Tag: "essence" at biology news

Automatic identification of protein's critical features from the structure

... who we are, but is it really possible to tell the essence of an individual from its form? The answer to that question seems to be related to fashion and glamour, yet a group of scientists from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and the Buck Institute in the USA, were able to address it, although mo...

UCI scientists reconstruct migration of avian flu virus

...y. "By spreading across a large area, the virus in essence can run multiple experiments in multiple locations, increasing the likelihood that it will mutate into a form that can be transmitted from human to human." Avian flu has been isolated almost exclusively among bird populations. The H5N1 virus has o...

NASA predicts nongreen plants on other planets

...uide our search for life on other worlds -- is the essence of astrobiology." Kiang and her colleagues calculated what the stellar light would look like at the surface of Earth-like planets whose atmospheric chemistry is consistent with the different types of stars they orbit. By looking at the changes in ...

Scientists find potential 'off-switch' for HIV virus

...s immune system by invading CD4+ T cells, which in essence serve as the metaphorical generals in the body's defense system against illness. When an HIV virus particle invades a T cell, most often it converts the cell into a factory for making other viral particles, killing the cell in the process. Without th...

Neural bottleneck found that thwarts multi-tasking

...not see this delay. "This temporal delay is the essence of dual-task interference for tasks that require actions. By using time-resolved fMRI, we can see its signature in the brain," he continued. "These findings allow us to really now focus on this set of brain areas and to understand why these areas can...

Peering into the shadow world of RNA

...om/nrm/journal/v7/n12/full/nrm2061.html ). “The essence of gene regulation occurs, of course, at the level of gene transcription,?Nishikura says. “Cellular machinery transcribes genetic DNA into messenger RNA from which the proteins of the body are produced. In the last several years, however, scientists ...

Selecting life: Scientists find new way to search for origin of life

...uilding blocks of proteins) and nucleic acids (the essence of DNA). But which of the countless possible combinations of biomolecules and mineral surfaces were key to this evolution? This vexing question has stumped scientists for years because of the sheer volume of possibilities. Now an interdisciplinary t...

Alzheimer's found to be mostly genetic

...nd the "sporadic," with environmental causes. "In essence what we're doing is taking the folks who would have formerly been called sporadic, and testing how important genetic influences are ... and we're finding genetic influences are tremendously important," Gatz said."It does suggest that there is an unde...

Nano machine switches between biological and silicon worlds

... off. That, in an over-simplified nutshell, is the essence of the molecular switch, an actuator for the nano-scale world. This is particularly important because a nano-scale actuator will be immensely useful. An actuator is a mechanism that supplies and transmits a measured amount of energy for the operatio...

'Virus chip' detects new virus in prostate tumors

...technology, computation and bioinformatics, but in essence it is a simple 3 x 1 inch glass microscope slide. Onto the slide the scientists robotically deposit 10 to 12 different DNA sequences from all known viruses. Each sample appears as a microscopic dot, about a tenth of a millimeter in diameter –giving...

Contagious obesity? Identifying the human adenoviruses that may make us fat

...vidence that certain viruses may cause obesity, in essence making obesity contagious, according to Leah D. Whigham, the lead researcher in a new study, "Adipogenic potential of multiple human adenoviruses in vivo and in vitro in animals," in the January issue of the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory,...

Molecular mechanism of feather formation found

Feathers are the essence of birds. Without them, birds could not fly or attract mates. But how exactly do feathers form molecularly? Experimentally testing one current hypothesis, developmental biologists at University of Wisconsin Medical School believe they now have the an...

Ants win a waxy race

...od, clipping off their claws or pads to assess the essence of these components. She observed that, as it approaches a waxy surface, the ants use these claws to interlock to the surface. However, on glass rods, the ants do not use claws, but without adhesive pads, they have no grip and fall off the surface. ...

Study shows humans have ability to track odors, much like bloodhounds

...ed two odors with minimal trigeminal stimulation - essence of rose (phenyl ethyl alcohol) and cloves (eugenol) - as well as two trigeminal odorants - propionic acid, which smells like vinegar, and amyl acetate, which smells like banana. They delivered the odors through a specially designed mask with an artif...

Infants with Rare Genetic Disease Saved By Cord Blood Stem Cells

...y than older babies and children. "Time is of the essence in treating these children before symptoms progress and become irreversible," said Kurtzberg, director of Duke's Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Program. "Delaying the transplant even a week or two can make a noticeable difference in a child's ...

Infants With Rare Genetic Disease Saved by Cord Blood Stem Cells

...y than older babies and children. "Time is of the essence in treating these children before symptoms progress and become irreversible," said Kurtzberg, director of Duke's Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Program. "Delaying the transplant even a week or two can make a noticeable difference in a child's ...

Vital step in cellular migration described by UCSD medical researchers

... it would extend protrusions in all directions, in essence keeping the cell in one place. Until now, researchers have had limited understanding of the molecular mechanism that inhibits Rac activity in the back of the cell, to maintain directional movement. In laboratory experiments with human and animal cel...

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