Irregular in Biological News

Rare disease provides clues about enzyme role in arrhythmias

... enzyme already known to play a role in irregular heartbeats and other critical functions. The ... syndrome and that inhibiting the enzyme prevents irregular heartbeats. The findings, which involved a ... model, could help with developing treatments for irregular heartbeat in people with this syndrome as well as ...

Normalizing tumor vessels to improve cancer therapy

... whereas the tumor cells balled up into tangled clumps, creating the irregular patterns seen in many images of tumor blood vessels. "Because high cell ... tumor capillary cell mechanosensing and contractility in the formation of irregular tumor vessels, and have identified potential new targets for vascular ...

UVA reports surprising findings related to myotonic muscular dystrophy

... heart. Too little of it causes major cardiac problems including slow and irregular heartbeats, observes Dr. Mani Mahadevan, a human genetics researcher and ... slow and irregular, often necessitating the need for pacemakers. If these irregular heartbeats are not detected, sudden death can occur. By using the ...

Beetle shell inspires brilliant white paper

... Studies of the beetle's body, head and legs showed them to be covered in long flat scales, which have highly random internal 3D structures. These irregular internal forms are the key to its uniquely effective light scattering. By balancing the size of the structures with the spacing between them, they ...

Simple drug treatment may prevent nicotine-induced SIDS: Study

... levels will stimulate the release of catecholamines, which in turn signals the baby to take a deep breath, when an infant rolls on its face or has an irregular breathing pattern during sleep, for example. However, the ability to release those hormones during moments of apnea or asphyxia is impaired due to ...

Heart attacks: The tipping point

... impulses move in a healthy heart, in a synchronized ordered manner, he compares that to a diseased heart, where electric coupling is scattered and irregular and the impulses break into chaotic local "tornados." "Abnormal electrical activity causes the heart to contract abnormally," he says. Working ...

Eating fatty fish once a week reduces men's risk of heart failure

... cause of hospitalization among patients 65 and older, and is characterized by such symptoms as fatigue and weakness, difficulty walking, rapid or irregular heartbeat, and persistent cough or wheezing. The researchers followed 39,367 Swedish men between the ages of 45 and 79 from 1998 to 2004. The ...

Towards a natural pacemaker

... The researchers used their new cellular model to genetically 'rewire' two of the HCN channels. The resulting heart rate was very rapid with irregular pauses, just as has already been observed in dogs and mice. It is early days but the valuable new computer and cellular models are ideal for ...

Ten genes identified in connection with sudden cardiac death

... your heart is beating in overdrive or worse, lurching along like a car on fumes. It is a shocking, uncomfortable and frightening sensation. irregular heart rhythms are a common cause of sudden cardiac death or SCD, a condition that accounts for 450,000 deaths annually in the United States. ...

Shark attacks decline worldwide in midst of economic recession

... is poor is provocative to sharks," Burgess said. "They result in what we think are cases of mistaken identity, where the shark interprets the irregular splashing to be activities of its normal prey." As a group, surfers seem to accept the risks of pursuing a sport in the ocean, he said. "I've ...

UC Davis research shows that newly discovered drug reduces heart enlargement

... Academy of Sciences , the Chiamvimonvat and Hammock laboratories showed that these enzyme inhibitors both block and reduce heart enlargement and irregular heart rhythms in a mouse model. The more recent work with the Zhu and Shyy laboratories extends these studies to show the involvement of angiotensin ...

Studies point to novel target for treating arrhythmias

... and the senior author of the current report. "There's a large need for new approaches to antiarrhythmic therapy." In their quest to understand how irregular heart rhythms arise as a way to find new molecular targets for treatment Knollmann and his colleagues have focused on the role of calcium inside ...

UC Davis researchers find molecule that targets brain tumors

... treating an incurable cancer. Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive type of primary brain tumor in adults. It is marked by tumors with irregular shapes and poorly defined borders that rapidly invade neighboring tissues, making them difficult to remove surgically. "These brain tumors are ...

