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Targeting a key enzyme with gene therapy reversed course of Alzheimer's disease in mouse models

Silencing Alzheimer's: targeting a key enzyme with gene therapy reversed course of disease in mouse modelsIn mice, that had been genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer's disease, scientists were able to reverse the rodents' memory loss by reducing the amount of an enzyme that is crucial for the development of Alzheimer's disease. "What we are showing is a proof of principle that stopp...

Past experience of pheromones induces dominant courtship behavior in fruit flies

By investigating the interplay between pheromone signaling and behavior in fruit flies, researchers have begun to understand how an adult fly's earlier experience as a young individual can influence its behavior towards other flies as an adult. In particular, the researchers found that pheromone signals in the context of experience with adult flies can influence how young flies will behave once t...

Leading lampreys to slaughter: Pheromone for scourge of Great Lakes identified

For the rats of Hamelin, it was the Pied Piper's tune. For the destructive sea lamprey of the Great Lakes, it's a chemical attractant, or pheromone, released by lamprey larvae living in streambeds. Following the pheromone trail, adults are drawn to streams favorable for spawning. Researchers have long wanted to identify the pheromone so it could be synthesized and used to control the sea lamprey,...

Over-use of antibiotics in fish-for-food industry encourages bacterial resistance and disease

The heavy use of antibiotics in the rearing of fish could be detrimental to the health of the fish, but also that of animals and humans, a recent report says. This practice encourages bacterial resistance and could lead to the evolution of resistant strains of bacteria in animals and humans as well as the fish themselves. A more judicious approach to the use of prophylactic (preventative) antibio...

Fly's courtship sheds light on the formation of innate behaviors

By studying how genes influence the development and use of neural circuits that control a specific set of mating behaviors in the fruit fly, researchers have provided new insight into how instinctual behaviors ?those that are not based on prior experience ?arise in the developing nervous system. The work is reported by Jean-Christophe Billeter and other members of Stephen Goodwin's group at the U...

Encouraging results in pancreatic cancer research

Researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and the Brooklyn VA Hospital have found that when a human protein, PNC-28, is administered to pancreatic tumor cells in animals, the tumors are destroyed. The research was reported in the October 1st edition of the International Journal of Cancer. Matthew R. Pincus, MD, PhD, professor of pathology at SUNY Downstate and chairman of pathology and...

Surgeons with video game skill appear to perform better in simulated surgery skills course

In a study involving 12 surgeons and 21 surgical residents, video game skill was correlated with laparoscopic surgery skill as assessed during a simulated surgery skills course, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. James C. Rosser Jr., M.D., of Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, and colleagues asked 33 surgeons (21 reside...

UCLA AIDS Institute researchers find a peptide that encourages HIV infection

UCLA AIDS Institute researchers have discovered that when a crucial portion of a peptide structure in monkeys that defends against viruses, bacteria and other foreign invaders is reversed, the peptide actually encourages infection with HIV. The findings, published in the April issue of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, could pave the way for the use of such peptides in gene therapy usi...

Electric fish conduct electric duets in aquatic courtship

The study is the first to compare electrical and behavioral displays in breeding and nonbreeding Brienomyrus brachyistius, a type of mormyrid electric fish, which emit weak electric fiel...