The discovery that zinc contained in the hemoglobin of deep-sea tubeworms is used to bind and transport nutrients to symbiotic bacteria will be published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science during the week of 14 February 2005. Further research with the hemoglobin could lead to its use in a variety of ways, including as an artificial substitute for oxygen carriers in human blood.
Tubeworms living near hydrothermal vents and cold seeps in the world’s oceans
Results point to novel pathway for development of prostate cancer
A single gene variant may increase a man’s risk of prostate cancer by 50%, according to a new study led by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and published this week in Cancer Research.
In 2001, Mount Sinai researchers published a study in Science that showed that a gene, known as KLF6, fails to function properly in at least 50 to 60 percent of all prostate cancers. This was the first single
For the first time, two types of genetic material–both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA–have been used to verify a new species designation of great whale, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups in The Royal Society’s Proceedings: Biological Sciences. According to the recent study conducted by researchers at WCS, the American Museum of Natural History, Fordham University, and University of Maryland, the North Pacific right whale has been confirmed as genetically dist
May stop kidney failure after bypass surgery, other therapies and sepsis; protein is also an effective marker for early diagnosis of kidney failure
Columbia University Medical Center researchers have identified a protein that may provide a powerful new therapeutic tool for fighting kidney failure. The research, which is published in the March issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, shows that injection of a protein, known as Ngal, can protect mice from renal failure, sug
A typically innocuous virus found in 90 percent of people worldwide is the key to a new treatment for a cancer particularly common in North Africa and Southeast Asia. A new study showing that antigens produced by the Epstein Barr virus may provide an ideal target for therapy will be published in the March 1, 2005, issue of Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology.
Ten patients diagnosed with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma took part in the study – these
A piece of the topical puzzle of how estrogen goes from protecting women from heart disease to apparently increasing their risk later in life may have been found.
Medical College of Georgia researchers have found changes in blood vessel chemistry that may explain the dramatic flip-flop in estrogen’s function that occurs in older women, taking it from a dilator of vessels to a potentially dangerous constrictor, says Dr. Richard White, MCG pharmacologist. Dr. White will pres
Utah State University researchers recently discovered a new bacteria that is a natural cleanser for contaminated soil. The bacteria, now being used around the world, is an inexpensive and highly effective solution to pollution.
“This project shows mother nature’s capability to be a master engineer,” said Ron Sims, biological and irrigation engineering department head. “Past disposal practices and accidental spills have put these carcinogens in our environment, and nature h
Scientists have turned to the brightest brains in Britain in a bid to understand the link between intelligence and dementia.
A team of researchers from The University of Manchester will be asking members of the high-IQ society Mensa for DNA samples in what will be the world’s most sophisticated study of brainpower. The research will allow the team to find genes associated with intelligence and examine how they interact with each other. “When you look at the genes in combination
Robots that act like rat pups can tell us something about the behavior of both, according to UC Davis researchers.
Sanjay Joshi, assistant professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering, and associate professor of psychology Jeffrey Schank have recorded the behavior of rat pups and built rat-like robots with the same basic senses and motor skills to see how behavior can emerge from a simple set of rules.
Seven to 10-day-old rat pups, blind and deaf, do not seem t
UC Davis researchers have discovered two key signals that tell fish how to handle the stress of changing concentrations of salt as they swim through different waters.
Not many fish can travel between saltwater and freshwater. To maintain the right internal salt level, their gills must pump up salt from freshwater but excrete it in the ocean. “Fish that can survive both environments are able to resist many kinds of stress,” said Dietmar Kueltz, an assistant professor of animal
New and effective treatments for lung cancer may rest on their ability to hinder the action of estrogen in lung cancer cells, according to two studies published in the current issue of Cancer Research. The University of Pittsburgh studies build on current knowledge about the relationship between estrogen and lung cancer growth and suggest that blocking estrogen may be vitally important to improving survival from the disease.
Since 1930, a 600 percent increase in death rates from
Max Planck scientists develop fundamentals for new microfluidic and nanofluidic devices
The labs of the future will be “labs-on-a-chip”, i.e., integrated chemical and biochemical laboratories shrunk down to the size of a computer chip. An essential prerequisite for such labs are appropriate microcompartments for the confinement of very small amounts of liquids and chemical reagents. Directly accessible surface channels, which can be fabricated by available photolithographic methods,
Birdsong delights listeners and intrigues evolutionary ecologists. Female birds are thought to preferentially mate with males with more complex or extravagant songs. But why should females prefer these males? What information does a male’s song convey?
Jane M. Reid and fellow researchers studied a population of song sparrows inhabiting Mandarte Island, British Columbia, Canada, where males sing elaborate repertoires of songs. They found that male sparrows with larger song r
The fascinating interactions between flowers and their pollinators have resulted in a spectacular diversity of plants. In order to entice pollinators such as bees, flies or butterflies to visit and successfully pollinate their flowers, plants have evolved intriguing mechanisms and attractants, of which nectar is best known.
Thirty years ago, researchers discovered that nectars of flowers pollinated by butterflies contain substantial amounts of amino acids. Recent experiments ha
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have made a discovery that may have implications for the treatment of liver-based genetic defects such as hemophilia A and B in humans.
Mouse embryonic stem cells treated in culture with a growth factor and then injected into the liver reverse a form of hemophilia in mice analogous to hemophilia B in humans, the new study shows. A report of the study appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today
UCLA scientists have created a mechanism at the nanoscale to externally control the function and action of a protein.
“We can switch a protein on and off, and while we have controlled a specific protein, we believe our approach will work with virtually any protein,” said Giovanni Zocchi, assistant professor of physics at UCLA, member of the California NanoSystems Institute and leader of the research effort. “This research has the potential to start a new approach to protein engine
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