Body

WOOSTER, OH—Tomatoes come in a variety of sizes and shapes, making them the perfect subject to test shape-analyzing software. The Tomato Analyzer is "rapidly becoming the standard for fruit morphological characterizations," according to a study led by Marin Talbot Brewer of The Ohio State University's Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. Details of the team's latest Tomato Analyzer research were published in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science.

URBANA, IL—Consider the cumulative stresses that transplanted trees must endure from the time they are harvested until they become established in a landscape. Multiple stress factors can mean the difference between survival and death for trees. For starters, when "balled-and-burlapped" trees are dug prior to transport, the majority of the root system is often separated from the tree. After this initial stress, trees are typically taken to a loading site and placed on trucks or trailers for shipment.

LINCOLN, NE—The nontimber forest products industry has been growing rapidly since the mid-1980s, contributing billions of dollars to the U.S. economy annually. Examples of nontimber forest products (NTFP) include edibles such as fruits and nuts, medicinal and herbal products, and specialty floral and decorative products. Standouts in the NTFP industry include U.S.-grown herbs used to satisfy increasing consumer demand for herbal medications. American ginseng, for example, accounted for $32 million in U.S. export revenue to Asia during 1996.

YUMA, AZ—The convenience of fresh-cut produce, which includes packaged lettuces, has greatly increased sales despite multiple foodborne outbreaks associated with these products. To reduce these risks, strict hygiene programs and sanitizers are used for decontamination once the food is harvested. Preventing microbial contamination in the fields is equally important. Researchers from three institutions (Rutgers University, University of California, Davis and University of Arizona), lead by Jorge M.

An Alzheimer's-related protein helps form and maintain nerve cell connections, according to a study published in the May 4 print issue of the Journal of Cell Biology and online at www.jcb.org.

One can have a dream, two can make that dream so real, goes a popular song. Now a Weizmann Institute study has revealed that it takes two to perform an essential form of DNA repair.

Sea urchins dig themselves hiding holes in the limestone of the ocean floor using teeth that don't go blunt. Weizmann Institute scientists have now revealed their secrets, which might give engineers insights into creating ever-sharp tools or mechanical parts.

Chevy Chase, MD—Researchers in China may have found a method for male contraception that is effective, reversible and without serious short-term adverse effects according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

SALT LAKE CITY, May 4, 2009 – Women who have babies naturally in their 40s or 50s tend to live longer than other women. Now, a new study shows their brothers also live longer, but the brothers' wives do not, suggesting the same genes prolong lifespan and female fertility, and may be more important than social and environmental factors.

HOUSTON – (May 3, 2009) – Identifying one of the processes that plays a role in naïve and memory T-cells' growth and production could one day lead to better vaccines and possibly more effective cancer immunotherapy, saidresearchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital in a report that appears in the current edition of Nature Immunology.

Gene therapy

NEW YORK, May 3, 2009 – In an experiment that points to a role for genetics in the development of culture, biologists at The City College of New York (CCNY) and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have discovered that zebra finches raised in isolation will, over several generations, produce a song similar to that sung by the species in the wild.

Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health have identified a gene associated with narcolepsy, a disorder that causes disabling daytime sleepiness, sleep attacks, irresistible bouts of sleep that can strike at any time, and disturbed sleep at night. The gene has a known role in the immune system, which strongly suggests that autoimmunity, in which the immune system turns against the body's own tissues, plays an important role in the disorder.

DALLAS – May 3, 2009 – Molecules that selectively interfere with protein production can stop human cells from making the abnormal molecules that cause Huntington's disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

These man-made molecules also were effective against the abnormal protein that causes Machado-Joseph disease, a neurological condition similar to Huntington's.

The work has been done only in cultured cells, and it will take years before the effectiveness of this process can be tested in patients, the researchers cautioned.

New Haven, Conn. — Yale researchers describe a breakthrough in safe and effective administration of potential antiviral drugs — small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules that silence genes — the first step in development of a new kind of treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The work is reported May 4 as an advance online publication of Nature Materials.