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Scientists from the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) and the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have identified a gene that may influence the production of antibodies that neutralize HIV. This new information will likely spur a new approach for making an HIV vaccine that elicits neutralizing antibodies. Neutralizing antibodies, once produced in the host, can attack and checkmate an infecting virus. The research was reported in the September 5 issue of Science.

Scientists have uncovered new evidence that strengthens the link between a host-cell gene called Apobec3 and the production of neutralizing antibodies to retroviruses. Published in the Sept. 5 issue of Science, the finding adds a new dimension to the set of possible explanations for why most people who are infected with HIV do not make neutralizing antibodies that effectively fight the virus.

Out of the 3 billion genetic letters that spell out the human genome, Yale scientists have found a handful that may have contributed to the evolutionary changes in human limbs that enabled us to manipulate tools and walk upright.

Results from a comparative analysis of the human, chimpanzee, rhesus macaque and other genomes reported in the journal Science suggest our evolution may have been driven not only by sequence changes in genes, but by changes in areas of the genome once thought of as "junk DNA."

New Haven, Conn. — Yale researchers have identified an unusual molecular process in normal tissues that causes RNA molecules produced from separate genes to be clipped and stitched together. The discovery that these rearranged products exist in normal as well as cancerous cells potentially complicates the diagnosis of some cancers and raises the possibility that anti-cancer drugs like Gleevec could have predictable side effects.

The work is reported in the journal Science.

Norfolk, VA – September 4, 2008 – A new study in the journal Financial Management explored whether abnormal analyst coverage influences the extent to which companies raise funds from external sources (e.g., issue bonds or sell stock) and the amount of new investments firms decide to undertake.

John A. Doukas, Chansog Francis Kim, and Christos Pantzalis reviewed data on firms between 1980 and 2003 and used industry-adjusted metrics to measure excess analyst coverage.

Houston, TX – September 4, 2008 – A new study in Strategic Management Journal reveals that Boards of Directors commonly make mistakes in CEO appointments when they hire CEOs from outside the firm. The Board knows less than the external CEO candidates regarding their true competencies, and as a result Boards often make faulty hires when they seek new leadership outside the firm.

CINCINNATI—New research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) implicates the primary chemical used to produce hard plastics—bisphenol A (BPA)—as a risk factor for metabolic syndrome and its consequences.

In a laboratory study, using fresh human fat tissues, the UC team found that BPA suppresses a key hormone, adiponectin, which is responsible for regulating insulin sensitivity in the body and puts people at a substantially higher risk for metabolic syndrome.

September 3, 2008—In a case-control study, the presence of measles virus RNA was no more likely in children with autism and GI disturbances than in children with only GI disturbances. Furthermore, GI symptom and autism onset were unrelated to MMR vaccine timing. Study findings are reported online in the Public Library of Science on September 4 (http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003140).

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Many older Americans may be shortchanging their golden years by tapping into Social Security too soon, according to a University of Illinois expert who has studied the federal retirement program for nearly two decades.

More than three of every four Americans trim their monthly Social Security checks for life by claiming benefits early, a choice many might forego if they better understood the program's options and consequences, law professor Richard L. Kaplan says.

The largest study ever conducted of DNA evidence extracted from long-dead woolly mammoths points to a rockier past for the iconic Ice Age giants than many had suspected.

The last mammoths left in Siberia some 50,000 to 5,000 years ago weren't natives, they report in the September 4th Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. Rather, they were North Americans that had migrated in and replaced the dwindling Siberian populations.

Researchers have discovered a new 'trick' that allows HIV to overtake resting T cells that are normally highly resistant to HIV infection, according to a report in the September 5th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication. The binding of the virus to the surface of those cells sends a signal that breaks down the cells' internal skeleton, a structure that otherwise may present a significant barrier to infection.

A new mouse model has provided some surprising insight into XLF, a molecule that helps to repair lethal DNA damage. The research, published by Cell Press in the September 5th issue of the journal Molecular Cell, suggests that although XLF shares many properties with well known DNA repair factors, certain cells of the immune system possess an unexpected compensatory mechanism that that can take over for nonfunctional XLF.

Hamilton, ON. September 4, 2008 – In a surprising reversal of conventional wisdom, a DNA-based study has revealed that the last of the woolly mammoths—which lived between 40,000 and 4,000 years ago—had roots that were exclusively North American.

The research, which appears in the September issue of Current Biology, is expected to cause some controversy within the paleontological community.

MANASSAS, Va. -- With the publication of a study led by Yuntao Wu, assistant professor in George Mason University's Department of Molecular and Microbiology, the medical community is one step closer to understanding how the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) attacks cells in the immune system. AIDS, which is caused by HIV, affected more than 33 million people worldwide in 2007 according to World Health Organization statistics.

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 3, 2008 — Vietnamese Americans over 55, most who came to the United States as political refugees, report more mental health problems than non-Hispanic whites, according to a UC Irvine Center for Health Care Policy analysis of state data.

Vietnamese Americans participating in the California Health Interview Survey were twice as likely as whites to report needing mental health care but were less likely to discuss such issues with their doctor. In addition, they were more prone to have trouble functioning in their daily lives because of these problems.