Body

– Sections of proteins previously thought to be disordered may in fact have an unexpected biological role – providing certain proteins room to move -- according to a study published by researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in this month's issue of the journal Structure (Cell Press).

DURHAM, N.C. – Stem cells that respond after a severe injury in the lungs of mice may be a source of rapidly dividing cells that lead to lung cancer, according to a team of American and British researchers.

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– New fossil findings discovered by scientists at UC Santa Barbara challenge prevailing views about the effects of "Snowball Earth" glaciations on life, according to an article in the June issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.

By analyzing microfossils in rocks from the bottom of the Grand Canyon, the authors have challenged the view that has been generally assumed to be correct for the widespread die-off of early life on Earth.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Restricting carbohydrates, regardless of weight loss, appears to slow the growth of prostate tumors, according to an animal study being published this week by researchers in the Duke Prostate Center.

Hemichannels are connexin channels that can dock with each other to create a gap junction across two plasma membranes. In the June 2009 issue of the Journal of General Physiology (JGP), Andrew Harris (University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey) discusses new research that provides insight into how hemichannels are kept closed and lays the framework for more specific questions regarding how they open in certain conditions as part of a junctional channel (1).

As climate change causes temperatures to increase in Hawaii's mountains, deadly non-native bird diseases will likely also creep up the mountains, invading most of the last disease-free refuges for honeycreepers – a group of endangered and remarkable birds.

A just-published U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) review discusses the likelihood of a forthcoming "disease invasion" by examining the present altitudinal range of avian malaria and pox, honeycreeper distribution, and the future projected range of diseases and honeycreeper habitat with climate change.

DALLAS – May 26, 2009 – New findings by researchers UT Southwestern Medical Center are accelerating efforts to eradicate worm infections that afflict a third of the world's population.

The new findings, available online and in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrate that a biochemical system that controls development and reproduction of Caenorhabditis elegans, a common research worm, also provides the same function in several parasitic nematodes, including hookworm.

ROCHESTER, Minn. - A short, preoperative team briefing prior to cardiac surgery - where each person on the team speaks - improves communication and reduces errors and costs, according to a pilot study conducted at Mayo Clinic.

Researchers at Iowa State University have found that increased expression of a form of cytochrome P-450 (CYP4B1) is a key marker of inhibition of colitis in mice by caffeic acid, an anti-inflammatory antioxidant compound widely distributed in foods. The results, which appear in the June 2009 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, implicate CYP4B1, a form of cytochrome P450 previously found to be associated with resolution of allergic inflammation in another model.

Statins, a commonly prescribed class of drugs used by millions worldwide to effectively lower blood cholesterol levels, may actually have a negative impact in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients treated with high daily dosages.

Even microbes are governed by the principle of supply and demand – at least at the genetic level. Not all of their gene products, the blueprints for proteins, are required at all times. That means most of their genes only become active when they are needed, as is the case in higher organisms. In the simplest case, a transcription factor will activate the gene in question at the right time. Genes that are regulated in a somewhat more complex manner, on the other hand, are kept inactive by a repressor that is removed only when the gene is needed.

If we imagine our immune system to be a police force for our bodies, then previous work has suggested that the Lymph nodes would be the best candidate structures within the body to act as police stations – the regions in which the immune response is organised. However, Prof. Burkhard Becher, University of Zurich, suggests in a new paper – published in this week's issue of PLoS Biology – that lymph nodes are not essential in the mouse in marshalling T-cells (a main immune foot soldier) to respond to a breach of the skin barrier.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University plant scientists have identified two new genes and two new enzymes in tomato plants; those findings led them to discover that the plants were making monoterpenes, compounds that help give tomato leaves their distinctive smell, in a way that flies in the face of accepted thought.

Such research could help researchers find new ways to protect plants from pests.

A Monash-led research team has discovered an entirely new mechanism that promotes blood clot formation – a major breakthrough that will impact on treatment and prevention of heart disease and stroke.

The discovery is today published in the prestigious Nature Medicine journal.

The discovery is the result of a decade-long research project led by Professor Shaun Jackson, Dr Warwick Nesbitt and Erik Westein from the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD) at Monash University.

Vienna, Austria: Relatives of a young person who dies suddenly should always be referred for cardiological and genetic examination in order to identify if they too are at risk of sudden death, a scientist told the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today (Tuesday 26 May). Dr.