Tag: "bodies" at biology news

Leptin found to control appetite and limb development in frogs

...mals, causing them to give up eating even as their bodies waste away. But the youngest tadpoles showed a d...ng behavior off, but it does apparently tell their bodies that they've had enough to eat now, and they can begin sprouting limbs. "Leptin gets a lot of atte...

Immune system police learn early and sometimes badly

... at keeping the immune system from attacking their bodies and/or too skilled at protecting invaders. It also means one day physicians might steer early education of regulatory T cells in the thymus as a way to vaccinate children against diseases such as lupus, arthritis and type 1diabetes. Or, they might ...

Gene discovery opens door to tackling disease

...tionally for his work on hormones. Several funding bodies have contributed to this work, including the National Health and Medical Research Council, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the Cancer Council of WA and the Royal Perth Hospital Medical Research Foundation. Breast cancer is the most common can...

Brain region linked to fly slumber

... and physiology, shows that the so-called mushroom bodies are essential for sleep regulation in the fruitfly...esults using different methods.) How the mushroom bodies control sleep is uncertain, but Allada and colleagues show that if the area is destroyed chemically,...

Diabetes research takes wing thanks to long-lived fruit fly

...ins and DNA. It's a major reason why generally our bodies falter as we age ?we're literally dinged to death by free radicals. While scientists knew that JNK in a fly cranks up the anti-oxidants, helping to keep the integrity of genes and proteins intact in the same way people hope substances like vitamins ...

Evolutionary forces explain why women live longer than men

...Male immune systems are somewhat weaker, and their bodies are less able to process the fat they eat, Kruger said. And behavioral causes---smoking, overeating, reckless driving, violence---set men apart from most women. "Because mortality rates in general are going down, behavioral causes of death are ever m...

Serotonin, acting in a specific brain region, promotes sleep in fruit flies

...s the mushroom bodies. Interestingly, the mushroom bodies are required for learning and memory in flies. Given that consolidation of memory is one of the functions hypothesized for sleep, and that serotonin is known to be involved in learning and memory in other animals, it is possible that the effect of se...

The secret lives of sea slugs

...tudies suggesting that sea slugs flatten out their bodies to reduce drag when they encounter strong water currents, a behavior that helps them avoid being swept away. At field sites near Vargas Island, British Columbia, and in southern Puget Sound, Wyeth, Willows, and their colleagues used SCUBA and time-...

Tastes great! Study shows brain's response to pleasing -- and changing -- tastes

...ter. The effect lasted for a while after the rats' bodies returned to normal salt levels, but soon enough it wore off. "We converted something that wasn't pleasing to something that suddenly became pleasurable, and when we did that the neurons we were studying switched their response," says senior author...

MIT engineers probe spiders' polymer art

...many items made from polymers. The proteins in our bodies are polymers made from amino acids. From the Greek for "many" and "units," polymers are long linked chains of small molecules. They can be flexible or stiff, water-soluble or insoluble, resistant to heat and chemicals and very strong. Silk protein...

Scientists find a key to immune system's ability to remember

... of detail to thwart the pathogens that invade our bodies -- is not well understood. Now, however, an international team of scientists has ferreted out an important clue to how the key cells of the immune system are able to remember old foes and quickly mount a response to hold them at bay. Writing this ...

Steep oxygen decline halted first land colonization by Earth's sea creatures

...er respiratory needs dictated how other organisms' bodies developed. He thought that perhaps, rather than being based on feeding and movement, body shape and design might largely be determined by respiratory efficiency. For instance, a mollusk shell is typically thought of as protection for the marine creat...

Researchers discover new gene responsible for brittle bone disease

... known to have a faulty gene that instructed their bodies to make either too little or weak collagen because of defects or mutations in one of the collagen genes, of which there are more than 20. The current study found a new gene, that when mutated, reduces the ability of a protein involved in collagen for...

Research suggests beta agonists may alter the immune system

...thma medications ?as well as similar chemicals our bodies produce during times of high stress ?may worsen diseases such as asthma, heart failure and lupus that involve inflammation. The scientific team led by Raymond Penn, Ph.D., and Matthew Loza, Ph.D, found that beta-agonists, such as those used in the t...

Extreme environment changes fish appearance

...uge-bred fish began to look different, with deeper bodies and smaller heads, although all the fish are pretty much the same genetically. Sean Lema, a graduate student at UC Davis, and Gabrielle Nevitt, professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior, set out to see if environmental changes could affec...

Poor athletic performance linked to vitamin deficiency

...be receiving lower amounts of nutrients than there bodies need, said Manore. Athletes who restrict calories or limit food groups like dairy or meat have an increased chance of deficiency. Such athletes are often concerned about maintaining a low body weight for sports like gymnastics and wrestling. "The ...

Funding to tackle hospital superbugs

...s already identified new pathways that enhance the bodies natural defence mechanisms to promote the clearance of infection. The new approach has been named "Resolution Therapeutics" by the Cardiff researchers. It is hoped that research in the School of Medicine will lead to the development of other drug...

Giant insects might reign if only there was more oxygen in the air

...en and expel carbon dioxide through holes in their bodies called spiracles. These holes connect to branching...ystem that transports oxygen to all areas of their bodies and removes carbon dioxide. As the insect grows, tracheal tubes get longer to reach central tissue, ...

Seals protect brain, conserve oxygen by turning off shivering response on icy dives

...search provides insight into how seals allow their bodies to cool (become hypothermic) during a dive, presum...topped shivering when they dove, even though their bodies continued to cool. Their heart rates and temperatures dropped while they dove, but when they returne...

Stem cells engage in dialogue with the cells that regulate their futures

...tiple potential niches exist for stem cells in our bodies that can be turned on to action when signaling stem cells are in the neighborhood. It may very well be that the power of cancer cells to spread comes from this natural ability of stem cells to make a home when in a hospitable environment. We all need...

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