determines in Biological News

Response to immune protein determines pathology of multiple sclerosis

New research may help reveal why different parts of the brain can come under attack in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). According to a new study in mice with an MS-like disease, the brain's response to a protein produced by invading T cells dictates whether it's the spinal cord or cerebellum...

Improved technique determines structure in membrane proteins

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Understanding the form and function of certain proteins in the human body is becoming faster and easier, thanks to the work of researchers at the University of Illinois. By combining custom-built spectrometers, novel probe designs and faster pulse sequences, a team led by Illinoi...

Diet prior to pregnancy determines sheep's gender

Maternal diet influences the chances of having male or female offspring. Research published today in BioMed Central's open access journal Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology has demonstrated that ewes fed a diet enriched with polyunsaturated fats for one month prior to conception have a signifi...

New technique determines the number of fat cells remains constant in all body types

LIVERMORE, Calif. - The radioactive carbon-14 produced by above-ground nuclear testing in the 1950s and '60s has helped researchers determine that the number of fat cells in a human's body, whether lean or obese, is established during the teenage years. Changes in fat mass in adulthood can be attr...

Gene determines whether male body odor smells pleasant

To many, urine smells like urine and vanilla smells like vanilla. But androstenone, a derivative of testosterone that is a potent ingredient in male body odor, can smell like either - depending on your genes. While many people perceive a foul odor from androstenone, usually that of stale urine or ...

Researchers discover mechanism that determines when detailed memories are retained

The levels of a chemical released by the brain determine how detailed a memory will later be, according to researchers at UC Irvine. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine, a brain chemical already established as being crucial for learning and memory, appears to be the key to adding details to a memo...

Genetic tug of war determines sexual differentiation

Whether or not a fertilized mammalian egg ultimately develops into a male or female is determined by the winner of a tug of war between two different genes encoding signaling proteins and the divergent pathways they control, according to a new study led by Duke University Medical Center cell biolog...

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 ...

Researchers Discover Gene That Determines Asthma Susceptibility By Regulating Inflammation

Disruption of a single gene, Nrf2, plays a critical role in determining the susceptibility to asthma. A research team led by Shyam Biswal, PhD, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found the absence of Nrf2 exacerbated allergen-mediated asthma in mice models. The study’s findings,...

International Team Determines Geographic Origin of Leprosy

Leprosy likely originated in East Africa and spread to Asia and Europe before being imported into West Africa by explorers, report scientists in this week's issue of Science. The findings enrich the historical understanding of leprosy's global migration and contradict a commonly held view that lepr...

Newly-discovered class of genes determines ?and restricts ?stem cell fate

Research on adult stem cells found in the skin hints at a new class of genes, according to a study from investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. These genes ?dubbed pangenes ?can both govern a stem cell's fate and put a hold on future differentiation until the time is rig...

AGU journal highlights -- Aug. 6, 2009

...; http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009GL039076 7. An overview of global dimming and brightening Radiation from the Sun fuels life on Earth and determines the climate of its inhabitants. The amount of radiation that reaches the Earth's surface helps to control evaporation rates, snow and glacier melt, ca...

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

...hat contain incorrect bandwidth for amplification. The device inspects each individual laser pulse, which is traveling at the speed of light, and then determines if the pulse meets the bandwidth requirements to avoid self-destruction during amplification. Spectral Sentry can stop the speed-of-light pulse it ju...

LincRNAs serve as genetic air-traffic controllers

...Institute. "Chromatin does this through a process of compaction; by determining which areas to compact and which to leave open, chromatin successfully determines which genes are accessible for transcription." But he adds, it has been a mystery as to how this chromatin structure is so precisely targeted by sp...

Stanford researchers publish comprehensive model for medical device development

...nfluence the manner in which medical devices are developed, approved, and brought to market. The pace at which such regulatory requirements can be met determines when the device will reach the clinic. Specifically, FDA's Quality System Regulation plays a substantial role in the development process and serve...

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

...-team fashion to send important signals within a cell. Most proteomic technologies have been based on mass spectrometry, a decades-old technology that determines which proteins are in a specimen based on the mass and electric charge of fragments of each protein. The current biomarker discovery process typica...

Why do we choose our mates? Ask Charles Darwin, prof says

...swered include the role of population characteristics and the environment and how they work together to produce strong sexual selection, and also what determines whether or not female choice will evolve in a particular species. And perhaps the biggest question of all: How does all of this pertain to humans? ...

Why the thumb of the right hand is on the left hand side

... This press release is available in German . It is the concentration of a few signaling molecules that determines the fate of individual cells during the early development of organisms. In the renowned journal Current Biology , a team of molecular biologists led ...

Protecting fresh-cut produce

...ints: overall visual quality (OVQ), browning edges, color, decay/breakdown/sliminess, aroma, crispness, off odor, and total aerobic plate count, which determines microbial load. Evaluations were conducted every 5 days for 20 days, and subjective criteria were based on the opinions of three judges. Results va...

Analysis finds strong match between molecular, fossil data in evolutionary studies

...ary history of certain lineages as determined by fossils or by genetics. Scientists using molecular techniques assert that genetics more accurately determines evolutionary relationships than does a comparison of physical characteristics preserved in fossils. But how inaccurate, really, were the fossils? Jabl...

Researchers discover that gene switches on during development of epilepsy

... they allow passage of calcium ions into the cell and are responsible for the electrical activity of the brain. The passage of calcium ions into cells determines how excitable the cells are, and how easily abnormal activity spreads through the brain. If, as in epilepsy, a particular channel shows up where i...