Pitt research identifies new target in brain for treating schizophrenia

... and glutamate could, separately, produce schizophrenia-like symptoms in the orbitofrontal cortex. They first simulated symptoms brought on by irregular neural receptors of glutamate. Studies within the last few yearsincluding work by Moghaddam at Yale Universityhave shown that under-functioning ...

New cardiology research presented at CHEST 2008

... #7710 irregular HEARTBEAT MAY DEVELOP AFTER LUNG TRANSPLANTATION (Tuesday, October 28, 10:30 AM EST) Patients receiving donated lungs may develop arrhythmias, ...

Origin of root offshoots revealed

... division of stem cells in animals, too. So, these results can also provide greater insight into how animal stem cells specialize. For example, irregular cell division plays a role in the development of various types of cancer, and similar control mechanisms might underlie this process as well. This is ...

Running on rocket fuel

... to bank energy (nature's surrogate for wealth!) to survive. In the face of bigger competitors like lions and hyenas, whose larger stomachs cater for irregular meals, and which maximize returns by having low foraging costs, the dogs' evolved a unique plan. Now highly endangered, the African wild dog opted ...

AGU journal highlights -- August 6, 2008

... 2008; http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008GL034264 2. Is climate change reducing hail over China? Hail, defined as precipitation of balls or irregular lumps of ice produced by storm clouds, forms when liquid drops freeze at altitudes above a threshold called the "freezing level height". If drops ...

As rates rise, researchers find better way to identify melanoma

... This study by Pryor and co-authors showed why IMP-3 might be an important tool for pathologists. None of the benign moles or the benign moles with irregular features and some abnormal cells over-expressed the IMP-3 protein. However, the protein was produced excessively in most melanomas, and overly ...

'Cross fire' from the brain makes patients tremble

... disturbs this compulsory diseased mode by using very mild, targeted and desynchronized stimuli in different places. In this way, the rhythm becomes irregular and breaks down. Compared to conventional devices of this type, the Jlich deep brain pacemaker puts less strain on the patient and needs less energy. ...

Comparing apples and pears

... Radiation Facility (ESRF) have visualized them for the first time, therefore proving their hypothesized existence. In apples, the pathways appear as irregular cavities between cells, whilst in pears they have the shape of tiny interconnected channels. These results allow a better understanding of how the ...

More sensitive radiology monitoring in the Basque Country

... ordered recorded dose rate values and shown that their evolution is constant (being represented on a horizontal line), although they do have an irregular component due to changes in meteorological values such as rainfall and lightning. That is, recorded values increase during periods of precipitation. ...

Reforestation using exotic plants can disturb the fertility of tropical soils

... world population growth rate and the expansion of areas given over to crop production associated with climatic changes (longer periods of drought, irregular rainfall patterns) induced by global warming, have contributed to the acceleration of desertification. According to World Soil Information (ISRIC) ...

Launching a global alliance for pharmacogenomics

... effects from certain pancreatic cancer drugs (gemcitabine and bevacizumab) Exploring how genes contribute to drug-induced long QT syndrome, an irregular heart rhythm that can cause sudden cardiac arrest Working with the International Warfarin Consortium to tailor initial doses of the anti-clotting ...

Soybean varieties viable in southern Indiana, resistant to root-knot nematode

... a bit like a wart or a tree knot, and the deformations are much bigger than the signs caused by the soybean cyst nematode. The nematode galls have irregular tumorlike shapes, in contrast to the spherical shape of nodules caused by rhizobium association. Next the researchers will try to determine ...

Columbia geneticists uncover new gene involved in determining hair texture and density in humans

... woolly hair had been largely unknown. As the authors write in the paper, "The bulb region of plucked hairs from woolly hair patients showed irregular bending without attachment of the root sheath." They propose that mutations in P2RY5 most likely result in hair follicle disruptions, which then ...

