Analyzing the expression levels of the gene CDK9 (cyclin dependent kinase) and its attached molecule CYCLIN T1 in lymphoid cells in a sample of blood can accurately pinpoint lymphoma, according to researchers at Temple University’s Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine and the Department of Human Pathology and Oncology at the University of Siena in Italy.
Their study, “CDK9/CYCLIN T1 expression during normal lymphoid differentiation and malignant transformation
An unprecedented picture of how bacteria latch on to human cells has been published by UK, French and US scientists. They have produced a finely detailed model of one of the tools used by some of the nastiest varieties of the stomach bug, Escherichia coli, to stick to and gain entry to host cells.
Led by senior author Dr Stephen Matthews, Reader in Chemical and Structural Biology at Imperial College London, the research is published in the latest issue of the journal Molecular Cell
Hedges on farms that are part of an agri-environment scheme contain more berry-producing species than those not in schemes, ecologists have found. Speaking at the British Ecological Society’s Annual Meeting taking place at Lancaster University on 7-9 September 2004, ecologists from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Lancaster will report that fruit from certain hedgerow species can remain an important food source for birds until Christmas if hedges remain unmanaged, and that agri-enviro
From salting and drying to pickling and irradiating, humans have devised many ingenious ways of preserving their food from spoilage by microbes. The question of what microbes gain from making food go off in the first place has attracted less attention, but research presented at this years British Ecological Society Annual Meeting will shed new light on the problem.
Speaking at the meeting, taking place at Lancaster University on 7-9 September 2004, Dr Dave Wilkinson of Liverpool John
Females have traditionally been viewed as the choosy, monogamous sex compared to males, but recent genetic studies have revealed that females of many, if not most, animal species also mate multiply with different partners. However, understanding why females should do this has remained something of enigma.
Speaking at the British Ecological Society’s Annual Meeting, Dr William Hughes of the University of Sydney and Professor Jacobus Boomsma of the University of Copenhagen will a
A significant association was found between hypothyroidism and open-angle glaucoma, according to a study appearing in the September issue of Ophthalmology, the clinical journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The relationship between the two has been disputed in prior studies.
Glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness in the United States, is a condition in which the optic nerve is damaged. It can be associated with elevated pressure inside the eye and can lead to vision loss
A new study from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center reveals what may be the earliest step in the development of prostate cancer. The finding could open the door to new tests that predict whether the cancer will become aggressive and the development of treatments to prevent the condition from progressing.
The study, published in the Sept. 1 issue of Cancer Research, found that when mice are engineered to lose a single copy of a gene called Rb in their prostate, they develop a pre
Reptiles can make great pets—they’re quiet and they don’t leave fur on the furniture and floors. However, whether wild-caught or store-bought, reptiles often carry salmonella. These bacteria can cause diarrhea, and young children are at particular risk, according to a study in the September 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.
Diet, susceptibility, and the lower amount of bacteria needed to infect a child may all contribute to the likelihood of children les
The area burned by wildfires in 11 Western states could double by the end of the century if summer climate warms by slightly more than a degree and a half, say researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington.
Montana, Wyoming and New Mexico appear acutely sensitive, especially to temperature changes, and fire seasons there may respond more dramatically to global warming than in states suc
Sharks are, by tradition, the eternal threat facing divers. Yet, a diver is quite a lot more unlikely to meet such a creature under the water than, at some time or another, to come up against an even greater danger – hypothermia, or exposure. To enable divers to prevent this syndrome from creeping silently up on them, two researchers from the Area of Applied Physics at the University Jaume I (Spain) have formulated an equation that enables divers to calculate the time they can safely remain submerge
Minute amounts of organic pollutants—including oestrone—can now be detected in river water as a result of a new optical sensing instrument realised in a project funded by the EU’s Environment Programme.
Pollution in water sources has been identified as a major source of environmental hazard, most recently associated with gender changes in fish, and implicated in falling levels of male fertility. Monitoring water quality and identifying pollution sources is therefore crucially impo
A study carried out by the Heart and Lung Centre at Ullevaal Hospital in Oslo has demonstrated that domesticated salmon fed with fish oil containing a large amount of omega-3 fatty acids is better for cardiac patients than salmon fed with vegetable oil (rapeseed oil).
“Cardiac patients who ate domesticated salmon fed with a large amount of omega-3 fatty acids showed reduced risk for further development of the disease,” says professor Harald Arnesen at Ullevaal Hospital. “These pat
Escaped salmon are a problem for the fish-farming industry. Is it possible to identify the fish-farm from which salmon have escaped by testing a sample of their DNA? Scientists at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen have been looking into the prospects of doing so.
Escapees are a major problem for fish farming, not only for the farmers who lose their fish, but also for stocks of wild salmon. This is because cultivated salmon have been bred to thrive in an artificial environm
In the human body, hundreds of different types of biomolecular motors help carry out such essential tasks as muscle contraction, moving chromosomes during cell division, and reloading nerve cells so they can repeatedly fire.
How these little proteins perform their duties is becoming clearer to scientists using an extremely sensitive measurement technique. Myosin VI, they found, moves by the same “hand-over-hand” mechanism as two other molecular motors, myosin V and kinesin.
Self-organizing synthetic molecules originally used for gene therapy may have applications as templates and scaffolds for the production of inorganic materials. Using electrostatic interactions between oppositely charged molecules as the binding force, scientists are learning how to organize these synthetic molecules into more versatile complexes with large and controllable pore sizes.
“By investigating the fundamental design rules for the control of self-assembled supramolecular str
A well known anti-cancer agent in certain vegetables has just had its reputation enhanced. The compound, in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, has been found to be effective in disrupting late stages of cell growth in breast cancer.
Keith Singletary and doctoral student Steven Jackson of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report their finding involving sulforaphane (SUL), which they say could ultimately be used to enhance the prevention and treatment of breast can
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