An understanding of exactly how the brain controls breathing is fundamental to the treatment of respiratory disorders. We know that breathing is an automatic rhythmic process that persists without conscious effort whether we are awake or asleep, but the question that has intrigued many scientists for well over 100 years is what maintains this almost fail safe vital rhythm throughout life?

Experimental Physiology editor Julian Paton invited two world renowned scientists Dr. Guyene

Publication reveals atomic structure of angiopoietin-2, a key protein involved in the neo-vascularization of solid tumors

A structural biologist from the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center, in collaboration with researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, has identified the crystal structure of a protein that plays a role in supplying nutrients to solid tumors.

This identification may help researchers gain a greater understanding of the cell

It seems size does matters after all. But for flying snakes, smaller is better, according to University of Chicago researchers.

In the May 15, 2005, issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology (http://jeb.biologists.org/content/vol208/issue10/), scientists described the effects of size and behavior of flying snakes, and found that the smaller animals were better gliders.

“Despite their lack of wing-like appendages, flying snakes are skilled aerial locomotors,” said lead

A paper published in Nature on May 12th (1) provides new data that resolves a long-standing scientific controversy. In the 1960s, Nobel Prize winning zoologist, Karl von Frisch, proposed that honeybees use dance (the“waggle dance”) as a coded message to guide other bees to new food sources. However, some scientists did not accept von Frisch’s theory. Using harmonic radar, scientists, funded in part by the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have now tracked the flig

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is beginning a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and feasibility of a potential treatment for congestive heart failure that involves injecting a patient’s own bone marrow-derived stem cells directly into the heart muscle. The procedure is expected to be performed in five to 10 patients who are scheduled to receive a heart assist device as a bridge to organ transplantation.

The stem cell trial is one of only a handful tha

A fully digital 4D ultrasound system is set to provide a ‘next generation’ integrated solution for medical imaging applications, allowing practitioners to provide faster treatment and improve therapeutic success rates.

Developed by ADUMS, an IST-funded project that ended in April 2005, the advanced high-quality imaging system will significantly reduce diagnostic time. In addition, the technology uses off-the-shelf computer hardware, making it a much cheaper alternative to expe

Obesity is one of the biggest threats to child health. Genetics, decreases in physical activity, increases in television watching, and consumption of fast food are factors that have led to an increase of childhood obesity in the United States. Excessive consumption of sugar sweetened drinks may also be a key factor. A commentary in the May issue of The Journal of Pediatrics reviews prior research to provide perspective about the role of soft drinks in childhood obesity.

Robert

Scientists at the University of Dundee have identified a way of inactivating a naturally occurring human protein, a development which could offer new routes to developing cancer prevention treatments.

Professor John Hayes and Dr Lesley McLellan in the Biomedical Research Centre at the University, along with Dr Chris Lindsay, have found that the protein, called Keap1, is a target for a new class of cancer prevention treatments.

The researchers say the findings simplify t

Binding gold nanoparticles to a specific antibody for cancer cells could make cancer detection much easier, suggests research at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). The report is published online as an ASAP article in the journal Nano Letters.

“Gold nanoparticles are very good at scattering and absorbing light,” said Mostafa El-Sayed, director of the Laser Dyanamics Laboratory and chemistry professor at Georgia Tech. “W

Monkeys that learn to use their brain signals to control a robotic arm are not just learning to manipulate an external device, Duke University Medical Center neurobiologists have found. Rather, their brain structures are adapting to treat the arm as if it were their own appendage.

The finding has profound implications both for understanding the extraordinary adaptability of the primate brain and for the potential clinical success of brain-operated devices to give the handicapped

Discovery reveals how stem cells can be used to help repair acute spinal cord damage

A treatment derived from human embryonic stem cells improves mobility in rats with spinal cord injuries, providing the first physical evidence that the therapeutic use of these cells can help restore motor skills lost from acute spinal cord tissue damage.

Hans Keirstead and his colleagues in the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at UC Irvine have found that a human embryonic stem cell-derive

The discovery of a fundamental new route into cells may lead to new methods of drug delivery and to a better understanding of viral infection.

Researchers from The University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), and the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis used electron microscopy to uncover new structures, 100,000th of a mm in size, which are involved in the very first step of particle and nutrient uptake into cells.

Cells require a consta

’Good to the last amino acid’

A computer scientist at Washington University in St. Louis has applied software that he has developed to the genome of a worm and has found 150 genes that were missed by previous genome analysis methods. Moreover, using the software, he and his colleagues have developed predictions for the existence of a whopping 1, 119 more genes.

Michael Brent, Ph.D., Washington University professor of computer science and engineering, used hi

Medical researchers are using satellites to track massive dust storms blowing across Africa’s Sahel belt. The aim is to learn more about lethal meningitis epidemics that often follow in the dust’s wake.

“Meningitis outbreaks take place after a period without rain, low humidity and lots of dust in the air,” explained Isabelle Jeanne of the Niger-based Centre de Recherche Médicale et Sanitaire (CERMES), associated with the international network des Instituts Pasteur and a

Where fat comes from determines whether the body can metabolize it effectively. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that the “old” fat stored in the body’s peripheral tissues — that is, around the belly, thighs or bottom — can’t be burned efficiently unless “new” fat is eaten in the diet or made in the liver.

The research team developed genetically engineered mice missing an important fat synthesizing enzyme in the liver. As

Technology developed at UC Davis may be gentler, more accurate than mammography

A new breast screening technology that may be able to detect tumors earlier than mammography — without the need for uncomfortable breast compression — is being tested in patients at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center. Developed at UC Davis, the machine is the first breast CT to reach clinical testing in a generation. An early prototype was tested in the 1970s, but abandoned as im