environmental

Chemists create 'Superbowl' molecule; May lead to better health

...ge of other applications, including the removal of environmental toxins and aiding in chemical purification procedures, the investigators say. Their study was published in the Dec. 29 print issue of the journal, one of the peer-reviewed publications of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific ...

Genome of deadly amoeba shows surprising complexity, evidence of lateral gene transfer

...nses the presence of its human host and translates environmental cues into signaling events, which are processed by the parasite. Another unusual feature of the genome is the presence of an unprecedented number of tRNA (transfer RNA) genes, which constitute nearly 10 percent of the sequence data collected for the...

Anti-bacterial additive widespread in U.S. waterways

...fits ofantimicrobial products outweigh their known environmental and humanhealth risks? This is a scientifically complex question consumers,knowingly or unknowingly, answer to everyday in the checkout line ofthe grocery store," said Dr. Halden....

Tiny particles could solve billion-dollar problem

...undwater," said Joe Hughes, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and a co-leader of CBEN's environmental research programs. "The scale of TCE contamination is enormous, so any new scheme for TCE remediatio...

Affymetrix Unveils Plans to Double Plant and Animal Genome Microarray Offering

...resented include:-- Dr. John Cushman who monitored environmental stresses in the winegrape-- Dr. Matias Kirst who studied SNP effects in expression analysis ofdiverse species using an early prototype of the maize array-- Dr. Brett Tyler who studied transcriptional profiling ofPhytophthora sojae infection of the so...

Ecological destruction fuels emerging diseases

...of species around the world is more than a looming environmental catastrophe, warns a Canadian zoologist. This ecol...gs on February 21 as part of a panel discussion on environmental systematics at the 2005 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washin...

Sea skate experiment sheds light on human cell transport

...t water to fresh water. For humans, such a drastic environmental change would prompt an equally drastic physiological change: Our cells would take in too much water, diluting blood and other body fluids and rapidly causing death. So how do skates do it? Goldstein and Musch learned how cellular channels, or gates,...

Spider Venom Could Yield Eco-Friendly Insecticides

...' resistance, even to increased dosages, while the environmental damage and human health risks associated with the chemicals have increased, according to King. "We have a very good reason to look for a safer, nontoxic, and more efficient pesticide. More than a billion pounds of pesticides are sprayed in the U.S. ...

New imaging method gives early indication if brain cancer therapy is effective, U-M study shows

... Alnawaz Rehemtulla, Ph.D., associate professor of environmental health sciences, radiation oncology and radiology. ...

Scientists collaborate to assess health of global environment

...ticipated in the assessment and concluded that the environmental benefits that human societies depend on and take f...s at a faster rate than any time in history." The environmental degradation carried out to meet demand for food, fiber, timber, fresh water, fuel and other resource...

Scientists decipher genome of fungus that can cause life-threatening infections

...erged specieswhich differ in virulence attributes, environmental distribution andwhich have been diverging over millions of years of evolution....

Poplar trees redirect resources in response to simulated attack

... a long-debated theory about how plants respond to environmental stress, and shows that radiotracer imaging can be ...scientists trying to improve plants' resistance to environmental challenges -- or their ability to perform useful tasks such as carbon sequestration, phytoremediatio...

Study: Soap And Water Work Best In Ridding Hands Of Disease Viruses

...nd public health; Dr. Mark D. Sobsey, professor of environmental sciences and engineering in public health; and medical technologist Maria F. Gergen-Teague. Dr. Gregory P. Samsa, a Duke University biostatistician, helped analyze the data. "These findings are important because health-care associated infections ran...

Taking Aim With Nanoparticle PEBBLEs

...ool; Alnawaz Rehemtulla, an associate professor of environmental health sciences, radiation oncology and radiology with joint appointments in the Medical School and the School of Public Health; and Yong-Eun Lee Koo, a research associate in the chemistry department, College of Literature, Science and the Arts. To ...

Ants Genetic Engineering Leads To Species Interdependency

...ristics that may be highlyadvantageous for growth, environmental tolerance, or diseaseresistance.Regardless of the specific advantages, however, it is clear that theseants have committed themselves to the hybrid workforce strategy.When the researchers prevented queens from mating with males of theother species, ve...

