energy production may help offset the substantial costs o...ribution to nations able to harness hydrogen as an energy source," Logan notes,. The new approach is described in a paper, "Electrochemically Assisted Microb...

Buying Time Through Hibernation on Demand

...nterfere with the body's ability to use oxygen for energy production - a process within the cell's power-generating machinery called oxidative phosphorylation. The inhibition of this function, in turn, is what the researchers believe causes the organism to shut down metabolically and enter a hibernation-lik...

U-M team recovers ancient whale in Egyptian desert

...nterfere with the body's ability to use oxygen for energy production - a process within the cell's power-generating machinery called oxidative phosphorylation. The inhibition of this function, in turn, is what the researchers believe causes the organism to shut down metabolically and enter a hibernation-lik...

Love's all in the brain: fMRI study shows strong, lateralized reward, not sex, drive

...n ?to drive our forebears to focus their courtship energy on specific individuals, thereby conserving precious mating time and energy. Perhaps," she hypothesized, "even love-at-first-sight is a basic mammalian response that developed in other animals and our ancestors inherited in order to speed up the mati...

Medical molecules designed to respond to visible light that can penetrate tissue

... applications in photodynamic therapy and in solar energy conversion. Because of the detail offered by Monge...nd Rh and Pt reactive sites: Applications in solar energy conversion and photodynamic therapy (INOR 410)," will be presented at 4:50 p.m. Monday, March 14, in...

Revolutionary nanotechnology illuminates brain cells at work

...ible via a process known as fluorescence resonance energy transfer, or FRET. In a new study, the nanosensors...e even though they do not touch. This is resonance energy transfer." FRET is used to track the form of proteins that specifically bind metabolites such as su...

NASA study finds snow melt causes large ocean plant blooms

...now cover is low over Eurasia, the amount of solar energy reflected back into the atmosphere is less. A decl...n the amount of snow cover means less of the sun's energy goes towards melting of snow and evaporation of wet soil. As a result the land mass heats up more in...

Growth in biomass could put US on road to energy independence

...of an increased focus on biomass include increased energy security as the U.S. would become less dependent o...s, biomass could supply 15 percent of the nation's energy by 2030. Meanwhile, biomass consumption in the industrial sector would increase at an annual rate o...

Human Cells Filmed Instantly Messaging for First Time

...of an increased focus on biomass include increased energy security as the U.S. would become less dependent o...s, biomass could supply 15 percent of the nation's energy by 2030. Meanwhile, biomass consumption in the industrial sector would increase at an annual rate o...

Study reveals new technique for fingerprinting environmental samples

...r, were particularly abundant. As light is a major energy source for microbes living in surface water there was an abundance of genes involved in photosynthesis in samples collected from shallow water. These differences in the abundances of genes involved in particular functions provide DNA clues to feature...

NIH Researchers Discover How Insulin Allows Entry of Glucose Into Cells

...away from the microscope’s lens. However, residual energy from the light passes through the cover slip, to the cell beneath, illuminating the area just below the cell’s surface while leaving the inside of the cell dark. “When we started the experiment, we thought that the vesicles would be stationary,?Dr. ...

Researchers discover underwater volcano

...e produced by microscopic life feeding on chemical energy from the volcano's hydrothermal system. As Staudigel and his international team explored the area, they discovered a number of large communities of eels inhabiting the fragile cavernous rock pillars surrounding the hydrothermal vent area. As the subm...

Signs of aging: Scientists evaluate genes associated with longevity

...h involved major lipid, nucleic acid, protein, and energy pathways, became less pronounced with advanced age. "We speculate that the apparent metabolic repression in early and mid-life adults contributes substantially to the observed longevity of daf-2," says Dr. Julius Halaschek-Wiener, a researcher at the...

Basis for DNA ejection from single phage particles

... this week, researchers have evaluated whether the energy thus stored is sufficient to permit phage DNA ejection, or only to initiate that process. The researchers used fluorescently labeled phage DNA to investigate in real time (and with a resolution time of 750 milliseconds) the dynamics of DNA ejection ...

Changing ecosystems throw scientists mega-challenges

...n complex environmental systems, such as land use, energy and climate. ...

Innovative collaboration brings Arctic science into the classroom

... Arctic. According to Holmes, "capitalizing on the energy and enthusiasm of students has tremendous benefits for education, for science, and for society. The relationship we've developed with the community of Zhigansk is paying huge dividends scientifically, and it also helping us to get our science to the ...

