linked in Biological News

Rodent size linked to human population and climate change

You probably hadn't noticed -- but the head shape and overall size of rodents has been changing over the past century. A University of Illinois at Chicago ecologist has tied these changes to human population density and climate change. The finding is reported by Oliver Pergams, UIC research ass...

LSUHSC shows for first time infant inhalation of ultrafine air pollution linked to adult lung disease

New Orleans, LA Stephania Cormier, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has shown for the first time that early exposure to environmentally persistent free radicals (present in airborne ultrafine particulate matter) affects long-term lung function. S...

Genetic marker linked to problem behaviors in adults with developmental disabilities

A common variation of the gene involved in regulating serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain may be linked to problem behaviors in adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, new research indicates. The findings were published in the July 2009 issue of the American Journal on I...

Early-life experience linked to chronic diseases later in life: UBC research

People's early-life experience sticks with them into adulthood and may render them more susceptible to many of the chronic diseases of aging, according to a new UBC study. A team led by UBC researchers Gregory Miller and Michael Kobor performed genome-wide profiling in 103 healthy adults aged 2...

Further gene mutations linked to autism risk

Pieces in the complex autism inheritance puzzle are emerging in the latest study from a research team including geneticists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The study identified 27 different genetic regions where rare copy n...

Protein linked to change in tissue that surround and support breast tumors

Washington, DC A protein known to be overly active in breast cancer can exist in a form that seems to change the structural composition of mammary tissue, potentially making it more conducive to tumor progression, say researchers from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown Univers...

Dioxins in food chain linked to breastfeeding ills

Exposure to dioxins during pregnancy harms the cells in rapidly-changing breast tissue, which may explain why some women have trouble breastfeeding or don't produce enough milk, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study. Researchers believe their findings, although only demons...

Scientists uncover mode of action of enzyme linked with several types of cancer

This release is available in French . Scientists at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Universit de Montral have discovered a key mechanism used by cells to efficiently distribute chromosomes to new cells during cell multiplication. Published in the journal ...

Protein linked to mental retardation controls synapse maturation, plasticity, CSHL team finds

Cold Spring Harbor, NY -- A team of neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has demonstrated the mechanism by which a signaling protein found throughout the brain controls the maturation and strength of excitatory synapses, the tiny gaps across which the majority of neurons communi...

UCSF discovers new glucose-regulating protein linked with diabetes

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and collaborators at Harvard Medical School have linked a specialized protein in human muscles to the process that clears glucose out of the bloodstream, shedding light on what goes wrong in type 2 diabetes on a cellular level. Estab...

Pediatric carbon monoxide poisoning linked to video games after Hurricane Ike

Hours after Hurricane Ike roared ashore in Texas, more than two million homes were without power, which left some scrambling to preserve food and others looking for ways to entertain children, a move that proved to be, in some instances, poisonous. Researchers at The University of Texas Health Sci...

Is vitamin D deficiency linked to Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia?

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, May 26, 2009 There are several risk factors for the development of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. Based on an increasing number of studies linking these risk factors with Vitamin D deficiency, an article in the current issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's D...

Low levels of vitamin D linked to common vaginal infection in pregnant women

PITTSBURGH, May 22 Pregnant women with low levels of vitamin D may be more likely to suffer from bacterial vaginosis (BV) a common vaginal infection that increases a woman's risk for preterm delivery, according to a University of Pittsburgh study. Available online and published in the June issue...

Vitamin D insufficiency linked to bacterial vaginosis in pregnant women

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common vaginal infection in US women of childbearing age, and is common in pregnant women. BV occurs when the normal balance of bacteria in the vagina is disrupted and replaced by an overgrowth of certain bacteria. Because having BV puts a woman at increased ri...

Vitamin D levels linked to asthma severity

New research provides evidence for a link between vitamin D insufficiency and asthma severity. Serum levels of vitamin D in more than 600 Costa Rican children were inversely linked to several indicators of allergy and asthma severity, including hospitalizations for asthma, use of inhaled stero...

Risk of vibration-induced vascular injuries linked to vibration frequency differences

Speaking on April 19 at the Experimental Biology 2009 meeting in New Orleans, Dr. Kristine Krajnak, a team leader in the Engineering and Control Technologies Branch of the Health Effects Laboratory Division of NIOSH in Morgantown, West Virginia, describes results from the first study to directly l...

Lab study shows THC exposure as adolescents linked to negative effects of THC as adults

In earlier studies, researchers at Louisiana State University had found that estrogen or more precisely, having ovaries made adult rats exposed for the first time to THC, the primary ingredient in marijuana and hashish, less sensitive to THC's negative effects on tests of learning and memory. ...

Early isolation linked to enhanced response to cocaine

NEW ORLEANSDrug addiction affects millions of people around the world, causing numerous problems ranging from emotional and psychological difficulties to physical and health issues. Initial drug use can be motivated by curiosity or peer pressure, but in some animals, such as rats, it can also be t...

Early isolation linked to enhanced response to cocaine

NEW ORLEANSDrug addiction affects millions of people around the world, causing numerous problems ranging from emotional and psychological difficulties to physical and health issues. Initial drug use can be motivated by curiosity or peer pressure, but in some animals, such as rats, it can also be t...

