Sensitive in Biological News

Einstein researchers devise a fast and sensitive way to detect ricin

April 8, 2009 (BRONX, NY) Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed a simple, accurate, and highly sensitive test to detect and quantify ricin, an extremely potent toxin with potential use as a bioterrorism agent. The report appears as a featured arti...

'Femtomolar optical tweezers' may enable sensitive blood tests

Cutting-edge "tweezers" are so sensitive that they can feel the tell-tale tug of tiny concentrations of pathogens in blood samples, yet don't ever need to be sterilizedor even heldas they are ephemeral and weightless. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has licensed a patente...

For insulin sensitive overweight patients, 1 session of exercise improves metabolic health

HILTON HEAD, SCOne out of every three Americans is obese. These individuals are at greater risk for additional diseases, since obesity leads to other health problems, such as diabetes. Obesity-related complications are associated with an abnormal fat metabolism in the muscle. As a result, a...

More sensitive radiology monitoring in the Basque Country

This release is available in Spanish . Networks for radiological monitoring are designed to monitor radioactivity levels in the environment and detect possible incidents. The PhD thesis defended by Ms Natalia Alegra at the University of the Basque Country provides a scientific metho...

Biodegradable napkin -- featuring sensitive nanofibers -- may quickly detect biohazards

Detecting bacteria, viruses and other dangerous substances in hospitals, airplanes and other commonly contaminated places could soon be as easy as wiping a napkin or paper towel across a surface, says a researcher from Cornell University. "It's very inexpensive, it wouldn't require that someone b...

Obese people are more sensitive to pain, suggests study

Obese people may be more sensitive to pain than people who aren't obese, a new study suggests. All of the older adults who completed the study had osteoarthritis of the knee, a disease that causes inflammation and extreme pain in the knees. Participants were given a mild electrical stimulation...

'Nanospheres' that block pain of sensitive teeth

Nanospheres could help dentists fill the tiny holes in our teeth that make them incredibly sensitive, and that cause severe pain for millions of adults and children worldwide. Preliminary research presented today at the Institute of Physics conference EMAG-NANO 2005 shows that creating tiny sphe...

Quantum dots provide a faster, more sensitive method for detecting respiratory viral infections

In what may be one of the first medical uses of nanotechnology, a chemist and a doctor who specializes in infectious childhood diseases have joined forces to create an early detection method for a respiratory virus that is the most common cause of hospitalization among children under five. Respir...

Researchers discover way to make cells in the eye sensitive to light

Researchers have discovered a way to make light sensitive cells in the eye by switching on a single gene. According to research published online today in Nature, the team from Imperial College London and the University of Manchester, have discovered that activating the melanopsin gene in the nerve ...

Understanding how weeds are resistant to herbicides

...d plants, brought them back to the green house, grew them up, confirmed that they were resistant and then we started crossing a resistant plant with a sensitive plant. We look at its progeny to see if the resistance is inherited to understand the genetics if it's a dominant trait or a recessive trait. "Pyr...

Hormone levels contribute to stress resilience

...ugust 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry . Underwater navigation is a task that relies on an area of the brain called the hippocampus that is very sensitive to the negative effects of stress. "Animal studies have shown that DHEA buffers against stress, in part, by modulating receptors in this region of th...

August 2009 Geology and GSA Today media highlights

...chool of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK. Pages 703-706. The paper by Chase et al. details the discovery of sensitive indicators of past environmental change in the stratified fecal deposits (known as middens) of rock hyraxes in the Namib Desert of Namibia. The record...

Family planning a major environmental impact

... United States, the carbon legacy and greenhouse gas impact of an extra child is almost 20 times more important than some of the other environmentally sensitive practices people might employ their entire lives things like driving a high mileage car, recycling, or using energy-efficient appliances and light bu...