New nucleotide could revolutionize epigenetics

...ethylated cytosine in Purkinje cells and 10 percent in granule neurons. He then performed a series of tests on 'x,' including mass spectrometry, which determines the elemental components of molecules by breaking them down into their constituent parts, charging the particles and measuring their mass-to-charge ra...

Researchers identify specific lung cancer susceptibility gene

...er in an effort to identify specific causal genes." Genes, which are located in fixed positions on the cell's chromosomes, carry the DNA code that determines inherited characteristics, including a risk of certain diseases. For this study, Anderson and his multi-institutional team collected biological sam...

Penn biologists discover how 'silent' mutations influence protein production

... PHILADELPHIA - Biologists at the University of Pennsylvania have revealed a hidden code that determines the expression level of a gene, providing a way to distinguish efficient genes from inefficient ones. The new research, which involved creating hundr...

Clemson and collaborators receive $1.1 million to improve durability of concrete infrastructure

...ty between ingredients that make up concrete. How the ingredients in concrete interact with each other, as well as with the environment they serve in, determines a lot about how long materials will last in the elements. Improper selection of raw materials that are used in concrete can result in ASR distress." ...

Early family ties: No sponge in the human family tree

...ians, three ctenophores and the single known species of placozoans. Their analyses were based on a relatively new approach called phylogenomics, which determines the evolutionary relationships of life forms by comparing large datasets of gene sequences. Together with biochemists, evolutionary and computational ...

Mollusks taste memories to build shells

...e excitatory and inhibitory regions surrounding the secretory cells and the cells' firing thresholds nine parameters in all as a neural network that determines how much calcium and pigment is secreted. Based solely on these nine parameters, Boettiger, Oster and Ermentrout were able to reproduce the shapes ...

Satellite snow maps help reindeer herders adapt to a changing Arctic

...d Polar View initiative is providing them with satellite-based snow maps. "Snow is of paramount importance for reindeer herding because its quality determines whether reindeer are able to access the pastures that lie beneath it for much of the year," said Anders Oskal, the Director of the International Centr...

NIST-Cornell team builds world's first nanofluidic device with complex 3-D surfaces

... light is transmitted through the photomask in varying degrees according to the "shades" defined in the pattern. The amount of light permitted through determines the amount of exposure of the photoresist, and, in turn, the amount of photosensitive chemical removed after development. The NIST-Cornell nanofabr...

Brain building: Study shows brain growth tied to cell division in mouse embryos

...ed how Vangl2 might influence brain development. In the cerebral cortex, neurons are born from a pool of progenitor cells, and the time of their birth determines their fate. The research duo found that Vangl2-lacking mouse embryos had large numbers of early-born neurons and few remaining progenitor cells. This ...

UF scientist tapped by Howard Hughes Medical Institute to pursue 'best ideas'

...ing, published in the journal Cell, was later proven true for other animals, including people. After finding the trigger, Cohn set out to find what determines the precise positioning of limbs, such as hands on the ends of arms at the shoulders, and feet on the ends of legs protruding from the trunk. His r...

Research synthesis shines light on several management options after fires in diverse ecosystems

...r fire hinges upon. The publication, Effects of Timber Harvest Following Wildfire in Western North America, tells us that the type of forest landscape determines the ways fire and logging may change an area after a wildfire. The authors, however, hope that public land managers will use the publication to evalua...

Scientists at CSHL discover mobile small RNAs that set up leaf patterning in plants

...e a concentration gradient that divides the developing leaf into a top and bottom half with different specialized cell types. A ta-siRNA 'gradient' determines the ups and downs of developing leaves The function of these ta-siRNAs is to specifically block the activity of a gene called ARF3. This gene defin...

Unfolding 'nature's origami'

...misfold en route to their intended structure, and importantly, has shown the forces at work during the folding process. While the chain of amino acids determines which shape a protein needs to take, the researchers discovered that it was the very amino acids central to the protein's function that were causing t...

Scientists at CSHL discover mobile small RNAs that set up leaf patterning in plants

...e a concentration gradient that divides the developing leaf into a top and bottom half with different specialized cell types. A ta-siRNA 'gradient' determines the ups and downs of developing leaves The function of these ta-siRNAs is to specifically block the activity of a gene called ARF3. This gene defin...

Newly discovered gene plays vital role in cancer

...on, control is effected instead through the production of mutually stabilising or destructive RNA molecules by genes with overlapping sequences, which determines whether or not the RNA molecules form proteins. "At least 20 per cent of all genes can be regulated by antisense RNA, making it a potentially very ...

Scientists discover why teeth form in a single row

... A system of opposing genetic forces determines why mammals develop a single row of teeth, while sharks sport several, according to a study published today in the journal Science . When completely ...

'Freaks' help scientist unravel nature and nurture

...pecies -- including alligators and turtles -- possess no such chromosomes. In such species, it is the temperature at which the eggs are incubated that determines the sex of the animal. So, when it comes to the system that creates sex, temperature and chromosomes are interchangeable. "Such examples of interch...

Mental fatigue can affect physical endurance

...tudy finds. The study also found that mental fatigue did not cause the heart or muscles to perform any differently. Instead, our "perceived effort" determines when we reach exhaustion. The researchers said the next step is to look at the brain to find out exactly why people with mental fatigue perceive exerc...

'Experiment of nature' examines how mother's diet may impact on child's health

...a new study based on an "experiment of nature" being conducted by Wellcome Trust-funded researchers. We inherit our DNA the genetic blueprint that determines our make-up from our parents: 50% of our DNA from our mothers and 50% from our fathers. Apart from the occasional mutation, deletion or duplication o...