weak in Biological News

Why 'lazy Susan' has a weak heart

When young, apparently healthy athletes suddenly collapse, it can be due to hereditary cardiac disease. Researchers at the Heidelberg University Hospital have now discovered a genetic modification that leads to cardiac weakness in an animal model. Just one "false" amino acid can give zebrafish a h...

Scientists find universal rules for food-web stability

...more stable if there are strong interactions between some species, but only weak interactions between others. For food webs with many species, exactly the opposite is true. Extremely strong or weak predator-prey links in nature should therefore be the rarer the more specie...

Maternal, paternal genes' tug-of-war may last well into childhood

...r-Willi syndrome, and Temple syndrome -- place fewer demands on their mothers' resources. For example, newborns with all three disorders display a weak desire to nurse, and slower childhood growth in general. Many also show early onset of puberty, which often marks a point at which children become les...

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

...at High Temperatures (MELCOT) - predicts the service life of conductor-connector systems. The splices connecting the conductor lines are literally the weak links in power transmission systems. With this new method of investigating performance and integrity of the power line systems, researchers can develo...

Spontaneous assembly

...elate spatial organization with biological function." In the PALM technique, target proteins are labeled with tags that fluoresce when activated by weak ultraviolet light. By keeping the intensity of this light sufficiently low, researchers can photoactivate individual proteins. "Since individual pr...

Crustacean shell with polyester creates mixed-fiber material for nerve repair

... to trigger an immune response and the material is weak in wet environments, such as those inside the body...The problem is chitosan swells in water, making it weak in wet environments. Researchers combined the f...is crucial because imperfectly blended fibers have weak points. Zhang and colleagues built prototype ne...

Test detects molecular marker of aging in humans

...ctivity as well as with biomarkers of human frailty. Sharpless said that the researchers were surprised by some of their findings, "We found a very weak correlation between the biomarker and obesity as measured by body mass index (BMI) despite other data suggesting that caloric restriction slows agin...

Study: Illegal fishing harming present and future New England groundfish fisheries

... Solomons, Md. (June 4, 2009) weak enforcement combined with fishermen facing serious...arine Fisheries Service. "The one-two punch of weak enforcement and deteriorating economic conditions ...actors favoring compliance in the NEGF fishery are weak because many fishermen believe recent fishery mana...

'Disordered' amino acids may really be there to provide wiggle room for signaling protein

..., and so we tend to dismiss the interspersed disordered sequences that don't seem to have any definable structure," Roder says. "Here we show that the weak molecular interactions in a disorganized protein sequence are essential in giving this protein its unique attributes." It was also this disorgani...

Late motherhood boosts family lifespan

...rth at older ages. The brothers' wives didn't have longer lives, suggesting any environmental or social factors that influence lifespan had only a weak influence, and that genes may explain why brothers lived longer when they had a sister who gave birth in her 40s. The study didn't address how mu...

Laughing hyenas, wailing levees, the sound of cheese and blaring bagpipes

...approaching sound as closer than it actually is. This connection between physical fitness and the brain's auditory system may have evolved to help the weak get out of the way of approaching danger. That's the latest finding of evolutionary psychologist John Neuhoff and colleagues at The College of Woos...

Crabs' memory of pain confirmed by Queen's academic

... being experienced by these animals." Previous work at Queen's University found that prawns show prolonged rubbing when an antenna was treated with weak acetic acid but this rubbing was reduced by local anaesthetic. The findings are both studies are consistent with observations of pain in mammals. ...

A quarter of the world's population depends on degrading land

...a is cropland and 43% forest. Cropland occupies 12% of the land area and forest 28%, so both are affected disproportionately. The study found only weak correlations between degrading land and rural population density and with biophysical factors such aridity. The researchers conclude that more detaile...

'Climate change: Global risks, challenges and decisions'

...bsidies; reducing the influence of vested interests that increase emissions and reduce resilience; enabling the shifts from ineffective governance and weak institutions to innovative leadership in government, the private sector and civil society; and engaging society in the transition to norms and practic...

