A new study, just published in the journal Science, shows for the first time that some bacteria that cause diseases in humans use molecular hydrogen as an energy source. The research could point the way toward new treatment regimens for everything from ulcers and chronic gastritis to stomach cancer.
Microbiologists at the University of Georgia worked specifically in mice with the gastric bacterium Helicobacter pylori, a pathogen that colonizes the mucosal surfaces of the human stomach and g
Study opens door for faster, simpler methods of measuring carbon nanotubes
Building upon this summer’s groundbreaking finding that carbon nanotubes are fluorescent, chemists at Rice University have precisely identified the optical signatures of 33 “species” of nanotubes, establishing a new methodology for assaying nanotubes that is simpler and faster than existing methods.
In research published this week by Science magazine, a spectroscopy research team led by Rice Chem
While many Americans will be relaxing after their Thanksgiving Day feast, many people around the world may have a shortage of food, particularly potatoes, a staple that is being seriously threatened by a disease called potato late blight.
In a news story appearing in the journal Science (Nov. 29), “Taking the Bite Out of Blight,” writer Glenn Garelik examines the disease that is affecting potato production globally.
Potato late blight (Phytophthora infestans ) is the pathogen tha
A new model of mid-ocean ridge propagation: Introducing the process zone
The site of extensive volcanic activity and sea-floor spreading, the Galapagos Rise in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean has yielded groundbreaking research results for the field of plate tectonics. Jacqueline Floyd and her colleagues, all of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, are introducing a new model for the process of mid-ocean ridge propagation (lengthening), which is responsibl
A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have solved the structure of an enzyme that modulates central nervous system (CNS) functions such as pain perception, cognition, feeding, sleep, and locomotor activity.
The enzyme, described in the latest issue of the journal Science, is called fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), and it breaks down certain fatty signaling molecules that reside in the lipid membranes of CNS cells. The TSRI group reports that FAAH modulates the
Novel Method of Creating New Species Observed in Laboratory Yeast
The sex life of yeast has University of Houston biologists fermenting new ideas about evolution and beer.
Researchers studying yeast reproductive habits have for the first time observed a rapid method for the creation of new species, shedding light on the way organisms evolve and suggesting possible ways to improve yeast biotechnology and fermentation processes used in beer and wine-making.
“Most mod
Scientists are to go below ground in seven tropical countries to search for the largest source of untapped life left on Earth.
Experts know that, millimetres below the surface in the twilight, subterranean world, of the earthworm and the nematode, tens of thousands of new species of tiny organisms including bacteria, fungi, insects, mites and worms await discovery.
Scientists are also convinced that unraveling the secrets of how they operate may be the key to restoring the fe
The prospect of using bacteria to manufacture complex human proteins for use in therapeutic drugs is a step closer thanks to new research published today in Science.
Researchers from Switzerland and the UK report they have engineered the bacterium Escherichia coli to carry a vital piece of cell machinery that adds sugar molecules to newly synthesized proteins by a process known as glycosylation.
The finding opens up the possibility of producing complex human proteins
su
Metabolic and biochemical reactions are basically the same in all living beings, or at least comparable. The genetic codes of all living beings, that is to say of bacteria, plants, fungii and animals, are made up of the same set of building blocks. Human genes are therefore correctly translated into the corresponding proteins even by bacteria. The features that both bacteria and higher forms of life (so-called eukaryotes) have in common end, however, with the synthesis of «raw proteins» since unlike
Women with poorly controlled diabetes during early pregnancy run an increased risk of their baby being malformed, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.
Researchers in Norwich identified 158 first pregnancies in women with type 1 diabetes. They defined adverse pregnancy outcome as spontaneous abortion, major congenital malformation (potentially life threatening or associated with serious long term disability), stillbirth, or infant death.
The women were divided into two groups acc
Authors of a UK study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggest that targeting the underlying cause of asthma—rather than treating symptoms of the disorder—could be more effective in reducing severe asthma attacks.
Conventional treatment for people with asthma relies on assessments of symptoms and simple measures of lung function. however, increased concentrations of microscopic cells called eosinophils cause the inflammation of airways in the lung that lead to asthma symptoms; eosinophils
Results of a study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggest that the antibiotic azithromycin could be an effective treatment option for children with cholera.
Cholera is a major public-health problem which is greatly under-reported; children are most affected by this bacterial disease which causes severe diarrhoea resulting in dehydration. Around 5000 deaths from cholera were reported to the WHO in 2000, probably a severe underestimate as Bangladesh—where over 200,000 people are infected with t
Ein Verfahren zur schnelleren Analyse von Wasserverschmutzung hat die australische Griffith University in Zusammenarbeit mit der Lincoln University in Neuseeland entwickelt. Organische Verschmutzungen können jetzt innerhalb einer Stunde nachgewiesen werden.
Bei der alten und bei der neuen Methode wird die organische Verschmutzung anhand des biochemischen Sauerstoffbedarfs in einer Wasserprobe gemessen. “Das bisherige Messverfahren dauert aber fünf Tage”, sagt Dr. Richard John vom Institut f
Molekularabdrucke in Polymermaterialien als Reaktionsgefäße für die Pharmaforschung
Materialien mit winzigsten Hohlräumen, die andere Moleküle als “Gäste” aufnehmen können, spielen eine bedeutende Rolle in Wissenschaft und Technik. Ein besonders interessantes Verfahren zur Herstellung von Materialien mit passgenau zugeschnittenen Hohlräumen ist das so genannte “Molecular Imprinting”. Die als spätere Gäste vorgesehenen Moleküle werden dabei als Schablone eingesetzt: In ihrer Gegenwart
What kind of mysteries and scientific intrigue await the European Space Agency’s Venus Express once it has left Earth for its nearest planetary neighbour in 2005? A closer inspection promises to reveal a planet that is hugely different from our own despite a few similarities.
Astronomers often call Venus the Earth’s twin because both are about the same size and have the same mass. In other ways, however, Venus seems to be an altogether different class of planet. Scientists are keen
Whether pregnant women with conditions ranging from ulcers to AIDS should keep taking the same doses of medicine they took before pregnancy is a question Medical College of Georgia researchers want answered.
They are betting they’ll find that to maintain efficacy, pregnant women will need higher doses and that the placenta, a 2-pound temporary organ of pregnancy, is why.
“The idea that we are developing is that pregnant women are so different from non-pregnant women in ter
Feedback
