EurekAlert! - Biology
Sun May 9 22:29:50 EDT 2010
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Scripps research scientists shed light on potential treatment for Gaucher's disease - (Scripps Research Institute) In findings that advance scientists' understanding of a whole class of inherited disorders, a team from the Scripps Research Institute has shed light on a mechanism that enables a potential treatment for Gaucher's disease and other lysosomal storage diseases.

Chemist stitches up speedier chemical reactions - (University of Calgary) University of Calgary chemist Warren Piers outlines the inner workings of the Piers catalyst in a new paper in Nature Chemistry online.

NIH awards $7.5 million to study MRI as a tool to evaluate children with muscular dystrophy - (University of Florida) Scientists from four institutions, including the University of Florida, Oregon Health and Science University, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, will assess whether MRI technology can be used as a precise, noninvasive measure of muscle tissue in children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Understanding how the disease affects muscle tissue could help facilitate the testing of new therapies in clinical trials.

Jefferson scientists identify a new protein involved in longevity - (Thomas Jefferson University) Researchers in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Thomas Jefferson University have found that the level of a single protein in the tiny roundworm C. elegans determines how long it lives.

Brain's master switch is verified by Iowa State University researcher - (Iowa State University) The protein that has long been suspected by scientists of being the master switch allowing brains to function has now been verified by Iowa State University researcher Yeon-Kyun Shin. The professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology has shown that the protein called synaptotagmin1 is the sole trigger for the release of neurotransmitters in the brain.

UT Southwestern researchers uncover Fragile X syndrome gene's role in shaping brain - (UT Southwestern Medical Center) Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered how the genetic mutation that causes Fragile X syndrome, the most common form of inherited mental retardation, interferes with the "pruning" of nerve connections in the brain. Their findings appear in the April 29 issue of Neuron.

IOF Medal of Achievement for outstanding scientific contributions awarded to John A. Kanis - (International Osteoporosis Foundation) The prestigious IOF Medal of Achievement was awarded today at the IOF WCO-ECCEO10 Congress in Florence to Professor Emeritus John A. Kanis.

New FRAX tools launched at World Congress on Osteoporosis - (International Osteoporosis Foundation) On the occasion of the World Congress on Osteoporosis 2010 (IOF WCO-ECCEO10), currently taking place in Florence, Italy, the developers of FRAX, in conjunction with IOF, have announced that the tool will soon be more easily accessible to physicians and patients alike, thanks to the development of the FRAX Pad and iPhone Application.

International Osteoporosis Foundation honors longtime associate - (International Osteoporosis Foundation) Professor José Zanchetta, a member of the International Osteoporosis Foundation Board and long standing leader of the IOF Latin American Program, has been named the recipient of the prestigious Pierre Delmas Award.

Slimming aid from the cell laboratory? - (Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have published an article in Science revealing that the COX-2 inflammation enzyme stimulates the formation of new brown fat tissue in mice. Brown fat tissue transforms energy into heat. Therefore, mice with increased COX-2 production have a higher energy consumption and are slimmer. On the basis of these results scientists might develop a novel weight loss method for pathogenic obesity.

Algae advances as a 'green' alternative for improving water quality - (United States Department of Agriculture-Research, Education, and Economics) Algae -- already being eyed for biofuel production -- could be put to use right away to remove nitrogen and phosphorus in livestock manure runoff, according to an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist.

Minilab can quickly identify antibiotic residues in milk, before it leaves the barn - (Technische Universitaet Muenchen) Routine antibiotic residue tests used by the dairy industry take hours to produce a result and do not test for all antibiotics dairy cows are typically treated with. Scientists from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) and LMU Munich have developed a microarray chip that identifies residues from one or more of the 14 most important antibiotics with certainty and in parallel. In conjunction with an automated minilab, this enables rapid testing of raw, unpasteurized milk.