Hydrogen and methane provide raw energy for life at 'Lost City'

...ne and hydrogen. Absent is carbon dioxide, the key energy source for life at black-smoker vents. And there i... can understand the chemical reactions, sources of energy and how fluids circulate through Lost City, it may give us insight into how life started on this pla...

Future diabetes drugs may target new protein interaction

...s rely on sugar -- specifically glucose -- for the energy to function. In people with diabetes, however, the liver doesn't sense the incoming calories, and it keeps making glucose when it shouldn't. The researchers discovered that, in fasting mice, the liver's production of sugar kicked into high gear beca...

PHACCS, an online tool for estimating the structure and diversity of uncultured viral communities using metagenomic information

...s rely on sugar -- specifically glucose -- for the energy to function. In people with diabetes, however, the liver doesn't sense the incoming calories, and it keeps making glucose when it shouldn't. The researchers discovered that, in fasting mice, the liver's production of sugar kicked into high gear beca...

Computational verification of protein-protein interactions by orthologous co-expression

...s rely on sugar -- specifically glucose -- for the energy to function. In people with diabetes, however, the liver doesn't sense the incoming calories, and it keeps making glucose when it shouldn't. The researchers discovered that, in fasting mice, the liver's production of sugar kicked into high gear beca...

Eliminate Data Analysis Bottlenecks in Drug Discovery

...s rely on sugar -- specifically glucose -- for the energy to function. In people with diabetes, however, the liver doesn't sense the incoming calories, and it keeps making glucose when it shouldn't. The researchers discovered that, in fasting mice, the liver's production of sugar kicked into high gear beca...

DOE JGI launches IMG public online microbial genome data clearinghouse

...agriculture, industrial processes, and alternative energy production." The DOE JGI is currently producing nearly one-quarter of the number of microbial genome projects worldwide, more than any other single institution. The IMG system currently features over 200 organisms, with an additional 200 already in ...

Atmosphere may cleanse itself better than previously thought

... of smog. This group of chemicals, after absorbing energy from sunlight, is able to break down smog and othe...nd rain them out, or sunlight strikes them and the energy breaks the molecules apart. "The third way is the one we are concerned with here, the way that invo...

Mice brains shrink during winter, impairing some learning and memory

...he changes in the brain may help the mice conserve energy to survive during the cold winter season when food...nd conditions are harsh. "The brain uses a lot of energy relative to its weight," Nelson said. "Like many mammals, mice need to reduce their energy costs dur...

Research may provide new link between soft drinks and weight gain

...volved in the long-term control of food intake and energy metabolism," said coauthor Dr. Havel. The researchers say that further studies in humans are needed to determine if high-fructose corn syrup in soft drinks is directly responsible for the current increase in human obesity. ...

Census of Marine Life explorers surprised by diversity, density of Arctic creatures

...cal new disturbances on the northern ocean such as energy exploitation, fishing and shipping. The research compares species distribution in the shelf, slope and deep sea regions (the deep sea is generally agreed to begin at 1,000 meters). Investigations of the seawater's physical and chemical properties au...

Grass makes environmentally friendly biofuel

...grass, not for fun but for fuel. Burning grass for energy has been a well-accepted technology in Europe for ...at potential as a low-tech, small-scale, renewable energy system that can be locally produced, locally processed and locally consumed, while having a positive...

Study of energy and health in Africa focuses spotlight on charcoal and forest management

...gue, however, that current economic conditions and energy infrastructure in Africa make petroleum-based foss... transition case. "This study shows that choosing energy technologies with an eye toward improving health and quality of life in one of the world's most impo...

Ocean climate predicts elk population in Canadian Rockies

... and their bodies have to work harder and use more energy to stay warm," said Hebblewhite, who studies in the U of A Department of Biological Sciences. Cold, wet weather alone is enough to decrease an elk population, but when wolves are added to the environment, elk become especially vulnerable. Hebblewhit...

Fat's fate depends on its source

... Those genes are normally targeted by PPARa, a key energy management gene activated by fatty acids. "In short, all fatty acids are not created equal, at least in the liver," Semenkovich said. The findings suggest that products of fatty acid synthesis regulate glucose, lipid, and cholesterol metabolism by ...

Newest HIV drugs should be used with FUZEON(R)

...ing before starting this regimen. I have much more energy now than I had before, which is exhilarating since I have been held back for so long." Spike has been living with HIV since it was detected in his body in 1986 and works as a freelance designer and night-club promoter. The use of FUZEON is continuin...