MSI releases 'moleculizer' - a new approach to simulation of intracellular biochemical networks

...nce to the biological, biomedical,agricultural and environmental sciences as well as covers thecommercial, political, ethical, legal, and societal aspects of thisresearch."...

New studies suggest airborne SARS transmission is possible

...ol precautions. The investigators wondered whether environmental contamination of hospital air or surfaces could ex...s question, they collected patient information and environmental samples from the SARS units of four Toronto hospitals. SARS coronavirus was detected in the air in ...

Estrogen-like Component of Plastic Stimulates Growth of Certain Prostate Cancer Cells

...ophenol A), an industrial chemical andnonsteroidal environmental estrogen used in the manufacture of foodcans, milk...al models next,?said Dr. Knudsen. The effectof the environmental non-steroidal BPA on human prostate cancer tumorimplants in laboratory animal models will shed addit...

Research Using Mouse Models Reveals A Novel Key Player In The Initiation Of Colon Cancer

...like those with Familial Adenomatous Polyposis, or environmental stress that generates a spontaneous mutation in the APC gene, mutations in the Foxl1 gene or its targets may dramatically increase the likelihood that the second normal copy of the APC gene is lost or mutated, leading to the initiation of tumor forma...

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

... March 22, UNU says the Pantanal provides enormous environmental services by storing and purifying water, providing...ntegrated management, one of the planet's greatest environmental treasures will be altered forever by human encroachment," says Prof. Hans van Ginkel, UN Under Secre...

International HapMap consortium expands mapping effort

... people to therapeutic drugs, toxic substances and environmental factors, and the HapMap can assist in the identification of those variants. Since not all genetic variants are deleterious, the HapMap also may be used to help to pinpoint genetic variations that contribute to good health, such as those protecting ag...

Breast-Cancer Risk Linked to Exposure to Traffic Emissions at Menarche, First Birth

...ly exposures and of the potential importance of an environmental agent in risk of breast cancer," said Nie. "Further examination of PAH exposure in early life is clearly warranted." The UB researchers currently are examining whether genetic polymorphisms involving PAH metabolism may modify the risk, if lifeline c...

Rats infected as newborns grew up vulnerable to memory problems during an immune challenge

... scientists to understand how exposure to germs or environmental stressors before or just after birth may foster susceptibility to neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. For example, prenatal viral infection has been implicated in schizophrenia, autism and cerebral palsy; bacterial infection is a risk fa...

Asthma gene clusters identified

...the Centers for Disease Control. Experts know that environmental factors can lead to asthmatic conditions in children, but they also know that genetics contributes to susceptibility. There are no cures for asthma, but it can be controlled with treatment. To date, researchers have identified individual genes invol...

US life expectancy about to decline, researchers say

...ght is affected by many genetic, psychological and environmental factors that influence diet or physical activity levels, says Dr. David Ludwig, associate professor and director of the Obesity Program at Children's Hospital Boston and a co-author of the study. For children in particular, fast food, sugar-sweetened...

How the environment could be damaging men's reproductive health

...navian studies have provided further evidence that environmental factors could be affecting men's reproductive heal... medicine journal Human Reproduction, suggest that environmental pollutants could be changing the ratio of sperm carrying the X or Y (sex determining) chromosomes an...

Scientists discuss improved biopesticides for locust control in West Africa

...e developed coating technologies to improve on the environmental persistence of the biopesticide, specifically a lignin coating for the spores, which increases their resistance to ultraviolet radiation." Research at Virginia Tech demonstrated UV resistance 15 times greater for coated spores as compared to non-coat...

Live fast, die young true for forests too

...ict how forests will respond to ongoing and future environmental changes. "One implication of this fast turnover r...o occur. Another implication of the study is that environmental changes considered beneficial to forests may bring about unexpected forest changes. "Most attention ...

Biodiversity hotspots identify conservation priorities

...the most good. "The biodiversity hotspots are the environmental emergency rooms of our planet. This latest assessment underscores the value of the hotspots concept for defining urgent conservation priorities," said Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation International (CI) and co-editor of the new book....

New winter hulless barley has high protein

...ch," said Carl Griffey, professor of crop and soil environmental science at Virginia Tech. "Similar to wheat in appearance, ulless barley is significantly higher in starch content and significantly lower in fiber than traditional hulled barley," he said. Virginia Tech released the first winter hulless barley culti...

