The ever-slowing capacity to clear the build-up of such toxins as isoprostanes and misfolded proteins that accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients causes the death of cells involved in memory and language. Domenico Pratico, MD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and colleagues have shown in a preliminary study that reducing the levels of isoprostanes, which specifically reflect oxidative damage in the brain, by draining c

A new study has identified mutations in genes pertinent to the autonomic nervous system among babies who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) that might explain why they died. The study appears in the September issue of Pediatric Research.

Dr. Debra E. Weese-Mayer, professor of pediatrics and director of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine at Rush University Medical Center, and colleagues at Rush and at the University of Pittsburgh conducted a case-control study in which they compa

Scientists at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, and at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, have discovered the mechanism by which acidity helps prevent muscle fatigue.

The discovery runs in the face of the previously held belief among physiologists and athletes that acidity, through a build up of lactic acid, is a major cause of muscle fatigue.

Professors George Stephenson and Graham Lamb of La Trobe’s Muscle Research Laboratory and Mr Thomas Pedersen and

New technique, reported in Science, unites organic fragments by piggybacking on DNA strands

By piggybacking small organic molecules onto short strands of DNA, chemists at Harvard University have developed an innovative new method of using DNA as a blueprint not for proteins but for collections of complex synthetic molecules. The researchers will report on the prolific technique, dubbed “DNA-templated library synthesis,” this week on the web site of the journal Science.

“T

Cyclin D proteins not required for development of tissues, as previously believed

In an experiment that appears to refute current theory, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have found that removing three key proteins believed essential to cell division and growth had little impact on normal tissue development of a mouse embryo. These same proteins, when overly active, have been linked to cancer cell proliferation.

With one significant exception, the absence of protein

Scientists have developed the first mouse model of a rare disease in which people age rapidly and start developing cancers and other diseases associated with the elderly when they are only about 30 years old.

The advance, reported in the August issue of Nature Genetics, is already shedding light on a suspected strong link between aging and cancer by suggesting that a single cellular protein can play a role in both processes, according to researchers.

“Given that most cancer

Taking advantage of a unique labyrinth of Texas caves festooned with tree roots, Duke University biologists have given trees the most exacting root-to-twig physical of their circulatory system yet.

The scientists’ findings reveal the impressive adaptive engineering of deep-rooted trees in adjusting the size and structure of their piping, or xylem, to maximize water uptake, maintain their integrity and avoid flow-blocking embolisms. In particular, the findings reveal how the deep

Chemical engineers at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have developed a new filtration system to enable scientists and engineers to separate and purify two different kinds of proteins having relatively close molecular weight. Until now, doing such separations with membrane filtration was impossible. This research was reported in the June 20, 2004 issue of Biotechnology and Bioengineering.

“This is good news,” said Kamalesh K. Sirkar, PhD, distinguished professor of chemical

C. elegans model helps identify protein linked to long QT syndrome – Could help lead to development of drugs that don’t cause calcium channel block

The worm C. elegans seems an unlikely candidate for studies related to cardiac arrhythmias. After all, the microscopic organism doesn’t even have a heart.

That fact did not deter Christina I. Petersen, Ph.D., research assistant professor of Anesthesiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Petersen and colleagues, includ

Greater use of e-mail consultations could be beneficial to patients according to research from Imperial College London and the University of Edinburgh.

The research, published today in the British Medical Journal, looked at the extent of e-mail consultations already occurring, and measured the opinions of doctors and patients on their effectiveness.

Dr Josip Car from Imperial College London, based at Charing Cross Hospital, and co-author of the research, comments: “With such

Imported resistance has rendered ineffective the two affordable malaria drugs which have been the mainstay of malaria treatment in Africa for forty years, according to experts writing today in the journal Science.

Scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colleagues from institutions in the USA, South Africa and Thailand believe that mutations causing drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum (the parasite which causes the most deadly form of malaria) origi

Navarre doctor Rosa María Alás Brun has shown, in her PhD thesis defended at the Public University of Navarre, that, despite contamination rates in Pamplona being very low, these still have an influence on death rates.

After analysing the development, between 1991 and 1999, of the levels of five of the most representative contaminants in Pamplona – particles in suspension, sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and ozone -, Rosa María Alás Brun holds that this level o

Bacteriophages – the friendly viruses that can wreak havoc on harmful bacteria – are being harnessed to beat back Salmonella in livestock. A phage invented and recently patented by food safety researchers at Iowa State University is the first phage to control the spread of Salmonella in swine and to prevent the bacterium from developing into a vehicle of foodborne illness.

“The pen isn’t the only place pigs get Salmonella,” said D.L. (Hank) Harris, an animal science researcher at ISU.

The University Twente (The Netherlands), representing a network of 12 partners, has received a considerable grant from the European Commission to implement the nanotechnology program ‘Frontiers’.

Frontiers is a European network which aims at establishing leadership in research and innovation on behalf of life sciences related nanotechnology by integrating the strengths and facilities of the network partners. This integrated approach will strengthen Europe’s position in nanosciences

Timing is everything and our circadian clock, allows us (and almost every other organism on the planet), to predict the daily changes in our environment, such as light and temperature.

The University of Leicester is one of the main UK centres for clock and photoreceptor research, and new findings on the biology of the cryptochrome and light entrainment in the fruitfly (Drosophila melanogaster) by a team of Leicester biologists, led by Dr Ezio Rosato, have made a significant contri

Findings point to a different way to treat sleep disorders and anxiety

UC Irvine pharmacology researchers have found how a recently discovered brain protein plays a major role regulating sleep and stress – a discovery that can lead to a new class of drugs for treating ailments ranging from sleep and anxiety disorders to attention deficit disorder.

The UCI team conducted tests to see how neuropeptide S (NPS) affected behavioral responses in rodents. They found that NPS in