K-State researcher, collaborators study virulence of pandemic H1N1 virus

...ludes drugs like Tamiflu that target the neuraminidase protein. He said that this pandemic H1N1 is already resistant to the M2 inhibitors but still is sensitive to Tamiflu. "Some pandemic flu isolates from humans have now shown resistance to the Tamiflu," Richt said. "So the big issue now is if these Tamifl...

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

... Rfinity An innovation that offers a low-cost, plug-n-play option that enables virtually any wireless telecommunications device to safely store sensitive personal information and perform secure transactions. The technology has been licensed to RFinity of Idaho Falls. Water Sample Concentrator Auto...

Improved air quality during Beijing Olympics could inform pollution-curbing policies

...ng. They also tracked emissions from vehicles in different areas of the city by following randomly selected cars and trucks in a minivan equipped with sensitive instruments for detecting carbon particles, including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and black carbon, or soot. Among the researchers' conclusions...

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis may pose neurological risks

...osely associated with neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimers and Down Syndrome. The authors suggest that the developing nervous system may be sensitive to blastomere biopsy, and that more studies should be performed to address any possible long-term adverse effects of PGD to ensure its safety. ...

Chasing tiny vehicles

...sche Universitt Mnchen (TUM) has now used a highly sensitive microscopic technique to pursue individual nanopar...e's guess." Now, his workgroup has employed highly sensitive single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to follow the nanoferries on their voyage. This highly sensitive method works by tagging individual particles with ...

Healing power of aloe vera proves beneficial for teeth and gums, too

...y found in commercial toothpaste, it is a great alternative for people with sensitive teeth or gums. But buyers must beware. Not all aloe vera tooth gel contains...ly a few have been used for medicinal purposes. "Thankfully, consumers with sensitive teeth or gums have a number of choices when it comes to their oral health, ...

Fujitsu PalmSecure Certified Under International Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 2

...and international standards. "PalmSecure is currently being used in a wide variety of applications, protecting against unauthorized access to sensitive data at government agencies, healthcare companies, educational institutions, financial services firms and other organizations," said Jim Preasmyer, di...

The last supper of the hominids establishes the times they lived at the sites

...randus ). "This method allows us to confirm the seasonal nature of the occupation", Rivals added. According to the team, the microwear of the teeth is sensitive to seasonal changes in the diet. The application has allowed the researchers to estimate the length of the occupation of the site from the Lower ...

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

...ctures of the sternum (keel) are common, causing pain, preventing important behaviours and 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 restri...

Climate change may spell demise of key salt marsh constituent

...ome 40 percent of the salt marsh ecosystem, according to Gedan. The Brown experiments "demonstrate that New England salt marsh pannes are extremely sensitive to temperature increases and will be driven to local and regional extinction with the temperature increases expected to occur in New England over the ...

Playing it safe

... culture conditions alone were the crucial factor behind the success of the reprogramming process. ( Cell Stem Cell , July 2, 2009) The testis is a sensitive organ and an astonishing one at that. Even at the age of 70, 80 or 85, men have cells that constantly produce new sperm. Therefore, they can conceive ...

University of Leicester researchers discover new fluorescent silicon nanoparticles

...ck the uptake of drugs by cells." The benign nature of silicon also makes the nanoparticles useful as fluorescent markers for tagging biologically sensitive materials. The light from a single nanoparticle can be readily detected. The results of this work were published this week Applied Physics Letter...

New biomarker method could increase the number of diagnostic tests for cancer

...uld not have been possible without the collaborative efforts of the CPTAC partners." In this study, the researchers demonstrated that MRM is highly sensitive and specific, important characteristics that ensure the detection of real disease-specific biomarkers. In addition, using common samples and standard...

Study on keeping nuclear bombs from US ports shows misplaced fear over cargo scanning cost

...ousands of containers, stacked up to six-high. Targeted containers must then be moved to an inspection facility where their contents are scanned using sensitive equipment. This is a slow process that involves sophisticated tools and specialized training that only support limited throughput. Consequently, there...

