New findings by a research team from the University of Edinburgh may help explain why diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) which attack the myelin sheath – an insulator which protects the body’s nervous system – cause such severe symptoms in MS patients. Their discoveries may lead to new ways to help treat patients with MS, it is reported in the journal Neuron today (Thursday, 8 December).
The scientists have made an important breakthrough in understanding how animals with compl
A team of researchers led by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), the University of Toronto (U of T) and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have discovered a protein that is responsible for shaping the nervous system. This research was made possible with the support of a $1.5-million NeuroScience Canada Brain Repair ProgramTM team grant that enabled scientists from across Canada to work together and fast track their research. This research is reported in the December 8, 2005 issue of the journal
Glacier has shrunk by nine miles, now at midpoint of retreat
Alaska’s rapidly disintegrating Columbia Glacier, which has shrunk in length by 9 miles since 1980, has reached the mid-point of its projected retreat, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.
Tad Pfeffer, associate director of CU-Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, said the glacier is now discharging nearly 2 cubic miles of ice annually into the Prince William Sound,
The six-legged fruitfly appears to have little in common with humans, but a new finding shows that they are really just tiny, distant cousins. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Embryology have found that adult fruitflies have the same stem cells controlling cell regulation in their gut as humans do. The research is important for understanding digestive disorders, including some cancers, and for developing cures. “The fact that fruitflies have the same genetic programmi
Quantum memory
A series of publications in the journal Nature highlights the race among competing research groups toward the long-anticipated goal of quantum networking.
In one of three papers published the journal’s December 8 issue, a group of physicists from the Georgia Institute of Technology led by Professors Alex Kuzmich and Brian Kennedy describes the storage and retrieval of single photons transmitted between remote quantum memories composed of rubidium atoms
In the December 15th issue of G&D, Dr, Michael Snyder and colleagues (Yale University) explore transcription factor binding under different cell activation conditions.
The authors used a ChIP-chip approach to map out STAT1 and STAT2 binding sites along the human chromosome 22 after IFN-alpha or IFN-gamma stimulation. They found that STAT1 displays stimulus-dependent binding activity:
While 52 binding sites are conserved between IFN-alpha and IFN-gamma treatment, 100 targets
Drs. Athar Ansari and Michael Hampsey (UMDNJ) lend new insight into the mechanism of gene transcription by the RNA polymerase II in the yeast. The researchers report a physical juxtaposition of the promoter and terminator regions of the BUD3 and SEN1 genes of S. cerevisiae.
This transcription-dependent gene looping requires components of the CPF 3’-end processing complex, and the authors believe it promotes transcription reinitiation by facilitating translocation of RNAP II from the t
As any dog lover knows, no two breeds are identical. Some dogs are perfect for sloppy kisses. Others make fierce guardians. Still others resemble tiny, fluffy toys. Now, two new studies by scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and collaborators reveal the genomic differences beneath such canine characteristics.
In the December issue of Genome Research–a special issue devoted to dog genomes–TIGR researchers Ewen Kirkness and Wei Wang compared the genome sequence
NASA researchers, using data from the agency’s AURA satellite, determined the seasonal ozone hole that developed over Antarctica this year is smaller than in previous years.
NASA’s 2005 assessment of the size and thickness of the ozone layer was the first based on observations from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on the agency’s Aura spacecraft. Aura was launched in 2004.
This year’s ozone hole measured 9.4 million square miles at its peak between
Fructose may trick you into thinking you are hungrier than you should be
Suddenly sugar isn’t looking so sweet.
University of Florida researchers have identified one possible reason for rising obesity rates, and it all starts with fructose, found in fruit, honey, table sugar and other sweeteners, and in many processed foods.
Fructose may trick you into thinking you are hungrier than you should be, say the scientists, whose studies in animals have reveal
Like their younger counterparts, some elderly patients who have early stage non-small cell lung cancer can benefit from a minimally invasive surgical procedure to remove part or all of a lung, according to a study conducted by thoracic surgeons at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and described in The American Surgeon, the journal of the Southeastern Surgical Congress and the Southern California Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.
When non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) are d
University of Kentucky researchers have discovered a means of reducing gate leakage current of transistors in computer chips that will permit chip producers to continue developing more efficient and powerful chips with reduced power consumption.
Zhi Chen, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, found that applying rapid thermal processing directly on gate insulators – used to control current flow of transistors in computer chips – can dramatically reduce the chips
A new treatment for pancreatic cancer developed by clinical researchers of Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center substantially reduces the size of tumors and lowers the risk of local recurrence of the disease. Fifty percent of patients in the study responded to therapy–one of the highest response rates ever seen with pancreatic cancer. Results of the study were published in the December 2005 issue of the Annals of Surgical Oncology.
Researchers, led by oncolog
Male water fleas that scientists have never seen have made their debut in a University at Buffalo laboratory, providing biologists with their first glimpse of these elusive organisms.
The UB research, published last month in Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, opens a new window on the biological diversity of several species of water fleas, including those in the genus Daphnia and the genus Bosmina, that play major roles in freshwater food webs.
It a
Jets of fine, icy particles streaming from Saturn’s moon Enceladus were captured in recent images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The images provide unambiguous visual evidence the moon is geologically active.
“For planetary explorers like us, there is little that can compare to the sighting of activity on another solar system body,” said Dr. Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. “This has been a heart-stopper, and surely one
Although adolescent sports-related deaths are rare, they are commonly caused by cardiovascular problems, such as commotio cardis–cardiac arrest caused by being hit in the chest with an object, such as a baseball or softball, usually traveling 30 to 50 miles per hour. The frequency of this problem is not known, but the survival rate is low among reported cases. However, the survival rate may be increased when cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed and an automated external defibrillato
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