Movement in Biological News

Abnormal brain circuits may prevent movement disorder

MANHASSET, NY -- Most people who carry a genetic mutation for a movement disorder called dystonia will never develop symptoms, a phenomenon that has puzzled scientists since the first genetic mutation was identified in the 1990's. Now, scientists at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research hav...

Protein regulates movement of mitochondria in brain cells

Scientists have identified a protein in the brain that plays a key role in the function of mitochondria the part of the cell that supplies energy, supports cellular activity, and potentially wards off threats from disease. The discovery, which was reported today in the Journal of Cell Biology ,...

New movement models tested at the Smithsonian in Panama

Feeling threatened? Hungry? Looking for a mate? Move! Tracking and remote sensing data are making it easier to locate organisms and find out what they are up to. However, general theories of movement are lacking. In a special feature on Movement Ecology in the journal Proceedings of the National ...

Genetic evidence for avian influenza movement from Asia to North America via wild birds

Wild migratory birds may be more important carriers of avian influenza viruses from continent to continent than previously thought, according to new scientific research that has important implications for highly pathogenic avian influenza virus surveillance in North America. As part of a multi-...

Scientists identify a molecule that coordinates the movement of cells

Even cells commute. To get from their birthplace to their work site, they sequentially attach to and detach from an elaborate track of exceptionally strong proteins known as the extracellular matrix. Now, in research to appear in the October 3 issue of Cell , scientists at the Howard Hughes Medic...

Research measures movement of nanomaterials in simple model food chain

New research* shows that while engineered nanomaterials can be transferred up the lowest levels of the food chain from single celled organisms to higher multicelled ones, the amount transferred was relatively low and there was no evidence of the nanomaterials concentrating in the higher level orga...

Northwestern study looks at sensing, movement and behavior

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Driving down a country road at night your cars headlights illuminate a deer in your path, and the creature doesnt move. Depending on your speed and other conditions, chances are good you will hit the deer. And if you do, its because you are in what is fittingly defined as the co...

Leaderless movement proves illusive

Ask the FBI, and they will contend that a dangerous wave of ecoterrorism has swept North America in the past decade. Ski resorts, new condominium developments and corporate logging headquarters have all been the target of arson attacks, pushing the damage tally of a shadowy organization called th...

Caltech neurobiologists discover individuals who 'hear' movement

PASADENA, Calif.-- Individuals with synesthesia perceive the world in a different way from the rest of us. Because their senses are cross-activated, some synesthetes perceive numbers or letters as having colors or days of the week as possessing personalities, even as they function normally in ...

Discovery of a mechanism that regulates cell movement

A study performed by researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), in collaboration with researchers at the Instituto de Biologa Molecular of the CSIC, reveal a mechanism that controls the movement of cells in a tissue by regulating cell adhesion. This same mechanism ma...

Tracking influenza's every movement

Its the case of the missing flu virus. When the flu isnt making people sick, it seems to just vanish. Yet, every year, everywhere on Earth, it reappears in the appropriate season and starts its attack. So where does it go when it disappears? Does it hibernate, lying dormant in a few people and pre...

Evolution tied to Earth movement

Scientists long have focused on how climate and vegetation allowed human ancestors to evolve in Africa. Now, University of Utah geologists are calling renewed attention to the idea that ground movements formed mountains and valleys, creating environments that favored the emergence of humanity. ...

Social standing influences elephant movement

Berkeley -- When resources are scarce, who you know and where you're positioned on the social totem pole affects how far you'll go to search for food. At least that's the case with African elephants, according to a study led by ecologists at the University of California, Berkeley, who collaborated...

Cellular message movement captured on video

These time-lapse images of a bovine aortic endothelial cell reveal the motion toward the cell's nucleus of a message-carrying protein called paxillin (orange) in tandem with actin filaments (green). Credit: UC San Diego Scientists have captured on video the intracellular version of a postal del...

Newborn brains grow vision and movement regions first

The regions of the brain that control vision and other sensory information grow dramatically in the first few months following birth, while the area that controls abstract thought experiences very little growth during the same period, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have fou...

New understanding of cell movement may yield ways to brake cancer's spread

From birth until death, our cells migrate: nerve cells make their vital connections, embryonic cells move to the proper places to form organs, immune cells zero in to destroy pathogenic organisms, and cancer cells metastasize, spreading deadly disease through the body. Scientists studying these mig...

Carbon nanoparticles toxic to adult fruit flies but benign to young

...Xinyuan Liu showed the flies were affected physically. In some, the carbon nanoparticles covered them from wings to legs, which may have impeded their movement or weighted them down too much to climb. In others, the nanoparticles clogged their breathing holes, or spiracles, which may have suffocated them. In ...

Understanding how weeds are resistant to herbicides

...e able to do because of this research, you can go look at these populations and see, are these genetically similar, which would suggest that it was a movement event. If they're completely different, then that would suggest that it's evolving independently." ...

New stem cell research could reduce number of animal experiments

... a form of motor neurone disease in which the nerve cells that control the muscles die. This currently incurable condition causes patients to lose movement in muscles, affecting breathing and eventually causing death. Dr Subramanian will be making iPS cells from the skin cells of patients suffering fro...

A crystal ball for brain cancer?

...Avastin -- before the patient ever starts treatment. By linking high water movement in tumors to positive drug response, the UCLA team predicted with 70 percen...rogress within six months and which would not. They detected greater water movement in the tumors of those persons who later responded best to Avastin. "Whe...

'Microfluidic palette' may paint clearer picture of biological processes

...in a new paper,* is that the gradients are generated by diffusionthe gentle movement of matter from one point to another by random molecular motion. Microfluidi...ial application of the microfluidic palette is the study of chemotaxis, the movement of cells along a chemical gradient, a biological phenomenon that plays a ro...

