Differences in people seem to run in the blood, according to a recent study that examines which genes are active in blood cells. The work, published in this week’s online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the levels of several genes used by blood cells vary from person to person.
“Nobody had taken this broad a look at genetic variation in the blood of healthy people,” said David Relman, MD, associate professor of medicine at Stanford and a co-autho
Brazil’s Pantanal, a vast wetland situated in the center of South America, has become the next frontier for leading-edge eco-tourists in search of ever more exotic flora and fauna. “It’s where people go after they’ve been to Africa,” says Shannon Bouton, a Ph.D. student in the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) at the University of Michigan.
This month, Bouton is publishing the results of her unique study of a wading bird colony in the Pantanal in the February
New findings may offer roadmap to predicting how the body will respond to a deadly habit
First- or second-hand exposure to cigarettes can lead to a variety of diseases, including tissue destruction found in pulmonary emphysema and osteoporosis. Also included among cigarette smoking-induced diseases are disorders in which an excessive deposition of fibrotic scar occurs, such as with atherosclerosis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Collagen is the major protein of the white f
In a discovery with far-reaching potential for advances in infertility treatment, scientists at the University of Leeds have identified what makes sperm wriggle and swim. The answer lies in a protein called dynein. The scientists have taken the first photographs of individual molecules of dynein, also found in lungs, the nervous system and elsewhere in the human body. In an article in this week’s Nature, the researchers explain how the protein creates movement.
Project leader Dr Peter Knight
Troubled by slugs? The latest research suggests luring them away from crops and plants with clover. Slugs are major pests of many crops, but current methods of control are often unreliable, so researchers studied a number of different legumes to find one which slugs prefer to lure them away from crops. This research will be published online in the SCI journal Pest Management Science on 12 February 2003 and in the March 2003 print issue.
The common field slug (Deroceras reticulatum Müller) is
Hard-to-detect clouds and water vapor, hidden until now from most atmospheric sensors, could be helping to shape global climate. An instrument package developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has detected layers of moisture, indicative of high-level cirrus clouds, that were missed by standard weather balloons and other instruments. The findings are being presented by NCAR scientist Junhong Wang on Tuesday, February 11, in Long Beach, California, at the annual meeting of the Am
Can sentient machines evolve?
It’s coming, but when? From Garry Kasparov to Michael Crichton, both fact and fiction are converging on a showdown between man and machine. But what does a leading artificial intelligence expert–the world’s first computer science PhD–think about the future of machine intelligence? Will computers ever gain consciousness and take over the world?
“Computer sentience is possible,” said John Holland, professor of electrical engineering an
A gene discovered by Temple University researchers a decade ago has proved to be multi-functional, with the discovery of its important roles in cell differentiation, HIV transcription, and tumorigenesis.
Cdk9 (cyclin-dependent kinases) and cdk10 were originally isolated by Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., then a researcher in Temple’s Fels Cancer Institute, and his team in 1992. They are members of a family of kinases originally referred to as a PITALRE, which is the name of the amino aci
A team of scientists supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and other parts of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the private sector, have discovered a genetic “signature” present in some patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who develop such life-threatening complications as blood disorders, central nervous system damage and kidney failure.
Using DNA microarrays — small silicon chips that contain tiny amounts of tho
Highlights, including authors and their institutions
The following highlights summarize research papers in Geophysical Research Letters (GL), Journal of Geophysical Research – Solid Earth (JB), Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres (JD), and Journal of Geophysical Research – Planets (JE). The papers related to these Highlights are printed in the next paper issue of the journal following their electronic publication.
1. Another Great Salinity Anomaly?
New imaging technology came to life when ESA’s StarTiger team captured the world’s first terahertz picture of a human hand.
“When we started last June we set an ambitious goal: to build in four months the first compact submillimetre-wave imager with near real time image capturing using state-of-the-art micro-machining technology,” said Peter de Maagt, ESA’s StarTiger Project Manager, “we reached this goal when the first terahertz images was taken in September.”
This breakthr
Researchers in Oxford University’s Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory have found that they can intercalate a range of pharmaceutically active molecules between the layers of a layered inorganic host.
While working on the ion-exchange abilities of a family of inorganic materials known as Layered Double Hydroxides (LDHs), researchers have recognised that many commonly prescribed drugs and other over-the-counter medicines are either anions or can be conveniently and reversibly converted into an an
Researchers in Oxford University’s Department of Inorganic Chemistry have devised a method for the selective separation and recovery of nucleoside phosphates from complex reaction mixtures using Layered Double Hydroxide (LDH) materials.
Nucleoside phosphates are used extensively in industry as intermediates or additives in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical preparation, as well as in medical and separation science. In particular many new antiviral agents are based on nucleosides. Supplying the
Researchers in Oxford University’s Department of Inorganic Chemistry have devised a novel method for separating polar organic compounds, providing a useful alternative to the usual methods of chromatography or crystallisation.
The separation of mixtures of organic and inorganic compounds is of considerable importance in most areas of industrial and academic chemistry. In particular, isomeric mixtures are often difficult to separate and can require highly specialised techniques.
Con
Allowing calcium to get inside colorectal cancer cells may be one way to stop their growth.
Researchers at Jefferson Medical College and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia knew that the same bacterial toxin that causes traveler’s diarrhea can stem the growth of metastatic colorectal cancer cells. Now, they may have found out how.
The scientists discovered that the toxin appears to open a cellular door, permitting calcium into tumor cells, which
Scientists study those vaccinated more than 60 years ago versus one year ago
Oregon Health & Science University researchers are studying the effectiveness of the smallpox vaccine in patients who received inoculations decades ago compared with those vaccinated more recently. The universal belief has been that smallpox vaccinations provide protection for only three to five years. Until now scientists and physicians assumed that anyone vaccinated more than five years ago had little to n
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