The lamprey, a jawless vertebrate, “has a radically different immune system than humans and other jawed vertebrates, but it may offer the same protection in recognizing invaders and alerting damage-control elements,” according to UAB’s Howard Hughes Investigator Max Cooper, M.D. A study by Cooper, Zeev Pancer, Ph.D., and colleagues was published in the July 9 issue of Nature.

Cooper, a developmental immunologist, is known for his work that helped delineate T and B cells in birds and mammal

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered a new mechanism that allows cells to fight a class of toxins made by a wide variety of disease-causing bacteria.

Their discovery, detailed in this week’s early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could eventually pave the way for the development of new, more effective treatments for bacterial diseases that kill or sicken millions of people each year, such as pneumonia, strep throat, scar

Scientists have developed a new method for DNA amplification that could replace the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique that is invaluable for both medical diagnostics and basic research but which is confined to the laboratory. In the August issue of EMBO reports, Huimin Kong and colleagues at New England Biolabs (Beverly, MA, USA) describe a way to copy mass amounts of DNA that overcomes some of the limitations of this earlier technique.

The new technique is called HDA (helicase-

Living organisms are an enormous reservoir of natural compounds potentially active against viruses, bacteria or cancerous cells, that could lead to the development of new medicines. Out of about 145 000 natural substances described today, 10% come from marine organisms. Among the few such organisms studied for their chemical composition, sponges of the genus Phloeodictyon (Haploscleridae) collected in shallow New Caledonian waters during campaigns of the programme “Marine Substances of Biological I

Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientist Alison Barth has developed the first tool to identify and study individual neurons activated in a living animal. This advance, described in the July 21 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, ultimately could lead to the development of targeted drugs that directly affect specific neurons involved in neurological diseases that alter behavior, learning and perception.

While neuroscientists have made great strides in identifying the general areas of the

Leica’s premium optics Leica M520 OptiChrome™ featuring the new Leica F40 compact stand is the perfect answer from Leica Microsystems to the demands of microsurgery. Best view, perfect balance, easy movability, perfect stability and a balanced cost-effectiveness distinguish the microscope system from Leica.

Neurosurgery or otolaryngology surgery or spine surgery require the highest level of expertise and concentration on part of the surgical team. The successful Leica M520 surgical microsco

In the six months since WHO and UNAIDS launched the “three by five” strategy, significant progress has been made towards the goal of increasing access to AIDS treatment for all those who need it. This is the result of the efforts of many partners including governments, donors, multilateral agencies, nongovernmental organizations, faith based organizations, the private sector, and persons living with HIV/AIDS. But much more remains to be done and urgently if the world is to meet its target of providi

People with vertigo can get relief by doing maneuvers at home, according to a study published in the July 13 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study involved people with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, an inner ear problem that causes a feeling of spinning or whirling when you move your head into certain positions. The vertigo usually lasts less than a minute. It can be mild or severe enough to cause nausea. It affects an estimated 64

The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) has updated its guidelines for treatment of blood cholesterol, suggesting that people at risk for heart attack and stroke would benefit from more intensive cholesterol-lowering therapies.

Dr. Scott M. Grundy, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, said the new guidelines are based largely on results from five major clinical trials involving cholesterol-lowering medications called statins. These

Catheter-directed embolization is a well-established interventional radiology technique used to treat arterial hemorrhage in a variety of areas in the body. Although embolization has been used for over 20 years to treat trauma victims with massive bleeding and to control hemorrhage after childbirth instead of emergency hysterectomy, the investigation of glue as an embolic agent is new. Embolization is particularly useful because in massive bleeding often there is so much blood coming at the surgeon

A voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) program using a mobile van to travel to marketplaces in townships and villages overcomes the structural barriers to HIV testing in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to UCSF researchers.

“Mobile VCT eliminates the cost and inconvenience of having to travel to urban centers for HIV testing, while the presence of the mobile van with outreach workers in busy marketplaces creates familiarity with the testing process and reduces the stigma associated with this

Eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus) have upset the apple cart of assumptions on glacier-driven population migrations. Based on a mitochondrial DNA analysis of 244 chipmunks, it seems the majority of them living in Illinois and Wisconsin today descend from ancestors who survived the last North American ice age in what researchers believe were isolated pockets of forestland amid the cold tundra. The findings – reported online this week ahead of regular publication by the Proceedings of the Nati

The best approach for averting the deadly spread of smallpox following release of the virus by terrorists may rest with the establishment of a major collaborative research effort to develop new antiviral drugs that would involve the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, universities and government agencies, according to a new report from the National Academies.

The report delivers the recommendations of a distinguished panel of researchers who participated in a two-day workshop at t

Using an animal model, Penn researchers identify receptor in endothelial cells that is crucial for cardiovascular development

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of mortality in children worldwide. According to the American Heart Association, Congenital cardiovascular defects are present in about one percent of live births and are the most common malformations in newborns. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have recently identified new

By examining the brain activity of moths, researchers have found that the behavior of these insects isn’t ruled entirely by instinct. Rather, they can learn which odors mean food.

The findings are more than academic: The researchers hope to develop methods for using trained moths to detect odors of interest for defense industry and law enforcement – such as odors given off by biological and chemical weapons.

Animal behaviorists have historically argued that most insects have a

A team of biologists has discovered the structure and genetic sequence of the hormone that makes insects develop their hard outer shells and allows them to spread their wings. The findings answer more than 40 years of questions about insect development.

Using the fruit fly, the researchers determined the genetic sequence of the hormone bursicon, confirmed that it is responsible for the hardening of the soft exoskeleton after each molt of an insect as it grows into adulthood, and discovered