Measuring intellectual disability

...FMRP protein levels and clinical severity of disease. Therefore, a group led by Dr. Paul Hagerman at the University of California, Davis developed a sensitive and highly specific test for FMRP protein. The method used is able to detect protein throughout the biologically-relevant range of protein concentrat...

Prostate Cancer Translational Research in Europe meeting: Search for biomarkers continues

...ortality or of side effects", says Hamdy. Dr Schenk-Braat (Rotterdam, NL) says: "The incidence of prostate cancer will increase and PSA is not a sensitive enough tool to identify men at risk". The P-Mark project evaluates promising biomarkers and has selected 3: osteoprotegerin (a bone turnover protein d...

RSA Designated as the Leader in One-Time Password Market by Frost & Sullivan

... premier provider of security solutions for business acceleration, helping the world's leading organizations succeed by solving their most complex and sensitive security challenges. RSA's information-centric approach to security guards the integrity and confidentiality of information throughout its lifecycle -...

Researchers observe single protein dimers wavering between two symmetrically opposed structures

...A, CA, June 19, 2009Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute, the University of California, San Diego, and Ohio State University have used a very sensitive fluorescence technique to find that a bacterial protein thought to exist in one "natural" three-dimensional structure (shape), can actually twist itse...

Discovery of a water snake that startles fish in a way that makes them flee into its jaws

..., the biologist noticed that the first part of its body that the snake moves is not its head. Instead, it flexes a point midway down its body. Using a sensitive hydrophone that he put in the aquarium, he confirmed that this body fake produces sound waves intense enough to trigger the fish's C-start response. B...

New tracking approach will help protect polar bears

... data from current aerial monitoring methods may be becoming less accurate with increased sea ice changes caused by global warming, and we need a more sensitive tool to monitor Canada's bear populations," says Dr. de Groot. "This [new] method, along with others being evaluated, should allow us to annually surv...

Size did matter

... Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, through collaboration with Paul Tafforeau, a palaeontologist at the ESRF. This method is currently the most powerful and sensitive way to investigate in three dimensions and at a microscopic scale, the internal anatomy of exceptional fossils without damaging them. "Holotomography ...

Research vessel Polarstern starts 24th Arctic season

...asingly come into the centre of attention of oceanographic research because oceanic key processes happen there and because the region reacts extremely sensitive towards climate change. Moorings of long-term measurements are, among other things, exchanged there and data on temperature and salinity of the ocean ...

Gear bans 'can help save reefs'

...ar following a coral bleaching event, reef managers could ease pressure on the reef and its fish population for a time when corals ecosystems are most sensitive without causing undue hardship to the human populations that depend on it." Dr Cinner says "Of course, where the conditions are right, managers and...

Help for climate-stressed corals

...ar following a coral bleaching event, reef managers could ease pressure on the reef and its fish population for a time when corals ecosystems are most sensitive without causing undue hardship to the human populations that depend on it." Dr Cinner says "Of course, where the conditions are right, managers and...

Rising acidity levels could trigger shellfish revenue declines, job losses

...shellfish that build carbonate shells or skeletons. Mollusks including mussels and oysters, which support valuable marine fisheries are particularly sensitive to these changes. In a case study of U.S. commercial fishery revenues published in the June issue of Environmental Research Letters , WHOI scienti...

CU-Boulder study shows Maya intensively cultivated manioc 1,400 years ago

...cieties living in large cities in tropical Latin America. Corn, beans and squash have long been known to be staples of the ancient Maya, but they are sensitive to drought and require fertile soils, said Sheets. "As 'high anxiety' crops, they received a lot of attention, including major roles in religious a...

Study shows transfer of heavy metals from water to fish in Huelva estuary

... was also detected at high concentrations. This research forms part of the project "Production and validation of environmental quality criteria in sensitive coastal ecosystems" financed by the former Ministry of Education and Science, and which also includes analysis of the levels of organic pollutants in ...