In a study of changes in gene expression covering taxa from bacteria to human published in the PNAS Online Early Edition issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Hiroki R. Ueda of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (Kobe, Japan) and colleagues report their discovery of a fundamental governing principle to the dynamics capable of producing the heterogeneous distribution of gene expression.

Ueda, who heads the CDB Laboratory for Systems Biology, found that changes

Certain ions bouncing around on the ocean’s surface and in droplets formed by waves may play a role in increasing ozone levels in the air we breathe, new research suggests.

These ions cover the surface of the sea in an ultra-thin blanket – about one-millionth the thickness of a sheet of paper. Researchers call this region the “interface.”

Using a technique that employs highly accurate laser beams, chemists for the first time saw the actual structures formed by these halo

Considered the princes of the plant world, palms are unlike many plant families in the fact that they provide both food and shelter to people, while at the same time are admired and collected for aesthetic reasons. But according to plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS), the same genetic structure that gives the palm so many wonderful attributes is the same structure that makes them susceptible to lethal and destructive diseases.

According to Monica Elliott, pl

Scientists have created a mouse model for migraine headache that may serve as an invaluable tool for future study of these debilitating headaches that are often accompanied by severe neurological symptoms. The research, published in the March 4 issue of Neuron, is a major step towards development of more successful treatments targeted at specific neurobiological events that underlie migraines.

Migraine is a common, chronic disorder characterized by recurrent disabling headaches. Approximate

Scientists have created a new mouse model for spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), a disease characterized by adult-onset progressive weakness and degeneration of limb muscles, often resulting in the patient being confined to a wheel chair. SBMA causes the death of cells called motor neurons that control muscle function. The study, published in the March 4 issue of Neuron, presents a clearer picture of the pathology underlying SBMA and associated diseases and even points to a possible therapeut

Study Supports Development Potential in Several Therapeutic Areas Zengen, Inc. announced today that its researchers have discovered that activation of melanocortin receptors (MCR) subtypes MC1R and MC3R could be a novel strategy to control inflammatory disorders. The findings, “Targeting Melanocortin Receptors as a Novel Strategy to Control Inflammation,” appear in the March 2004 issue of Pharmacological Reviews, a publication of the American Society for Pharmacology and Exp

Scientists at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (IGC), in Portugal, together with colleagues at the Universities of Lisbon and Warwick, in the United Kingdom, have developed a mathematical model that explains why the tuberculosis (TB) vaccine is ineffective in many of the developing countries. The model quantifies the predicted decrease in the number of TB cases in light of both the socioeconomic development of a population and the characteristics of new vaccines. Their research has been published

Research suggests that Vitamin supplements may slow bone loss

Older women with low levels of vitamin B-12 are more likely to experience rapid bone loss, according to new research published this month in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. The new findings help to establish the importance of vitamin B-12 in the bone health of women as they age.

Vitamin B-12, which is found in animal products, such as meat, shellfish, milk, cheese and eggs, is needed to produce

Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Roger Pomerantz, M.D., suggests that understanding how HIV interacts with another virus, GBV-C, may help researchers devise improved therapies.

Another virus could hold a key to helping researchers devise new strategies against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. A new study appearing March 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that individuals infected with two viruses – HIV and the little known GBV-C – actually do better than th

Why aren’t left and right-handers equally common? New research* demonstrates that the prevalence of bias or handedness in one direction (Lateralisation) is likely to result from social selection pressures, rather than mere evolutionary chance or genetics. The research is published in Proceedings B, a learned journal published by The Royal Society.

We have long known that the two sides of the brain perform different functions – the left hemisphere for language and the right for visual-spatial

A new method to increase the recovery of DNA from unborn babies in a blood sample from their mothers may be helpful for future development of non-invasive prenatal genetic tests to identify fetal abnormalities, according to an article in the March 3 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

“Prenatal diagnosis is useful in managing a pregnancy with an identified fetal abnormality and may allow for planning and coordinating care during delivery and the neonatal period,

Inserm and CNRS research scientists and doctors at the Institut Curie have demonstrated the influence of the status – mutated or functional – of the tumour suppressor gene p53 in the response of colorectal cancer to chemotherapy. Tumours in which the p53 gene is mutated respond less well to treatment. However, by adding another agent, researchers at the Institut Curie have succeeded in increasing the efficacy of chemotherapy in mice bearing human cancer xenografts.

The presence of a mutatio

Data from unique gene function studies show Rb is required for proliferation of retinal cells and development of the light-sensitive rods and gives hints for improving treatment of retinoblastoma

The finding that a tumor-suppressor protein called Rb is required for proper development of the mouse retina is a major step toward understanding why some children develop the devastating eye cancer called retinoblastoma. This discovery should eventually help scientists design a better treatm

Whether giving good bacteria that normally helps keep the intestinal tract and immune system healthy can reduce infections in intensive-care patients is the focus of a new clinical study at the Medical College of Georgia.

“When people are admitted to intensive care on broad-spectrum antibiotics, we know that 25 to 40 percent of them will get an infection with a resistant bacteria during their stay,” says Dr. Robert G. Martindale, gastrointestinal surgeon, nutritionist and principal investiga

Researchers have found another good reason to eat your fruits and vegetables and not abuse antibiotics.

A transporter in the colon called SLC5A8 plays an important role in enabling the colon to get the last bit of good out of food before the unusable is flushed away, according to research currently published online as an accelerated communication in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

In an amazing model of efficiency, good bacteria in the colon produce an enzyme that rele

A drug widely used to prevent nausea and other side effects in patients receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer may also, unfortunately, prevent the therapy from working efficiently on tumor cells, researchers from the University of Chicago report in the March 1 issue of the Journal, Cancer Research.

Dexamethasone, a synthetic steroid, is routinely given to women just before they receive chemotherapy with either paclitaxel or doxorubicin, two drugs commonly used to treat breast cancer. In