Research at Yale reported in the journal Science identifies a new riboswitch (RNA regulatory sequence) class in bacteria that operates as a rare “ON” switch for genetic regulation of the three proteins in a glycine processing system.

“This seems like something only a biochemist can appreciate, but what it really means is that modern RNA has what it takes to run the complex metabolism of life. It is like what would have been needed in an “RNA World” – or a period in evolution

When memories are made and learning occurs, the connections between brain cells change. Scientists know that an influx of calcium is critical to this process. A theoretical model developed by a Brown University research team shows that cells’ ability to fine-tune this calcium flow not only sparks changes in synapses but also allows cells to maintain a working state of equilibrium.

A research team based at Brown University has created a theoretical model that may shed light on a brai

Northwestern University researchers have discovered a mechanism that may help to explain how angiogenesis inhibitors work on normal, blood vessel-forming endothelial cells, but not on insidious, aggressive melanoma cells that masquerade as endothelial-like cells by forming their own vascular networks, called “vasculogenic mimicry.”

Mary J. C. Hendrix, professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and president and scientific director of the Children

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are reporting a possible answer to a longstanding question in research on the origins of life on Earth–how did the first amino acids form the first peptides?
Peptides and proteins are strings of amino acid building blocks, and they are one of the most important classes of biological molecules found in living things today. Fifty years of chemical research on the origins of life has shown that amino ac

Research at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology has identified Dectin-1 as the beta-glucan receptor on immune cells. This finding may be of use in the prophylactic prevention of a variety of infections, especially in surgical patients, and in the treatment of cancer. The identification of Dectin-1 as the beta-glucan receptor may also provide a novel strategy for combating fungal infections.

b-Glucans are glucose polymers which possess immunomodulatory activities, although

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered a “central memory” form of “helper” T cells that can offer immunity to leishmaniasis, a disease that causes considerable death and disfigurement across the globe and has been found in U.S. military personnel returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

In the October issue of Nature Medicine, the Penn researchers describe how the discovery can offer immunity to leishmaniasis, even without the persistent presence of the pa

Scientists from the University of California, Riverside have identified one of the key enzymes that trigger programmed cell death, an important process plants undergo in fighting off bacterial, fungal or viral infections. The development holds out hope of improving crop yields, which are dependent on plants being able to fend off multiple types of pathogens.

The findings, outlined in a paper titled “VPEg Exhibits a Caspase-like Activity that Contributes to Defense Against Pathogen

The use of anti-inflammatory drugs to treat patients with severe head injuries—common practice worldwide for the past 30 years—is actually dangerous and associated with around a 20% increase in death within two weeks of hospital admission, conclude authors of an international study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.

Around 3 million people worldwide die of trauma every year, many after arrival at hospital. Findings of a 1997 systematic review suggested that these drugs might reduce

Researchers from Imperial College London have discovered that mortality figures for children undergoing open cardiac surgery have dropped to a third of that recorded before the Bristol Inquiry.

According to research published in the British Medical Journal today, mortality figures for children under one year old who have undergone open heart surgery have fallen from 12 percent between April 1991 and March 1995 to four percent between April 1999 and March 2002 in England.

Provision of air rather than 100% oxygen for babies requiring ventilation after delivery could reduce infant mortality, suggests a study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET. The finding is counter to the long-held belief that 100% oxygen is better than air for babies requiring ventilation in the first few minutes of life.

Between 5–10% of newborn babies require assistance with breathing after delivery. International consensus statements for resuscitation of newborn infants reco

Last week’s dramatic withdrawal of the COX-2 inhibitor rofecoxib (Vioxx) is discussed in this week’s lead editorial, which comments that more vigilant drug licensing is vital to prevent the endangering of patients’ health.

The relative paucity of data at the time drug’s come onto the market is a key issue for physicians. The editorial comments: ‘Doctors need to be more aware of the very preliminary nature of data, both for safety and efficacy, provided with newly licensed drugs.

MIT researchers and colleagues have identified three new chemical risk factors for bladder cancer in a study involving some 600 people in the Los Angeles area. The work was reported in the Oct. 6 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The newly discovered carcinogens are found in cigarette smoke, which is already known to be a major cause of bladder cancer, contributing to at least 50 percent of the approximately 60,000 cases in the United States every year.

Feather pecking is a common and serious behavioural disorder in laying hens around the world. The chickens peck and pull the feathers of their victims, and this may lead to cannibalism. Now a group of researchers under the lead of Per Jensen, Professor of ethology at Linköping University have shown that the risk of becoming a victim is largely determined by one single gene, which controls the expression of black pigment in the carrier. A mutation which gives white feathers protects against the att

A new investigation into extinctions caused by climate change has revealed that the giant deer, previously thought to have been wiped out by a cold spell 10,500 years ago, instead survived well into the modern era.

University College London (UCL) scientists scoured the continent to collect dozens of ancient bones and teeth which, when radiocarbon dated, revealed that the Eurasian giant deer survived to 7,000 years ago, much later than previously thought.

Giant deer first

Understanding how microbes in the gut interact with the body could lead scientists and doctors to new a understanding and novel treatments for diseases say scientists from Imperial College London and Astra Zeneca.

In a review published today in Nature Biotechnology, researchers describe how microbes in the gut form the second largest metabolic ‘organ’ in the body and play a key role in disease processes alongside genetic and environmental factors. Microbes in the gut can weigh up to

Social cooperation is one of the most difficult adaptations for evolutionary biologists to explain because competition for resources inside the collective should lead to evolved traits that allow individuals to “cheat” the collective, win more resources and reproduce faster than their more cooperative neighbors — thus undermining the social collective. In new research, evolutionary biologists and geneticists at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have isolated a genetic mechanism