The construction of heart modelling leads path to new therapies

... careful testing to eliminate possibly dangerous side effects, such as cancer and disruption of normal heart rhythms, leading to arrhythmia, or irregular heart beats. Here again the heart models could play a vital role. They could be used to model stem cells behaviour, and see how they are incorporated ...

Biocapture surfaces produced for study of brain chemistry

... a small molecule, in this case the neurotransmitter serotonin, is chemically linked to the tether molecules. Since the defects in the SAM occur at irregular but controllable intervals, serotonin molecules are prevented from clumping together. This is key to their being recognized by the correct proteins. ...

Herr receives Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment

... group at the MIT Media Lab have developed a robotic foot-ankle prosthesis capable of propelling the wearer forward and varying its stiffness over irregular terrain, successfully mimicking the action of a biological angle, and, for the first time, providing amputees with a truly humanlike gait. This new ...

Louisiana Tech researchers investigate tracking, sensors to assist Air Force

... signatures and movement in a single run of the software program, he said. The algorithms can be used in metropolitan areas to identify humans in irregular terrains and to identify and log the suspicious movement of vehicles of interest, Dua said. We give monthly reporting to the Air Force, which is ...

Researchers developing device to predict proper light exposure for human health

... 24-hour solar day and relieve psychosocial stress. In short, scientists are creating a tool to help people literally lighten up. Inadequate or irregular light exposure something many individuals face on a regular basis can cause circadian rhythm disruptions that can manifest into sleep and ...

Temperament linked to onset of cancer and early death in female rats

... The apprehensive rats were more likely to have irregular reproductive cycles than adventuresome rats, and ... twice as likely as the adventuresome rats to have irregular cycles (52 percent, versus 22 percent). The ... during middle age with the fearful rats having irregular cycles more often. The aging affects on ...

MIT sheds light on how tumor cells form

... Tumor cells that grow aggressively often have an irregular number of chromosomes, the structures in cells ... that mutations in checkpoint proteins cause the irregular number of chromosomes in the aneuploid cells. But ... sheds light on what could go wrong to cause an irregular number of chromosomes in cells even when the ...

High-powered gene profiles provide clues to genes involved in common form of lung cancer

... of these cells contain a large number of irregular regions –?where genes have either been deleted or ... in the past, enabling researchers to identify irregular sites more precisely. They found a total of 93 ... the search for genes that were the targets of the irregular regions. Intriguingly, all of the genes already ...

Surgeons develop simpler way to cure atrial fibrillation

... have an effective new option for treating atrial fibrillation, a common irregular heart rhythm that can cause stroke. Heart surgeons at Washington ... the abnormal electrical currents responsible for atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm in which the upper heart chambers or atria wriggle like a bag ...

UC Davis researchers move biotechnology closer to replacing electronic pacemakers

... a reality in treating the more than 2.2 million Americans affected by irregular heartbeats. The UC Davis study, which was co-authored by an ... and electronic devices for treating heart arrhythmias ?heartbeats that are irregular in rhythm, rate or sequence. The sinoatrial (SA) node, a patch of cells ...

Genetic testing still smart choice, despite uncertainties

... half of embryos turn out normal, with no mosaicism, the other half produce irregular cells as they divide. Embryos that become mosaic after their cells ... to stop developing, Kovalinskaia said. Embryos with only one or two irregular cells still have a chance to develop normally though, she said. These ...

New defibrillator signals doctor of patient's irregular heartbeat or device malfunction

... for specific reasons, such as a significant increase in the number of irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) episodes, as well as the preferred alert method, ... the heart back into a healthy rhythm if it detects an abnormal heartbeat. irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) is a major cause of death following heart attacks. ...

College students who pull 'all-nighters' and get no sleep more likely to have a lower GPA

... at SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS). "Sleep in college students is generally inadequate, irregular and of poor quality. As sleep quality and quantity decrease, academic performance worsens. The data collected in this study indicate that the use ...