Targeted therapy knocks out pediatric brain cancer in mice
...ree decades," explains study author Dr. Tom Curran from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, ...geted molecular interventions could spare children from the devastating effects of surgery, toxic chemotherapy, and exposure to high doses of radiation," of...Loss of the neuronal adhesion protein d-catenin leads to severe cognitive dysfunction
... connectivity and plasticity is reduced in neurons from d-catenin mutant animals, possibly offering a clue to the mechanisms by which deletions of d-catenin cause synaptic and cognitive dysfunction. Ultimately, this work may facilitate the understanding of the mental retardation observed in Cri-du-Chat Sy...Amyloid fibers sprout one step at a time
...nd tubulin) coalesce into long fibers. Experiments from a number of labs, however, revealed that this proc...now screening for drugs that would prevent amyloid from forming, to treat these disorders," said Weissman. "While it is quite speculative at this point, if ...Chemical genetics identifies SARS inhibitors
... drug leads with which to combat SARS, researchers from the University of Hong Kong conducted a chemical genetic screen to isolate compounds with anti-SARS-CoV activity. The group screened an initial library of 50,240 compounds and found that 104 were potent inhibitors of the virus; of these, two targeted...Genes expose secrets of sex on the side
...round since time immemorial, and some traveled far from home to do it, new research suggests. And there's ...urselves as a monogamous species, but we're coming from an evolutionary history that's probably slightly polygamous. If we're shifting toward monogamy, it's...Resveratrol synthase uncovered: Cyclization specificity of type III polyketide synthases
A group from the Salk institute illuminates the structural basi... structure of a STS and identified how STS evolved from its CHS ancestor by comparing the two at the structural and molecular levels. To prove their hypothe...Students build submarine to track Octopuses
...neering undergrads, in collaboration with students from two other universities, are building a mini-sub to... will allow researchers to determine the direction from which a sound originates. During the July test, Shadow III completed ten dives in Prince William Sou...Brown ecologist garners major National Science Foundation grant
...uropean native, Arabidopsis thaliana, can be found from Finland to Spain. Because of its short life cycle,...tools to study how this plant combines information from a variety of seasonal signals, such as day length and temperature, to flower during favorable condit...22nd amino acid synthesized and added to genetic code of e. coli bacteria
... in the DNA were decoded to produce proteins built from only 20 "canonical" amino acids. But in 1986, rese...to certain proteins. What separated selenocysteine from the other previously identified amino acids was the fact that it was inserted into protein by a very...Algal contact as a trigger for coral disease
... interact with corals, usually by overgrowing them from their edges. In the October issue of Ecology Letters, Nugues, Smith, van Hooidonk, Seabra and Bak demonstrate a sinister aspect of this competition. One of the most common macroalgae, Halimeda opuntia, is shown to trigger a particularly virulent dise...Genetic modification of linseed produces healthier omega 3 and 6 fatty acids
...straight chains of carbon atoms, ranging in length from about 12 to 22 carbons (C12 to C22). They have one...synthesized in the human body and must be obtained from dietary sources. Once consumed, they may be metabolized into very long chain (C20 and C22) PUFA in t...New sign language suggests children create language's fundamentals through learning
...uages essentially 'reproduce' when they are passed from one mind to the next -- that is, when they are lea... it powerful enough to create a whole new language from raw materials such as gestures? According to Senghas and her colleagues, the Nicaraguan case shows t...US investment firm gives away Rhode Island-sized lands in Chile
...n ecosystems of southern South America. Separated from the mainland of South America by the Straits of Ma... sufficient to show me how widely different it was from anything I had ever beheld." A Unique Alliance To assure continuity in this important project, Go...Popular Science announces Third Annual 'Brilliant 10'
...ns, astronomers suspected that the moon originated from bits of the Earth that were knocked off in a colli...bstract realm of mathematics, where all facts stem from provable universal laws. Her single-mindedness helped prove the perfect-graph conjecture, a hypothes...K-State, other universities to study how climate affects plant evolution
...d study Arabidopsis at six diverse sites, ranging from subarctic locales in Finland -- which at times during the year have just three hours of sunlight -- to the Mediterranean coast of southern Spain, Welch said. Sites also will be located in Germany and England. In addition, the K-State team is workin...Information system to help scientists analyze mechanisms of social behavior
...MPAIGN, Ill. -- With a $5 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation, the University of...rmation relevant to social behavior of honey bees, from genome databases and scientific literature," he said. "This information will be indexed with new se...Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology
...rowth of bacteria in meat and fish say researchers from Massachusetts. Their findings appear in the Septe...ping periodontal disease as adults say researchers from Eastman Dental Institute, London, United Kingdom. Their findings appear in the September 2004 issue...Cockroach-like robot leads new research effort
...r team of biologists, engineers and mathematicians from universities across the country to try to understa...eam. "Yet, no single systems-level model, reaching from neurons to muscles to the skeleton to the whole body, can explain the control that makes movement po...NSF announces six 'FIBR' awards to tackle some of biology's most challenging questions
...awards totaling nearly $30 million over five years from its Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research (...of the five-year awards brings together scientists from many areas of biology and other fields to draw upon advances in genomics, ecology, enhanced informat...USC study links historical increases in life span to lower childhood exposure to infection
...e got chronic infections. Those chronic infections from childhood onward accelerated vascular and other di...ealth and mortality rates of people born in Sweden from 1751 to 1940. Grouping them by birth year into what are called birth cohorts the researchers found...