Fights in Biological News

New discovery on role of vital protein that fights meningitis

A University of Leicester researcher has discovered how a protein in the blood linked to defence against meningitis - plays a more vital role than previously understood in the bodys immune defence system. The published research has helped to advance medical understanding of how the body defend...

Tiny pest-eating insect fights fruit flies

HARROW, ONTARIO -- Farmers and vineyard owners have a new weapon in their pest management arsenal. A commonly used parasitoid, or parasitic insect that kills its host, has proven to be quite effective in the control of fruit flies in vineyards. These tiny pest-devouring insects are considered to b...

World's most endangered gorilla fights back

NEW YORK (December 5, 2007, 2007) In the wake of a study that documented for the first time the use of weaponry by Cross River gorillas to ward off threats by humans, the Wildlife Conservation Society announced today new field surveys to better protect this most endangered great ape. The study...

Scientists discover how body fights to control spread of cancer

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found how two molecules fight in the blood to control the spread of cancer cells. Researchers discovered that a large protein, which forms a protective shield around cancer cells and prevents them from causing secondary tumours, is attacked by a smal...

Newly discovered killer cell fights cancer

A mouse immune cell that plays dual roles as both assassin and messenger, normally the job of two separate cells, has been discovered by an international team of researchers from the United States and France. The discovery has triggered a race among scientists to find a human equivalent of the mul...

Pain killer fights breast cancer by targeting key enzyme

A pain–killing medication appears to halt the production of an enzyme that is key to a common form of breast cancer, a new study using tissue cultures suggests. The drug is called nimesulide. In laboratory experiments on breast cancer cells, scientists found that derivatives of nimesulide stopped...

NYU study reveals how brain's immune system fights viral encephalitis

New York University biologists have uncovered how the innate immune system in mice's brains fights viral infection of neurons. The findings, published as the cover study in the latest issue of Virology, show that proteins in neurons fight the virus at multiple stages--by preventing the formation of...

NYU Study Reveals How Brain's Immune System Fights Viral Encephalitis

New York University biologists have uncovered how the innate immune system in mice's brains fights viral infection of neurons. The findings, published as the cover study in the latest issue of Virology, show that proteins in neurons fight the virus at multiple stages--by preventing the formation of...

Nanodiamonds deliver insulin for wound healing

...aling by acting as a growth hormone. It encourages skin cells to proliferate and divide, restores blood flow to the wound, suppresses inflammation and fights infection. Earlier investigations have confirmed an increase in alkalinity of wound tissue, due to bacterial colonization, to levels as high as pH 10....

The faster they come

...nd fins may affect the social position of a given individual, and found that, indeed, aggressive behaviours tend to decline as fin damage sustained in fights accumulates. In other words: if a male has to fight too often to maintain his dominant status, he will probably end up losing it in the end. These res...

American Chemical Society's Weekly Presspac -- June 17, 2009

...eloped significantly less body fat (up to 10 percent less) than other mice. Importantly, the new research adds evidence to the belief that acetic acid fights fat by turning on genes for fatty acid oxidation enzymes. The genes churn out proteins involved in breaking down fats, thus suppressing body fat accum...

Allergy season: Cigarettes to the rescue?

...lergies by decreasing the reaction of immune cells to allergens. Smoking can cause lung cancer, pulmonary disease, and can even affect how the body fights infections. Along with many harmful effects, smoking cigarettes has a surprising benefit: cigarettes can protect smokers from certain types of allergi...

Scientists identify key gene that protects against leukemia

...Cs occurred in the mice, the scientists noted a progressive expansion of the myeloid lineage, which constitutes a type of mature white blood cell that fights infection. This expansion led by 6 to 12 months post-transplantation to the development of a myeloproliferative disease, which can evolve to leukemia....

A worm-and-mouse tale: B cells deserve more respect

...ently. In the new paper, Lund's team tested how the findings actually translate by watching closely as an organism in this case, a mouse actually fights off infection by a parasite. They chose to study the intestinal parasite Heligmosomoides polygyrus , a bright red worm about one-third of an inch lon...

