Until now, scientists believed that a single area in the brain generated breathing rhythm, enabling breathing to speed up or slow down to adapt to the body’s activity and position. But UCLA neurobiologists have discovered that two systems in the brain interact to generate breathing rhythm — a finding that may translate into better treatment for sleep apnea and sudden infant death syndrome. The journal Neuron reported the findings in its March 6 issue.
“We originally thought that only one bra
Research reveals how bone marrow-derived stem cells can be transformed into cells for the treatment of liver disease
Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) have explained how adult stem cells can heal diseased liver tissue. The research helps direct scientists in the quest for therapeutic uses of adult stem cells, which are derived from bone marrow. The research may also help define the therapeutic limits of these stem cells. The study results will be released online
On Monday 31 March ecologists will meet with molecular biologists at the University of Southampton for the most novel and broad-ranging scientific session of its kind. They will present findings in Session C5/P3 which show that the biochemical pathways which influence a plant’s response to stimuli such as attack, disease or other stresses are not mutually exclusive as previously thought. For example, up until recently the two separate signalling pathways in plants which respond independently to disea
The manufacture of electronic devices such as the new generation of video mobile phones could be revolutionised thanks to assembly research being pioneered at the University of Greenwich.
This research will provide industry with the microsystems assembly technology to allow cheaper mass production of the next generation of intelligent products, such as mobiles, visual display equipment and medical devices. It could, for example, be used to develop minute ’invisible’ hearing aids.
Timing of childbirth cited as key factor
Europe’s population has aged to such a degree that it will likely continue to shrink, even if birthrates rebound to a one-for-one replacement level, a new study suggests. A major part of this trend is due to the fact that women have been postponing childbirth for increasing lengths of time, the authors have found. Their research appears in the journal Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have discovered how to transfer the optical properties of silicon crystal sensors to plastic, an achievement that could lead to the development of flexible, implantable devices capable of monitoring the delivery of drugs within the body, the strains on a weak joint or even the healing of a suture.
The discovery is detailed in the March 28 issue of Science by a UCSD team that pioneered the development of a number of novel optical sensor
Mobile DNA’s role in vancomycin resistance of Enterococcus faecalis
‘Jumping’ elements of DNA have enabled the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis to acquire stubborn resistance to a range of antibiotics – including a “drug of last resort” that is used against such bacterial pathogens.
That is one of the conclusions reached by scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), which sequenced and analyzed the complete genome of E. faecalis V583, a strain of the
Technique could lead to new drug delivery systems, biological warfare sensors
Using a lab technique called domain insertion, Johns Hopkins researchers have joined two proteins in a way that creates a molecular “switch.” The result, the researchers say, is a microscopic protein partnership in which one member controls the activity of the other. Similarly coupled proteins may someday be used to produce specialized molecules that deliver lethal drugs only to cancerous cells. They also m
Wuppertal Institute and Eurelectric welcome EU initiative
The EU could save an additional ten percent of its energy consumption by 2013 through a broad-scale implementation of energy efficiency services and programmes. The European Commission’s planned Initiative and Directive proposal on Energy Services is to contribute to the realisation of such a target.
These are the issues that around 200 high-profile participants from governments, parliaments, energy industries, e
Sometimes finding out what doesn’t matter in science is just as important as finding what does.
That’s the case for a study that looked at the function of the viral protein, MTase1. Researchers found that the rate of virus replication in tissue culture was not affected when MTase1 was removed.
The finding is important as researchers look for what proteins are essential and how they function in cells, potentially providing answers to everything from insect control to the co
In a recent study published in Ecology, John Lill and Robert Marquis (University of Missouri – St. Louis) investigated the role shelter-building caterpillars play in herbivorous insect communities living on white oaks. Previous studies have shown how caterpillars create and modify habitats through the construction of leaf shelters, increasing biodiversity around the leaves. In their study, Lill and Marquis wanted to see what effect shelter-building caterpillars had on the entire community living on o
Using a laser beam scalpel so fine it could inscribe words on the surface of a fly egg, researchers have snipped their way to a new understanding of a key process in a fruit fly’s embryonic development. The process, called dorsal closure, is the complex mechanism by which the embryonic skin of the fruit fly Drosophila knits itself together to protect its innards from the outside world.
Understanding this seemingly arcane process is important because dorsal closure uses molecular and cellular
Greater use of clean electricity from the sun should be a step closer, thanks to new research carried out in the UK.
The research has shown how the cost of generating solar electricity can be reduced, laying the foundation for a major expansion in the use of this sustainable energy technology.
The project has been undertaken by a team of physicists, chemists, material scientists and engineers at Sheffield Hallam University, with funding from the Swindon-based Engineering and
Patchy woods-common in cities and suburbia, and even in rural areas-may have more Lyme disease-carrying ticks, which could increase risk of the disease in these forest remnants, scientists have found. While forest fragments generally have fewer species than continuous habitat does, some species actually fare better in small patches, according to biologist Felicia Keesing of Bard College in Annandale, NY, and her colleagues. Lyme disease incidence is rising in the United States, and is in fact far mor
Determining details of attraction in mechanically-linked molecules allows chemists to fine-tune shapes, capabilities of supramolecules for improved and new polymers
Virginia Tech chemistry professor H.W. Gibson and his students have been able to take advantage of self assembly to create new chemical structures from mechanically-linked molecules. Gibson will give an invited talk in the Division of Polymer Chemistry at the 225th national meeting of the American Chemical Society March 2
A 161 million-year-old Mongolian fossil not only reveals a new species of salamanders, but also provides proof that much of the evolution of salamanders occurred in Asia.
For more than three years, scientists from the University of Chicago and Peking University in Beijing have been collecting thousands of salamander fossils, many of which preserve the entire skeleton and impressions of soft tissues, from seven excavation sites in Mongolia and China. Prior to the discovery in 1996 of the Chin
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