Might in Biological News

Small molecules might block mutant protein production in Huntington's disease

DALLAS May 3, 2009 Molecules that selectively interfere with protein production can stop human cells from making the abnormal molecules that cause Huntington's disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. These man-made molecules also were effective against the abnormal ...

Gene linked to lupus might explain gender difference in disease risk

DALLAS March 30, 2009 In an international human genetic study, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a gene linked to the autoimmune disease lupus, and its location on the X chromosome might help explain why females are 10 times more susceptible to the disease than males....

Australia's most endangered snake might need burning

Conserving Australia's most endangered snake might mean lighting more bush fires, ecologists have proposed. The last remaining populations of broad-headed snakes are being threatened by encroaching woodland that is destroying their habitat, a study by scientists from the University of Sydney an...

Diabetics on high-fiber diets might need extra calcium, report UT Southwestern researchers

DALLAS March 24, 2009 The amount of calcium your body absorbs might depend, in part, on the amount of dietary fiber you consume. Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center report that patients with noninsulin-dependent diabetes (type 2) excreted less calcium through their urine when they ...

Study suggests salt might be 'nature's antidepressant'

Most people consume far too much salt, and a University of Iowa researcher has discovered one potential reason we crave it: it might put us in a better mood. UI psychologist Kim Johnson and colleagues found in their research that when rats are deficient in sodium chloride, common table salt, th...

Proteomics study yields clues as to how tuberculosis might be thwarting the immune system

BERKELEY, CA -- A link between the immune system and the self-cleaning system by which biological cells rid themselves of obsolete or toxic parts may one day yield new weapons in the fight against tuberculosis and other deadly infectious diseases. Scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy's (D...

Flooding might help lower gas emission from wetlands

COLUMBUS, Ohio River floods and storms that send water surging through swamps and marshes near rivers and coastal areas might cut in half the average greenhouse gas emissions from those affected wetlands, according to recent research at Ohio State University. A study suggests that pulses of wa...

Embryonic stem cells might help reduce transplantation rejection

Researchers have shown that immune-defense cells influenced by embryonic stem cell-derived cells can help prevent the rejection of hearts transplanted into mice, all without the use of immunosuppressive drugs. The University of Iowa and the Iowa City Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center finding...

Curbing coal emissions alone might avert climate danger, say researchers

An ongoing rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels might be kept below harmful levels if emissions from coal are phased out within the next few decades, say researchers. They say that less plentiful oil and gas should be used sparingly as well, but that far greater sup...

Get smart about what you eat and you might actually improve your intelligence

New research findings published online in The FASEB Journal provide more evidence that if we get smart about what we eat, our intelligence can improve. According to MIT scientists, dietary nutrients found in a wide range of foods from infant formula to eggs increase brain synapses and improve co...

Some biofuels might do more harm than good to the environment, study finds

Biofuels based on ethanol, vegetable oil and other renewable sources are increasingly popular with government and environmentalists as a way to reduce fossil fuel dependence and limit greenhouse gas emissions. But new research led by a biologist at the University of Washington, Bothell, shows...

Leading cause of death in 'preemies' might be controlled by resetting a molecular switch

Washington, D.C. -- Blocking signals from a key molecular receptor that normally switches on the intestines immune response but instead becomes too intense in the presence of stress and toxins may help reverse necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a leading cause of death in premature newborns, accor...

Parasites might spur evolution of strange amphibian breeding habits

Athens, Ga. Parasites can decimate amphibian populations, but one University of Georgia researcher believes they might also play a role in spurring the evolution of new and sometimes bizarre breeding strategies. Brian Todd, a researcher at the UGA Odum School of Ecology Savannah River Ecology ...

Curry-derived molecules might be too spicy for colorectal cancers

SINGAPORE -- Curcumin, the yellowish component of turmeric that gives curry its flavor, has long been noted for its potential anti-cancer properties. Researchers from Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, report on an apparent improvement upon nature: two molecular analogues of curcumin that demon...

New magnetic separation technique might detect multiple pathogens at once

DURHAM, N.C. -- A magnetic separation technique developed by researchers at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering and Purdue University makes it relatively simple to sort through beads hundreds of times smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. The method could lead to new t...

Ultra-low-dose aspirin might decrease bleeding severity in portal hypertension

In rats with portal hypertension, ultraClow-dose aspirin has shown a normalizing effect of platelet-endothelial cell alterations and bleeding time. Further, this effect is mediated by Cyclooxygenase 2 inhibition. This study, performed by a team led by Professor C. Doutremepuich, is described...

Snoring in children might be an allergic type disease

The research found that snoring is in fact part of the spectrum of childhood allergic diseases. So whilst the condition looks and sounds similar in adults and children it can have quite different causes and risk factors. The study published in the latest edition of the international medical jo...

NIDA study identifies genes that might help some people abstain from smoking

Scientists supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, have for the first time identified genes that might increase a person’s ability to abstain from smoking. The breakthrough research was conducted by Dr. George Uhl at NIDA’s Intramural Res...

Cold sore virus might play role in Alzheimer's disease

A gene known to be a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease puts out the welcome mat for the virus that causes cold sores, allowing the virus to be more active in the brain compared to other forms of the gene. The new findings, published online in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, add some scie...

Protein averts cell suicide but might contribute to cancer

Scientists have discovered how an unusual protein helps a cell bypass damage when making new DNA, thereby averting the cell's self-destruction. But they also discovered that this protein, an enzyme called Dpo4, often makes errors when copying the genomic DNA sequence that later might cause the c...