WHO Warns Of Increased Risk Of Vector-borne Diseases In Tsunami-affected Areas

...ling with a lot of unknowns because of the violent environmental changes that have taken place here," explained Dr ...Southeast Asia, has at least in some areas, led to environmental disturbance of the kind that would typically be associated with increased mosquito breeding. While p...

Light therapy may combat fungal infections, new evidence suggests

...cals. "Therefore, an understanding of the role of environmental signals such as light in fungal development is vital to increase the benefits and decrease the costs that fungi present." The researchers first tested the importance of genes with known roles in light sensitivity of another, distantly related fungus...

Gray wolves maintain the food chain in winter

...ide their efforts and help species adjust to major environmental shifts like climate change. Crucially, Wilmers and Getz's study shows that a robust food chain - including this still embattled top predator - may be even more important as ecological conditions deteriorate. ### Citation: Wilmers CC, Getz WM (2005)...

Glow-in-the-dark zebrafish at UH hold keys to biological clocks

...ever, we determined that it does take some sort of environmental input for the clock to start. In this case it was exposure to light/dark cycles after the fourth day of development, about the age when the fish start to swim and feed." The researchers used zebrafish (danio rerio) because they yield such a high out...

Microbial fuel cell: High yield hydrogen source and wastewater cleaner

...ell (MFC) that does not require oxygen, Penn State environmental engineers and a scientist at Ion Power Inc. have d...on alone. Dr. Bruce Logan, the Kappe professor of environmental engineering and an inventor of the MFC, says, "This MFC process is not limited to using only carbohy...

Survey finds silver contamination in North Pacific waters

...urning in Asia," said Russell Flegal, professor of environmental toxicology at UCSC. "Silver concentrations in the North Pacific trace the atmospheric depositions of industrial aerosols from Asia, with the highest concentrations in those waters closest to the Asian mainland." Mara Ranville, a researcher in Flegal...

Harmful chemicals may reprogram gene response to estrogen

...o the gene. This study, however, indicates that an environmental agent can actually change or reprogram the gene so...ns differently. "This study is telling us that an environmental reprogramming of a normal response, combined with an inherited gene defect, work together to promote...

Small species back-up giant marsupial climate change extinction claim

...me as those in the past. "If we can document past environmental change and its influence on the extinction of species, it might have predictive value in estimating the effects of possible future climate changes and its impacts on modern species." Megafauna roamed the globe in the Pleistocene epoch, between 1.8 m...

Same-Sex Mating Discovered in a Toxic Fungus

...ity might provide an advantage when faced with new environmental challenges, he said. While the findings have no immediately obvious clinical implications, Heitman said, "the more we know about the biological cause of any disease, the better positioned we are to develop cost-effective diagnostic or therapeutic in...

Study reveals new technique for fingerprinting environmental samples

...-scale genome sequencing to accelerate advances in environmental sciences akin to the contributions DNA sequencing ...g contaminated environments. This may well develop environmental ecology into a fully quantitative science." Dubbed Environmental Genomic Tags, or EGTs, these indic...

Study: 'homemade' gene expression technology unreliable

...s study how the genome is involved in responses to environmental stressors and toxicants. The three-year, NIEHS-fu...s possible," Spencer said. "Our interest is in how environmental factors ?drugs, pollutants, workplace substances, natural toxins, food chemicals, fragrance raw mate...

Scientists journey to southern Africa to unravel the secret world of elephant communication

...ants more than 2 miles away. Several years later, environmental scientist David Larom and his co-workers proposed that, under ideal atmospheric conditions, low-frequency calls could travel 6 miles or more through the air. Now in private industry, Larom has long been intrigued by O'Connell-Rodwell's work. "This i...

Physiological effects of reduced gravity on bacteria

...es how bacteria respond when they are subjected to environmental alterations, such as those of space stations, whic...ation (ISS), potentially are adapted to the unique environmental conditions of that system. As bacteria are important residents in water systems, including those of...

Edible bivalves as a source of human pathogens: signals between vibrios and the bivalve host.

...otential risk for human health. Although different environmental factors are well known to affect the persistence of vibrios in these organisms, the key role of the interactions between vibrios and the immune system of bivalves has been recently highlighted by scientists from the Universities of Genova and Urbino ...

