University of Illinois researchers report that four consecutive days of moderate exercise in mice after they were infected with influenza protects them from dying, compared with mice that didn’t exercise. This protective effect was more evident in mice greater than 16 weeks of age, an age at which they are immunologically more mature. The takeaway message: exercise regularly because you never know when you’ll be exposed!
Jeffrey A. Woods, PhD., and graduate student Tom Lowder at the
Call To Rename Class Of Muscle-Derived IL-6 As “Myokines”
For the most of the past century, researchers have searched for a muscle-contraction-induced factor, which mediates some of the exercise effects in other tissues and organs such as the liver and adipose tissue. In their quest for this magic trigger, or class of effectors, it’s been referred to as the “work stimulus,” “work factor” or the “exercise factor.”
Bente Karlund Pedersen, professor of internal medicine at R
Using a gene resurrected from the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, recorded history’s most lethal outbreak of infectious disease, scientists have found that a single gene may have been responsible for the devastating virulence of the virus.
Writing today (Oct. 7, 2004) in the journal Nature, virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tokyo, describes experiments in which engineered viruses were made more pote
Nerve cells with a mutant calcium channel don’t communicate as effectively as those with a normal calcium channel, according Saint Louis University research that is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online Early Edition the week of Oct. 4.
“The research helps us understand the basic mechanism that underlies how neurons communicate,” said Amy Harkins, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacological and physiological science at Saint Louis University
While questions still remain about the nature and function of stem cells found in fat, a group of researchers and clinicians convened today in Pittsburgh at the Second Annual Meeting of the International Fat Applied Technology Society (IFATS) agreed that research should move forward with the ultimate goal of performing human clinical trials to test the cells’ therapeutic potential for specific indications.
Today concludes scientific sessions exploring how adipose tissue, or f
The pathogen responsible for a precooked chicken recall last summer will become easier to detect in ready-to-eat meats, thanks to a new biosensor developed by scientists at Purdue University.
A team of food scientists has developed a sensor that can detect the potentially deadly bacteria Listeria monocytogenes in less than 24 hours at concentrations as low as 1,000 cells per milliliter of fluid – an amount about the size of a pencil eraser. The sensor also is selective enough to r
Researchers from The Rockefeller University have uncovered specific mechanisms by which cells that are genetically programmed to commit suicide stimulate growth in surrounding cells. The research, published online in Developmental Cell, provides new information about how normal, healthy tissues are maintained and may shed some light on a pathway that may contribute to tumor growth.
It has been known for some time that cells that die as a result of injury-provoked programmed cell deat
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2004 “for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation” jointly to
Aaron Ciechanover
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel,
Avram Hershko
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel and
Irwin Rose
University of California, Irvine, USA
They have discovered how useless proteins are labelled wit
The first draft of the bovine genome sequence is now freely available to biomedical and agricultural researchers around the world.
CSIRO Livestock Industries is a partner in the U.S. $53 million dollar international effort to sequence the genome of the cow (Bos taurus).
“CSIRO has invested in the research to increase understanding and utilisation of the bovine genome which is a major focus for our livestock portfolio development both now and into the future,” CSIRO Livesto
Biologists discover gene that helps roots limit leaf growth
University of Utah biologists discovered a gene that allows a plant’s roots to tell the leaves to stop growing, presumably when water is scarce, soil is too compacted or other conditions are bad.
While roots obviously carry food and water to the leaves, the new findings help show how roots also send chemical signals that control whether or not leaves grow. How leaves grow is a crucial matter given that leafy p
Despite the well-characterized cellular basis of Parkinson’s disease — the degeneration of dopamine-production neurons — the molecular mechanisms responsible for the neurodegeneration remain unknown. Part of the challenge is finding a model that can adequately mimic the loss of dopamine cells. In two papers published in PLoS Biology, Asa Abeliovich and colleagues make the case that a model based on mouse embryonic stem cells offers a promising platform for dissecting the disease mechanism
Worldwide amphibian declines have reached crisis proportions. In many areas, habitat loss is the likely culprit but, in 1996, it was suggested that some unknown disease had spread through the populations. In 1998, the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis was identified from sick and dead frogs and, since then, several lines of laboratory based evidence have suggested that B. dendrobatidis is to blame for the dramatic frog declines. But with little information about how the disease impacts frogs i
Lein Applied Diagnostics Ltd, a Berkshire-based company that is developing a revolutionary new product to measure blood glucose levels in diabetics, has successfully completed a significant fundraising round through Thames Valley Investment Network (TVIN). The funding will enable Lein to produce next generation prototypes and perform clinical testing. The finance secured marks the third deal closed by the TVIN Network in 18 months.
Diabetes is a major problem, with 1.8 million suffer
Scientists at the University of Leicester have shown that the textbook explanation of how enzymes work is wrong – at least for some enzymes.
Their discovery may explain why attempts to make artificial enzymes have often been disappointing. Industry must now re-think the rationale for the design of biological catalysts and its approaches to drug design. Enzymes are biological molecules that accelerate chemical reactions and are central to the existence of life. The new breakthrou
Spitting into a cup or licking a diagnostic test strip could someday be an attractive alternative to having your blood drawn at the doctor’s office. Researchers have identified the largest number of proteins to date in human saliva, a preliminary finding that could pave the way for more diagnostic tests based on saliva samples. Such tests show promise as a faster, cheaper and potentially safer diagnostic method than blood sampling, they say.
“There is a growing interest in saliva a
Scientists have made significant progress in developing an animal model of smallpox that closely resembles human disease, which will be necessary for testing of future vaccines and potential treatments.
The study, published in this week’s online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to demonstrate that variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox, can produce lethal disease in monkeys.
Smallpox, a devastating disease, was er
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