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New, automated tool successfully classifies and relates proteins in unprecedented way

For the first time, researchers haveautomatically grouped fluorescently tagged proteins fromhigh-resolution images of cells. This technical feat opens a new way toidentify disease proteins and drug targets by helping to show whichproteins cluster together inside a cell.The approach, developed by Carnegie Mellon University, outperformsexisting visual methods to localize proteins inside cells...

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...

Agilent Technologies releases automated literature search tool for biology researchers

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today released an automated literature search tool for the multidisciplinary study of biological systems. The tool is available as a free plug-in to Cytoscape 2.1, an open-source bioinformatics platform that enables researchers to form a visual map of complex biological networks, increasing their understanding of molecular pathways and the biological causes of...

Key Trigger Of Opioid Withdrawal Symptoms Found

Researchers have discovered an important chemical in the brain's neuronal machinery that triggers some of the withdrawal symptoms of opioid drugs like morphine and heroin. They believe that drugs to inhibit the chemical--called a transporter--could relieve some of the early physical symptoms of withdrawal, such as teeth-chattering, uncontrolled shaking, and jumpiness. Such drugs could bec...

Chromosome Deletion Predicts Aggressive Neuroblastoma

When genes are deleted on a particular section of chromosome 11, the result is an aggressive form of the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. A new study suggests that detecting this genetic deletion during the initial evaluation of children with neuroblastoma may indicate to physicians that they should recommend a more aggressive regimen of chemotherapy to fight the cancer. Edward F. Attiyeh,...

U. Iowa researchers improve Huntington's disease symptoms in mice

Researchers at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine have taken another step toward a potential treatment for Huntington's disease (HD). Using an approach called RNA interference (RNAi), the scientists reduced levels of the disease-causing HD protein in mice and significantly improved the movement and neurological abnormalities normally associated with the diseas...

Asymptomatic HIV babies could use earlier treatment

Identifying and treating HIV-infected newborns is a race against the clock, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Researchers found that HIV-infected infants treated with one or two antiretroviral drugs within two months of birth were less likely to develop AIDS by their third birthday than were infants who were 3 or 4 months...

Unraveling a stomach cancer puzzle

It started several years ago with the observation that a large group of seemingly unconnected genes were behaving differently in patients with stomach cancer. Now a multi-national research team led by the Melbourne Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) has joined the proverbial dots and identified a potential new target for stomach cancer therapy, according to a paper publishe...

Menopause Symptoms May Come Back After Stopping Menopausal Hormone Therapy

Women who take soy or herbal supplements, such as black cohosh, red clover and ginseng, should do so with care, says a Cornell University expert affiliated with the Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors (BCERF) at Cornell, the land-grant institution of New York state. "Although there is no direct evidence that any herbal medicines can increase or decrease breast cancer ri...

Variant prion protein causes infection but no symptoms

Abnormal prion proteins are little understood disease agents involved in causing horrific brain-wasting diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in people, mad cow disease in cattle and chronic wasting disease in deer and elk. Now, new research suggests that a variant form of abnormal prion protein--one lacking an "anchor" into the cell membrane--may be unable to signal cells to start the letha...

Bacteria in Household Dust May Trigger Asthma Symptoms

New research shows that bacteria lurking in household dust produce chemicals that may trigger asthma and asthma-related symptoms such as wheezing. These bacterial chemicals, called endotoxins, particularly those found on bedroom floors, were linked with increased respiratory problems in adults. This study, supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a part of the...

Amphetamines reverse Parkinson's disease symptoms in mice

Amphetamines, including the drug popularly known as Ecstasy, can reverse the symptoms of Parkinson's disease in mice with an acute form of the condition, according to new research at Duke University Medical Center. The researchers caution that the findings in animals do not suggest Parkinson's disease patients should find relief by taking amphetamines, which are drugs of abuse with many d...

Customized gene chip provides rapid detection of genetic changes in children's cancer

Genetics researchers have developed a customized gene chip to rapidly scan tumor samples for specific DNA changes that offer clues to prognosis in cases of neuroblastoma, a common form of children's cancer. Rather than covering the entire genome, the microarray focuses on suspect regions of chromosomes for signs of deleted genetic material known to play a role in the cancer. The investigat...

Solexa and collaborating scientists illuminate the small RNA component of the transcriptome

Solexa, Inc. (Nasdaq: SLXA) today announced that its researchers in collaboration with the Delaware Biotechnology Institute and the University of Delaware reported the most comprehensive analysis to date of the small RNA component of the transcriptome. The research, "Elucidation of the Small RNA Component of the Transcriptome," was published in the September 2, 2005 issue of the peer-reviewed jou...

