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Giant panda genome reveals new insights into the bear's bamboo diet

A Chinese-led team including international researchers with a scientist from Cardiff University, has shed new light on some of the giant panda's unusual biological traits, including its famously restricted diet.

The team has successfully sequenced the panda genome for the first time and now, the genetic insights gleaned from the work may aid conservation efforts for the endangered species.

Giant pandas are known for their bamboo diet but the researchers discovered that the animal actually lacks the genes necessary for compete digestion of this staple food source.

When molecules leave tire tracks

Some classes of molecules are capable of arranging themselves in specific patterns on surfaces. This ability to self-organize is crucial for many technological applications, which are dependend on the assembly of ordered structures on surfaces. However, it has so far been virtually impossible to predict or control the result of such processes. Now a group of researchers led by Dr.

Seeds from the Moringa tree can be used for water purification

Pure water is a key requirement for good health and alternative cheap, safe methods are required in many countries. In a paper that has just been published in the leading American Chemical Society journal on interfaces, Langmuir, researchers from Uppsala University in co-operation with The University of Botswana describe how extracts from seeds of the Moringa oleifera tree can be used for water purification.

MDC researchers link protein tether to touch perception

Humans and animals are able to perceive even the slightest vibration and touch of the skin. Mechanosensitive ion channels play a crucial role in the mediation of these sensations. Ion channels are pores in the cell membrane which are highly responsive to external signals. Mechanosensitive ion channels open at the slightest vibration and allow ions (electrically charged particles), to cross the cell membrane, which causes an electrical current until the channel closes again. Until now it was unclear how the ion channels were opened. Dr.

New research reveals threat to monkey numbers from forest decline

Monkey populations in threatened forests are far more sensitive to damage to their habitat than previously thought, according to new research.

An analysis of monkeys living in Tanzania's Udzungwa Mountains suggests that the impact of external factors, such as human activity, on species numbers is felt in forests as large as 40 square kilometres.

Researchers also found that the health of monkey populations is closely related to the type of habitat found between forest fragments, rather than the distance that separates them.

Life's smallest motor, cargo carrier of the cells, moves like a seesaw

Life's smallest motor, a protein that shuttles cargo within cells and helps cells divide, does so by rocking up and down like a seesaw, according to research conducted by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Brandeis University.

Researchers discover second protective role for tumor-suppressor

HOUSTON - ATM, a protein that reacts to DNA damage by ordering repairs or the suicide of the defective cell, plays a similar, previously unknown role in response to oxidative damage outside of the nucleus, researchers report this week in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Don't worry, be happy! Positive emotions protect against heart disease

People who are usually happy, enthusiastic and content are less likely to develop heart disease than those who tend not to be happy, according to a major new study published today (Thursday 18 February).

The authors believe that the study, published in the Europe's leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal [1], is the first to show such an independent relationship between positive emotions and coronary heart disease.

Chronic migraineurs sicker, poorer and more depressed than episodic migraineurs

Chronic migraine sufferers tend to be in poorer general health, less well off, and more depressed than those with episodic migraine, reveals research published ahead of print in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

The findings are based on almost 12,000 adults with episodic - a severe headache on up to 14 days of the month - or chronic migraine - headache on 15 or more days of the month.

Obesity -- mild or severe -- raises kidney stone risk

Obesity in general nearly doubles the risk of developing kidney stones, but the degree of obesity doesn't appear to increase or decrease the risk one way or the other, a new study from Johns Hopkins shows.

ALDH associated with worse overall survival in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) in pancreatic adenocarcinoma is associated with worse overall survival in patients who have undergone resection for early-stage disease, according to a new study published online February 17 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

ALDH activity characterizes normal stem cells and cancer stem cells (CSCs) in several human malignancies, including pancreatic adenocarcinoma; however, the clinical significance of ALDH-expressing cancer stem cells is unclear.

New method makes vaccines stable at tropical temperatures

A simple and cheap way of making vaccines stable – even at tropical temperatures – has been developed by scientists at Oxford University and Nova Bio-Pharma Technologies.

The British technology has the potential to revolutionise vaccination efforts, particularly in the developing world where infectious diseases kill millions of people every year, by removing the need for fridges, freezers and associated health infrastructure.

Random fluctuations give rise to odd genetic phenomenon

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — For years, biologists have wondered how it is possible that not every person who carries a mutated gene expresses the trait or condition associated with the mutation. This common but poorly understood phenomenon, known as incomplete penetrance, exists in a wide range of organisms, including humans.

Southern African genomes sequenced: Benefits for human health expected

Human genomes from Southern African Bushmen and Bantu individuals have been sequenced by a team of scientists seeking a greater understanding of human genetic variation and its effect on human health. The study's findings will be published in the journal Nature on 18 February 2010. The research was completed by scientists from American, African, and Australian research institutions, with support from Penn State University in the United States and from several U.S. companies that market DNA-sequencing instruments.

New type of genetic variation could strengthen natural selection

The unexpected discovery of a new type of genetic variation suggests that natural selection – one of the forces that drives evolution – is both more powerful and more complex than scientists have thought.

"We have discovered that natural selection can act not only on whole organisms and individual genes, but also on gene networks," says Antonis Rokas, assistant professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University and senior author of the paper reporting the discovery published online on Feb. 17 in the journal Nature.