Boosting in Biological News

New technology for boosting vaccine efficiency

One of the most pressing biomedical issues is the development of techniques that increase the efficiency of vaccines. In a paper published on April 24, 2008 in the journal Vaccine, a Massachusettss biotechnology company, Cure Lab, Inc. has proposed a new technology for anti-viral vaccination. This...

Community-intervention study links successful town makeover focused on boosting calcium and exercise

The battle against obesity in this country could be tackled one community at a time, according to a newly published study in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health. Researchers at the University of Colorado at Denver demonstrated the effectiveness of changing behaviors at a community level, s...

HIV vaccine takes different tack to boosting immune response

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston have reason to believe their unorthodox vaccine could one day help to prevent or control HIV infection, according to a study published in today's edition of Public Library of Science Medicine. The study in mice boosted the immune response...

Pitt researchers find promising candidate protein for cancer prevention vaccines

...wn to the immune system as a marker of infected cells that must be destroyed. "Because cyclin B1 is a 'self' protein, there have been concerns that boosting the immune response against it would produce autoimmunity and create new problems," Dr. Finn said. "But now that we know that perhaps 20 to 30 percent...

Agricultural research key to food security

... boosting agricultural research in the developing world is the key to ensuring food security for the world's poorest, says Adel el-Beltagy, Chair of the Global ...

Nanodiamonds deliver insulin for wound healing

...ug-release capabilities of the nanodiamonds. More recently, his team has shown that nanodiamonds are effective in dispersing insoluble drugs in water, boosting their potential for broader applications in medicine. ...

DNA-Prokids: Genetic identification against traffic in human beings

...their families was set up in 2004. The goal was to not limit the scope of research to domestic crimes, but to spread results worldwide with the aim of boosting the international fight against human trafficking. That was the start of DNA-Prokids, an initiative which has been praised by authorities and exper...

ESA's Earth observation missions: Sharing teams and facilities boosts efficiency

...rations Division at ESOC, says that the Mission Family concept enables engineers and spacecraft controllers to cross-train on each other's satellites, boosting expertise, increasing job satisfaction and providing quick back-ups for each other. "Yes, we've been able to optimise personnel, and, with common ...

Building the lymphatic drainage system

...ays controlling Foxc2 and NFATc1. Whatever the mechanisms, if the team can show that Foxc2 and NFATc1 also prompt lymph vessel regeneration in adults, boosting these factors could help patients with lymph drainage problems including those that have suffered extensive tissue injuries, or have had lymph nodes ...

SIRT1 takes down tumors

...eakdown. To test SIRT1's effects on tumor growth, the researchers implanted cancerous cells expressing c-Myc into nude mice that lack immune defenses. boosting production of SIRT1 blocked tumor formation. How deacetylation of c-Myc sparks its destruction is still a mystery. The researchers say that the res...

American Chemical Society Weekly PressPac -- April 1, 2009

...6627 Email: matzger@umich.edu ARTICLE #4 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE boosting energy production from "ice that burns" Industrial & Engineering Chemis...ssures. Maintaining gas production at these settings could be a key step in boosting production of methane at an industrial scale, the researchers suggest. - MT...

A miR boost enables acute leukemia cells to mature

... COLUMBUS, Ohio A new study by Ohio State University cancer researchers shows that boosting the level of a molecule called miR-29b in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells can reverse gene changes that trap the cells in an immature, fast growing...

New drug agent knocks out multiple enzymes in cancer pathway

... compounds were originally developed to treat osteoporosis and other bone diseases, but were recently found to also have potent anti-cancer and immune boosting properties. Drug developers have tried for years to design drugs to inhibit cell survival pathways in tumor cells, focusing on a protein called Ras...

Scientists find climate change to have paradoxical effects in coastal wetlands

...y put wetlands at risk of excessive flooding. "Our findings show that elevated CO 2 stimulates plant productivity, particularly below ground, thereby boosting marsh surface elevation," said Adam Langley, the paper's lead author. Patrick Megonigal, the paper's corresponding author, added "We found that by sti...

