LOGIC

Another Look Finds Promising Proteomics Test is Not Biologically Plausible

In a new study, researchers present a “cautionary tale?about what may go wrong when using the fledgling science of proteomics to devise a diagnostic test for cancer. In the February 16 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center detail why an experimental test intended to identify early ovarian cancer from a...

Ecological destruction fuels emerging diseases

The destruction of habitat by human activity and the extinction of species around the world is more than a looming environmental catastrophe, warns a Canadian zoologist. This ecological damage also endangers human health by turning parasites into "evolutionary land mines." Dr. Daniel (Dan) Brooks, a parasitologist at the University of Toronto, says the decline of global biodiversity is li...

NYU researchers simulate molecular biological clock

For many years, DNA and proteins have beenviewed as the real movers and shakers in genomic studies, with RNA seenas little more than a messenger that shuttles information between thetwo. But researchers from Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Researchand Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered that smallRNA molecules called microRNAs regulate thousands of human genes--morethan...

Automatic extraction of gene/protein biological functions from biomedical text

With the rapid advancement of biomedical science and the development of high-throughput analysis methods, the extraction of various types of information from biomedical text has become critical. Since automatic functional annotations of genes are quite useful for interpreting large amounts of high-throughput data efficiently, the demand for automatic extraction of information related to gene func...

Essential mangrove forest threatened by cryptic ecological degradation

The recent killer tsunami has highlighted once more the importance of coastline protection. In natural conditions, this function is taken up by mangroves, forests thriving at the edge of land and sea that are ecologically and socio-economically important for local people in tropical countries on all continents. Using biology, geography, hydrology, socio-economic interviews, and 18th-century histo...

First 'atlas' of key brain genes could speed research on cancer, neurological diseases

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institutehave compiled the first atlas showing the locations of crucial generegulators, or switches that determine how different parts of the braindevelop ?and, in some cases, develop abnormally or malfunction.The scientists say the map will accelerate research on brain tumors andneurological diseases that result from mutations in these switch genes?called...

Antibiotic might fight HIV-induced neurological problems

By studying animals, Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that the antibiotic minocycline might help alleviate HIV's negative effects on the brain and central nervous system, problems that can develop even though antiretroviral therapy controls the virus elsewhere in the body. Five monkeys infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a very close relative of HIV, and treated wi...

Use of Insecticides Linked to Lasting Neurological Problems for Farmers

New research shows that farmers who used agricultural insecticides experienced increased neurological symptoms, even when they were no longer using the products. Data from 18,782 North Carolina and Iowa farmers linked use of insecticides, including organophosphates and organochlorines, to reports of reoccurring headaches, fatigue, insomnia, dizziness, nausea, hand tremors, numbness and other neur...

UCLA launches $20 million stem cell institute to investigate HIV, cancer and neurological disorders

Experts in bioengineering, imaging, molecular genetics, immunology, ethics, hematology/oncology and cellular biology to collaborate on Proposition 71 research Drawing together experts from fields as diverse as engineering to molecular biology, UCLA officials announced March 16 the formation of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine to conduct embryonic and adult stem cell resear...

DuPont's first biologically derived polymer receives global recognition

DuPont's newest polymer innovation, the first DuPont polymer derived from a biological source, has been recognized by the China State Intellectual Property Office and China Central Television (CCTV) as "Most Visionary Innovation" at a recent award ceremony. will receive the 2005 "New Technologies in Re...

Glow-in-the-dark zebrafish at UH hold keys to biological clocks

Using genetically altered zebrafish that glow in the dark, University of Houston researchers have found new tools that shed light upon biological clock cycles. Gregory M. Cahill, associate professor of biology and biochemistry at UH, and Maki Kaneko, a fellow UH researcher who is now at the University of California-San Diego, presented their findings in a paper titled "Light-dependent Dev...

Physiological effects of reduced gravity on bacteria

An article in Journal of Applied Microbiology investigates how bacteria respond when they are subjected to environmental alterations, such as those of space stations, which feature lowered effects of gravity. "Intra-specific differences in bacterial responses to modeled reduced gravity" by Paul W. Baker and Laura G. Leff describes differences in bacterial responses to reduced gravity and h...

Decoding the logic of olfaction

Researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have succeeded in mapping the unique patterns of neural activity produced by a wide range of odors, including vanilla, skunk, fish, urine, musk, and chocolate. Revealing these distinct ?but often overlapping ?patterns of neural activity represents a significant step in understanding how the brain translates complex signals from odorant receptor...

