explain

Gene variations explain drug dose required to control seizures

Determining which variants of particular genes patients with epilepsy carry might enable doctors to better predict the dose of drugs necessary to control their seizures, suggest basic findings by researchers at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) and the University College London. Patients often undergo a lengthy process of trial and error to find the dose of ant...

Jumping gene helps explain immune system's abilities

A team led by Johns Hopkins scientists hasfound the first clear evidence that the process behind the human immunesystem's remarkable ability to recognize and respond to a milliondifferent proteins might have originated from a family of genes whoseonly apparent function is to jump around in genetic material. essentially cut...

Gene sequencing explains bioremediation 'bug'

A team led by Johns Hopkins scientists hasfound the first clear evidence that the process behind the human immunesystem's remarkable ability to recognize and respond to a milliondifferent proteins might have originated from a family of genes whoseonly apparent function is to jump around in genetic material. essentially cut...

Variation in women's X chromosomes may explain differences among individuals, between sexes

The first comprehensive survey of gene activity in the X chromosomes of women has revealed an unexpected level of variation among individuals, according to new work by researchers at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) and Pennsylvania State University. The results may have important implications for understanding the differences in traits among women and...

Iron exporter revealed that may explain common human disorder

The first direct evidence that a single protein is critical in the cellular export of iron may help to explain human hemochromatosis, researchers report in the March issue of Cell Metabolism. Hemochromatosis--which affects one in every 200 to 300 people in Western populations --causes tissues of the body to become overloaded with iron. Left untreated, the hereditary disease can lead to org...

New book explains antibiotic resistance for a broad audience

Media coverage about "superbugs" that defy current treatments has increased the public's awareness of and fears surrounding the issue of antibiotic resistance. A new book from ASM Press, Revenge of the Microbes: How Bacterial Resistance is Undermining the Antibiotic Miracle, provides an in-depth overview of the subject in a reader-friendly, comprehensible style that will engage everyone from scie...

Cats' indifference towards sugar explained

Unlike most mammals, cats--both domestic and wild--are indifferent to sweets. A new study in PLoS Genetics explains the molecular mechanism behind their strictly carnivorous behavior. "We took a behavioral question and answered it molecularly," says Joseph Brand, senior author of the study and Associate Director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center. Scattered on mammalian tongues are speci...

Monkeypox mystery: New research may explain why 2003 outbreak in the US wasn't deadly

An outbreak of 72 cases of monkeypox in the United States during the summer of 2003 didn't produce a single fatality, even though the disease usually kills 10 percent of those infected. In this month's issue of Virology, researche...

Noise And Delays Explain Why Some Genes Oscillate In Activity

If you snooze, you lose those uncomely grayish-brown crescents below your eyes. If you don't snooze, you lose a lot more. The body can't fight off infection, the muscles can't regenerate as quickly, the mind can't learn new words, and the eyes can't focus on the road. You also gain things: a bad mood and increased risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart problems. Indeed, the effects of...

Scientist uses form to explain function of key building blocks of life

University of Wisconsin-Madison biochemists have developed an approach that allows them to measure with unprecedented accuracy the strengths of hydrogen bonds in a protein. The scientists were then able to predict the function of different versions of the protein based on structural information, a novel outcome that was published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.</...

Phenolic compounds may explain Mediterranean diet benefits

Phenolic compounds in olive oil, which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-clotting properties, may explain cardiovascular health benefits associated with the so-called Mediterranean Diet, according to a new study in the Nov. 15, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. "It could be that the beneficial effect of the Mediterranean diet on cardiovascular dis...

Patterns in genome organization may partially explain how microbial cells work

The location of a piece of real estate may be its most important feature to many Realtors, and bioengineering researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the University of Virginia have reported that the location of genes and other features distributed along the chromosomes of bacteria and simpler organisms also is fundamentally important to how microbial cells operate....

Newly identified mechanism helps explain why people of African descent are more vulnerable to TB

A team of scientists has identified a cellular mechanism that may help explain the puzzle of why people of African descent are more susceptible to tuberculosis infection and why, once infected, they develop more severe states of the disease than whites. The team includes researchers from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). The paper will appea...

Pleasing plant shapes explained by new computer model

Flowers are innately beautiful to the human eye, but how does a sunflower achieve its stunning disc of intersecting spirals or a daisy its delicate symmetry? That was the question tackled by University of Calgary computer scientists, who have answered one of biology's enduring questions with an animated model that provides the most detailed simulation of how plants grow into recognizable s...

Mute swan population helps explain longstanding evolutionary question

In an important new study forthcoming from The American Naturalist, biologists from the University of Oxford tracked a colony of mute swans for more than two decades to explore a longstanding evolutionary question: whether the number of eggs laid by a female bird ?known as "clutch size" ?changes in accordance with natural selection. "Extensive debate in the literature…was first focused on...