Scientists track impact of DNA damage in the developing brain

...ikely source of neurological problems in humans. The cerebellum coordinates movement and balance. The cerebellar interneurons fine tune motor control. "These...and other movement. AOA1 is among the most common form of certain inherited movement disorders in Japan and Portugal. McKinnon said those reports sparked new in...

Researchers capture bacterial infection on film

...on with the insect's immune system using time-lapse confocal microscopy. The researchers can also tag individual bacterial proteins to follow their movement and determine their specific roles in the infection process. The scientists are hoping to use this system in the future with human pathogens such a...

DOE-funded research projects win 46 R&D 100 Awards for 2009

...a visual image. In clinical trials, 30 patients with vision loss were able to successfully identify objects, navigate in their environment, and detect movement using the "artificial retina." The implant is intended eventually to enable patients to read large print and recognize faces. (This multi-team project...

Knee injuries may start with strain on the brain, not the muscles

...sity of Michigan researchers studying ACL injuries had subjects perform one-legged squats to fatigue, then tested the reactions to various jumping and movement commands. Researchers found that both legs---not just the fatigued leg---showed equally dangerous and potentially injurious responses, said Scott McLe...

Grant supports LSUHSC research on how like cell receptor systems determine very different functions

...nvolved in the development of disease. Dr. Ashok Pullikuth in Catling's lab has recently identified a protein that functions in the intracellular movement and cell division activity of growth factor receptors as a novel phosphorylation target. Understanding this novel mechanism might be important in trea...

Iowa State University researchers develop process for 'surgical' genetic changes

...innesota. In addition to the difficulty introducing changes where researchers want them using current methods, government regulations often slow the movement of research from the lab to the field. Wright and Townsend hope the precision of this technique will speed the regulatory process. "In the random ...

Wolf reintroduction proposed in Scottish Highland test case

...ors in helping to control the populations of grazing animals, but also their behavior. The threat of predation and attack can fundamentally change the movement and activities of grazing animals 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in ways that such approaches as human hunting fail to do. The native red deer in...

$20 million NIH grant to transform clinical research at UIC

...enters will be connected with an annual budget of $500 million. The UIC center was established in 2007 to create new collaborations and support the movement of knowledge from the lab bench into the community. "This grant enables UIC to enhance its collaborative research in the health sciences, from basi...

Happier, healthier, more productive hens on omega-3?

... leading to an increase in infection rate. Chickens possess sensitive pain perception mechanisms and can suffer from chronic pain. Constraints on movement due to fractures may last for many weeks, resulting in restricted access to food, water, and perches, compromising the welfare benefits of free-range ...

Seals quickly respond to gain and loss of habitat under climate change

... We learned that new habitat emerging within the species' migratory range could be quickly taken advantage of, but that the reverse was not true. The movement patterns of seals from this Antarctic breeding site would have been unlikely to take them near other potential breeding sites, and so when their breed...

Spontaneous assembly

...erial membrane proteins are able to assemble into clusters that direct cell movement to select chemicals in their environment. Their results provide valuable in... to the E.coli chemotaxis network of signaling proteins, which direct the movement of the bacteria towards or away from sugars, amino acids, and many other so...

1-finger exercise reveals unexpected limits to dexterity

... maximal voluntary downward force would scale with movement speed. Surprisingly, maximal force was independent of movement speed." The observation challenges theories tha...no significant differences between slow, and fast movement speeds even though the...

Scientists closer to developing salt-tolerant crops

...reases the plant's tolerance to salinity," Professor Tester says. "In doing this, we've enhanced a process used naturally by plants to minimize the movement of Na+ to the shoot. We've used genetic modification to amplify the process, helping plants to do what they already do but to do it much better." ...

US-Mexico border wall could threaten wildlife species

...' border with Mexico could significantly alter the movement and "connectivity" of wildlife, biologists say, an...he security wall could have a bigger impact on the movement of bighorn sheep, which range widely among the hil...e fence, especially species that have low rates of movement among habitat patches." Epps, who is an assista...

Clinical trial shows quadriplegics can operate powered wheelchair with tongue drive system

...e students Xueliang Huo and Chih-wen Cheng attached a small magnet -- the size of a grain of rice -- to the participant's tongue with tissue adhesive. movement of this magnetic tracer was detected by an array of magnetic field sensors mounted on wireless headphones worn by the subject. The sensor output signa...

All in sight

...However, the ship-based detection of whales on sea presents new challenges: the camera must have "all-round visibility", it is subject to the constant movement of the ship and the spout is only briefly visible, possibly at a great distance. This poses high demands on the camera's optics: similar to animal pho...

Double success for Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia scientists working on chromosome segregation

...s attachment by controlling the assembly of a scaffold of proteins (called the kinetochore), which tether the chromosome to the spindle, and power its movement along the protein track. The location of the centromere on the chromosome is marked by the presence of a protein, called CENP-A, but how this protein ...

'Canadian excellence' strengthened by extensive adoption of open access

...ch as the Canadian Library Association (CLA) necessitated Wilfrid Laurier University to establish Laurier IR. Laurier IR embraces the 'open access' movement by allowing authors to submit their original research directly to the repository. Electronic documents, including articles, pre-prints, monographs, r...

Mouse model provides clues to human language development

... carrying the humanized Foxp2 gene showed no physiological abnormalities. However, behavioral tests showed an altered exploratory behavior and reduced movement activity both results point to altered brain functions. Further investigations carried out by the colleagues in Leipzig supported and confirmed the f...