The measurement of pH is one of the most common analytical measurements used the world over in applications from process control in the food industry, to research in the pharmaceutical industry, through to effluent monitoring in the environmental sector. In 2002, the total pH measurement instrumentation market, including replacement sensors revenue, was estimated to be on the order of $500m.
The technology currently used for measuring pH is more than seven decades old and suffers from
Research provides information on brain changes that affect breeding in birds
A bird’s song is music to our ears — and to the ears of his potential mates — and a warning to other males to stay out of his territory. To Ignacio Moore, assistant professor of biology at Virginia Tech, bird songs were a curiosity that made him want to find out why birds sang at some times and not at others, at some places and not elsewhere.
Moore and University of Washington, Seattl
Putting on airs doesn’t cut it in the wasp world.
When wasps sporting the high-quality symbol of a blotchy face turned out to be wimps, they got harassed more than wasps whose abilities were honestly reflected by their faces, report researchers. It’s the first conclusive report that animals that don’t signal their qualities honestly receive social sanctions. Moreover, it’s the first report of such quality signals in insects. “It’s the most conclusive evid
Answers to these two questions are given by two recent studies on tooth development and evolution. Scientists at the University of Helsinki have identified the gene responsible for tooth enamel formation, which also explains the sharp incisors of rodents. The second study adds to our knowledge on evolution: the differences between teeth in various species, which have been utilised in evolution research, can be altered through one signalling molecule that regulates development. The research find
A study of a recently discovered microRNA gene reveals that its function is to regulate the secretion of insulin in the pancreas. The findings, which for the first time define a biological function for a mammalian microRNA gene, are published in the November 11 issue of Nature.
The discovery was made by a team of researchers from Rockefeller University, Lund University (Sweden), New York University, and Oxford University.
MicroRNA genes are a newly discovered large clas
Gene exchange between different plant species is made possible by their parasites, according to an Indiana University Bloomington report in this week’s Nature.
IUB biologists’ discovery that genes can move from plant parasites to plant hosts complements a report by University of Michigan and Smithsonian Institution scientists in the July 30 issue of Science that showed the opposite — that genes can move from plant hosts to plant parasites. Taken together, the findings establis
University of Pittsburgh researchers describe how the antigen-rich particles receive cozy welcome by recipient cells
Bubble-like nano-scale particles that are shed by dendritic cells may hold the key to achieving transplant tolerance – the long-term acceptance of transplanted organs without the need for drugs, suggests a study by University of Pittsburgh researchers published in the Nov. 15 issue of the journal Blood. The results provide some of the first information about what t
Some new generation COX-2 inhibitors may not allow heart attack patients to recover fully, research indicates.
Researchers at the University of Alberta have discovered a basic cellular process the body uses to balance pH in cells–also critical to recovery following a heart attack–is compromised by certain novel COX-2 inhibitors.
Bicarbonate transporters, enzymes critical to maintaining this delicate balance of bicarbonate across the cell membrane, are potently inhib
Fungi and animals, including humans, have a lot in common when it comes to the arrangement of genes that determine their sex, according to new work by Howard Hughes Medical Institute geneticists at the Duke University Medical Center.
Regions of the genome that determine the sexual identity of the infectious fungus Cryptococcus neoformans bear striking similarities to the human Y chromosome — the sex chromosome associated with male characteristics — the team found. The researchers
Scientists at Johns Hopkins have linked a stem-cell gene to a portion of one of the most common childhood brain cancers, opening the door to tailored therapies that block the gene’s tumor-promoting ability.
The gene, called Notch2, whose pathway is known to be an important factor in regulating brain stem-cell growth and survival, has been studied in fruit flies for almost a century. The research team at the Johns Hopkins Pathology Department and Kimmel Cancer Center found t
A progressive skin disease causing hair loss in adult humans was identified in laboratory mice, providing a genetic tool to study the disease known as alopecia areata (AA).
“Our mouse model has proven to be very useful as a preclinical model to test new treatments for alopecia areata before being used in humans,” states lead researcher, John P. Sundberg, D.V.M., Ph.D., of The Jackson Laboratory inBar Harbor, Maine. The study further provided the opportunity to use newly availabl
New ARIC data confirm enzyme’s potential as a target for independent cardiovascular diagnosis and therapy
High levels of an enzyme – lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) – believed to trigger a cascade of inflammatory events in atherosclerosis can independently predict increased risk of stroke, even after accounting for both traditional and novel cardiovascular risk factors, according to a new analysis by investigators from the ongoing Atherosclerosis Risk in
New protein structure is a first step toward preventing E. coli diseases
Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have determined the two-dimensional crystal structure of a membrane protein involved in the process by which the Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria infects a human. This protein structure is a first step to better understanding how an E. coli infection begins, which may lead to information on how to blo
Researchers at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences have developed a new algorithm that can lead to more accurate detection of cancer genes than previous versions. The algorithm, published in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), can also be applied to the multiple biomedical technologies (e.g., different kinds of micro-arrays) used to analyze cancer patients’ genomes.
Headed by NYU Professor Bud Mi
Drug discovery researchers at Northwestern University have developed a new class of compounds that have the potential to reduce the inflammation of brain cells and the neuron loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
The new class of compounds are aminopyridazines. The original compound, called MW01-070C, is used in an injectable form. More recently developed compounds, such as MW01-2-151WH and MW01-5-188WH, can be taken by mouth.
The compounds were designed and sy
UC Riverside Researchers Find that Fish Living in High-Predator Environments Challenge Classic Evolutionary Theories
Classic evolutionary theories of senescence, or the evolution of the rate at which organisms deteriorate as they age, have been challenged by the findings of researchers at the University of California, Riverside.
In the 1950s, Peter Medawar, winner of a Nobel Prize for medicine, and George Williams, a renowned evolutionary biologist, developed theories fo
Feedback