Brain differences could explain why males and females experience pain relief differently

A study conducted by investigators at Georgia State University and the Atlanta-based Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) reports that anatomical and functional differences in the brain may explain sex differences in the experience of pain and in the effects of certain drugs on pain. The finding, reported in the April 13 issue of the Journal of Comparative Neurology, is the first rep...

Alzheimer's study first to explain death of brain cells

Researchers at Children's Hospital & Research Center at Oakland (CHRCO) have published a new study that is the first to explain how brain cells die in patients with Alzheimer's Disease. This discovery is an important first step to helping researchers devise ways to slow, prevent and eventually cure a disease that affects an estimated 4.5 million Americans. In a study published in the...

Viral 'fitness' explains different resistance patterns to aids drugs

Some HIV medications lead to the development of drug-resistant HIV when patients take as few as two percent of their medications. For other medications, resistance occurs only when patients take most of their pills. These differences appear to be explained by the different levels of viral "fitness" of the drug-resistant HIV, say AIDS researchers in a new study. The research, led by David B...

Molecular mechanism may explain how fevers spark seizures

It's one of those unavoidable facts of life -- kids get sick and have fevers. Usually, those elevated internal temperatures cause only temporary discomfort, but in some small children they spark convulsions called "febrile seizures." These convulsions are "scary and very upsetting to parents," said Robert L. Macdonald, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of Neurology. They've also been somet...

Evolution of 'irreducible complexity' explained

Using new techniques for resurrecting ancient genes, scientists have for the first time reconstructed the Darwinian evolution of an apparently "irreducibly complex" molecular system. Ho...

UGA study explains peaks and troughs of dengue epidemics

Scientists have long known that epidemics of dengue fever wax and wane over a period of several years, but they've never been quite sure why. With the incidence and range of the potentially deadly mosquito-borne illness increasing, understanding the factors that influence these epidemics has never been more important. A new study by researchers at the University of Georgia suggests that a...

Potato blight pathogenicity explained by genome plasticity

A team of researchers from Wageningen University report in this month's issue of that they have identified a unique genetic fingerprint in the pathogen responsible for potato blight. Some strains of the pathogen possess multiple copies of a specific gene, while other strains possess only a single copy. Certain potato plants do not recognize strains of the pathogen with on...

Evolutionary forces explain why women live longer than men

Despite research efforts to find modern factors that would explain the different life expectancies of men and women, the gap is actually ancient and universal, according to University of Michigan researchers. "Women live longer in almost every country, and the sex difference in lifespan has been recognized since at least the mid-18th century," said Daniel J. Kruger, a research scientist in...

A new kind of mutation could explain numerous phenotypic variations in various species

The authors describe the discovery of a novel class of mutations that disrupt the function of a gene and thereby cause a specific phenotype. The mutation created the appearance of an "illegitimate" microRNA (miRNA) recognition site in a gene that did not have it in its normal form. In this study, the gene concerned is the myostatin. This gene is expressed in the skeletal muscle and the function...

New mechanism explains glucose effect on wakefulness

One of the body's basic survival mechanisms is the neural machinery that triggers the hungry brain to the alertness needed for seeking food. That same machinery swings the other way after a hearty meal, as exemplified by the long and honored custom of the siesta. However, scientists have understood little about how the basic energy molecule, glucose, regulates such wakefulness and other energy-re...

Advance helps explain stem cell behavior

Biochemists at Oregon State University have developed a new method to identify the "DNA-binding transcription factors" that help steer stem cells into forming the wide variety of cells that ultimately make up all the organs and parts of a living vertebrate animal. The findings were made using mouse embryonic spinal cord as a model, and will be announced this week in Proceedings of the Nat...

Theory of oscillations may explain biological mysteries

New mathematical studies of the interactions between oscillating biological populations may shed light on some of the toughest questions in ecology, including the number and types of species in an ecosystem, according to an article in the December 2006 issue of BioScience. The article, by John Vandermeer of the University of Michigan, shows how extensions of established theory suggest that many a...

Mosquito genes explain response to climate change

University of Oregon researchers studying mosquitoes have produced the first chromosomal map that shows regions of chromosomes that activate ?and are apparently evolving ?in animals in response to climate change. The map will allow researchers to narrow their focus to identify specific genes that control the seasonal development of animals. Such information will help predict which animals...

Scientists find hormone activity explains adolescent mood swings

The "raging hormones" of puberty are known to produce mood swings and stress for most teenagers, making it difficult to cope with this period of life. Until now, the specific causes of pubertal anxiety have not been identified, making it harder to understand and treat adolescent angst. In the current edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience, researchers led by Sheryl S. Smith, PhD, prof...

The kapok connection -- Study explains rainforest similarities

Research by University of Michigan evolutionary ecologist Christopher Dick and colleagues shows that...