The local boy with the most bling is a good choice in the spring, but as summer progresses a girl bird’s best bet is a stranger.

Who’s chosen by whom in the mating game is determined by seasonal changes in the genetic diversity of available mates, according to new research based on a 10-year study of wild finches.

The finding helps explain a long-standing evolutionary biology paradox.

Previous research has shown that female birds often go for the fl

Fast tracking the healing process for common ear infections will be the focus of ground-breaking research by WA’s Lions Ear and Hearing Institute (LEHI).

The research will aim to understand why some eardrums heal by themselves (and why some do not heal at all) by identifying which genes are responsible for the wound-healing process of an infected human ear drum.

According to the World Health Organisation, almost half of the world’s population suffers from &#146

People wearing compression stockings on long-haul flights may have one tenth the risk of developing a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) compared to those who do not wear compression stockings. So concludes a systematic review of medical research to be published in The Cochrane Library, Issue 2, on April 19th 2006.

“This review shows that airline passengers travelling for long distances can expect a substantial reduction in the incidence of symptomless DVT if they wear compression stockings,” s

No more need for clinical trials. A systematic review of currently available literature published this week in The Cochrane Library, Issue 2, 2006 shows that insecticide treated nets (ITNs) reduces placental malaria, low birth weight, and abortions and stillbirths in women living in malaria affected regions of Africa. The benefit is most noticeable in women during their first two to four pregnancies, and the effect is seen if the ITNs are used by whole communities or by individual women.

Directly observed therapy (DOT) has no quantitatively important effect on cure rates or treatment completion in people receiving treatment for tuberculosis (TB). So concludes a systematic review of randomized controlled trials conducted in low-, middle, and high-income countries.

To fight TB people need to take medication regularly for at least six months, but many people fail to complete the regimen. One approach to improving compliance has been to directly observe people as they

At the Institut Curie, CNRS and Inserm researchers have shown that cysteamine, which is already used to treat a rare disease called cystinosis, prevents the death of neurons in Huntington’s disease. Like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, Huntington’s disease, is characterized by the abnormal death of neurons.

Cysteamine raises neuronal levels of BDNF protein, a trophic factor which is depleted in Huntington’s disease, and by assaying BDNF in the blood it is possible to evaluate the eff

The burden of malnutrition in Africa continues to rise and it is costing the continent billions of dollars in lost productivity as a direct consequence of the effects of lack of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals in particular.

It is estimated that about 40% of people in Sub-Sahara Africa are affected by vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency raises the risk of severe illness and death in children by as much as 23-40%, and is a major cause of blindness in many count

A group of researchers of the University of Granada (UGR) is leading an excellence project funded by the Andalusian Ministry of Innovation, Science and Enterprise with 105,900 Euros whose objective is to apply mathematics to the study of tumours and cell mobility. With their project called ‘Biomat: estudio de modelos de desarrollo y movilidad celular y tumoral’ (Biomat: study of models of cell and tumour development and mobility), these Granada-based scientists, led by Juan Soler Vizcaíno, wil

A triangular molecule, resembling an abundant product detected in outer space, may one day find important applications on planet Earth.

Chemists at the University of California, Riverside have created in the laboratory a type of molecule thought to exist only in interstellar space, which may have valuable applications in the chemical industry.

The finding of their paper, titled Cyclopropenylidenes: From Interstellar Space to an Isolated Derivative in the Laboratory are

In the May 1 issue of G&D, Dr. Leonard Guarente (MIT) and colleagues provide the first functional characterization of a mammalian sirtuin protein other than SIRT1. The Sir2 enzyme family, called sirtuins, is involved in a wide variety of biological processes, and are conserved from bacteria to humans.

The human genome encodes seven Sir2 homologs, termed SIRT1-7. Since their discovery in 1999, most research had focused on the role(s) of SIRT1, while the other members of this family have g

The cell is understood to be highly organized, with specialized areas for different functions and molecular motors shuttling components around. Researchers from the University of Illinois’ Chicago and Urbana-Champaign campuses now offer the first imaging evidence from live cells of ongoing organization and transport within the cell nucleus.

Genes that are active are located mainly in the central region of the nucleus, while inactive genes are at the periphery. But scientists have ha

Human-like movement control helps flexible arms achieve precision

The octopus arm is extremely flexible. Thanks to this flexibility–the arm is said to possess a virtually infinite number of “degrees of freedom”–the octopus is able to generate a vast repertoire of movements that is unmatched by the human arm. Nonetheless, despite the huge evolutionary gap and morphological differences between the octopus and vertebrates, the octopus arm acts much like a three-jointed vertebrate l

Large swaths of the genome are controlled by the choice of a sedentary versus migratory future

As juveniles, individuals of many fish species face a developmental choice that will profoundly affect their future: whether to adopt a sedentary or migratory lifestyle. Sedentary (or “residential”) individuals remain in the region of their birth, while their migratory compatriots set forth on long open-water journeys. The developmental choice of the residential versus migratory “life

Laboratory discoveries by scientists at two universities may lead to new directions in cancer therapy drugs. The researchers have discovered that a genetic switch involved in growth and development of an animal is the same one used to prevent normal cells from becoming cancerous.

The findings are reported in the April 18 issue of Current Biology. Experiments were carried out by first author Masamitsu Fukuyama, a postdoctoral scientist working in the laboratories of Joel H. Rothm

Nearly half of health workers surveyed would not go to work during an influenza pandemic. The results of a survey of health workers in Maryland, USA, published today in the open access journal BMC Public Health reveal that the staff’s perceived importance of their role in the response to a pandemic is the most important factor influencing willingness to come to work during a pandemic. This is lowest among technical or support staff. These results highlight the need for increased training and sup

Veterinary scientists in Liverpool have found that some African cattle have natural immunity to a parasite, similar to that which causes river blindness in humans.

These new findings, by scientists at the University’s Faculty of Veterinary Science and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, indicate that it may be possible to vaccinate humans against River Blindness. The disease causes blindness in thousands of people in some of the poorest countries in the world, partic