Using the common fruit fly, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered that an intricate set of signals released by stem cells’ surroundings governs their maintenance.
These findings, available online and in today’s issue of Current Biology, will aid stem cell researchers in understanding and potentially manipulating the delicate environments that promote adult stem cell formation, said Dr. Dennis McKearin, associate professor of molecular biology a
Duke University Medical Center cell biologists have defined a signaling system between stem cells and the specialized “niche cells” that harbor and regulate them. The findings provide better understanding of the signals that stimulate stem cells to either create more copies of themselves or to differentiate into another cell type, said the researchers.
Germline stem cells are immature cells in the reproductive system that can proliferate and mature into sperm and eggs. While it
Two studies to be published tomorrow (Thursday 27 January) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal, Human Reproduction[1],[2] provide a generally optimistic picture about attitudes towards the increasing trend in society to be more open about the use of sperm donors. However, they indicate that not all parents are comfortable with the new openness, there are still many unknowns about attitudes and further research and public education will be needed.
It became compuls
University of Pittsburgh researcher reports results of randomized trial of new approach at Society for Thoracic Surgery meeting
Patients with severe congestive heart failure who had exhausted all other treatment options showed markedly improved heart function following a procedure in which their own stem cells were deployed directly into the heart by way of four tiny incisions in the chest, according to results of a trial presented today at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Society
Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Tolerance for inequity increases with social closeness in chimpanzees by Dr SF Brosnan, Dr HC Schiff and Dr FBM de Waal. The evolution of the sense of fairness may have involved the strength of social connections, according to researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta. Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal observed variability in chimpanzees’ responses to inequity depending on the strength of their so
In a finding that broadens our insight into the cause of certain kinds of UV-induced skin cancer, researchers at Erasmus University Medical Center (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) have employed an evolutionarily ancient enzyme-repair system to identify the principal type of DNA damage responsible for the onset of skin-tumor development. The researchers’ findings also suggest that this enzyme system may be useful in developing preventative therapies against skin cancer.
Ultraviole
By looking for genes necessary for sexual reproduction, researchers have uncovered evidence that eukaryotic cells have been capable of sex for a very long time. Recent evolutionary analyses of the genome of Giardia intestinalis, a unicellular protist parasite that represents an ancient, early-branching lineage of eukaryotes, has revealed the presence of numerous genes implicated in meiosis, the cellular division process that results in gametes.
Most eukaryotes are known to exhibit se
New results show that land-living crabs, descended from marine ancestors, have re-invented key aspects of the insect nose through evolution in order to solve the problem of olfaction in their air-filled terrestrial environment.
The robber crab, Birgus latro, is the world’s largest land-dwelling arthropod, with a weight reaching 4 kg and a length of more than half a meter. Robber crabs are perhaps most famous for their ability to climb tall palm trees in search of coconuts, which
Scientists have found the brain regions that decide where we look, and where to direct our eyes when we’re faced with a difficult choice, such as looking someone straight in the eye or looking away.
According to research published today in Current Biology, the team from Imperial College London and University College London, have found that different areas of the brain are active when we freely select where to look, and when we change our mind and look elsewhere.
Using ma
A gene passed on by fathers that plays a vital role in helping fertilised eggs to develop into adults has helped scientists overturn the idea that essential genes have always been part of the genetic makeup of a species.
The research, published in the journal Current Biology tomorrow (26 January 2005), shows that an essential ‘paternal effect’ gene was created only recently in the evolutionary history of the fruit fly, Drosophila. This finding is remarkable because it shows that
Supermarket bakery workers are at considerable risk of developing work related asthma according to researchers from Imperial College London and the Royal Brompton Hospital.
Their study reported in the latest edition of the European Respiratory Journal, found that up to nine per cent of bakers, four per cent of bakery managers and three per cent of bakery assistants may have symptoms of asthma caused by working in supermarket bakeries.
Dr Andrew Brant, from Imperial Colle
Three-Part Solution Leads to Better Web Services Performance
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has published three new Web Services Recommendations: XML-binary Optimized Packaging (XOP), SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM), and Resource Representation SOAP Header Block (RRSHB). These recommendations provides ways to efficiently package and transmit binary data included or referenced in a SOAP 1.2 message.
Web Services Applications Need Effective,
The European Commission asked for the development of an integrated computer toolkit for an ex ante assessment for effective and efficient agricultural and environmental policies for the EU-25 in a changing Europe and world. Thirty research institutes from thirteen European countries are involved in this project ‘Seamless’. The project is coordinated by Wageningen University. The project, with a total budget of 15 million Euro, plans to deliver a first prototype within 18 months and in four year
The major players in the waterborne transport sector will come together in Bremen today to start work towards a common strategic vision for the future research needs of this sector. The Waterborne Transport Technology Platform will involve industry, national authorities, regulatory bodies, research centres and universities and will seek to stimulate more effective public and private investment in research and development and improve the coherence of research activities at European, national, reg
A model of the leak dynamics of the oil tanker, Prestige, that sunk off the coast of Spain in 2002, may help assess recovery and cleanup methods for future tanker accidents, according to an international team of researchers.
“We believe that 14,000 metric tons (15,400 British tons) of oil were recovered from the tanker using the shuttle-bag system, and that between 16,000 (17,600) and 23,000 (25,300) tons of oil are still in the ship,” says Dr. Bernd J. Haupt, senior research as
The natural vegetation covering the globe looks like it does because of the climate, doesn’t it? Forests are found where water is abundant and it is not too cold, deserts are found where it is dry. This is what our intuition tells us – but it is not always true.
New research carried out by Bond, Woodward and Midgley from University of Cape Town, University of Sheffield and the South African National Biodiversity Institute of and published in the February 2005 issue of 
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