Success in Biological News

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

Lars Jansen's work on the formation of the centromere, a key cellular structure in powering and controlling chromosome segregation and accurate cell division, has just earned him a paper in Nature Cell Biology and a prestigious EMBO installation grant, of 50,000 euro per year, for a maximum of f...

Study to evaluate success of parental involvement in early childhood education

New classrooms will open this fall in the Houston area with an added element: the parents will be students as well. The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $2.6 million, four-year grant to The University of Texas Health Science Center's Children's Learning Institute (CLI) to combine two...

Diatom genome helps explain success in trapping excess carbon in oceans

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. Diatoms, mighty microscopic algae, have profound influence on climate, producing 20 percent of the oxygen we breathe by capturing atmospheric carbon and in so doing, countering the greenhouse effect. Since their evolutionary origins these photosynthetic wonders have come to a...

Brainy genes, not brawn, key to success on mussel beach

It's hard being a mussel: you have to worry about hungry starfish and even hungrier humans, not to mention an environment that can change your body temperature 50 degrees Fahrenheit in just a few hours. "It's one of the most variable habitats on Earth," said USC biologist Andrew Gracey. "Mussel...

University success at national engineering awards

Technology that could reduce the environmental impact of oil drilling and a scientific technique that can be used to help map out oil deposits, improve the accuracy of carbon dating and even detect the use of illegal steroids in athletes have scooped two national awards. The research projects l...

Army can boost mission success by better managing

By better managing environmental issues during deployments, U.S. Army units can gain tactical and strategic advantages that will help in combat and post-conflict operations, and boost overall mission success, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today. The study finds that commanders ha...

HPV DNA test identifies cervical pre-cancerous disease in developing countries with 90% success rate

Results of the first study to determine the accuracy of a new rapid screening test for HPV (Human Papilloma Virus), created specifically for use in the developing world, have shown it to be 90 per cent accurate in detecting precancerous cervical disease when tested on a group of local women in Sha...

Don't count on long-term success in climate policy, warns paper in Decision Analysis

Long-term climate change policy in the U.S. and abroad is likely to change very slowly, warns a researcher who calls for stronger short-term goals to reduce carbon emissions, according to a study published in Decision Analysis , a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Managemen...

Undergrad has sweet success with invention of artificial Golgi

Troy, N.Y. An undergraduate student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has learned very quickly that a spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down. In fact, with his invention, the sugar may actually be the medicine. Among the most important and complex molecules in the human body...

Some migratory birds can't find success in urban areas, study finds

COLUMBUS, Ohio New research finds fresh evidence that urbanization in the United States threatens the populations of some species of migratory birds. But the six-year study also refutes one of the most widely accepted explanations of why urban areas are so hostile to some kinds of birds. Mo...

Study links success of invasive Argentine ants to diet shifts

The ability of Argentine ants to change from carnivorous insect eaters to plant sap-loving creatures has helped these invasive social insects rapidly spread throughout coastal California, according to a new study, displacing many native insects and creating ant infestations familiar to most coasta...

Age increases chance of success as two-timer

This release is available in German . The coal tit appears to live a strictly monogamous life. Couples often stay together for their whole lives. That's only a facade. This indigenous songbird is among the top ten two-timers worldwide. That is what research by biologists at the University o...

The importance of being helpful -- Cooperative cichlids boost their own reproductive success

Subordinate individuals living within a group of vertebrates sometimes assist a more dominant pair by helping to raise the dominant pair's offspring and this has been shown to occur among subordinate female cichlids. Reporting in the online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE , Dik Heg a...

UAB space freezers deemed a success

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. The newest generation of compact research freezers is performing well in space and have already boosted the scientific capacity of the International Space Station (ISS), said engineers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). A UAB-designed cryogenic freezer called GL...

Using hair to manage HIV/AIDS and predict treatment success

UCSF researchers have found that examining levels of antiretroviral drugs in hair samples taken from HIV patients on therapy strongly predicts treatment success. The findings, published in the February 20 issue of AIDS , note that the levels of antiretrovirals found in the hair of patients on...

Shifts in soil bacterial populations linked to wetland restoration success

DURHAM, N.C. -- A new study led by Duke University researchers finds that restoring degraded wetlands -- especially those that had been converted into farm fields -- actually decreases their soil bacterial diversity. But that's a good thing, say the study's authors, because it marks a return t...

Bumblebees learn the sweet smell of foraging success

Bumblebees use flower scent to guide their nest-mates to good food sources, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London. For any animal, finding food on its own can be time consuming and inefficient; social animals such as bees reduce these problems by informing their peers of...

Exposing chicks to maternal stress leads to long-term reproductive success

Do mothers purposely expose their offspring to their own stress? If so, why? The question arises because it is widely accepted that exposure to maternal stress during pre-natal development can have negative impacts on offspring following birth. To examine why a stressed mother would allow this...

Marine bacteria's mealtime dash is a swimming success

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Goldfish in an aquarium are able to dash after food flakes at mealtime, reaching them before they sink or are eaten by other fish. Researchers at MIT recently proved that marine bacteria, the smallest creatures in the ocean, behave in a similar fashion at mealtime, using their sw...