Interventional treatment can be recommended as first-line treatment for 'silent killer'

... This innovative and noninvasive method of placing a graft within an aneurysm redirects blood flow and stops direct pressure from being exerted on the weak aortic wall, explained Sabharwal. Interventional radiologists analyzed the results of 453 patients (ages 40󈟉) who underwent endovascular repa...

Salient Stills Notches Significant Advances in Profitability, Diversity of Sales and Customers, and Video Forensics Technology in 2008

...ess and analyze video; and the increasing embrace of helpful technology by more tech-savvy law enforcement agencies. While economic conditions may be weak in the near term, investigative workloads continue to grow and generate demand for our VideoFOCUS and VFSource forensics and capture systems." Wi...

European satellites provide new insight into ozone-depleting species

...some 20 years ago, bromine nitrate (BrONO2) was first observed in 2008 when scientists from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology discovered the gas's weak signal with data from MIPAS (the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding). "By comparing the novel MIPAS BrONO2 dataset with model...

BIO-key(R) Reports Profitability for Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2008

...ld catalyze activity in this space. In addition, we continue to see ongoing and growing interest in our Law Enforcement solutions despite the current weak economic climate because of new investments coming into public safety agencies. As we have focused on improving our earnings, we are continuing to se...

New models question old assumptions about how many molecules it takes to control cell division

... with an elaborate and expensive mechanism to replicate DNA molecules and not allow the random fluctuations predicted by statistical physics." The weak link in the is mRNA: the molecule that carries information from the gene to the cell's ribosomes, where proteins are made. The literature reports ...

British journal publishes inorganic chemistry research of NJIT professor

...e U.S. Army, to understand the architecture and reveal the reactivity of a class of molecules inspired by nature, but made more resistant by replacing weak C-H bonds by much stronger C-F bonds. This work illustrates the principle of bio-inspired chemistry, a term Gorun has coined. In two back-to-back c...

Cheap love costs the Earth

...out half of the total. That is not enough; together, the industry is sucking the lake dry. The country's legislation is strong, but its enforcement is weak so companies whose only interest is profit take advantage of that." Dr Harper said the demand for the ten thousand tonnes of roses sold in the UK f...

Rise or fall of reef fish driven by both economy and ecology

... deplete some fish species. Those locations also tended to have fewer traditional village rules to limit fishing and national governments that are too weak to effectively enforce fishery regulations. "In short, they have the technology to plunder their reefs, but not the institutions to protect them or t...

February 2009 Geology and GSA Today media highlights

...es 147-150. The long-term strength of the continental lithosphere remains a matter of debate, implying two opposite models with either a stiff or a weak lithosphere mantle, e.g. "jelly sandwich" versus "crme brle," respectively. In the study by Prcigout and Gueydan, numerical results show that the domi...

Statins may treat blood vessel disorder that can lead to fatal strokes

... inner lining of cells that forms a blood vessel's tubular passage for blood flow, does not form properly. When that happens, blood vessels can become weak and dilated, allowing them to leak. In mice with two distinct mutations of Ccm2, meaning the gene's function was knocked out, the researchers obser...

January-February GSA Bulletin media highlights

...at geothermal heating and topographic loading of extensive buried deposits of salts and/or mixtures of salts, ice, and basaltic debris would allow for weak detachments and large-scale gravity spreading. They propose that the generally linear chasmata of Valles Marineris reflect extension, collapse, and ex...

AGU journal highlights -- Dec. 31, 2008

... the sizes of rain and hail drops are large, weaker cold pools due to reduced evaporative cooling/melting over smaller geographic regions result. Such weak cold pools are found to produce conditions that enhance low-level rotation. The authors' simulations show that strong, sustained vertical updrafts are...

Case Western Reserve finds mechanism underlying alt. splicing of premessenger RNA into messenger RNA

...re-mRNA containing two alternative splice sites, a weak site and a much stronger site downstream of it. On...ults. In control synthetic pre-mRNA's where the weak upstream splice site was left out, splicing always... and the common splice ending point. But when the weak upstream site was present, changes in nucleotide t...