Evolutionary process more detailed than previously believed, study shows

...ve understanding of the way a microorganism adapts to its environment as it fights to survive. We're demonstrating that the evolutionary journey has many more...subjected to a selected pressure, in this instance drugs," Kao said. "As it fights for its survival, mutations occur that help make this fungus resistant to t...

Male crickets with bigger heads are better fighters, study reveals, echoing ancient Chinese text

... Observing and betting on cricket fights has been part of Chinese cultural tradition since ...larger heads and mouthparts are more successful in fights with smaller-headed rivals. They also show that ma...ales with proportionately larger weaponry won more fights and increasing differences in weaponry size betwee...

Scientists find facial scars increase attractiveness

...gn of strength is a view shared by the Yanomam tribe of Venezuela for example, who use face-paint to accentuate scars that result from ritualised club fights designed to test a man's endurance against repeated strikes to the head. "The assumption that scarring is a sign of bravery is also consistent wi...

Fiddler crabs reveal honesty is not always the best policy

... to attract females or fight rival males) and if they lose this claw during fights they can grow a replacement. In most species the new claw is identical to t...ing is important for several reasons, primarily because it's important that fights don't always escalate into bloody violence. Fighting can be costly in terms...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac

... Newton, MA 02458 Phone: 617-332-4288, ext. 212 Fax: 617-332-4284 Email: zota@silentspring.org ARTICLE #4 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Fungus fights air pollution by removing sulfur from crude oil Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research Researchers in Iran are publishing what they descri...

New findings on immune system in amphibians

...s Wiesaw Babik of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. "This means that these genes play an important role in the immune system which recognises and fights diseases." The lead author of the study, Wiesaw Babik, conducted the research as part of a collaborative project between the University of Krakow and ...

High hormone levels in seabird chicks prepare them to kill their siblings

...elated hormone levels three times as high as their less aggressive cousins, the blue-footed boobies. Blue-footed boobies do not have the same lethal fights right after hatching and do not go on to bully their fellow birds as adults. ...

LIAI researchers discover new cellular mechanism that will significantly advance vaccine development

...r the textbooks. Their finding, reported Friday in the scientific journal Immunity , illuminates a new, previously unknown mechanism in how the body fights a virus. The finding runs counter to traditional scientific understanding of this process and will provide scientists a more effective method for dev...

Poxvirus potency uncovered in new atomic map

...ng protein (IFN-y) is notorious for the role it plays in helping poxviruses replicate. Normally when a virus enters the bloodstream, the immune system fights back by producing IFN-y, which tells surrounding cells to fight the infection. Remarkably, somewhere during the evolution of the poxvirus, it captu...

Biophysical Society to host discussions on the teaching of evolution and on the energy crisis

...ho view evolution with suspicion and disbelief" Following last years successful session that provided an overview on the current state and local level fights over the teaching of evolution in K-12 science classrooms, this years event will examine ways individual scientists can weigh in on the debate. Speak...

Marine scientists warn human safety, prosperity depend on better ocean observing system

...l help scientists better understand precipitation patterns. Marine ecosystems and biodiversity A majority of life on Earth eats, swims, crawls, fights and lives in oceans. Water temperatures affect where species live and travel, as well as the distribution of nutrients, plankton and on up the food w...

Human safety, prosperity depend on better ocean observing system: Scientists

...l help scientists better understand precipitation patterns. Marine ecosystems and biodiversity A majority of life on Earth eats, swims, crawls, fights and lives in oceans. Water temperatures affect where species live and travel, as well as the distribution of nutrients, plankton and on up the food w...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- Nov. 14, 2007

...530-1507 Fax: 419-530-4033 Email: xuefei.huang@utoledo.edu ARTICLE #2 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sweet magnolia: Tree bark extract fights bad breath and tooth decay Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Sweet magnolia does more than describe the fragrant blossoms of a popular...