Discovery clarifies role of peptide in biological clock

A biologist at Washington University in St. Louis is giving the VIP treatment to laboratory mice in hopes of unraveling more clues about our biological clock. Erik Herzog, Ph.D., Washington Un...

Ariadne Genomics Announces the Release of PathwayStudio?Central, Client-Server Software for Biological Pathway Analysis

Ariadne Genomics, Inc. today announced the release of PathwayStudio?Central, client-server software for visualization and analysis of biological pathways and gene regulation networks for bio-medical research labs, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. PathwayStudio?Central is available for a free 20 day trial at www.ariadnegenomics.com. PathwayStudio?Central builds pathways from micr...

A new way to share models of biological systems

Today sees the launch of BioModels, the world's first database of annotated biological models. BioModels is the result of a collaboration led by the European Bioinformatics Institute (UK) and the SBML Team, an international group that develops open-source standards to describe biological systems. Other contributors include the Keck Graduate Institute (USA), the Systems Biology Institute (Japan) a...

An (ecological) origin of species for tropical reef fish

Dealing a new blow to the dominant evolutionary paradigm, Luiz Rocha and colleagues from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Harvard University the University of Florida and the University of Hawaii, report coral reef fish from neighboring habitats may differ more from one another than from fish thousands of miles away. An ecological speciation model for coral reef organisms may spur the...

Engineers improve plastic's potential for use in implants by linking it to biological material

Engineers at The University of Texas at Austin have found a way to modify a plastic to anchor molecules that promote nerve regeneration, blood vessel growth or other biological processes. In the study led by Dr. Christine Schmidt, the researchers identified a piece of protein from among a billion candidates that could perform the unusual feat of attaching to polypyrrole, a synthetic polym...

15 generations of untrained jocks, couch potatoes show big physiological adaptations

So, you don't like to exercise? Maybe you could blame it on your great-great-grandparents. Similarly, if you're a practiced and proud couch potato who suddenly woke up to the fact that you're a "natural" athlete, the credit could also belong to your genes. Exercise research traditionally has focused on the effects of training, rather than underlying genetic mechanisms. But physiologists wo...

UN: World in big ecological mess

The emergence of new diseases, sudden changes in water quality, creation of coastal "dead zones," the collapse of fisheries and shifts in regional climate are just some of the potential consequences of humankind's degradation of the planet's ecosystems, according to a new United Nations-backed report launched today. Humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively in the last 50...

Lance Armstrong through a physiological lens: hard training boosts muscle power 8%

Catch an athlete with clear potential early in his career, study his physiology over an incredibly eventful seven years including victory in the Tour de France, and you might uncover some incredibly important, indeed amazing facts about what training and dedication can accomplish. What Edward F. Coyle of the University of Texas-Austin found out about Lance Armstrong was that from 1992-1999...

Logging changed ecological balance for monkeys, damaged health

Twenty-eight years after intense selective logging stopped in the region now known as Uganda's Kibale National Park, the red-tailed guenon (Cercophithecus ascanius) is a primate still in decline. The logging practice, scientists report in a new study, changed the ecological balance for these monkeys, leading to behavioral changes and opening the door for multiple parasitic infections. The...

The ecological effects of the Chernobyl disaster

Nearly 20 years ago Reactor number 4 at Chernobyl exploded, sending radiation across a large region of what is now the Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Some 40 radionucleotides were released into the environment, including Strontium 90 (90Sr) and Cesium 137 (137Cs). Yet despite radiation levels dangerous to humans, most natural areas in the region have rebounded, and by ecological standards, are fun...

New book expands biological classifications to account for 'alien' life

What would you call an alien if you encountered it on the street tomorrow? What if that alien didn't come from another world but rather was created in a laboratory right here on Earth and functioned differently from other Earth life? Either way, Peter Ward has the beginnings of an answer. In a new book, the University of Washington paleontologist puts forth an expanded "tree of life," or b...

Applying ecological laws to bacteria

Researchers have obtained further evidence that one of the oldest biological laws can also be applied to bacteria living in the sump tank reservoirs of machines in an engineering workshop in Oxford, according to a paper published in Environmental Microbiology. Scientists from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) in Oxford, found that the patterns of abundance and genetic diversity...

Research Permits First-Ever Visualization of Psychological Stress in the Human Brain

Using a novel application of an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) technique, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have, for the first time, visualized the effects of everyday psychological stress in a healthy human brain. Their work, performed at Penn's Center for Functional Neuroimaging, provides a neuro-imaging marker of psychological stress -- whic...

