DNA of Xenopus tropicalis will provide new clues to vertebrate development
In their continuing search for new clues to how human genes function and how vertebrates develop and evolve, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute (JGI) are gearing up to map the DNA of a diminutive, fast-growing African frog named Xenopus tropicalis .
Frogs have long been a favorite subject for biologists because their growth from eggs to tadpoles to
Herpes viruses enter the body and hide away in cells, often re-emerging later to cause illnesses such as shingles, genital herpes and cancer. How these viruses evade the immune system remains poorly understood, but researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis discovered that a mouse herpes virus uses molecules that mimic a cell’s own proteins to help thwart an immune attack.
The findings also suggest that a branch of the immune system known as the complement sys
Ginkgo biloba has no beneficial effect on memory and related mental functions of healthy older adults when taken following manufacturer’s instructions, according to a study in the Aug. 21st issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association conducted by researchers at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. and The Memory Clinic in Bennington, Vt.
The study was designed and conducted by the paper’s lead author, Paul R. Solomon, Ph.D., professor of psychology and found
In the search for low-cost color displays that do not drain a computer’s battery, the polymer light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) may be the next answer to the problem, according to an international team of electrical engineers.
“The color-variable LEC can provide a solution to simple, low cost color displays,” Cheng Huang, graduate student in electrical engineering at Penn State told attendees today (Aug. 20) at the 224th American Chemical Society annual meeting in Boston.
Researchers in the Netherlands have found that the herbal dietary supplement St. John’s wort interferes with the metabolism–and potentially the effectiveness of–the chemotherapy drug irinotecan. Their findings appear in the August 21 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
St. John’s wort ( Hypericum perforatum L.) is widely used to treat mild to moderate forms of depression. Past studies have suggested that the compound increases levels of CYP3A4, an enzyme
A compound found in many foods and drinks could form the basis for new drugs to defeat cancer and heart disease, scientists at UCL claimed today.
Professor Peter Shepherd and his team believe that caffeine and theophylline- compounds commonly found in cola beverages, coffee, tea and chocolate – block the operation of a key enzyme linked to a wide range of cell functions. This suggests these compounds would block cell growth and also blood clotting. The teams work may also explain the anti-in
Revolutionary surgery in womb transplants may give hope to patients with fertility problems. Infertility is an increasing problem in the western world and it is estimated that around 15% of all couples are infertile. Most causes of infertility are today treatable by in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and sperm injection (ICSI), but infertility due to a hysterectomy or womb (ie uterus) malformation is not treatable. Uterine infertility can be caused by injury, congenital conditions, or hysterectomy. Even th
Though it has long been known by scientists that an ecosystem needs different kinds of plants and animals for optimal functioning, University of Georgia scientists have recently found that the genetic diversity of species within a habitat also affects ecosystem processes.
“It is not just the quantity of species diversity that matters, it is also the quality of genetic diversity,” said lead author Mike Madritch, an ecology doctoral student at UGA. Madritch studied carbon and nitrogen fluxes
Developed by Hebrew University Scientists
A new technique for tricking cancer cells into “committing suicide” and thus preventing their spread has been developed by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Their work is described in the September issue of Nature Biotechnology, which was published this week in its Internet version.
The technique involves the engineering of a virus that will induce the cancer cell to behave in a manner similar to that of norm
AIDS researchers have developed a candidate vaccine strategy that, for the first time, demonstrates an ability to elicit antibodies that block the infection of multiple HIV virus strains — an elusive scientific goal that has been pursued for a decade.
The candidate vaccine – still early in developmental stages at the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) — is described in a report to appear during the week of Aug. 19-23 in the U.S. Proceedings in the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). It is
Using a simple, inexpensive test to determine levels of C-reactive protein in the blood, researchers were able to detect heart disease before symptoms were apparent, according to a report in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers studied the relationship between levels of C-reactive protein (CRP, a marker of inflammation in the body), and coronary calcium, which indicates the extent of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries.
Flu shots can save lives, especially among the elderly who account for most of the 20,000 flu-related deaths in the United States each year. But physicians have debated whether vaccinating healthy, younger adults is worth the time and money. The answer is yes, according to a new study based on a computer model. The study was led by Patrick Lee, MD, a resident in internal medicine at Stanford Hospital & Clinics.
“There’s been a lot of debate about optimal treatment strategies,” Lee said
Don’t like spinach? Try honey. It contains about the same level of plaque-fighting antioxidants as the leafy green stuff. And according to research presented at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, the range of antioxidants in honey is comparable to that in apples, bananas, oranges and strawberries.
A five-week study of blood from 25 men between the ages of 18 – 68 indicates that drinking a mixture of water and honey, about
A series of obstacles fell before the onslaught of a Penn State engineering graduate class as they tackled and found solutions to all the barriers preventing development of a hybrid fuel cell automobile using hydrogen fuel cells and battery storage.
“The professors asked the class to solve the problem of hydrogen odorization,” says Jamie Weston, graduate student in energy and geoenvironmental engineering. “We quickly came up with a solution and, took the rest of the course to develop our so
Equipment used at home, as well as at offices, is more and more powerful and although their interfaces are also more comprehensive, they are more complicated to understand.
One of the causes of that problem may be that the common interfaces based on windows, icons, menus, etc. do not have enough control of all the present technological aspects.
A possible solution could be to provide the system with an assistant function equipped with a universal, efficient and easy to use interfac
Although there has been an intensive research effort focused on diseases caused by kinetoplastid parasites, there has been little success in developing effective ways of treating them. The launch of the online journal Kinetoplastid Biology and Disease represents the practical first step in tackling some of the communication difficulties that face those concerned with the eradication of kinetoplastid parasites that cause diseases like sleeping sickness, Chargas disease and Leishmaniasis.
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