Age

Poor prenatal nutrition permanently damages function of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas

Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have discovered one reason why infants with low birth weight have a high potential of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. In studies of mice, the researchers found that poor prenatal nutrition impairs the pancreas's ability to later secrete enough insulin in response to blood glucose. "The bottom line is that if you don't have delivery of enough...

New Clues Add 40,000 Years to Age of Human Species

Nearly 40 years after an historic anthropology expedition to Ethiopia's Lake Turkana basin, researchers have uncovered evidence suggesting human bones found at that time are roughly 195,000 years old. The researchers believe the findings may bolster the “Out-of-Africa?hypothesis that suggests we all trace to an ancient line that first evolved in Africa and then displaced other hominids as recent...

Protein Packages Found To Activate Genes; May Be What Regulates Development And Disease

It's all in the packaging. How nature wraps and tags genes determines if and when they become active, according to researchers from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). They did the largest, most detailed study to date of the protein structure that surrounds the human genome. Their findings reveal surprising and previously unknown specifics of how genes get switc...

Why do insects stop 'breathing'? To avoid damage from too much oxygen, say researchers

A new study investigating the respiratory system of insects may have solved a mystery that has intrigued physiologists for decades: why insects routinely stop breathing for minutes at a time. Challenging previous theories, researchers at UC Irvine and Humboldt University propose that insects such as grasshoppers, moths, butterflies, some types of fruit flies, beetles and bugs close off th...

Research Gives Hope For Liver Damage

Millions of patients suffering from liverdamage (cirrhosis) and failure may benefit from research by theUniversities of Edinburgh and Southampton which may lead to newlife-saving treatments. There is currently no cure for liver cirrhosisand a patient's only hope of survival is to receive a liver transplant.The Edinburgh scientists from the University's Centre for InflammationResearch, in co...

Harmful Bacterium Commonly Found in Poultry May Survive Refrigeration and Frozen Storage Combined

Glia appear essential for 'hair cells'responsible for hearing and balance. Traditionally viewed as supportingactors, cells known as glia may be essential for the normal developmentof nerve cells responsible for hearing and balance, according to newUniversity of Utah research. The study is reported in the January 6,2005 issue of Neuron and is co-authored by scientists at the Universityof Was...

RNA project to create language for scientists worldwide

Research into ribonucleic acids (RNA)--the building blocks of life--is exploding as scientists worldwide discover the roles of RNA in genetics, health, disease and the development of organisms. The rapidly growing body of knowledge has created the need for researchers to develop a shared vocabulary and system for describing, cataloging and comparing their findings. An international team of...

Affymetrix and Stratagene Announce Strategic Software Alliance

announced today that they have entered into a non-exclusive strategic alliance under which Stratagene will provide Affymetrix customers with new software solutions for GeneChip(R) data analysis. As part of this agreement, Stratagene will develop a new software package for...

PET/MRI scans may help unravel mechanisms of prenatal drug damage

Scientists have demonstrated a new way to assess the potentially damaging effects of prenatal drug exposure--a technique that could also be used to monitor a fetus's response to therapeutic drugs--using sophisticated, noninvasive medical imaging tools. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, whose findings are reported in the February issue of the Society of...

Stem Cell Research Shows Potential for Replacing Tissue Damaged in Heart Attacks

A Medical College of Wisconsin research team, led by John W. Lough, Ph.D., professor of cell biology, neurobiology and anatomy has found that embryonic stem cells (ES cells) in animals can be cultivated to form new tissue, which eventually may help doctors learn how to replace tissue damaged as a result of a heart attack. The potential for ES cells to replace damaged or diseased cells in...

Low level of extinction during ice age linked to adaptability

A Johns Hopkins University graduate student may have figured out why rates of extinction were so low for many of the major groups of marine life during one of the greatest ice ages of them all, which occurred from about 330 million to 290 million years ago, late in the Paleozoic Era. The likely answer: because those aquatic life forms that did survive during this era were singularly equipp...

GeneNotes - A novel information management software for biologists

Analyzing microarray data - or even a simple biological network - can get you lost - quick. Tons of genes, tons of synonyms for each, tons of known interactions, with even more being unknown, tons of database with tons of information... and your job is to make sense of this puzzle in a biologically meaningfull way. Applications are being developped to make it all easier, leaving the fun part...

New drug shows promise as powerful anticancer agent

Research published in the March issue of the journal Cancer Cell describes a small molecule inhibitor of polo-like kinase1 (Plk1) that could lead to a new avenue for targeted cancer therapy. The compound, ON01910, is a potent inhibitor of human tumors in a mouse model system and has low toxicity. The results of this study have led to clinical evaluation of this compound in phase I clinical trials...