Mammalian Transcriptome Mapped

The FANTOM Consortium for Genome Exploration Research Group, a large international collection of scientists that includes researchers at The Scripps Research Institute's Florida campus, is reporting the results of a massive multi-year project to map the mammalian "transcriptome" in this week's issue of the journal Science. The transcriptome, or transcriptional landscape as it is sometimes...

Synthetic Protein Eases Arthritis Symptoms in Mice

A lab-made version of a human protein alleviates symptoms of both acute and chronic arthritis in mice and could be the basis for a new arthritis drug for people, report scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The protein prevents the assembly of a cell surface receptor, thus blocking transmission of chemica...

Anyway you slice it, tomatoes cut through drought with new gene

New tomato research has its roots in yielding more food to feed more people, according to Dr. Kendal Hirschi about results announced today. The team made tomato plants over-express the gene, AVP1, which resulted in stronger, larger root systems and that resulted in roots making better use of...

Largest study of human 'interactome' reveals a novel way

Discoveries made during the first large-scale analysis of interactions between proteins in our cells hold promise for identifying new genes involved in genetic diseases, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins and the Institute of Bioinformatics (IOB) in Bangalore. The findings, reported in the March issue of Nature Genetics, were made using a database of more than 25,000 protein-protein...

Tastier tomatoes in the future?

Tomatoes are good for you. They strengthen the immune system and can prevent heart and circulatory disease. Now, researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, in co-operation with Israeli scientists, have identified DNA fragments in tomatoes that make their contents both healthy and tasty. The researchers crossed wild tomatoes with cultured ones, then investigated the c...

Hooked on fishing, and we're heading for the bottom, says scientist

The world has passed "peak fish" and fishermen's nets will be hauling in ever diminishing loads unless there's political action to stem the global tide of over fishing, says a fisheries expert based at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Daniel Pauly says the crisis in the world's fisheries is less about scientific proof than about attitude and political will. And, he says, the world'...

New MRI technique shows emphysema in asymptomatic smokers

-A new imaging method has revealed early signs of emphysema in smokers with no external symptoms of the disease, according to a study published in the June issue of Radiology. The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, details a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that appears to be much more sensitive to lung changes than even the current modality of choice, computed t...

Chromosomal abnormalities in sperm higher after vasectomy reversal

Men who have had a vasectomy reversed have a very much greater rate of chromosomal abnormalities in their sperm than do normal fertile men, a scientist told the 22nd annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Prague, Czech Republic on Wednesday 21 June 2006. Professor Nares Sukchareon, of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Chulalongkorn Universi...

A dichotomy in migration patterns found for sea turtles in east Atlantic

Studying members of a large population of loggerhead sea turtles that nest on the Cape Verde islands off of West Africa, researchers have found an unexpected dichotomy in turtle behavior: While some turtles leave the nesting grounds to feed on bottom-dwelling sea life in shallow coastal waters, others leave Cape Verde to roam the much deeper open ocean along the African coast and exhibit a distin...

Innovative method for creating a human cytomegalovirus vaccine outlined

Each year, about 40,000 children are born infected with human cytomegalovirus, or CMV, and about 8,000 of these children suffer permanent disabilities due to the virus ?almost one an hour. These disabilities can include hearing loss, vision loss, mental disability, a lack of coordination, and seizures. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CMV is as common a cause of seriou...

Stomach receptor for H. pylori discovered

Scientists have determined that decay-accelerating factor (DAF), a protein found in epithelial cells in the stomach, acts as a receptor for the bacteria Helicobacter pylori. Blocking this interaction could lead to new drugs that reduce the risk of peptic ulcer disease or gastric cancer. The research appears as the "Paper of the Week" in the May 12 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, an...

Gene therapy prevents the onset of diabetic symptoms in mice

Acid rain, the environmental consequence of burning fossil fuels, running factories and driving cars, has altered soils and reduced the number of sugar maple trees growing in the Northeast, according to a new study led by Cornell University researchers. The sugar maple is the most economically valuable tree species in the eastern United States because of its high-priced lumber, syrup and...

Results with newer bladeless LASIK equivalent to standard microkeratome LASIK

A Mayo Clinic study comparing femtosecond (bladeless) and mechanical microkeratome LASIK surgeries has found equal results from both types six months post-surgery, using a variety of vision and eye health measurements. The study's findings will be presented next week in three abstracts at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. LASIK (Lase...

