Herpes viruses have two infectious phases: one just after infecting a new host, and one years or decades later when they reactivate.

According Michael Stumpf (UCL), Zoe Laidlaw (University of Sheffield), and Vincent Jansen (Royal Holloway, University of London), that latency period evolved because it allows the viruses to flourish when the availability of hosts from year to year is highly unpredictable.

Until now, scientists have thought that viruses like herpes simplex 1 a

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center have made significant progress in identifying the first susceptibility gene for clinical depression, the second leading cause of disability worldwide, possibly providing an important step toward changing the way doctors diagnose and treat major depression that affects nearly 10 percent of the population.

Research results, which were accepted for rapid publication and published today in the American Journal of Medical Genetics, sho

An important breakthrough has been made in determining the forces responsible for the evolution of populations in nature. By studying wild populations of grayling (a close relative of salmon), Mikko Koskinen and Craig Primmer at the University of Helsinki and Thrond Haugen at the University of Oslo found that natural selection, a force suggested by Charles Darwin in `The Origin of Species`, was responsible for up-to 90% of grayling evolution.

In their study, published in Nature on October 24

EU-funded project named `MICROBE DIAGNOSTICS` has developed new tools that enable more extensive and rapid analysis of our gut microbiota than has been possible earlier.
These new methods are based on the unique genetical codes each microbe contains. The project has developed 16 new testing devices, so called oligonucleotide probes. These probes are able to describe a more varied set of organisms that live in our microbiota than previously has been recognised by scientific methods. With these met

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are transplanting jellyfish genes into mice to watch how neural connections change in the brains of entire living animals. The development represents the merging of several technologies and enable researchers to watch changes inside living animals during normal development and during disease progression in a relatively non-invasive way.

“This work represents a new approach to studying the biology of whole, living animals,

A physical chemist at Washington University in St. Louis is combining powerful lasers with clever timing schemes to characterize how chemical reactions occur with very precise atomic and time resolution. Understanding the mechanisms and physics of a chemical reaction at the most fundamental level could provide valuable insights into new directions for the field of chemistry.

Richard A. Loomis, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry, is a physical chemist building on the femtochemistry adv

An enzyme that plays a pivotal role in controlling genes in yeast acts through a more versatile mechanism than was previously thought to be the case, according to a new study by researchers at The Wistar Institute.

Its mode of action is also distinct from that of other members of the vital enzyme family into which it falls, the scientists found. Because the human counterpart of the enzyme has been associated with certain forms of leukemia, this observation raises the possibility that

A dietary supplement in the form of a cheap, fortified, orange-flavored drink can reduce Third World deficiencies in micronutrients such as iron, iodine and vitamin A, a Cornell University physician and international nutritionist reports. The supplement, he says, eases the so-called “hidden hunger” that plagues more than 2 billion people worldwide and particularly affects pregnant and nursing mothers and young children.

Studies by Michael C. Latham, professor of international nutrition at C

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are developing methods to track molecular events in the body to diagnose disease long before symptoms appear and to predict the effectiveness of drug therapies. The research is under way at the School of Medicine’s new Molecular Imaging Center at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology. The Center is funded by a five-year $9.4 million grant from the National Cancer Institute.

“Molecular imaging combines the latest in

A new study of the most commonly prescribed post-kidney transplant drug suggests it may not be the most effective weapon to fend off organ rejection and may even damage some donor kidneys. The research, to be presented Nov. 2 at the American Society of Nephrology annual meeting, identified another drug that seems to work better, a finding that could help expand the pool of donor organs.

An analysis by an Ohio University physiologist suggests that large doses of cyclosporine, the most often

Scientists at UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center have developed the world’s first animal model for mature human B-cell lymphomas, a discovery that may lead to the uncovering of the genetic mutations that cause these types of cancer. Mature B-cell type lymphomas account for about 85 percent of all lymphomas.

The basic science discovery is outlined in the Oct. 29 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“What we can do now is grow cell

Duke University chemists report they have made a significant advance toward producing tiny hollow tubes of carbon atoms, called “nanotubes,” with electronic properties reliable enough to use in molecular-sized circuits.

In a report posted Oct. 28, 2002, in the online version of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the Duke group described a method to synthesize starting catalytic “nanocluster” particles of identical size that, in turn, can foster the growth of carbon nanotubes that

New research at the University of North Carolina sheds light on the process that silences a group of genes in the developing embryo.

Down regulation of gene expression or “gene silencing” is considered crucial in normal development. In the embryo, proteins expressed by different sets of genes help signal the pattern of development, including limb formation. However, when that work is completed, the genes responsible must be turned off, explains Dr. Yi Zhang, assistant professor of bi

Children who live with several siblings or who go to nurseries have less hay fever, but more asthma as adults, suggests a large international study in Thorax.

The findings are based on interviews with over 18,500 adults aged 20 to 44 from 36 countries in Europe, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. Blood samples were also taken from over 13,000 to measure levels of IgE, antibodies involved in the response to allergens such as house dust mite, cat, and grass.
Family size, access to

Promising animal test results that could lead to a vaccine to fight rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases were announced by researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The vaccine reversed an arthritic-like disease in rats by mobilizing part of the immune system to protect joints under attack by other immune cells. The work was reported in two related papers in the September Journal of Immunology .

Autoimmune diseases, in which the immune

Treatment with a common diabetes drug effectively shrank these tumors in mice

While most cases of a hormonal disorder called Cushing’s Syndrome are caused by non-cancerous pituitary tumors that secrete too much of a particular hormone resulting in high cortisol levels, the disorder can ultimately lead to an early death for many patients whose tumors cannot be removed surgically.

Now, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have found that pituitary tumors express an