To control germs, scientists deploy tiny agents provocateurs

Aiming to thwart persistent bacterial infections and better control group behaviors of certain microorganisms, scientists are creating artificial chemicals that infiltrate and sabotage bacterial "mobs." Reporting the work here today (March 13) at the 229th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry professor Helen Blackwell described the o...

Yeast Network Prevents Damage By Oxygen Radicals

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), or 'oxygen radicals', have been identified as major contributors to signs of premature aging, increased cancer prevalence linked to inflammation-associated syndromes and a variety of human diseases. Now scientists at the University of California, San Diego Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) have identified a key network of DNA repair and cell...

Some Brain Cells 'Change Channels' To Fine-tune The Message

Johns Hopkins researchers have identified the proteins that allow specific brain cells to "change channels," a rare ability that tweaks what can come into the cell. The findings, described in the March 24 issue of Neuron, may let researchers harness the process, perhaps one day using it to protect cells that die in Lou Gehrig's disease. Much as turning the television dial changes what come...

PET/CT can identify new cancer lesions at early stage, allowing for prompt treatment

A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Md., reports that whole-body positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans may help physicians identify new, unexpected malignant cancerous tumors in patients, according to an article in the May issue of the Society of Nuclear Medicine's Journal of Nuclear Medicine. "PET/CT can help find additional...

Roots Engage in Underground Chemical Warfare

In addition to providing physical support and taking in nutrients, plant roots secrete a wide variety of compounds that affect other nearby roots, as well as insects and microbes. But because it goes on unseen, bactericidal root activity has not been extensively investigated—until now. Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, a relative of garden-variety cabbage, Jorge Vivanco and co-workers a...

Genetic therapy reverses nervous system damage in animal model of inherited human disease

By injecting a therapeutic gene directly into the brain, researchers have treated a naturally occurring genetic disease in cats. This is the first genetic disease affecting the central nervous system to be successfully treated in an animal larger than mice and rats. If this approach can be successfully applied to humans, say the researchers, it might one day treat an entire class of diseases call...

South African Tribunal Asks For Damages Estimates in GSK AIDS Drug Case

A landmark South African legal complaint against British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) over its AIDS drug pricing and policies in that country will proceed following an order late last week by South Africa's Competition Tribunal that will allow the complaint to go forward. GSK has sought outright dismissal of the case; however, the Competition Tribunal issued an order last week giving the comp...

OneWorld Health drug receives 'Orphan' designation from U.S. and European regulatory agencies

The Institute for OneWorld Health, the first nonprofit pharmaceutical company in the U.S., announced today it has received Orphan Drug Designation from the two leading regulatory agencies in the world, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA), for paromomycin to treat visceral leishmaniasis (VL). VL, also known as kala a...

Basis for DNA ejection from single phage particles

Studying phage, a primitive class of virus that infects bacteria by injecting its genomic DNA into host cells, researchers have gained insight into the driving force behind this poorly understood injection process, which has been proposed in the past to occur through the release of pressure accumulated within the viral particle itself. Almost all phages (also known as bacteriophages) are f...

UCSD medical/bioengineering reseachers show titanium debris satobtage artificial joints

Microscopic titanium particles weaken the bonding of hip, knee, and other joint replacements, according to research published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and the Jacobs School of Engineering. The team demonstrated that titanium implants are safe in large blocks, but at the microscopic...

Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are now species of slime-mold beetles -- but strictly in homage

Drinking water during a long-distance race may do serious harm rather than keep you safe from injury if you're drinking too much, according to a cardiologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Runners or any long-distance athletes who drink too much water during a race could put themselves at jeopardy for developing hyponatremia, a condition marked by a loss in the body's sodium content th...

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

In the March 3 issue of Nature, Johns Hopkins researchers report that two proteins best known for very different activities actually come together to turn the liver into a sugar-producing factory when food is scarce. Because the liver's production of sugar is a damaging problem in people with diabetes, the proteins' interaction might be a target for future drugs to fight the disease, the research...

UN environmental agency steps up battle against marine pollution

Coastal pollution, including plastic waste, discarded lead-acid batteries and used oils and lubricants, will come under renewed attack under a new agreement signed by the United Nations environmental agency and an international treaty body controlling hazardous wastes. The Memorandum of Understanding, signed last week in Nairobi, Kenya, by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Seas Program...