A diet rich in calcium aids weight loss

... Qubec City, March 12, 2009 boosting calcium consumption spurs weight loss, according to a study published in the most recent issue of the British Journal of Nutrition , but only in peop...

Singapore-US scientists first to develop revolutionary microchip that uses 30 times less energy

...s is in contrast with today's silicon transistors become increasingly 'noisy' as they get smaller, thus engineers have historically dealt with this by boosting the operating voltage to overpower the noise to ensure accurate calculations, leading to higher energy consumption levels. "With this PCMOS technol...

Molecule that suppresses immune response under study in type 1 diabetes

...tients unable to use glucose, a major fuel source for the body. MCG researchers think they may be able to delay or even prevent that destruction by boosting the body's levels of an enzyme fetuses uses to escape the mother's immune response or by packaging islet cell antigens, which get the immune system's ...

'Stroke Belt' deaths tied to non-traditional risk factors

...p to five percentage points higher in the Southeast. That means interventions to reduce geographic disparities in diabetes and hypertension including boosting diabetes screening rates and follow-up care could also reduce geographic disparities in stroke death, Howard said. ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- Dec. 3, 2008

... the fruit may help fight cancer, infections, and other diseases in humans due to its high levels of antioxidants. Recent studies also have shown that boosting antioxidant levels in the diet of cattle may help improve their health. Those findings seemed to make pomegranate peel, a waste product of the pomegra...

A little wine boosts omega-3 in the body: Researchers find a novel mechanism for a healthier heart

...ir high blood concentration is definitely good for our health. Now European researchers found that moderate alcohol drinking acts like a 'trigger', boosting the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in our body. "Several studies have shown that moderate alcohol consumption, including wine, is associated with pr...

Old flies can become young moms

...tered to over-express either of these two genes, they lived 5 to 30 percent longer and produced more offspring. Tower speculated that the genes are boosting activity of stem cells in the flies' reproductive system. Stem cell activity declines with age, and reproduction in older flies could not happen witho...

Salk researchers successfully reprogram keratinocytes attached to a single hair

...ed to turn back the clock. Now, a team of researchers led by Juan Carlos Izpisa Belmonte at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, succeeded in boosting the reprogramming efficiency more than 100fold, while cutting the time it takes in half. In fact, they repeatedly generated iPS cells from the tiny nu...

Brain-nourishing molecule may predict schizophrenia relapse

... aim is to bring BDNF levels back to normal." Dr. Pillai and colleagues already have shown in their animal studies that antipsychotic drugs do better boosting brain BDNF levels when administered along with any of the above drugs. He adds that both cysteamine and erythropoietin have been well studied for thei...

UC Davis researchers discover new drug target for inflammatory disease

...ists discovered that a protein called sPLA2-IIA binds to two integrins labeled alpha-V-beta-3 and alpha-4-beta-1, causing them to rapidly multiply and boosting an immune system response already gone awry due to disease. "We have known for a while that this protein is elevated with inflammation," said Yosh...

Generation innovation: Young UC San Diego bioengineer to use NIH grant to fuel tissue engineering

...esearch to improvements in human health. For young scientists like Christman, support from federal funding agencies such as the NIH is critical to boosting their careers and new fields such as bioengineering. "In bioengineering innovation is brought about by bringing different fields together medicine,...

Using novel tool, UD researchers dig through cell 'trash' and find treasure

... were known to match or cause decay. This led them back to their database of small RNAs, from which they identified four new microRNAs in Arabidopsis, boosting the total to 183. "This research validated both known and new messenger RNA targets of microRNAs," Meyers noted. "The approach will enable us to an...