Prenatal meth exposure linked to abnormal brain development

ST. PAUL, Minn. A first of its kind study examining the effects of methamphetamine use during pregnancy has found the drug appears to cause abnormal brain development in children. The research is published in the April 15, 2009, online issue of Neurology , the medical journal of the American Aca...

Findings show insulin -- not genes -- linked to obesity

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have uncovered new evidence suggesting factors other than genes could cause obesity, finding that genetically identical cells store widely differing amounts of fat depending on subtle variations in how cells process insulin. Learning the precise mechanism resp...

Bone deformities linked to inbreeding in Isle Royale wolves

The wolves on Isle Royale are suffering from genetically deformed bones. Scientists from Michigan Technological University blame the extreme inbreeding of the small, isolated wolf population at the island National Park in northern Lake Superior. Researchers have collected the first scientific ...

Gene linked to lupus might explain gender difference in disease risk

DALLAS March 30, 2009 In an international human genetic study, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a gene linked to the autoimmune disease lupus, and its location on the X chromosome might help explain why females are 10 times more susceptible to the disease than males....

Genetic irregularities linked to higher risk of COPD among smokers

DURHAM, N.C. Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have discovered two genetic markers that appear to put some smokers at significantly higher risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The findings come from the first-ever genome-wide association study of COPD an...

Genes identified that are linked to spinal disc degeneration

Lumbar disc degeneration is an uncomfortable condition that affects millions of people, but two University of Alberta researchers have identified some of the genes that are causing problems. Michele Crites-Battie and Tapio Videman, in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, have discove...

Cats' eye diseases genetically linked to diseases in humans

COLUMBIA, Mo. About one in 3,500 people are affected with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a disease of the retina's visual cells that eventually leads to blindness. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has identified a genetic link between cats and humans for two different forms of RP. This discov...

Researchers capture wave of brain activity linked to anticipation

WASHINGTON, D.C. Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have, for the first time, shown what brain activity looks like when someone anticipates an action or sensory input which soon follows. In the February 25 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience , they say this neural clairv...

Decline of shorebird linked to bait use of horseshoe crabs

Declining numbers of a shorebird called the red knot have been linked to bait use of horseshoe crabs. Long-term surveys of red knots showed that the average weight of red knots when they leave Delaware Bay has declined significantly since their primary food source, eggs of horseshoe crabs, has ...

Researchers isolate protein domain linked to tumor progression

Troy, N.Y. When a promising cancer drug reached clinical trials in the 1990s, researchers were disappointed by the debilitating side effects that limited the trials. The drug inhibited a family of enzymes known as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Now, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Instit...

Researchers identify gene linked to aggressive progression of liver cancer

RICHMOND, Va. (Feb. 17, 2009) Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified a gene that plays a key role in regulating liver cancer progression, a discovery that could one day lead to new targeted therapeutic strategies to fight the highly aggressive disease. Hepatocellular carc...

Scientists uncover new genetic variations linked to psoriasis

Two international teams of researchers have made significant gains in understanding the genetic basis of psoriasis, a chronic skin condition that can be debilitating in some patients. Their research, involving thousands of patients, is reported in two studies published this week in the advance onl...

Global warming linked to European viral epidemic

An epidemic of the viral disease nephropathia epidemica (NE) has been linked to increases in the vole population caused by hotter summers, milder winters and increased seedcrop production by broadleaf trees. Research published in BioMed Central's open access International Journal of Health Geogra...

Team finds breast cancer gene linked to disease spread

A team of researchers at Princeton University and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey has identified a long-sought gene that is fatefully switched on in 30 to 40 percent of all breast cancer patients, spreading the disease, resisting traditional chemotherapies and eventually leading to death. Th...

Impaired energy metabolism linked with initiation of plaques in Alzheimer's brain

Scientists have identified an initiating molecular mechanism in sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study, published by Cell Press in the December 26th issue of the journal Neuron , provides new information about generation of damaging amyloid β (Aβ) plaques within the AD brain and u...

African thicket rat malaria linked to virulent human form

Even though the most deadly form of malaria for humans, Plasmodium falciparum , has been linked to malaria found in chimpanzees, this group has been fairly isolated on the malarial family treeuntil now. A new phylogenetic analysis from the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the America...

UT Southwestern researchers identify gene linked to inherited form of fatal lung disease

DALLAS Dec. 19, 2008 Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have determined that a mutation in a gene known for its role in defending the lungs against invading pathogens is responsible for some inherited cases of a lethal lung disease affecting older adults. The same mutation may also be...

First trimester smoking linked to oral clefts

Smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy is clearly linked with an increased risk of cleft lip in newborns. Genes that play a role in detoxification of cigarette smoke do not appear to be involved. This is shown in a new study published in the journal Epidemiology . Oral clefts are one...

Progression of retinal disease linked to cell starvation

BOSTON, Mass. (Dec. 7, 2008) Rods and cones coexist peacefully in healthy retinas. Both types of cells occupy the same layer of tissue and send signals when they detect light, which is the first step in vision. The incurable eye disease Retinitis Pigmentosa, however, reveals a codependent relatio...

Hairspray is linked to common genital birth defect, says study

Women who are exposed to hairspray in the workplace during pregnancy have more than double the risk of having a son with the genital birth defect hypospadias, according to a new study published today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives . The study is the first to show a significa...

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...