Envisat captures renewed volcanic activity - (European Space Agency) New eruptions from Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano have produced a 1600 km-wide ash cloud over the Atlantic. The brownish plume, traveling east and then south, is clearly visible in stark contrast to white clouds framing this Envisat image from May 6.

GOCE satellite determines gravitational force in the Himalayas - (Technische Universitaet Muenchen) In a May 7 session at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) general assembly in Vienna, researchers presented the first interim results of the ESA mission GOCE, the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer. Evaluations of the first data from the satellite indicate that current models of Earth's gravitational field in some regions -- the Himalayas, for example -- can be fundamentally revised. The results could contribute to better understanding of many geophysical processes.

Suzanne Cory becomes first-elected woman president of AAS - (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute) Professor Suzanne Cory, the immediate past director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, has today become the first-elected woman president of the Australian Academy of Science.

Cornell's regional 'sun grant' energy conference is May 24-26 - (Cornell University) National and regional biofuel, biopower and bioproducts experts will convene in Syracuse for the Northeast Sun Grant 2010 Regional Conference, at Renaissance Syracuse Hotel, on May 24-26, 2010. The conference is hosted by Cornell University.

Transplanted adult stem cells provide lasting help to injured hearts - (University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center) Human adult stem cells injected around the damage caused by a heart attack survived in the heart and improved its pumping efficiency for a year in a mouse model, researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report online ahead of publication in Circulation Research.Injection of a patient's own adult stem cells into the heart has shown some efficacy in assisting recovery after a heart attack in early human clinical trials. But how they work has been unknown, until now.

Coffee and soft drinks have little or no association with colon cancer risk - (Journal of the National Cancer Institute) Drinking even large amounts of coffee and sugar-sweetened, carbonated soft drinks is not associated with the risk of colon cancer according to a large study published online May 7 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Gender-specific disease risks start in the womb - (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) Pregnancy places competing demands on a mother's physiology: her body wants to produce a healthy baby but not at the expense of her own health. Therefore, she passes so-called "imprinted genes" on to her child to protect her body from excessive demands from the child. Genes inherited from the father however aim at getting as many resources for the fetus as possible. This battle of genes might be at the root of later life diseases.

Interesting stories at the IMPAKT Breast Cancer Conference - (European Society for Medical Oncology) The following abstracts will be presented at the IMPAKT Breast Cancer Conference in Brussels.

Endometrial stem cells could repair brain cells damaged by Parkinson's disease - (Yale University) Stem cells derived from the endometrium (uterine lining) and transplanted into the brains of laboratory mice with Parkinson's disease appear to restore functioning of brain cells damaged by the disease, according to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers.

Biologist Carla Finkielstein receives Minority Scholar Award - (Virginia Tech) Assistant Professor Carla Finkielstein has been presented with a Minority Scholar Award in Cancer Research. The award, given by the American Association for Cancer Research, is intended to enhance the education and training of minority researchers and increase the recognition of minorities involved in cancer research. Finkielstein's research focuses on how changes in circadian rhythms may contribute to the development of breast cancer in women.

ONR scientist generates 'mud power' for NPR radio audience - (Office of Naval Research) NPR's "Science Friday" segment gives Dr. Linda Chrisey, a leading scientist at the US Office of Naval Research, a platform to share how researchers are generating electricity from bacteria found in mud and wastewater.

Stem cells: In search of a master controller - (Rice University) With thousands of scientists across the globe searching for ways to use adult stem cells to fight disease, there's a growing emphasis on finding the "master regulator" that guides the day-to-day operations of stem cells. New research from Rice University and the University of Cambridge suggests that a closely connected trio of regulatory proteins fulfills that role in hematopoietic stem cells, the self-renewing cells the body uses to make new blood cells.

Feeling stressed? So is the poplar - (Michigan Technological University) Research led by Michigan Technological University scientists has identified the molecular mechanism that poplar trees use to adapt to changing soil conditions, as well as some of the genes that turn the process on or off.