Tiny protein provokes healthy bonding between cells

...c cancer and lung cancer, possess dysfunctional alpha-catenin and form very weak bonds with their neighbors. This allows them to break free from cell masses..." Wirtz said. In contrast, cells without functional alpha-catenin formed weak bonds from the onset. Also, even as these cells remained in contact, bondin...

Fiddler crabs reveal honesty is not always the best policy

...ologists has discovered that some male fiddler crabs "lie" about their fighting ability by growing claws that look strong and powerful but are in fact weak and puny. Published this week in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology , the study is the first direct evidence that crabs "blu...

Battling bacteria in the blood: Researchers tackle deadly infections

...will turn deadly in some people, especially cancer patients and others with weak immune systems while being easily treated in others. It doesn't get much p...-life mouse infections. Using bacteria that had been modified to give off a weak light signal that can be detected from outside the body, and other bacteria...

Dry spells spelled trouble in ancient China

...ies. The researchers discovered that periods of weak summer monsoons coincided with the last years of t...d southern Greenland. Centuries later, a series of weak monsoons prevailed as Europe and Greenland shivere...the same time, on the other side of the world, the weak monsoons of the 14th century coincided with the en...

Simple chemical procedure augments therapeutic potential of stem cells

...he surface of adult stem cells. This moleculea cousin of SLeXformed temporary connections with proteins on the blood vessel wall, serving as a kind of weak tape. But Sackstein's method involved enzymes, which made the chemistry complicated. Karp's team achieved the same result without enzymes. Karp lab...

Indiana University research at American Public Health Association meeting

...ults to compare perceived norms about smoking between adults living in two cities with strong smoke-free air laws and adults living in two cities with weak smoke-free air laws. Those who lived in cities with a strong smoke-free air law perceived a lower prevalence of smoking in their city, were less likel...

Scientists discover bacteria that can cause bone infections

...y related to Mycobacterium intracellulare and Mycobacterium avium, which cause a lung disease similar to tuberculosis in people, especially those with weak immune systems such as HIV patients that are immunologically suppressed. It is rod-shaped and grows slowly. "Mycobacterium arosiense can be killed ...

As sticky as a gecko... but 10 times stronger!

...ing on by a molecular force called the Van der Waals force. This relatively weak force causes uncharged molecules to attract each other. In an unpreceden..., the adhesive has strong shear adhesion for firm attachment and relatively weak adhesion for detachment perpendicularly to the substrate. Just like a gecko...

Clue to genetic cause of fatal birth defect

...cognitive ability, but they survive. The UIC researchers had previously discovered this novel enzyme and were focused on its role in converting the weak hormone estrogen into the more potent estradiol in the ovaries and its possible role in breast cancer. Recent research has shown that the HSD17b7 ...

Stabilizing force for good communication between neurons and muscle cells found

... to be concentrated at the right spot to receive the neurotransmitter released," says Dr. Mei. If receptors are in the wrong place, the message can be weak or even lost. At the neuromuscular juncture, communication is usually straightforward, with primarily one neurotransmitter and one principal recept...

Egalitarian revolution in the Pleistocene?

... usually can intimidate any hostile coalition or the entire community. In sharp contrast, most known hunter-gatherer societies are egalitarian. Their weak leaders merely assist a consensus-seeking process when the group needs to make decisions, but otherwise all main political actors behave as equal. Som...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- Sept. 10, 2008

...mic butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), a natural blood protein that helps break down and inactivate the drug, researchers say. However, natural BChE is too weak and ineffective for medical use, the researchers note. The researchers describe design and produce the most potent, stable BChE structure ever prod...

Largest study of its kind implicates gene abnormalities in bipolar disorder

...sorder is thought to involve many different gene variants, each exerting relatively small effects, researchers need large samples to detect relatively weak signals of illness association. To boost their odds, Sklar and colleagues pooled data from the latter two previously published and one new study o...