Genes can influence both alcohol consumption and dependence
...levels and tendency to high blood pressure, and so increase risk of heart attack. Individuals can make decisions about their lifestyle which can improve their health and reduce their risk of harm. Similarly, individuals with a family history of heavy drinking or alcoholism can be aware that they may be at i...Protective gene may enhance vaccine responses
...Rickardt said. "Increasing Spi2A levels alone can increase the survival of memory T cells from the standard 5 to 10 percent up to about 40 percent. His lab has already begun to test small molecules that mimic the effects of Spi2A and could be given along with a vaccine. This finding may also provide clue...Infant rats eagerly accept high concentrations of alcohol upon first exposure
...this is that exposure to alcohol early in life may increase its attractiveness and lead to the onset of drinking at an earlier age than otherwise would occur." Spear and his co-author, Eric M. Truxell of the department of psychology at Binghamton University, exposed Sprague-Dawley infant rats (n=672) to alcoh...Schizophrenia gene variant linked to risk traits
...ings us closer to unlocking the genetic clues that increase the risk for schizophrenia," said NIMH Director Thomas R. Insel, M.D. Researchers know that schizophrenia affects several regions in the front part of the brain that are involved in higher order thinking and decision-making and neurotransmitter syst...Gene changes linked to increased eye pressure may have implications for glaucoma therapy
...static counteracting mechanism that could sense an increase in pressure and open up a little bit, to help move the fluid out of the eye," said Borrs. However, it was unclear how the TM achieved this pressure regulation. This study was aimed at measuring what genes were turned on or off in the TM after th...Infants sighs may 'reset' breathing regulation mechanism as well as help lungs develop
... However "the sigh itself introduces a significant increase in variability of both tidal volume and minute ven...ible integrative function Despite the recent increase in the study of infant breathing, the exact factors that cause sighing, and the total affect they ha...Newcastle scientists get UK's first stem cell license
...receive additional funding which would allow us to increase the size of our team." Dr. Stojkovic added, "Newcastle is now the national frontrunner in this area of research but pressure is mounting in the United States for its scientists to be allowed to do this work. If we are to stay at the cutting edge, ...Jefferson scientists find gene expression pattern may predict behavior of leukemia
...the Western world, is characterized by an abnormal increase in the number of B cells. "We found two specific genetic signatures," Dr. Croce says. One expression pattern of miRNA genes in CLL correlated with a deletion of a chromosomal region called 13q14. This region contained two small miRNA genes that are ...Biologists deciphering complex lemur scent language
... a "valentine." "Our behavioral studies showed an increase in tail-waving by males during the breeding season — maybe a sort of 'Hey ladies, here I am!'" said Drea. Also, she said, scents may be as much a signature as a statement. "Scent marks might encode a sort of individual signature of an animal, as...Coordinating power of circadian rhythms keeps estrus and pregnancy on track
...ked to circadian rhythms. These experiments increase the understanding of the way complex physiology can be regulated by circadian rhythms. More broadly, the findings have implications for human infertility; it has been shown that women who work swing-shifts are more susceptible than normal to irregula...More aggressive breast cancer tumors found in African American women
...lation-based study to report a clearly significant increase in p53 mutations that is independent of race differences in other tumor characteristics, socioeconomic status and other biomedical and lifestyle factors", said Jones. The authors also confirmed that tumors in African-American women were more likely t...Why some animals have smaller eyes: Lifestyle matters
...eurobiologist notes, the front-to-back length will increase somewhat. Then our eyes move farther apart in the face as the head grows. And we'll never be that cute again....Revealing bizarre deep-sea secrets
... but may also lead to the discovery of new ways to increase the sensitivity of various man-made detectors. Dr. Charles Mazel from Physical Sciences, Inc., will be exploring fluorescence given off by deep -sea animals. Fluorescence occurs when an animal or object absorbs light of one color and then reemits li...EURYI Award given for the first time to 25 young European researchers
...n of leading researchers and, at the same time, to increase the attractiveness and international competitiveness of the European Research Area. This new programme of excellence is based upon the "Memorandum of Understanding" signed by 18 research organisations from 15 European countries in 2003. The prizes wi...Method to visualize gene activity may provide insight into normal development & genome function
...same time, but they predict it will be possible to increase this to 50. Newly developed, ultra-bright fluorescent molecules make the multiplex labeling technique possible. The fluorescent molecules were provided by Molecular Probes, Inc., and the company's scientists also shared their expertise with the U...UCSD researchers are first to demonstrate molecular link between inflammation and cancer
...f genetically altered epithelial cells and thereby increase tumor size. Because recurrent inflammation and ...ecifically, without NF-kB activation, there was an increase of pro-apoptotic proteins Bak and Bax, and a decrease in a protein called Bcl-xL, known to inhibit a...Molecular therapeutics advance fight against brain cancer
...on therapy is required sooner. "Given the expected increase in the life-span of patients with this deletion, there is no need to give radiation therapy early in their treatment," explains O'Rourke. The deletion can only be detected by genetic analysis. "Under the microscope these tumors can look identical, s...Protein vaccine fully protects mice from lethal aerosol challenge with ricin toxin
... to eliminate the toxic enzymatic property of RTA, increase protein stability, and maintain its ability to elicit a protective immune response. In the August online issue of Protein Engineering, Design and Selection, Olson and his team--John H. Carra, Virginia Roxas-Duncan, Robert W. Wannemacher, Leonard A...Study: A little help from friends makes wounds heal faster
... "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 surgic...... polymerization. "When you dehydrate, you increase by orders of magnitude the tendency to sickle," says Dr. Brugnara. "It's a vicious cycle that gets worse and worse." The rigid, sickled cells are unable to pass through small blood capillaries and so cannot deliver oxygen efficiently to tissues. Co...