Hopkins researchers discover how brain protein might control memory

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have figured out how one particular protein contributes to long-term memory and helps the brain remember things longer than an hour or two. The findings are reported in two papers in the Nov. 9 issue of Neuron. The protein, called Arc, has been implicated in memory-li...

Giant insects might reign if only there was more oxygen in the air

The delicate lady bug in your garden could be frighteningly large if only there was a greater concentration of oxygen in the air, a new study concludes. The study adds support to the theory that some insects were much larger during the late Paleozoic period because they had a much richer oxygen sup...

Epstein-Barr virus might kick-start multiple sclerosis

Researchers have found that patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) carry a population of immune cells that overreact to Epstein-Barr virus. The virus, which causes mononucleosis and may contribute to some cancers, has long been suspected to play a role in MS. However, the mechanism linking the virus...

HIV-1's high virulence might be an accident of evolution

The virulence characteristic of HIV-1--the virus predominantly responsible for human AIDS--might amount to an accident of evolution, new evidence reveals. A gene function lost during the course of viral evolution predisposed HIV-1 to spur the fatal immune system failures that are the hallmarks of A...

Free-radical busting antioxidants might not promote healthy hearts

Antioxidants, such as beta-carotene and Vitamin E, have been touted for their ability to protect against heart disease. This protective effect is attributed to their ability to prevent the oxidation of bad cholesterol by free radicals—a process thought to contribute to the build-up of disease-causi...

Software might revolutionize glucose monitoring in critically ill patients

Researchers have developed a new computerized system to easilymonitor the levels of glucose in the blood of patients in intensivecare. A study published today in the open access journal BMC MedicalInformatics and Decision Making reports that GRIP, a computersoftware that assists in the monitoring...

Stem cells' electric abilities might help their safe clinical use

Researchers from Johns Hopkins have discovered the presence of functional ion channels in human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). These ion channels act like electrical wires and permit ESCs, versatile cells that possess the unique ability to become all cell types of the body, to conduct and pass along ...

Compound might defeat African sleeping sickness, clinical trial beginning this month

One of the most devastating diseases in sub-Saharan Africa almost disappeared in the late 1950s. That disease, African sleeping sickness, or trypanosomiasis, largely succumbed to heroic public health efforts -- including relocating entire villages. But in the past several decades, because of post-c...

Protein That Promotes Survival Of Stem Cells Might Be Key To Poor Leukemia Prognosis

The complex and life-sustaining series of steps by which hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) give rise to all of the body's red and white blood cells and platelets has now been discovered to depend in large part on a single protein called Mcl-1. This finding, from an investigator at St. Jude Children's ...

Newly discovered pathway might help in design of cancer drugs

Johns Hopkins chemists have discovered a new way to sabotage DNA's ability to reproduce, a finding that could eventually lead to the development of new anti-cancer drugs and therapies. The method could enable future doctors to target treatment more precisely, rather than directing chemotherapeuti...

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 ...

Circles Of DNA Might Help Predict Success Of Stem Cell Transplantation

Measuring the quantity of a certain type of immune cell DNA in the blood could help physicians predict whether a bone marrow stem cell transplant will successfully restore a population of infection-fighting cells called T lymphocytes in a child. This research, by investigators at St. Jude Children'...

The hepatitis healing power of blueberry leaves

... Kataoka and colleagues believed that since HCV is localized in the liver and can take 20 years or more to develop into disease, a dietary supplement might help slow or stop disease progression. So they screened nearly 300 different agricultural products for potential compounds that suppress HCV replicati...

Advances in lung cancer research announced at conference

...dition characteristic of cancer cells," Dr. Weiss said. "We are excited to continue investigations with TH-302 and about the potential benefit that it might confer to people living with lung cancer." ...

Marine microbes creating green waves in industry

...ing landscape. Looking to biological systems that have been finely tuned by evolution to solve problems, rather than starting from scratch every time, might seem an obvious thing to do. It does however, in many cases, require the bringing together of particular niche expertise. The value of this collaborat...

NIH stimulus funding supports Emory biomedical scientists

...roughout the United States, to begin projects that are highly promising but might not have been funded otherwise, and to extend successful projects that coul...hilia and other clotting disorders: If your blood has trouble clotting, you might have hemophilia. If it clots too easily, embolisms, heart attacks or stroke...

AGU journal highlights -- Aug. 6, 2009

...dy pinpoints sources of Earth's "hum" IPCC models might overestimate methane and nitrous oxide emissions f...ica A 3-D model of ocean dynamics Seasonal winds might drive current variability in the northern Indian O...i.org/10.1029/2009GL038903 3. IPCC models might overestimate methane and nitrous oxide emissions f...

Mary had a lot of lambs: Researchers identify way to accelerate sheep breeding

... conducted a simple genetic test to identify the presence of the unusual form of the gene, the so-called M allele that other researchers had suspected might be correlated with out-of-season fertility, in their test flock and then validated the gene's relationship with aseasonal breeding by observing that t...

Wastewater produces electricity and desalinates water

...ty are not an environmental problem assuming the cleaned wastewater is dumped into brackish water or seawater. However, the bacteria that run the cell might have a problem living in highly acidic environments. For this experiment, the researchers periodically added a pH buffer avoiding the acid problem,...

Hormone levels contribute to stress resilience

...erstanding why and how soldiers may differ in their ability to tolerate stress and also raise the possibility that, in the future, compounds like DHEA might be used to protect military personnel from the negative impact of operational stress." Clearly, additional research is still needed but these findin...