Potential for enhanced sequestration of carbon in soils supports evaluations
... uptake of carbon dioxide by soils. The increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere contributes to ongoing global warming that is causing ecological disruption and threatens human populations. The researchers note that a variety of land-use practices have apparently favorable potential for...Rice finds 'on-off switch' for buckyball toxicity
...re buckyballs, the researchers had to increase the concentration of these modified buckyballs by 10 million times to more than 5 million parts per billion. "We're encouraged to see that controlling the surface properties of buckyballs allows us to dial the level of toxicity up or down, because making those kinds o...A novel, safer strategy for regulating gene expression
... example, in a diabetic patient, a rise in glucose concentration would automatically turn on the gene responsible for insulin production. The system, described in a proof-of-principle paper in the Sept. 23 edition of the journal Nature, is simpler than current methods of gene regulation, and the technology exist...Prion propagation: Avoiding the toxic oligomer
...earchers explored the relationship between monomer concentration and polymerization progress. Initially, fiber growth rate was tied to the concentration of NM monomers; but as concentrations increased, growth rate was moderated by NM conformational chan...9/11 search-and-rescue dogs exhibit few effects from exposure to disaster sites
... that the deployed dogs exhibited higher bilirubin concentration and alkaline phosphatase activity, which indicates that their livers were actively filtering toxins from their bloodstream. The serum globulins were also higher in the first year in deployed dogs, suggesting activation of the immune system. As the ...Blue marlin in gulf have high mercury levels, A&M study shows
...ing mercury in pelagic fishes from areas with high concentration of petrochemical industries or production platforms and comparing these with other regions. Also, the team is using unique natural biomarkers (stable isotopes and fatty acids) to determine the feeding history of these fishes, and will use this inform...Disruption of protein-folding causes neurodegeneration, mental retardation
...This excess GM1 causes depletion of calcium, whose concentration in the ER is critical for proper protein folding. In turn, the accumulation of unfolded or improperly folded proteins triggers the unfolded protein response" (UPR) in the cell. The UPR is the cell's emergency response to the accumulation of faulty pr...Bone marrow cells routinely help with wound healing
...throughout the body, but observed that the highest concentration of bone marrow cells was in normal skin. That was a surprise. People have known for awhile that there are a few white blood cells in the skin that's how people come down with contact dermatitis. Contact dermatitis happens when someone develops an i...Flame retardants found on supermarket shelves
...ample in the Texas study was a salmon filet with a concentration of more than 3,000 ppt. Likewise, the median concentration of PBDEs in meat from Dallas supermarkets was more than twice the maximum levels in meat from both t...Purdue study finds antioxidant protects metal-eating plants
...st 3 percent nickel by weight. He found that the concentration of glutathione was well correlated with a plant's ability to accumulate nickel. "This correlation makes good sense," Salt said. "If you accumulate a lot of nickel, then you will need the ability to resist high levels of oxidative stress." Correlatio...Meteorites supplied Earth life with phosphorus
...lar system. "This natural mechanism of phosphorus concentration in the presence of a known organic catalyst (such as iron-based metal) made me think that aqueous corrosion of meteoritic minerals could lead to the formation of important phosphorus-bearing biomolecules," Lauretta said. "Meteorites have several dif...JGI announces community sequencing program portfolio
...rity Complex. The site contains one of the highest concentration plumes of mobile uranium along with volatile organics, technetium, nitrate, aluminum, thorium, zinc and nickel. Sequences generated will complement biogeochemistry, hydrology, microbiology and engineering studies to help evaluate the impacts of conta...Gold quantum dots have applications in biological labeling, nanoscale optics
... large nanoparticles. By controlling the relative concentration of gold to PAMAM and the generation of the dendrimers, the researchers can control nanocluster size and therefore the emission wavelengths. "Nanodots encapsulated through PAMAM exhibit higher fluorescence quantum yields than do clusters encapsulat...Possible new cure for psoriasis
... off within 72 hours. Moreover, even with fivefold concentration of the active ingredient the research team could not detect any toxic side-effects. For example, among other aspects the number of skin cells which entered into apoptosis remained constant apoptosis is the cells' 'suicide' programme, which enables t...Technology already exists to stabilize global warming
...rs would put the world on a track to stabilize the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at about 500 p...fficult to stabilize below a tripling. The current concentration is about 375 parts per million. The authors acknowledged that their analysis does not addres...Study: A little help from friends makes wounds heal faster
... paired animals. "We expected cortisol concentration to increase substantially in stressed and lone animals," DeVries said. But cortisol levels didn't increase in the paired, stressed hamsters. In a third experiment, the researchers found that surgically removing the adrenal glands the main ...Something's fishy about new NIST food standard
...ed biphenyls (PCBs). SRM 1946 also has a certified concentration for methylmercury, a neurotoxin that tends to accu...nvironmental Protection Agency's maximum advisable concentration in freshwater/estuarine fish tissue. This also is the first NIST food-matrix SRM with values for ome...DFG presents the 2004 MAK and BAT value lists
...stions for MAK values, i.e., the maximum allowable concentration of a working substance in the workplace atmosphere as a gas, steam or aerosol that according to current knowledge does not impair the health of employees exposed during eight-hour working days over the long term. Furthermore, the working substances a...Epilepsy: Signals 'brake' in brain impaired
...when needed or use energy to 'pump' them against a concentration gradient. One important ion pore is the Kv4.2 channel, which is permeable for positively charged potassium ions. This channel is mainly located at the signal inputs of a neutron, the dendrites, and has an important function there: it absorbs incoming......s considered a beneficial process that reduces the concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere and mitigates its impact on global temperatures. However there is growing concern over the price of this service. For the symposium participants, it is now well established that by the middle of this century, the accumulati...