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The goal of DNA barcoding is to find a simple, cheap, and rapid DNA assay that can be converted to a readily accessible technical skill that bypasses the need to rely on highly trained taxonomic specialists for identifications of the world's biota. This is driven by a desire to open taxonomic identifications to all user groups and by the short supply of taxonomists that do not even exist in many groups.

Although every cell in the body carries the genes necessary to function as an antibody-producing B cell, only a small proportion of stem cells mature into those important immune-system cells. James Hagman, PhD, Professor of Immunology at National Jewish Health and his colleagues have identified two "molecular motors" that work in opposing directions to control the development of B cells. They published their findings June 19 in the online version of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

Eczema patients at risk for serious viral infections have more severe disease, are more likely to be allergic to food and other allergens, and have a frequent history of staph infections, according to researchers at National Jewish Health and other institutions in the NIH-funded Atopic Dermatitis Vaccinia Network.

Prostasin, a relatively unknown protease enzyme expressed in most epithelial cells, may play a role in the genesis of colorectal cancer. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Cancer have associated a reduction in the expression of inhibitors of the enzyme with malignant cellular behavior.

TORONTO, Ont., June 24, 2009 — Transferring heart attack patients to specialized hospitals to undergo angioplasty within six hours after receiving clot-busting drugs reduces the risk of life-threatening complications including repeat heart attacks, according to a new study from St. Michael's Hospital and Southlake Regional Hospital.

Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) can be successfully treated using a carefully personalized chemotherapy regimen without cranial radiation, investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have found. Such radiation of the brain was once a standard ALL treatment to prevent recurrence of the leukemia in the central nervous system (CNS).

A new study by a University of Arizona professor shows employee involvement programs that executives adopt to increase efficiency also end up improving their record on diversity.

The study was published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Sociology.

According to researcher Alexandra Kalev, UA assistant professor of sociology, women and minorities are more successful and have better career opportunities when their companies offer self-directed work teams and cross-training programs.

New data show that enrollment in U.S. science and engineering (S&E) graduate programs in 2007 grew 3.3 percent over comparable data for 2006--the highest year-over-year increase since 2002 and nearly double the 1.7 percent increase seen in 2006. Science programs added the most students in absolute numbers, but engineering's percentage growth over 2006, 5.9 percent, was substantially higher than that of science, which grew by 2.4 percent. Enrollment in computer sciences programs was up 2.7 percent, the first increase since 2002.

Effective drugs for treating a chemotherapy-resistant form of lymphoma might already be on the market according to a study that has pieced together a chemical pathway involved in the disease.

By following the trail of several molecular flags that mark this type of cancer, a team from the University of California, San Diego, the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the University of Copenhagen Hospital have discovered that anti-inflammatory drugs used to treat arthritis will shrink lymphoma tumors in mice.

La Jolla, CA, June 24, 2009 -- A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, Katholeike Universiteit Leuven, and the University of Antwerp, Belgium, among other institutions, has created a genetically modified fruit fly that mimics key features of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a common neurodegenerative disorder that strikes about one out of every 2,500 people in the United States.

In the mating world of yellow dung flies, large, brawny males almost always get the girl. However, a new study suggests that smaller males rule if presented with an opportunity to woo females when they are not hanging out on cow dung. It is the first time alternative male reproductive strategies have been observed in this species.

A group led by Columbia University Medical Center's Timothy Wang, M.D., has studied the role of Helicobacter infection in the development of stomach cancer and found that the hormone gastrin, which stimulates secretion of gastric acid, plays a key role in the development of Helicobacter-induced stomach cancer, and may have distinct effects on carcinogenesis in different parts of the stomach.

Researchers at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy have found that variation in the same gene in humans and baboons produces the same kind of disease resistance. The findings were published in the June 24 online edition of the journal Nature.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Almost half of kidney transplant candidates older than 60 who are put on the waiting list for a deceased-donor organ will die before getting a transplant, according to new findings from the University of Florida, Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Evolutionarily speaking, baboons may be our more distant cousins among primates. But when it comes to our experiences with malaria over the course of time, it seems the stories of our two species have followed very similar plots.