Hereditary Alzheimer’s disease has been shown to be the result of mutations in certain specific genes. Other cases of Alzheimer’s are also assumed to be traceable to the influence of a number of still unidentified genes. It is probable that these genes are located in a large area on chromosome 10q, which contains more than 100 genes.
Working with researchers in Gothenburg and Los Angeles, scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden have now narrowed down the area of interest
A protein fragment that was previously found in melanomas has now been detected in highly aggressive brain tumors called gliomas that take the lives of about 15,000 Americans each year.
This peptide, which the immune system recognizes as an antigen, or foreign invader, appears to be a target for anti-tumor immune therapy, according to studies conducted by researchers at Cedars-Sinai’s Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute and the National Cancer Institute. It also may be useful as a marke
More than half of Australia’s carbon dioxide emissions come from power stations. Storing these harmful gases underground can drastically reduce the rate of emission build-up in our atmosphere.
CSIRO’S Dr Lincoln Paterson says that it is possible to capture the gases emitted by these stationary sources, and strip out the carbon dioxide in order to pump it back underground.
“Oil, gas and coal all come from underground in the first place,” says Paterson. “We’re looking a
A team of ten CSIRO researchers has helped Canadian oil company InterOil find exciting new oil shows in Papua New Guinea.
This early success follows from a vigorous exploration program, conducted in an ongoing research partnership with CSIRO’s Petroleum Division. The CSIRO studies have been critical to this result, consolidating evidence for a new petroleum system in InterOil’s exploration Licenses.
In late July InterOil announced finding fourteen oil shows through 135 me
Rees, a new drought tolerant wheat variety, was released today by CSIRO joint venture organisation, Graingene.
CSIRO Plant Industry scientist Dr Richard Richards says Rees has an advantage over comparable wheats in dry years, producing about five per cent more grain despite receiving the same rainfall.
“Rees is the second variety to be developed using scientific gene selection criteria based on measuring a plant’s carbon isotope signature,” Dr Richards says.
“By using
Resistance exercise may directly reset the body clocks in skeletal muscle, according to research published in Genome Biology this week. This result may partly explain how exercising early in the day helps jet-lagged bodies readjust to their new time zone.
Many processes in the body vary in a 24-hour rhythm called the circadian rhythm. These rhythms are controlled by molecular clocks, in organs such as the liver, in tissues such as skeletal muscle, and in the hypothalamus, a part of the brai
Allowing sex selection for social reasons would be highly unlikely to skew the gender balance – at least in Germany and the UK – according to new research published today (Thursday 25 September) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction[1].
Surveys of more than 1,000 men and women in each country did reveal differences between the two countries, with the British expressing stronger gender preferences and the Germans being more relaxed about the sex of their
Researchers from Hong Kong have warned that women should be cautious about using the herbal remedy ginseng in the early stages of pregnancy.
They have found evidence that ginsenoside Rb1 – one of the principal active components of ginseng – can cause abnormalities in rat embryos.
Their research is published today (Thursday 25 September) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction[1].
Dr Louis Chan and colleagues at the Chinese University of Hong K
Drugs that treat diabetes may also be effective against some cancers. In today’s Journal of Biology, researchers at the University of Dundee report the discovery of an unexpected link between diabetes and Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, a hereditary disease that increases the risk of suffering from cancer. The Dundee team were looking for a protein that activates AMPK, an enzyme that reduces blood glucose levels and is a target for drugs commonly used in treating Type 2 diabetes. They
Our record-breaking long hot summer heated Europe’s seas as well as the land. Results returned from ESA’s Envisat environmental satellite show Mediterranean waters off Crete around three degrees Celsius warmer than the previous year.
The top image represents sea surface temperature around the island for 31 August 2003, while the second image shows it for 30 August 2002. The brighter the colour the higher the temperature: there is a five-degree difference between the two recorded in waters n
For those who delight in eating Mediterranean anchovies, the taste of inshore varieties has long been preferred to that of the open-sea kind. An IRD researcher has shown that this organoleptic difference coincides with a real biological distinction. In the Mediterranean Sea there is not just one species of European anchovy but two, each occupying its own habitat.
Correspondence analysis was performed of all existing genetic data obtained between 1980 and 1996 concerning anchovies from the M
Plans are underway to test new system
The nations current electric grid system will not work in the future with solar and wind farms providing substantial but intermittent power over long distances.
By 2050, it will take between 15 and 20 Terawatts (TW) of electric power to supply the North American economy. A little under 7 TW is currently used, with most of that consumed in the United States. The “Smart Electric Grid of the Future” must be able to efficiently and securely
Post-operative chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) looks like an attractive proposition to prevent the cancer recurring, said Professor Nick Thatcher, of the Christie Hospital, Manchester, UK at the ECCO-12 conference in Copenhagen today (Tuesday 23 September). But the recent IALT study, which is said to demonstrate a survival advantage for patients given adjuvant treatment, was statistically unreliable and needed to be taken in context, he said.
“A large body of evidence – 1
Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are more likely to survive if they have chemotherapy after surgery than if they have surgery alone, said a scientist at ECCO 12 The European Cancer Conference in Copenhagen today (Tuesday 23 September). Dr. Bengt Bergman, of the Sahlgrenska University Hospital. Göteborg, Sweden, said that results from the International Adjuvant Lung Cancer Trial (IALT), which involved 1,867 patients in 33 countries, were sufficiently strong to recommend changing the st
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have one-upped “smart” credit cards with embedded microchips: They’ve developed a technique that lets ordinary card users program in their own spending parameters.
Penn computer scientist Carl A. Gunter presented the work at the recent European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming in Darmstadt, Germany. The technology could let employers better manage spending on corporate cards or permit parents to get teenage children emergency credi
Shrike conservation threatened foxes on a California island
Because loggerhead shrikes on San Clemente Island are critically endangered, the foxes that prey on their nestlings should be controlled. Right? Wrong. The problem is that the foxes are also at-risk. A new analysis shows that instead of pitting the shrike against the fox, both species could have been protected with an ecosystem-wide conservation plan.
“This endangered species conflict might have been avoided through
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