Body

Perilous and polluting industrial processes can be made safer with enzymes. But only a short range of enzymes have been available for the chemical industry.

Recently a group of researchers at The Department of Chemistry at University of Copenhagen succeeded in producing an artificial enzyme that points the way to enzymes tailor-made for any application.

Blacksburg, Va. -- In the course of doing research on the mosquito-borne pathogens chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and o' nyong-nyong virus (ONNV), Virginia Tech researchers have discovered an inconvenient truth about an assay, strand-specific quantitative real-time PCR (ssqPCR), increasingly being used to detect and measure replicating viral RNA in infected cells and tissues. The method most labs are using for ssqPCR is unreliable.

A new study indicates a link between autism and alterations to the oxytocin receptor, OXTR, caused by inherited alterations that do not involve DNA sequence mutation. The study, published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, identified the non-DNA change in 'OXTR' via an autistic child and his mother, who potentially has obsessive-compulsive disorder.

An international team led by a National Institutes of Health researcher has found that carriers of a rare, genetic condition called Gaucher disease face a risk of developing Parkinson's disease more than five times greater than the general public. The findings were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, OCTOBER 21, 2009—A team of geneticists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, together with a consortium of international researchers, has recently proposed a set of standards designed to elucidate the quality of publicly available genetic sequencing information. The new standards could eventually allow genetic researchers to develop vaccines more efficiently or help public health or security personnel more quickly respond to potential public-health emergencies.

Researchers have developed an optimized mouthpiece design to aid efficient drug delivery to the lungs by reducing the amount of medication wasted as it passes through the mouthpiece of an aerosol inhaler. With current inhaler designs, only approximately 10 to 20 percent of asthma medications are delivered to the lungs. And, because the lungs provide a direct and effective route of entry for medications into the bloodstream, an optimized mouthpiece design will reduce medication waste and may provide reproducible delivery of future inhaled medications.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A small molecule designed to detect cyanide in water samples works quickly, is easy to use, and glows under ultraviolet or "black" light. Although the fluorescent molecule is not yet ready for market, its Indiana University Bloomington creators report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (now online) that the tool is already able to sense cyanide below the toxicity threshold established by the World Health Organization.

The feeling of stigmatization that people living with HIV often experience doesn't only exact a psychological toll —new UCLA research suggests it can also lead to quantifiably negative health outcomes.

GAINESVILLE — The cheeseburger and French fries might look tempting, but eating a serving of broccoli or leafy greens first could help people battle metabolic processes that lead to obesity and heart disease, a new University of Florida study shows.

Eating more plant-based foods, which are rich in substances called phytochemicals, seems to prevent oxidative stress in the body, a process associated with obesity and the onset of disease, according to findings published online in advance of the print edition of the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics.

Irvine, Calif. – A toxin produced by mold on nuts and grains can cause liver cancer if consumed in large quantities. UC Irvine researchers for the first time have discovered what triggers the toxin to form, which could lead to methods of limiting its production.

Bits of movable DNA called transposable elements or TEs fill up the genomes of plants and animals, but it has remained unclear how a genome can survive a rapid burst of hundreds, even thousands of new TE insertions.

Now, for the first time, research led by plant biologists at the University of Georgia have documented the impact of such a burst in a rice strain that is accumulating more than 40 new TE insertions per plant per generation of an element called mPing.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – It was once thought that the two communities of cells within a cancerous breast tumor – fast-growing malignant cells and the normal cells that surround them – existed independently, without interaction. Then evidence emerged indicating that the normal-looking cells encouraged cells within the tumor to become malignant, but how the one community influenced the other wasn't known.

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Oct. 21, 2009) -- OK, it takes two for human reproduction, and now it seems that plants and animals that can rely on either a partner or go alone by self-fertilization give their offspring a better chance for longer lives when they opt for a mate.

BOSTON and CAMBRIDGE--Cancer cells fueled by the mutant KRAS oncogene, which makes them notoriously difficult to treat, can be killed by blocking a more vulnerable genetic partner of KRAS, report scientists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.

A clever structure in the ear of a tropical butterfly that potentially makes it able to distinguish between high and low pitch sounds has been discovered by scientists from the University of Bristol, UK.

The team believes that the remarkable structure may be associated with the detection of predators, in particular birds. The Blue Morpho butterflies (Morpho peleides), native to Central and South America, are more famous for their amazing wing colouration and now turn out to have ears on their wings.