Predicting growth hormone treatment success

Growth hormone treatments work better on some children than on others, but judging which candidates will gain those vital inches in height is no simple task. Now researchers have developed a new mathematical model which predicts the optimal dose of growth hormone to treat children who are abnormal...

Teamwork improves learning and career success

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA -- A two-year study of college students at The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) proves that students learn better and develop higher-level skills by participating in cooperative (team) activities, compared to traditional classroom teaching methods. Elsa Snchez and Richard...

NASA keeps eye on ozone layer amid Montreal Protocol's success

Washington - NASA scientists will join researchers from around the world to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to reduce the hole in Earth's protective ozone layer. The United Nations Environment Program will host the meeting from Sept. 23-26 ...

Study shows continued success for new HPV vaccine against virus responsible for cervical cancer

A new vaccine aimed at preventing cervical cancer is nearly 100 percent effective against the two types of the human papillomavirus (HPV) responsible for most cases of cervical cancer. Results of a nationwide study of the vaccine will be published in the May 9 issue of the New England Journal of Me...

New success in engineering plant oils

Using genetic manipulation to modify the activity of a plant enzyme, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have converted an unsaturated oil in the seeds of a temperate plant to the more saturated kind usually found in tropical plants. The research will be pu...

Genes may determine success of hip replacement surgery

The success of long term hip replacement surgery may lie in the genes, suggests research published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. The researchers analysed genetic variations in 312 people, just over half of whom (162) had problems after hip replacement in the 10 years fol...

Smell of success for nanobiosensors

The new interdisciplinary technology approach, developed and tested by researchers in Spain, France and Italy with funding from the European Commission's FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) initiative of the IST programme, will ultimately lead to electronic noses based on natural olfactory recep...

Unique dual target specificity of kinase inhibitor key for success against cancer

Scientists have identified a new molecule that inhibits proliferation of a broad range of lethal malignant glioma cells in vitro and in vivo. The findings, published in the May issue of Cancer Cell, shed light on which PI3 kinase family members are most likely to play a role in cancer progression. ...

Blood test predicts success of quitting smoking using the nicotine patch

A blood test may enable doctors to predict which smokers using the nicotine patch are likely to experience the least amount of cravings and have the highest probability of success in quitting cigarettes, according to the results of a study in the June issus of the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology a...

Trial success for diabetic nerve therapy

A potentially ground-breaking treatment for nerve damage caused by diabetes has shown promising results in preclinical and early patient trials. The University of Manchester team has discovered that injection of a novel therapeutic that works by stimulating a person's genes may prevent nerve dama...

Males with elevated levels of testosterone lead shorter lives but have more success siring offspring

Comparative studies have studied testosterone levels and related them to mating systems and aggression, but very few studies have attempted to relate testosterone to fitness, that is, the combination of lifetime reproductive success and survival, in the wild or experimentally. Over nine breeding se...

Weapon performance determines mating success in the collared lizard

In territorial species with polygynous mating systems, reproductive success reflects phenotypic variation. At the gross level, such phenotypic variation can include that of body size and weapon morphology, as well as of weapon function and performance. In a study published in the September issue ...

Key To Stem Cell Transplant Success Is Tricking Immune System

A new study reveals critical molecular events in the origin of fat cells. The findings are central to understanding chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, as fat cells produce hormones critical for metabolic control, the researchers said. The study finds that a hormonal cocktail routinel...

No small feat: First ever gene therapy success for muscular dystrophy achieved

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh report the first study to achieve success with gene therapy for the treatment of congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) in mice, demonstrating that the formidable scientific challenges that have cast doubt on gene therapy ever being feasible for children w...

Secrets to antibody's success against West Nile Virus surprise scientists

Insights may advance vaccines for related viruses including dengue fever. A monoclonal antibody that can effectively treat mice infected with West Nile virus has an intriguing secret: Contrary to scientists' expectations, it does not block the virus's ability to attach to host cells. Instead, the a...

Elevated temperature enhances success of viral cancer therapy

A therapeutic approach for battling cancer that is based on infection with a specially designed virus similar to the one that causes the common cold has shown promise in clinical trials. Now, new research suggests that fever might be a useful weapon in the fight as well. The study, published in the...

Secret of smallpox's success may lead to bioterror cure

In disease, as in war, offensive strategies can become weaknesses, if the defenders see the enemy coming and compensate for its weapons. By manipulating what is perhaps the most devastating trick in cellular weaponry of pox viruses like smallpox, Arizona State University virologist and Biodesign...

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'...

Study shows lizard moms dress their children for success

Mothers know best when it comes to dressing their children, at least among side-blotched lizards, a common species in the western United States. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have found that female side-blotched lizards are able to induce different color patterns in thei...

Climate change poker: The barriers which are preventing a global agreement

...uarantee a deal will be agreed on. Nevertheless, the researchers write "Regardless, however, of the perspective from which one frames the discussions, success in Copenhagen and beyond will depend on parties' ability to negotiate past the tripping points [] by finding ways to match barriers with bargaining ch...

Sustainable agriculture at the ESA Annual Meeting

...ological instead of chemical methods to create healthy croplands doesn't include just above-ground approaches. Soil bacteria can affect the growth and success of crop plants by fixing nitrogen, aiding in the uptake of nutrients and decomposing dead organic matter. Some current farming practices, however, may...