Forensic scientists may soon have a valuable new item in their toolkits -- a way to identify individuals using unique, telltale types of hand bacteria left behind on objects like keyboards and computer mice, says a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.
Body
To understand the role of inflammation in cardiovascular and other diseases, it is essential to identify and characterize genes that induce an inflammatory response in the body -- and the genes that regulate them.
A study published online this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that a gene called Hu antigen R (HuR) plays a critical role in inducing and mediating an inflammatory response in cells experiencing mechanical and chemical stresses. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
A quest that began over a decade ago with a chance observation has reached a milestone: the identification of a gene that may regulate regeneration in mammals. The absence of this single gene, called p21, confers a healing potential in mice long thought to have been lost through evolution and reserved for creatures like flatworms, sponges, and some species of salamander.
Durham, NC – Flowering plants may be considerably older than previously thought, says a new analysis of the plant family tree.
Previous studies suggest that flowering plants, or angiosperms, first arose 140 to 190 million years ago. Now, a paper to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences pushes back the age of angiosperms to 215 million years ago, some 25 to 75 million years earlier than either the fossil record or previous molecular studies suggest.
The left main coronary artery provides most of the blood to the heart, and current guidelines call for patients with blockages in this artery to undergo bypass surgery.
Hybrid revascularization is a combination of coronary artery bypass surgery and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Emory physicians have been performing these procedures “off-pump” in a minimally invasive fashion, without breaking open the chest. This technique is also known as “endo-ACAB” (endoscopic atraumatic coronary artery bypass).
A new combination drug treatment for parasitic intestinal roundworms shows promise in a test on a common laboratory species.
Several drugs currently in use or in development control parasitic worms in the same way. That concerns health workers In developing countries where reinfestations often require repeated treatments. If worms develop resistance to one drug, the other treatments would likely fail as well.
In a paradigm changing discovery, Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) malaria has been identified in a population historically thought to be resistant to the disease, those who do not express the Duffy blood group protein on their red blood cells, according to researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Pasteur Institute, and the Madagascar Ministry of Health.
Researchers at the Department of Chemistry at the Technische Universität München (TUM) have developed a method that allows the observation of local movements in proteins on a time scale of nanoseconds to microseconds. Upon examining movements of the protein villin using this method they found two structures that were otherwise barely distinguishable from one another. Quick nanosecond-scale structure changes essential for the protein function can take place in the one, while the other remains rigid.
Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) hospitalizes more than 160,000 Canadians every year, and almost one quarter of those patients die from this common form of heart disease. But now a team of Vancouver-based researchers has identified a key predictor of mortality in CAD patients, which means that specialists can better determine how to treat and improve outcomes for patients with CAD.
Coronary artery disease is the most frequent cause of heart disease and occurs when important blood vessels become narrow or blocked and can no longer give enough blood to meet the heart's demand.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — For the average college basketball fan looking for an edge in a March Madness office pool, a University of Illinois expert in statistics and data analysis has some advice on how to pick winners: After the Sweet Sixteen round of play, ignore a team's seeding, which is a statistically insignificant predictor of a team's chances of winning.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Mammograms, pap smears and early detection tests for prostate cancer, colorectal cancer and other malignancies are critical for catching cancer before it becomes deadly.
However, a new study by University at Buffalo researchers shows that persons of different ethnic groups have different ideas and opinions about whether they are at risk for developing cancer -- perceptions that can influence whether they undergo screening.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – An experimental oral drug has lowered blood sugar levels and inflammation in mice with Type 2 diabetes, suggesting that the medication could someday be added to the arsenal of drugs used by millions of Americans with this disease, according to new research.
The drug consists of a synthetic molecule that stops the biological activity of a protein called macrophage migration inhibitory factor, or MIF. This protein is implicated in a number of diseases because it is associated with the production of inflammation in the body.
Multitudes of people worldwide begin each day with a cup of steaming hot coffee. Although it is sometimes referred to as "the devil's brew," coffee contains several nutrients (eg, calcium) as well as hundreds of potentially biologically active compounds (eg, polyphenols) that may promote health. For instance, observational studies have suggested a beneficial link between coffee consumption and type 2 diabetes. Determining whether or not this association is causative, however, requires controlled intervention trials.
JUPITER, FL, March 10, 2010 –– Using a novel light activation technique, Scripps Research Institute scientists have been able to turn molecules with only a modest ability to fight specific proteins into virtual protein destroyers.
The new technique, which uses a "warhead" molecule capable of inactivating nearby proteins when triggered by light, could help to accelerate the development of new therapies by providing researchers with a new set of research tools and options.
In the beginning is the fertilized egg cell. Following numerous cell divisions, it then develops into a complex organism with different organs and tissues. The largely unexplained process whereby the cells simply "know" the organs into which they should later develop is an astonishing phenomenon. Scientists from the Center for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP) of the University of Tübingen and the University of Wageningen, in cooperation with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, have investigated how this process is controlled.