Body

A common problem at Pearl Harbor, biofouling affects harbors around the world. It's the process by which barnacles, muscles, oysters, and tubeworms accumulate on the bottom of boats and other surfaces. Now researchers at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa's Kewalo Marine Laboratory have discovered a biological trigger behind the buildup.

Scientists have made an important advance in understanding how a subset of bacterial cells escape being killed by many antibiotics.

Cells become "persisters" by entering a state in which they stop replicating and are able to tolerate antibiotics. Unlike antibiotic resistance, which arises because of genetic mutations and is passed on to later generations, this tolerant phase is only temporary, but it may contribute to the later development of resistance.

The human microbiome, the collection of trillions of microbes living in and on the human body, is not random, and scientists believe that it plays a role in many basic life processes. As science continues to explore and better understand the role of the human microbiome. A new report from the American Academy of Microbiology addresses some of the most common questions about this growing area of research.

NEW YORK (January 9, 2014) — A fascinating paper released today from a team of leading scientists, including Dr. Joel Berger of the Wildlife Conservation Society and University of Montana, reports on the current status of large carnivores and the ecological roles they play in regulating ecosystems worldwide, and finds that a world without these species is certainly scarier than a world with them.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 9, 2013) – A new study led by University of Kentucky researchers suggests that activating the tumor suppressor p53 in normal cells causes them to secrete Par-4, another potent tumor suppressor protein that induces cell death in cancer cells. This finding may help researchers decipher how to inhibit the growth of tumors that have become resistant to other treatments.

Toronto – It's no surprise that a cynical attitude towards the prospect of change makes change harder to implement.

But it's important to understand that cynicism happens at an Individual and workplace-wide level and both must be addressed to get employee buy-in for change initiatives. What's more, leaders who can inspire their employees and make them feel confident in their work have the best chance of limiting the development of such disabling attitudes, says a study from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.

Through DNA analysis, Illinois researchers have disproved decades of rumors and hearsay surrounding the ancient Battle of Raphia, the only known battle between Asian and African elephants.

"What everyone thinks about war elephants is wrong," said Alfred Roca, a professor of animal sciences and member of the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who led the research published in the Journal of Heredity.

BOSTON, Jan. 9, 2014 - In a prime example of finding new uses for older drugs, studies in zebrafish show that a 50-year-old antipsychotic medication called perphenazine can actively combat the cells of a difficult-to-treat form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The drug works by turning on a cancer-suppressing enzyme called PP2A and causing malignant tumor cells to self-destruct.

HOUSTON - (Jan. 9, 2014) - Rice University researchers have engineered cells to characterize how sensitively altering the cooperative functions of motor proteins can regulate the transport of organelles.

Environmental effects of events such as oxygen deprivation and infections may be preserved as markers in blood that are associated to schizophrenia, according to an international study led by the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy's Center for Biomarker Research and Personalized Medicine.

TAMPA, Fla. (Jan. 9, 2014) – Although more opportunity exists for university-based researchers to be innovative, and there is more financial support for innovation than ever before, the cost of university research is rising to new levels and presents a serious funding problem. The "real costs" of research—costs that include indirect costs—often extend far beyond support from a university's central research office and are almost never covered by funding.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The creator of MTV's "16 and Pregnant" and "Teen Mom" said the shows have been called "one of the best public service campaigns to prevent teen pregnancy." A new Indiana University research study finds the opposite to be true.

The paper accepted for publication in the journal Mass Communication and Society presents findings that such teen mom shows actually lead heavy viewers to believe that teen mothers have an enviable quality of life, a high income and involved fathers.

Traditional molecular systematic studies have progressed by sequencing genes one by one, a time- and cost-intensive task that has limited the amount of data a researcher could feasibly obtain. With the continual improvement of next-generation sequencing technologies, however, obtaining large molecular data sets is becoming much easier, and much cheaper. This increase in data means, in many cases, increased accuracy in reconstructing the evolutionary history of organisms.

Lexington, MA, January 9, 2014 – T2 Biosystems, a company developing direct detection products enabling superior diagnostics, announced that scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and T2 Biosystems have published a paper in Blood describing novel clot structure biology detected while testing T2 Bio's T2HemoStat™. T2HemoStat is an innovative diagnostic tool for assessing blood clotting, platelet function, fibrinolytic activity and hematocrit measurements from a fingerstick blood sample in about 15 minutes.

The effectiveness of toxin-neutralizing antibodies is considered to be mediated through the interaction of the variable region of the antibody and the toxin; however, recent studies suggest that the constant region (Fc) of antibodies also influence efficacy.