Technique offers new view of dynamic biological landscape

A new technique for analyzing the network of genetic interactions promises to change how researchers study the dynamic biological landscape of the cell. The technology, which is called epistatic mini array profiles (E-MAP), has already been used to assign new functions to known genes, to uncover the roles of previously uncharacterized proteins, and to define how biochemical pathways and proteins...

UC Berkeley researchers create a biologically-inspired artificial compound eye

Using the eyes of insects such as dragonflies and houseflies as models, a team of bioengineers at University of California, Berkeley, has created a series of artificial compound eyes. These eyes can eventually be used as cameras or sensory detectors to capture visual or chemical information from a wider field of vision than previously possible, even with the best fish-eye lens, said Luke P...

Cell therapy slows progression of an inherited neurological disease; Improves motor skills in mice

In an important discovery, scientists have demonstrated that the progression of a type of genetic brain disease is slowed and symptoms are improved in mice that received cell transplants. , may have implications for developing new therapies for metachromatic leukodystrophy, or MLD, a fatal, relatively rare...

Nano machine switches between biological and silicon worlds

"Frankly, some researchers didn't think what we were attempting was possible," says Dr Keith Firman, at Portsmouth University and Mol-Switch project coordinator, funded under the European Commission's Future and Emerging Technologies initiative. "However, we got our molecular switch to work." The upshot is that the Mol-Switch project was far more successful than expected. The team's switch...

New possibilities to fight pests with biological means

Corn plants emit a cocktail of scents when they are attacked by certain pests, such as a caterpillar known as the Egyptian cotton leaf worm. Parasitic wasps use these plant scents to localize the caterpillar and deposit their eggs on it, so that their offspring can feed on the caterpillar. Soon after, the caterpillar dies and the plant is relieved from its attacker. In the case of corn, o...

Chemical guidance of T cells leads to immunologic memory and long-term immunity

In the latest issue of the journal Nature, scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) describe a new understanding about how long-term immunity works--findings that may lead to new ways of thinking about how to enhance certain immune responses and how to improve vaccines. Led by immunologist Ronald Germain, M.D...

More evidence mammals, fruit flies share make-up on function of biological clocks

A study by researchers at New York University and the University of London offers additional evidence that mammals and fruit flies share a common genetic makeup that determines the function of their internal biological clocks. The research team consisted of post-doctoral researcher Ben Collins, Esteban Mazzoni, a graduate student, and Assistant Professor Justin Blau of NYU's Department of...

Novel connection found between biological clock and cancer

Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have discovered that DNA damage resets the cellular circadian clock, suggesting links among circadian timing, the cycle of cell division, and the propensity for cancer. Their work, reported June 29 in Science Express, the advance electronic publication of Science, implies a protective dimension for the biological clock in addition to its pacemaker funct...

Mechanism identified for promising neurological drug

Researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center have identified the mechanism by which minocycline, a medication currently being studied for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease, protects brain and nerve cells from damage. In the study, conducted in cell culture, the team determined that the drug blocks the action of poly(ADP...

Can biological traits predict diversification rates in birds?

Why do some taxanomic families contain many species and others contain far fewer? There has been much debate in the scientific community over the reason for such variation, but a recent study in The American Naturalist by Albert B. Phillimore (Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus), Robert P. Freckleton (Oxford University), C. David L. Orme (Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus),...

Biological motors sort molecules one by one on a chip

Researchers from Delft University of Technology's Kavli Institute of Nanoscience have discovered how to use the motors of biological cells in extremely small channels on a chip. Based on this, they built a transport system that uses electrical charges to direct the molecules individually. To demonstrate this, the Delft researchers sorted the individual molecules according to their color. Professo...

Protein shown to rally biological clock

A biologist at Washington University in St. Louis and his collaborators have identified the factor in mammalian brain cells that keeps cells in synchrony so that functions like the wake-sleep cycle, hormone secretion and loco motor behaviors are coordinated daily over a 24-hour period. Erik Herzog, Ph.D., Washington University associate professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences, Sara Ato...

New biologic treatment for tennis elbow may replace surgery for chronic sufferers

A person suffering from tennis elbow may not have to look any further than his or her own body for the most effective treatment, according to a study published in the November issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine. Specially-prepared platelets taken from the patient which are then re-injected into the tendon of the affected elbow provides more relief than more commonly-used ther...

Researchers to develop active nanoscale surfaces for biological separations

A team of researchers has received a four-year, $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study improved methods for biological separations. Led by Ravi Kane, the Merck Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the group plans to develop nanoscale surfaces that actively reassemble in the presence of DNA, which could eventually l...