Fox Chase study shows that weakened T-cell receptor signals change T-cell lineage

The immune system is a marvel of versatility, creating a variety of cells that develop in different ways to protect the body. To carry out these tasks, immune cells follow a career path that forks at various points in their development. In a report in the May 2005 issue of Immunity, Fox Chase Cancer Center scientists led by immunologists David L. Wiest, Ph.D. and Dietmar J. Kappes, Ph.D., show th...

Research shows smoking adds a decade to reproductive age of IVF patients

A major new Dutch study has found that smoking adds the equivalent of ten years to a 20-year-old subfertile woman's reproductive age and has a "devastating" impact on a couples' chances of having a live birth after IVF. Being overweight also seriously damages their chances. The harmful effects of smoking or being overweight were strongest among those women who had no obvious cause for not...

Tsunami-damaged coral reefs should be left to recover naturally, say scientists

Coral reefs damaged in the Asian tsunami tragedy should be allowed to recover naturally before countries launch into expensive restoration plans, according to some of the world's leading scientists. The scientists, led by a researcher from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and who set out their views in an advisory brief for the World Bank, point to historical records of major coral...

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

A new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Harvard School of Public Health finds that promoting cleaner, more efficient technologies for producing charcoal in Africa can save millions of lives and have significant climate change and development benefits. The African continent, as well as many developing nations in Asia and Latin America, is dependent on b...

Proteomics brings researchers closer to understanding microbes that produce acid mine drainage

A pink, bacterial scum on the floor of an abandoned mine seems an unlikely place to study community development, but a biological breakthrough is allowing University of California, Berkeley, researchers to probe the give and take in this microbial mat. Last year, the UC Berkeley team joined with the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute to pluck out the genomes of the five dominan...

When it comes to cell entry, being average has its advantages

When it comes to gaining entry into cells, size matters. A team from Brown University and the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research has created a model that explains how viruses and other bioparticles slip inside cells without a special protein coating called clathrin. The secret, it seems, is to be average. Mid-sized nanomaterials ?about 27 to 30 nanometers in diameter, or about 1,000...

Modified collagen could yield important medical applications

Altered protein could help deliver drugs and shape the growth of engineered tissueCollagen often pops up in beauty products and supermodel lips. But by mating collagen with a molecular hitchhiker, materials scientists at Johns Hopkins hope to create some important medical advances. The researchers have found a simple new way to modify collagen, paving the way for better infection-fighting bandage...

Purdue scientists may have found key to halting spinal cord damage

Purdue University researchers may have isolated the substance most responsible for the tissue damage that follows initial spinal cord injury, a discovery that could also improve treatments for a host of other neurodegenerative conditions. A research team led by Riyi Shi (REE-yee SHEE) has found that a chemical called acrolein, a known carcinogen, is present at high levels in spinal tissue...

Environmental chemical cocktail may sabotage sperm

New research has shown that combinations of chemicals found in everyday products and food have subtle but potentially damaging effects on sperm fertility. Professor Lynn Fraser told the 21st annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Wednesday), that her previous research had shown that certain chemicals known to mimic the female sex hormone, oes...

New Look at DNA Hints at Origin of UV Damage

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have identified a previously unknown family of virulence factors that make the bacterium responsible for the plague especially efficient at killing its host. In the process, the team not only demonstrated that the use of the common roundworm is a valid model for studying the virulence of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague. They a...

Drug Offers Alternative to Surgical Treatment After Miscarriage

A drug first used to reduce the risk of stomach ulcers in people taking certain types of painkillers offers an alternative to surgery after miscarriage, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health and other research institutions. The study appears in the August 18, 2005, New England Journal of Med...

Stem Cells to Solve the Blood Shortage Problem?

Accounts of the tsunami that killed over a quarter of a million people in Southeast Asia on the 26th of December, 2004, slowly disappear from the media, but the event is nevertheless heavily burned into the memories of those who are directly involved. In the aftermath of the disaster, academics and politicians alike are trying to investigate how the number of casualties could have been reduced an...

Bacteria use host's immune response to their competitive advantage

Millions of bacteria live within the recesses of our noses and upper respiratory tracts, waiting for a chance to infiltrate and infect. But long before these bacteria break through our immune defenses, they must first compete against other bacterial species to colonize the mucus-lined surfaces of our noses. Competition between two common nose bacteria involves some interesting trickery, ac...

Investigating 'brain shrinkage' in alcoholics

Previous studies have demonstrated that the brains of alcoholics are smaller, lighter and "shrunken" when compared to nonalcoholic brains. Symposium speakers at the October 2004 Congress for the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism in Mannheim, Germany reviewed what is known about the causes, consequences and clinical implications of alcohol-related brain shrinkage. Proceed...