Scientists investigating the rise in asthma among Britain’s children have turned to the tooth fairy to help them in their research.

Over the last six years staff at the Children of the 90s project based at the University of Bristol have collected almost 12 thousand milk teeth.

Instead of putting them under the pillow – the children were asked to donate the teeth to the study. Inside the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), real-life tooth fairy K

Independent research groups have uncovered a new class of proteins, called the chaplins, that function like amyloid fibrils to allow reproductive growth in the bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor. Amyloid proteins are most commonly recognized for their role in Alzheimer’s disease, where they aggregate into insoluble, mesh-like plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. This finding reveals an unprecedented role for amyloid-like proteins in Gram-positive bacteria.

S. coelicolor i

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have found new support for the age-old advice to “sleep on it.” Mice allowed to sleep after being trained remembered what they had learned far better than those deprived of sleep for several hours afterward.

The researchers also determined that the five hours following learning are crucial for memory consolidation; mice deprived of sleep five to 10 hours after learning a task showed no memory impairment. The results are reported in the May/June i

A pickle-shaped root is revealing how plants develop from embryos to adults and also may hold answers about cancer cell growth.

Purdue University researchers have uncovered nine specific genes that are shut off before plants make the developmental transition from the embryonic stage to adulthood. Results of the latest study are published in the July issue of The Plant Journal.

“We now have data supporting the hypothesis that the gene PKL is a master regulator of genes that pr

Scientists from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a strategy that could one day be used to create functional human organs such as kidneys and livers. They present their research today at the American Society for Microbiology’s conference on Bio- Micro- Nano-systems.

The technique involves creating a network of microscopic tubes that branch out in a pattern, similar to that seen in the circulatory system, to provide oxygen and nutrients

Scientists have discovered a single gene that gives the vinegar fly resistance to a range of pesticides, including DDT, but warn it could spell disaster if found in pest insect species.

The geneticists from the University of Melbourne fear that should this mutation arise in pest insects, the world will need to rethink its overall control strategies.

The researchers are part of the Centre for Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research (CESAR) a special research centre that includ

A University of Melbourne research team has overturned 30 years of dogma on how a cell transports calcium, revealing potential insights into cancer and neuro-degenerative diseases.

Professor Mike Hubbard, Department of Paediatrics and School of Dental Science, will reveal his research in this area at the International Congress of Genetics, Melbourne on Thursday 10 July. He will also discuss the latest on their recent discovery of a new class of protein that they have linked to breast cancer

A non-invasive test which allows faster, cheaper, and less risky prenatal genetic screening was announced by Australian researchers at the International Genetics Congress in Melbourne today.

The new test can also be performed much earlier in pregnancy, say its developers Dr Ian Findlay and Mr Darryl Irwin of the Australian Genome Research Facility in Brisbane. It should open the opportunity of prenatal genetic testing to a wider group of women. “This test will focus conventional prenatal te

The problem is, pigs and other animals do fly

A consortium of scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society announced this week that one way to reduce the risks of future SARS-like diseases is to control wildlife markets. Specifically, markets selling wild animals for their meat not only threaten wildlife populations, but also present a grave threat to humans. A recent example of the problem is the suspected link between wildlife markets in China and the outbreak of

Researchers have developed a promising new approach for gene therapy of inherited blood disorders that may help overcome therapeutically limiting human stem cell gene transfer efficiency. This method would be applicable to patients with beta-thalassemia, a potentially life-threatening blood disease, as well as other genetic blood disorders, according to a study published in the July 15th issue of Blood. By transplanting beta-thalassemic mice with stem cells treated with MGMT (methylguanine methyltran

Researchers have new answers as to why some HIV-infected individuals don’t progress to full-blown AIDS as rapidly as other HIV-positive people.

Northwestern University scientist Steven M. Wolinsky, M.D., and colleagues found that individuals with certain rare variations, or alleles, of two immune system genes — human leukocyte antigens A and B (HLA-A and HLA-B) — are better equipped to stave off HIV than people with more common sets of HLA alleles.

This finding indic

HIV inactivates the body’s cellular smart bomb

HIV eludes one of the body’s key smart bomb defenses against infection, and this finding may lay the groundwork for new drugs to treat AIDS, according to a new Salk Institute study.

Nathaniel Landau, a Salk Institute associate professor, and his team have pinpointed how the body battles HIV, a tremendously complex and relentless virus. Their findings appear in the online issue of Cell and will be published in the July

First evidence of neurochemical basis for obstructive sleep apnea and REM behavior disorder found

The first tantalizing clues that chemical imbalances in the brain may be partly to blame for certain life-disrupting sleep disorders are being reported in two new studies by University of Michigan Health System researchers.

In two papers in the July 8 issue of the journal Neurology, the team reports apparent links between deficits in brain chemistry and obstructive sleep apnea (

A better life is in reach for children with a rare genetic disorder that puts their lives at risk when exposed to the Sun. But a new protection suit derived from ESA space technology promises to let them play safely in daylight.

About 300 people – mostly children – across Europe have been diagnosed with the genetic disorder xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), causing extreme sensitivity to the Sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays. Patients cannot go outside in daylight, except with special protection – all U

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have discovered a gene critical to the development of the human heart and that mutations in the gene lead to congenital heart defects – the leading noninfectious cause of death in newborns.

GATA4 is only the second gene to have been identified as a cause of isolated congenital heart disease not associated with medically identified syndromes.

The findings will be published in a future edition of the journal Nature and appear o

Birds modify digestive physiology during migration

When birds migrate over long distances to and from their breeding grounds, it takes more than strong flight muscles and an innate knowledge of where they’re going. According to a University of Rhode Island researcher, migration also takes guts.

Several studies conducted by URI physiological ecologist Scott McWilliams have shown that birds have a flexible digestive system that they modify to meet the changing energy dema