Rosemary chicken protects your brain from free radicals

...the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham Institute) in La Jolla, CA and in Japan, report that the herb rosemary contains an ingredient that fights off free radical damage in the brain. The active ingredient in rosemary, known as carnosic acid (CA), can protect the brain from stroke and neurodegen...

Men shed light on the mystery of human longevity, study finds

...biological sciences at Stanford. But the fatherhood of a small number of older men is enough to postpone the date with death because natural selection fights life-shortening mutations until the species is finished reproducing. "Rod Stewart and David Letterman having babies in their 50s and 60s provide no...

Revealed -- Mosquito genes that could be controlling the spread of killer viruses

...me types of mosquitoes can transmit a particular human pathogen while others cannot. If those that cannot have evolved an effective immune system that fights off the pathogen, we may be able to use this knowledge to enhance specific reactions of the immune systems in other mosquitoes to control the spread o...

Fat screen delivers plant-derived chemical with antidiabetic effects

... After screening hundreds of compounds for their effects on fat development, researchers have discovered that an ingredient found in some plants fights diabetes in mice without some of the side effects attributed to other antidiabetes drugs. The chemical they pinpointed, known as harmine, was first is...

Cold sore virus might play role in Alzheimer's disease

...e hallmark plaques or tangles and certainly long before any behavioral changes are seen. Such inflammation often is a byproduct when the immune system fights an infection....

Fish can determine their social rank by observation alone, study finds

...simply by watching how they perform in territorial fights with other males, according to a new study by Stan... food and mates. "Males that repeatedly lose fights are unable to hold territories and consequently de... rivals before engaging them in potentially costly fights should be highly adaptive." When A. burtoni m...

Natural anti-viral enzyme helps keep cancer cells alive, researchers find

...rocess, in which the body creates new antibodies against invading pathogens. A great deal is currently understood about how the adaptive immune system fights cancer and also helps create tissue environments permissive to cancer, Dr. White said, but a cancer-promoting role for the host defense response has n...

Fighting like a girl or boy determined by gene in fruit flies

...ears, researchers in Kravitz's lab have been methodically scoring fruit fly fights to determine the normal aggression patterns with the long-term goal of documenting how genes and molecules change those patterns. They stage male fights on bottle-cap-sized food cups decorated with a headless female (a live fema...

Loosen leash on cancer protein 'watchdog,' researchers say

...ein, called Mdm2, keeps p53 inactive until it is needed, acting like a leash on a watchdog. "p53 seems to be an important stress response gene that fights cancer when it works," Mendrysa said. "So we decided to see what we could do to increase p53's activity without completely cutting its Mdm2 leash." ...

U-M scientists identify major psoriasis susceptibility gene

...ys. Located on human chromosome 6, HLA-C is one of several genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) that regulate how the immune system fights off infection. MHC genes carry DNA-coded instructions for proteins whose job it is to distinguish between what belongs in the body and what doesn't. ...

Animals can change genes quickly to keep up with viral ingenuity

...e capable of evolving new ways of breaking the codes extremely quickly. The new research shows that genes controlling a part of the immune system that fights viruses actually evolve much faster than almost all other genes, evidence of the host's evolutionary race to keep the viruses at bay. In their rese...

LIAI scientists make major finding on potential smallpox treatment

...mmunology (LIAI) have made a major advancement toward protecting society against a smallpox outbreak by identifying an antibody in humans that quickly fights the smallpox virus. "This is a very important finding because it has the potential to be an effective treatment for smallpox in humans and therefo...

Newfound roadblock to interferon effectiveness against malignant melanoma

...gnant melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, and if not treated successfully, it can spread to affect the liver, lungs, or brain. Chemotherapy fights the disease with limited efficiency, and the use of interferon has become the most established immunotherapy for advanced-stage melanoma. However, mel...