NYU and MSKCC research provides model for understanding chemically induced cancer initiation

...d repair enzymes," said NYU's Geacintov. "Because environmental chemical carcinogens, including those present in c... for addressing the problem of cancer induction by environmental chemical carcinogens." The researchers added that the finding opens new horizons, at the molecular ...

Study reveals dramatic difference between breast cancers in US and Africa

... University of Chicago to sort out the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to breast cancer. The study will look at the genes, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, and social interactions of women in the United States and Africa and their relationship to breast cancer. She combines expertise in cancer r...

Road salt affects mitigation wetlands

...T has really gone out of their way to consider the environmental impact of what they have done," says Silver. "They have been extremely good about talking to the college to minimize the effects of having a road across campus and have gone out of their way to be as environmentally responsible as possible." When bu...

Compounds in plastic packaging act as environmental estrogens altering breast genes

...d that two plasticizer compounds, BPA and BBP, are environmental estrogens capable of affecting gene expression in the mammary glands of young female laboratory rats exposed to the compounds through their mothers' milk. Raquel Moral, Ph.D., a postdoctoral associate in the Fox Chase laboratory of Jose Russo, M.D.,...

To sea or not to sea: When it comes to salmon sex, size sometimes doesn't matter

...year's worth is wiped out. There is undoubtedly an environmental aspect in all of these, he says. The most obvious being when conditions in the home river are so degraded that salmon move elsewhere to spawn. Straying is just one of the traits that cause Quinn to say that salmon have chances to recover from years ...

Taking the piste out of Alpine vegetation

...ore environmentally sensitive. "We recommend that environmental goals should be established in ski resort management. In particular, we recommend carefully recording the vegetation in a specific area before any intensification of use as a ski piste, and complete avoidance of areas with vegetation of articularly h...

After a time-shift, mixed signals from the circadian clock

...smatic nucleus (SCN). The clock is synchronized to environmental cycles of light and dark. It is well known, from everyday experience, that adjusting to new light schedules takes several days, though the details of how this adaptation takes place are not well understood. Researchers now report findings that sugges...

Product improves peptide identification for proteomics research

...creening, product degradation studies and food and environmental analysis, which require excellent sensitivity and fast scanning capability." The LC/MSD Trap XCT Ultra, which is based on an advanced multipole ion trap technology, has a full-scan MS/MS sensitivity specification of 250 femtograms for reserpine. The...

Could microbes solve Russia's chemical weapons conundrum?

...ow-ever both methods are highly expensive and pose environmental risks. Mustard is a blistering agent that was fir...s a biotechnological method that pro-vides maximum environmental safety, since the pollutants are naturally degraded to innocuous products such as carbon dioxide and...

Study uncovers bacteria's worst enemy

...d that the successful use of bacteria to remediate environmental contamination from nuclear waste and processing ac...to the conventional wisdom, when it comes to these environmental bacteria, plutonium is less toxic than uranium and, in general, actinides are less toxic than other ...

Man-made wetland's effectiveness similar to natural marsh

...ucted the study with Daniel Fink, a student in the environmental science graduate program at Ohio State. Often called the "kidneys" of the environment, wetlands act as buffer zones between land and waterways. They also act as sinks ?wetlands filter out chemicals in water that runs off from farm fields, roads, par...

Gladstone investigators discover how resting T cells avoid HIV infection

...-- foreign substances, such as toxins, bacteria or environmental factors -- through receptors on their surfaces. Roughly 95 percent of CD4 T cells in the blood stream exist in a resting, inactive state, awaiting the appearance of their specific antigen. When they detect its presence, they spring into action -- gro...

The circadian clock: Understanding nature's timepiece

...he sun comes up. Plants and animals have their own environmental niches and also unique temporal niches, as any cat owner can tell you. ...

Changing ecosystems throw scientists mega-challenges

Accelerating environmental changes have presented humanity with some signific...ng—especially when multiple stresses are acting on environmental systems simultaneously—and how best to respond to them. "Now more than ever," write the members of ...

Scripps scientists find potential for catastrophic shifts in Pacific ecosystems

...physical ocean processes such as El Niño events to environmental managers charged with overseeing and sustaining ecosystem resources such as fisheries. Surprisingly, it relates to many disciplines involving complex webs of mutually interacting parts, such as ecosystems and world financial markets, which have the p...

wFleaBase: the Daphnia genome database

...mic information with population-level responses to environmental challenges. ...