good in Biological News

Bad mitochondria may actually be good for you

Mice with a defective mitochondrial protein called MCLK1 produce elevated amounts of reactive oxygen when young; that should spell disaster, yet according to a study in this week's JBC these mice actually age at a slower rate and live longer than normal mice. Mitochondrial oxidative stress is a...

Laboring without the labor bed: It's a good thing

(Toronto: July 6, 2009) A University of Toronto pilot study that re-conceptualized the hospital labour room by removing the standard, clinical bed and adding relaxation-promoting equipment had a 28 per cent drop in infusions of artificial oxcytocin, a powerful drug used to advance slow labours. ...

Laughter remains good medicine

NEW ORLEANSThe connection between the body, mind and spirit has been the subject of conventional scientific inquiry for some 20 years. The notion that psychosocial and societal considerations have a role in maintaining health and preventing disease became crystallized as a result of the experience...

Laughter remains good medicine

NEW ORLEANSThe connection between the body, mind and spirit has been the subject of conventional scientific inquiry for some 20 years. The notion that psychosocial and societal considerations have a role in maintaining health and preventing disease became crystallized as a result of the experience...

Separating the good from the bad

Scientists at MIT and Brown University studying how marine bacteria move recently discovered that a sharp variation in water current segregates right-handed bacteria from their left-handed brethren, impelling the microbes in opposite directions. This finding and the possibility of quickly and c...

As good as it gets: Octogenarian muscles don't get stronger with exercise

BETHESDA, Md. (Mar. 31, 2009) Octogenarian women were unable to increase muscle mass after a 3-month weight lifting program targeted at strengthening the thigh muscle, according to a new study from the Journal of Applied Physiology . The results are surprising because previous studies have found ...

Coffee cultivation good for diversity in agrarian settlements but not in forests

Coffee shrubs, both in themselves and because they are most often cultivated in the shade of large trees, can have a positive impact on plant and animal diversity in those parts of the landscape that are deforested and dominated by agriculture. What constitutes a dilemma for consumers wishing to ...

Researchers learn that some 'good cholesterol' isn't good enough

If you think your levels of "good cholesterol" are good enough, a new study published in the December 2008 issue of The FASEB Journal suggests that you may want to think again. In the report, researchers from the University of Chicago challenge the conventional wisdom that simply having high lev...

When a good nanoparticle goes bad

Researchers at Cornell University recently made a major breakthrough when they invented a method to test and demonstrate a long-held hypothesis that some very, very small metal particles work much better than others in various chemical processes such as converting chemical energy to electricity in...

Swamping bad cells with good in ALS animal models helps sustain breathing

In a disease like ALS - one that's always fatal and that has a long history of research-resistant biology - finding a proof of principle in animal models is significant. This week, Johns Hopkins researchers report that transplanting a new line of stem cell-like cells into rat models of the dise...

Stabilizing force for good communication between neurons and muscle cells found

You can't raise a finger without your brain directing muscle cells, and scientists have figured out another reason that usually works so well. A neuron sends a message, or neurotransmitter, to the muscle cell to tell it what to do. To get the message, the receiving cell must have a receptor. Od...

Beavers: Dam good for songbirds

NEW YORK (October 8, 2008) The songbird has a friend in the beaver. According to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the busy beaver's signature dams provide critical habitat for a variety of migratory songbirds, particularly in the semi-arid interior of the West. ...

More research needed to make good on biofuel promise, experts say

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - While cellulosic biofuels derived from grasses, crop residues and inedible plant parts have real potential to be more efficient and environmentally friendly than grain-based biofuels like corn ethanol, more research and science-based policies are needed to reap these benefit...

Do birds have a good sense of smell?

This press release is available in German . The sense of smell might indeed be as important to birds as it is to fish or even mammals. This is the main conclusion of a study by Silke Steiger (Max Planck Institute for Ornithology) and her colleagues. The sense of smell in birds was, until q...

The body's own 'cannabis (marijuana)' is good for the skin

Scientists from Hungary, Germany and the U.K. have discovered that our own body not only makes chemical compounds similar to the active ingredient in marijuana (THC), but these play an important part in maintaining healthy skin. This finding on "endocannabinoids" just published online in, and sc...

The good and the bad of a potential Alzheimer's target

Research in fruit flies has shown that enhancing the production of a protein called neprilysin can reduce the formation of plaques and neuron death associated with Alzheimer's, at the expense of reducing the flies' lifespan. The buildup of amyloid-beta protein plaques within the brain is a maj...

Network science for eternal happiness and good business

Norwich scientists are hosting this year's annual Network Science conference, an international event that brings together the world's top experts on this exciting and growing subject. Network science is a new way of looking at the world and of solving problems from the recovery of lost cell fun...

Study finds Chinese food good for your heart

(PHILADELPHIA) A clinical study on patients who have suffered a heart attack found that a partially purified extract of Chinese red yeast rice, Xuezhikang (XZK), reduced the risk of repeat heart attacks by 45%, revascularization (bypass surgery/angioplasty), cardiovascular mortality and total mor...

Niacin's role in maintaining good cholesterol

A research team has uncovered the likely target of niacin (vitamin B3) in the liver, which should provide a clearer picture of how this vitamin helps maintain adequate HDL-cholesterol levels in the blood and thus lower the risk of heart disease. While niacin can increase plasma HDL levels, the ...

Some biofuels might do more harm than good to the environment, study finds

Biofuels based on ethanol, vegetable oil and other renewable sources are increasingly popular with government and environmentalists as a way to reduce fossil fuel dependence and limit greenhouse gas emissions. But new research led by a biologist at the University of Washington, Bothell, shows...