Future for clean energy lies in 'big bang' of evolution

...o produce fuels we want such as hydrogen, alcohols or even hydrocarbons, rather than carbohydrates. Progress at the research level has been rapid, boosting prospects of harnessing photosynthesis not just for energy but also for manufacturing valuable compounds for the chemical and biotechnology industries...

Catalysis takes center stage at chemistry conference

... of different presentations will highlight research on alumina made possible by this discovery, including its potential to reduce vehicle emissions by boosting the use of fuel efficient lean-burn engines. (For past PNNL research in this area, see http://www.pnl.gov/news/release.asp?id=293 .) PNNL researche...

In scientific first, Einstein researchers correct decline in organ function associated with old age

...s well as they did when the animals were much younger. Published in the online edition of Nature Medicine , these findings suggest that therapies for boosting protein clearance might help stave off some of the declines in function that accompany old age. The study's senior author was Dr. Ana Maria Cuervo, as...

A dash of lime -- a new twist that may cut CO2 levels back to pre-industrial levels

... the effects of ocean acidification, so it should have a positive impact on the marine environment.' Adding lime to seawater increases alkalinity, boosting seawater's ability to absorb CO2 from air and reducing the tendency to release it back again. However, the idea, which has been bandied about for ...

Weill Cornell science briefs June/July 2008

...hem from living a normal lifestyle. But now, scientists believe that a drug called reboxetine may alleviate their symptoms. The compound works by boosting the level of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine between nerve cells. But it also works by inhibiting the neurotransmitter's degradation within the ne...

UCLA researchers locate and image prostate cancer as it spreads to lymph nodes

...eloped TSTA, a two-step transcriptional amplification method, which increased the expression of the genetic payload inside the cancer cells in effect boosting the imaging signals and potential killing activity of the engineered virus. Wu believes this type of image-guided therapy has the potential to imp...

From foe to friend: Researchers use salmonella as a way to administer vaccines in the body

...ous diseases," Curtiss said. Several in his research team attack the problem from different angles, with some focusing on weakening salmonella, others boosting the immune response and others optimizing the self-destruct mechanism. Speaking about the application of a pneumonia antigen, team leader Wei Kong, ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- July 2, 2008

... ARTICLE #1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE boosting survival of insulin-cell transplants for Type 1 Diabetes Bioconjugate Chemistry Researchers in Japan are reporting a discovery that could improv...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- June 25, 2008

...e involved in the longevity boost from being female and eating a sparse diet, the study says, suggesting that these insights could lead to new ways of boosting human longevity. JS ARTICLE #2 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "Combined Effect of Gender and Caloric Restriction on Liver Proteomic Expression Profile" ...

Florida researchers receive JDRF 'Excellence in Clinical Research Award'

...ding using umbilical cord blood stem cells as a potential therapy and investigating drug treatments used in tandem to provide immune suppression while boosting the regeneration of insulin-producing cells. "We are honored to present JDRF's 2008 Excellence in Clinical Research Award to Drs Schatz, Haller and...

Prevent a bone break, drink milk to boost calcium

... boosting calcium intake by drinking milk could reduce healthy adults' chances of a debilitating bone break. In a new study published in the American Journal of...

No sex, but plenty of gene transfer

...ct the notion that sex which recombines the DNA from the parents in their offspringconfers diversity and greater adaptability on a population, thereby boosting its evolutionary success. Arkhipova's study suggests that if bdelloids can incorporate foreign DNA from their environment, they could also pick up DNA...

Adding up business and energy

... Could a business practice usually reserved for boosting profits be used to help turn companies green by reducing their energy use? ... a thermal power plant with the aim of conserving energy rather than simply boosting profits. They point out that demineralized (DM) water in these plants is on...

Tomato stands firm in face of fungus

...ystem of plants. Growers can cross into targeted plant varieties certain polymorphic resistance genes that occur in related plants, thereby naturally boosting the plants immune system. In this study, Dr. Martijn Rep and his team explored the molecular basis of this previously established concept of cros...