Body

Research by University of Leeds plant scientists has uncovered a snapshot of evolution in progress, by tracing how a gene mutation over 100 million years ago led flowers to make male and female parts in different ways.

The findings – published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Online Early Edition – provide a perfect example of how diversity stems from such genetic 'mistakes'. The research also opens the door to further investigation into how plants make flowers – the origins of the seeds and fruits that we eat.

By examining the development of bones in the vertebral column, limbs, and ribcage, scientists at the University of Cambridge have discovered how sloths evolved their unique neck skeleton.

From mice to giraffes, mammals are remarkable in that all but a handful of their 5000 species have exactly seven vertebrae in the neck. Among the few that deviate from this number are three-toed sloths, which may have up to ten ribless vertebrae in the neck.

The next time you feel your willpower slipping as you pass that mouth-watering dessert case, tighten your muscles. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says firming muscles can shore up self-control.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — If women had no prolactin receptors on cells in their mammary glands, they would not produce milk when they were nursing. Prolactin receptors are also found in other organs including the lung and the colon. The only problem is that these receptors are sort of like cellular wiring, and when the wrong conditions bring them together, the resulting short circuit can produce cancer.

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a significant increase in lung transplant rejection, according to research conducted at Loyola University Health System (LUHS). These data were presented Monday at The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 2010 annual meeting in Toronto, Ontario.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Scientists at the University of Michigan Heath System and their collaborators have found four new DNA "hotspots" that may one day help guide new treatments for psoriasis, one of the most common autoimmune diseases in the country.

WHAT:Scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have determined the complete genetic blueprints for 13 different strains of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. The achievement should lead to a better understanding of how genetic variations among strains may result in different courses of illness in people with Lyme disease, the most common tickborne disease in North America. The wealth of new genetic data will also help scientists develop improved ways to diagnose, treat and prevent Lyme disease.

Analysis of H1N1 antibody levels (seroprotection rates) after 2009 suggest that a pandemic is unlikely in 2010, although adults over age 50, particularly those with chronic conditions, should be immunized for the fall flu season, states a research paper in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Having an egg allergy is not a reason to avoid getting the 2010-2011 flu vaccination.

According to new recommendations by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology website, anyone with a history of suspected egg allergy should first be evaluated by an allergist or immunologist for appropriate testing and diagnosis but can probably receive the vaccination.

An enzyme that keeps intestinal bacteria out of the bloodstream may also play an important role in maintaining the normal microbial population of the gastrointestinal system. Since the loss of beneficial bacteria that usually results from antibiotic therapy can sometimes lead to serious health problems, a treatment that maintains microbial levels could have significant benefits.

Information on proteins is critical for understanding how cells function in health and disease. But while regular proteins are easy to extract and study, it is far more difficult to gather information about membrane proteins, which are responsible for exchanging elements essential to our health, like copper, between a cell and its surrounding tissues.

Oxford, UK, 18 October 2010 – Elsevier announces the publication of the 2010 European Resuscitation Council (ERC) Guidelines in the journal Resuscitation. These guidelines are based on an extensive international review of all the science supporting cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the 2010 International Consensus on CPR Science, which is also published in the current issue of Resuscitation. This year is the 50th anniversary of CPR.

Our genetic material is often compared to a book. However, it is not so much like a novel to be read in one piece, but rather like a cookbook. The cell reads only those recipes which are to be cooked at the moment. The recipes are the genes; 'reading' in the book of the cell means creating RNA copies of individual genes, which will then be translated into proteins.

Genetic variants associated with increased susceptibility to psoriasis are reported in five papers published online this week in Nature Genetics. Psoriasis is a chronic and recurrent skin disease, and one of the most prevalent autoimmune diseases, with a global prevalence of 2-3%.

One of the studies was led by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College London and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford University, and involved multiple UK institutions.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have uncovered new evidence suggesting that the SOD1 gene, which is implicated in 20 percent of inherited cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease), also plays a part in sporadic forms of the disease. Discovery of this common pathology is described in the October 17 online edition of Nature Neuroscience.