About nineteen percent of people have a genetic variation that may increase susceptibility to osteoporosis, a new study reveals. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis demonstrated that in women the variant gene speeds up the breakdown of estrogen and is associated with low density in the bones of the hip.
The study will be reported in the February issue of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and is available online.
The gene, named CYP
If successful, discovery could play an important role in putting a man on Mars
Robert Levis, Ph.D. (center), Director of the Center for Advanced Photonics Research, demonstrates the ultrafast laser beams used to detect the cyclic ozone reaction product. Assisting Levis are (L-R) Alexei Filin, Ph.D.; Ryan Compton; and Matthew Coughlan.
With nearly twice the energy of normal, bent-shaped ozone (O3), cyclic ozone could hold the key component for a future manned-mission
A key mechanism in the passing of genetic material from a parent cell to daughter cells appears to have been identified by a team of Berkeley researchers. Their study may explain how a complex of proteins, called kinetochores, can recognize and stay attached to microtubules, hollow fibers in the walls of biological cells that are responsible for the faithful segregation of chromosomes during cell division.
“In test tube experiments, we’ve found that the kinetochore proteins form
After years of trial and error, scientists have coaxed human embryonic stem cells to become spinal motor neurons, critical nervous system pathways that relay messages from the brain to the rest of the body.
The new findings, reported online today (Jan. 30, 2005) in the journal Nature Biotechnology by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, are important because they provide critical guideposts for scientists trying to repair damaged or diseased nervous systems.
Physical traits, genetic test help with early diagnosis
A research team led by Johns Hopkins doctors has defined the physical traits and genetic basis of a new aortic aneurysm syndrome that is extremely aggressive and can cause death in early childhood. Early diagnosis of the syndrome and rapid surgical repair of the swollen aorta can save lives, the researchers report in the Jan. 30 advance online section of Nature Genetics.
Based on a review of medical records and exp
Scientists have made a significant advance toward understanding the regulation of blood stem cells and the complex, lifelong process of blood cell formation. A research study published in the February issue of Developmental Cell expands on previous studies by using adult animals to examine the role of a key gene known to be required for blood cell formation. Information gained from this research will be useful for future studies aimed at directing stem cell differentiation in a variety of pote
Researchers now see birds’ cognitive ability as more comparable to mammals
Duke University neurobiologist Erich Jarvis and a team of 28 other neuroscientists have proposed sweeping changes to the terminology associated with the brain structures of birds–a century-old nomenclature the researchers consider outdated and irrelevant to birds’ true brainpower.
The international research group concludes in a Feb. 2005, paper published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience
A new use of an ultra-sensitive method that employs bionanotechnology might lead to a clinical test capable of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease in its earliest stages — instead of during an autopsy.
Scientists at Northwestern University have become the first to detect in living humans a biomarker associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a development that promises early intervention when therapeutics may be most effective — long before plaques and tangles develop in t
Professor Gregory M. Cahill’s research illuminates a ’first’ in this species
Using genetically altered zebrafish that glow in the dark, University of Houston researchers have found new tools that shed light upon biological clock cycles. Gregory M. Cahill, associate professor of biology and biochemistry at UH, and Maki Kaneko, a fellow UH researcher who is now at the University of California-San Diego, presented their findings in a paper titled “Light-dependent Development of Circ
A gene that plays many fundamental roles in cells throughout the body has, for the first time, been implicated in human disease, according to researchers at the Duke Center for Human Genetics. A defect in the ubiquitous gene dynamin 2 underlies one form of the prevalent, familial nerve disorder, known as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). The disorder affects approximately 1 in every 2,500 people, making it one of the most common of all hereditary disorders, said the researchers.
In a development that could one day score a touchdown for better health, chemists in Australia have created a “superbowl” molecule that shows promise for precision drug delivery, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Shaped like a miniature football stadium, the molecule is capable of delivering a wide range of drugs — from painkillers to chemotherapy cocktails — to specific areas of the body, potentially resulting in improved treatment outcomes and perhaps
Researchers at New York University and the medical schools at Harvard and Yale universities have identified new genes necessary for embryonic development, according to findings published in the latest issue of Genome Research. This discovery is an important step toward a complete mapping of which parts of the genome are required for embryonic development. The new findings also probe into how genetic networks are built and how they could evolve.
The team, headed by biologists at
An enzyme that initiates inflammation has been directly linked to insulin resistance and resulting type II diabetes by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. In addition, the team suggests that inhibition of the enzyme in the immune system’s macrophages may be a new diabetes therapy.
Published in the February 2005 issue of the journal Nature Medicine, the study describes research in mice that identifies enzyme IkB kinase â (Ikk-â)
University of Glasgow scientists have discovered how mitochondria – the energy factories in our cells – can sustain a cancer, reporting their findings in a new study published in Cancer Cell.
Mitochondria are complex structures that exist in cells to generate energy for growth and activity. The Cancer Research UK researchers based at the University of Glasgow’s Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow have found out how the excessive build-up of a simple metabolic mole
Cherie Booth QC today opened a world-leading facility at CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory which is designed to understand how genes make proteins. The £3 million facility will use powerful X-rays from Daresbury Laboratory’s Synchrotron Radiation Source and advanced automation techniques to solve complex protein structures. This will underpin advances in research and healthcare.
The facility, a new beamline on Daresbury Laboratory’s Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS), is a collaboration between
Defect in neuroligin gene disrupts firing of neurons and may result in autism
The causes of autism have long remained a mystery, but new research from Columbia University Medical Center has identified, for the first time, how a cellular defect may be involved in the often crippling neurological disorder.
The research, which is published in today’s issue of Science, examines how a defect in neuroligin genes may contribute to autism. Neuroligins are components of sy
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