Astronaut health on moon may depend on good dusting

HOUSTON (May 13, 2008) Lunar dust could be more than a housekeeping issue for astronauts who visit the moon. Their good health may depend on the amount of exposure they have to the tiny particles. To prepare for a return to the moon, researchers with the National Space Biomedical Research Ins...

Prions show their good side

Prions, the infamous agents behind mad cow disease and its human variation, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, also have a helpful side. According to new findings from Gerald Zamponi and colleagues, normally functioning prions prevent neurons from working themselves to death. The findings appear in the Ma...

For good or ill Ireland gains another mammal species

Dave Tosh, from the School of Biological Sciences at Queens University, found the greater white-toothed shrew in Tipperary and Limerick while working with University College Cork and BirdWatch Ireland. Its natural range is in parts of Africa, France and Germany and before now the closest it has be...

ESF's workshop restores good name of sugar

Sugars were once credited with magical healing powers but are now seen like salt as an evil necessary in small doses but the cause of numerous diseases such as diabetes if taken in excess. Yet latest research suggests this view ignores the vital role played by more complex sugars in many biologica...

Scientists find good news about methane bubbling up from the ocean floor

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) -- Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is emitted in great quantities as bubbles from seeps on the ocean floor near Santa Barbara. About half of these bubbles dissolve into the ocean, but the fate of this dissolved methane remains uncertain. Researchers at the University of C...

Metal foam has a good memory

In the world of commercial materials, lighter and cheaper is usually better, especially when those attributes are coupled with superior strength and special properties, such as a material's ability to remember its original shape after it's been deformed by a physical or magnetic force. A new clas...

Overexcited neurons not good for cell health

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Neurotransmitters have consequences. They initiate events that are critical to a healthy life, giving us the ability to move, to talk, to breathe, to think. But thats if the neurotransmitters are getting it right and sending proper signals downstream to muscle cells, neurons or ...

Cranberry sauce: good for what ails you

WORCESTER, Mass. Cranberry sauce is not the star of the traditional Thanksgiving Day meal, but when it comes to health benefits, the lowly condiment takes center stage. In fact, researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) have found that compounds in cranberries are able to alter E. coli...

Foods, not specific nutrients, may be key to good health

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (November 6, 2007) In a recent academic review, a University of Minnesota professor in the School of Public Health has concluded that food, as opposed to specific nutrients, may be key to having a healthy diet. This notion is contrary to popular practice in food industry ...

How the brain handles surprise, good and bad

Whether its a mugger or a friend who jumps out of the bushes, youre still surprised. But your responseto flee or to hugmust be very different. Now, researchers have begun to distinguish the circuitry in the brains emotion center that processes surprise from the circuitry that processes the aversiv...

Immune police recognize good and bad guys in the body

Immune system police are as good at recognizing bad guys, such as bacteria and viruses, as they are our own tissue, researchers say. The finding may cause a stir in the scientific community, which has long held that regulatory T cells or Tregs, preferentially respond to body proteins, or self a...

Freezing prostate cancer does a man's body good

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (March 9, 2009)The so-called "male lumpectomy"a minimally invasive interventional radiology treatment for prostate canceris as effective as surgery in destroying diseased tumors and can be considered a first-line treatment for patients of all risk levels and particularly those wh...

Resuscitation technique after brain injury may do more harm than good

DALLAS July 1, 2008 The current standard practice of giving infants and children 100 percent oxygen to prevent brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation may actually inflict additional harm, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. Brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation, k...

Hawaiian treasure, macadamia nuts good for the heart

Incorporating macadamia nuts into a heart healthy diet can reduce cardiovascular disease risks according to Penn State researchers. "We looked at macadamia nuts because they are not currently included in the health claim for tree nuts, while other tree nuts are recommended as part of a healthy d...

Too much of a good thing? Excess nutrients or water limit biodiversity

Too much of a good thing (nutrients or water) actually decreases the diversity of species in an ecosystem while it increases the productivity of a few species, according to a grassland experiment conducted by University of Minnesota researchers. The reduction in species diversity occurs because ...

Backache beaten by good vibrations?

University of Manchester researchers are recruiting people with backache caused by nerve root pain ?commonly known as sciatica ?in the first ever study to discover if therapeutic ultrasound can help their condition. Dr Christopher McCarthy and his team at the University's Centre for Rehabilitatio...

Gene transfer using mutant form of good cholesterol cuts vascular plaque and inflammation

Transfer of a gene that produces a mutant form of good cholesterol provides significantly better anti-plaque and anti-inflammation benefits than therapy using the "normal" HDL gene, according to a mouse study conducted by cardiology researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and reported in the Oct...

Report focuses on the role good microbes play in future medicine

Not all bacteria are bad. In fact, beneficial microbes could represent the future of medicine, with the potential to treat a variety of diseases in humans and animals from diarrhea and eczema to gum disease and autoimmune disorders, according to a report released by the American Academy of Microbi...

Mushrooms as good an antioxidant source as more colorful veggies

Portabella and crimini mushrooms rank with carrots, green beans, red peppers and broccoli as good sources of dietary antioxidants, Penn State researchers say. Dr. N. Joy Dubost, who recently earned her doctorate in food science at Penn State, measured the activity of two antioxidants, polyphenols...

When good DNA goes bad

When otherwise normal DNA adopts an unusual shape called Z-DNA, it can lead to the kind of genetic instability associated with cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, according to a study by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. The study, issued in advance of the F...