Molecular anatomy of influenza virus detailed

Scientists at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville have succeeded in imaging, in unprecedented detail, the virus that causes influenza. A team of researchers led by NIAMS' Alasdair Steven, Ph.D., working with a version of...

Novel EGFR ectodomain mutations in glioblastoma

The Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), a so-called kinase protein, is often abnormally active in cancer. A new class of anticancer drugs inhibiting the activated EGFR kinase have shown to be effective against such cancers, especially lung cancer. In a new study in PLoS Medicine, researchers have catalogued and characterized the mutations in the EGFR gene that occur in glioblastoma, a deadly...

Brain protein improves stroke symptoms in rats, even when injected after 3 days

A protein naturally occurring in the brain improves recovery from stroke when injected up to three days after the onset of the stroke, and could be used as an effective stroke drug. A study in rats published today in the open access journal BMC Biology shows that an injection of Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF), whose function in the brain is to control the formation of neurons and c...

Beyond the book: Software automates access to brain atlases

USC computer scientists have found a cheap, quick and copyright-respecting way to turn existing print brain atlases into multimedia resources. The software, now available in an experimental beta version for free download, is a robust and user-friendly interface that works on all the most popular computer operating systems. "Brain atlases are basic tools for researchers in neural science,"...

Stroke symptoms common among general population

As many as 18 percent of adults who have no history of stroke report having had at least one symptom of stroke, according to results of a large national study published in the October 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Using brain imaging to screen individuals without a history of stroke reveals that many have had an undiagnosed or silent stroke, a...

Comprehensive model is first to map protein folding at atomic level

Scientists at Harvard University have developed a computer model that, for the first time, can fully map and predict how small proteins fold into three-dimensional, biologically active shapes. The work could help researchers better understand the abnormal protein aggregation underlying some devastating diseases, as well as how natural proteins evolved and how proteins recognize correct biochemica...

Unique gene regulation gives chilly bugs survival advantage at bottom of the world

The larvae of Antarctic midges never stop producing special proteins that minimize environmental stress, allowing them to withstand a range of intense environmental conditions in one of the world's harshest environments. Scientists found that adult midges (Belgica antarctica) lose their ability to continually express these protective heat-shock proteins. Instead, like most animals, adult...

Salmonella survives better in stomach due to altered DNA

Since 1995 there has been a considerable increase in the number of infections with a specific type of Salmonella bacteria transmitted via food. This type, Salmonella serovar Typhimurium DT104, is resistant to at least five different antibiotics. Dutch researcher Armand Hermans found new genetic information in DNA of DT104 that might be involved in its survival and infection mechanism. This geneti...

On automatic pilot

Walking while holding a conversation and writing a letter whilst thinking about its content: we perform many actions without even thinking about them. This is possible due to the cerebellum. It regulates the automation of our movements and as a result the cerebrum can perform other tasks. However, how the cerebellum performs this task is not clear. Dutch researcher Angelique Pijpers reconstructed...

Unique tomatoes tops in disease-fighting antioxidants

Deep red tomatoes get their rich color from lycopene, a disease-fighting antioxidant. A new study, however, suggests that a special variety of orange-colored tomatoes provide a different form of lycopene, one that our bodies may more readily use. Researchers found that eating spaghetti covered in sauce made from these orange tomatoes, called Tangerine tomatoes, caused a noticeable boost in...

Drug treatment improves learning in mice with Down syndrome symptoms, Stanford/Packard study shows

A once-a-day, short-term treatment with a drug compound substantially improved learning and memory in mice with Down syndrome symptoms, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. What’s more, the gains lasted for months after the treatment was discontinued. The researchers are now considering a clinical trial to test whether the compound...

Custom-made cancer cell attacks

In his Jan. 23 State of the Union address, President George Bush outlined his plan to reduce the nation's dependency on foreign oil by requiring the production of 35 billion gallons a year of renewable and alternative fuels by 2017, roughly five times the current target set by Congress of 7.5 billion gallons by 2012. Among the most promising alternatives are fuels derived from biological m...

No-scalpel vasectomies by skilled surgeons may speed recovery

Although no-scalpel vasectomies are becoming more popular among physicians and patients, there are no definitive statistics to confirm the superiority of this choice, and a new review's main conclusion is to underline the importance of training. Yet training is not always available or sought, said lead reviewer Dr. Lynley Cook, a public health physician and clinical senior lecturer at the...