Plumbing trees' plumbing reveals their engineering skill
... the deepest roots develop the largest conduits in order to draw deep water most efficiently. The scientists' technique of studying tree roots in place offers a far more realistic look at how trees manage their water circulation than researchers have had before. The approach is like studying the plumbing o...Study narrows search for genes placing men at increased risk for prostate cancer
... Arizona. "We needed this sort of massive study in order to have the power to target important genome regio...men. We look forward to maturing this research in order to help discover new genetic diagnostic tools for prostate cancer susceptibility in hopes of one day...Putting energy into heart protection
...se and free fatty acids from their surroundings in order to rebuild their ATP reservoir. The main protein involved in this switch is called AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). One situation of obvious energy stress on cells is during a heart attack. Lawrence Young and colleagues at Yale University Scho...JCI table of contents, 16 August, 2004
...se and free fatty acids from their surroundings in order to rebuild their ATP reservoir. The main protein ...une system has built in anti-tumor mechanisms. In order for cancers to form, one of the molecular steps that must occur is for the tumor cells to develop th...Medication reconciliation, pharmacist involvement vital to reducing medication errors, study finds
... that goal, implementing a computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) system as part of its patient safety initiative. A previous study at Northwestern Memorial found that a combination of pharmacist involvement and a CPOE system with significant clinical decision support will likely provide the best appr...MICs shed light on prostate cancer
...une system has built in anti-tumor mechanisms. In order for cancers to form, one of the molecular steps that must occur is for the tumor cells to develop the means to avoid being attacked by this defense mechanism. There are several different methods by which the immune system can eradicate tumors early ...X marks the spot: Vector insertion is viral specific
...elp researchers understand how HIV enters cells in order to devise drugs to block that entry. "If there's a key interaction required for growth of a virus, then that would be a target to inhibit," says Bushman. HIV needs three enzymes - reverse transcriptase, protease, and integrase - to complete a full re...Retroviral gene therapy? ASLV, HIV, and MLV show distinct target site preferences
...ing able to predict a virus's particular bias. In order to determine whether different viruses have greater gene therapy potential, Rick Mitchell et al. compared retroviral vectors derived from three viruses and report 3,127 sites where these viruses typically integrate into the human genome. The differen...Prions act as stepping stones in evolution
...nal understanding of how traits are inherited. In order for Sup35 to ensure that the cell properly reads the protein recipes contained in genes, it focuses on what are called "stop codons"--sections of DNA that indicate exactly where in the gene a particular protein recipe ends. Sup35 ensures that the cel...Schizophrenia gene variant linked to risk traits
...ront part of the brain that are involved in higher order thinking and decision-making and neurotransmitter systems like glutamate. Many of the genes already identified as likely candidates for the disorder have been thought to affect the glutamate system. The study implicates the GRM3 gene as well. GRM3 al...Tobacco promising factory for biopharmaceuticals
...purification is always an engineering challenge in order to lower the cost of therapeutic proteins or biopharmaceuticals," Zhang said. Zhang uses tobacco in his research because it is a non-food crop and is well suited as a "factory" for recombinant protein production. The leafy green tobacco plant is rela...Leukemia stem cells identified by Stanford researchers
... cells, are the ones chemotherapy must wipe out in order to eliminate the disease. Treatments that destroy these cells could more effectively eliminate cancer. Current treatments destroy cancer cells indiscriminately, draining the reservoir of cancer cells without specifically eliminating the cancer's sour...Joslin Diabetes Center launches research section on developmental and stem cell biology
...making widely available to medical researchers, in order to foster this extremely promising area of researc...in different tissue contexts and animal models, in order to maximize cross-pollination of information and ideas....The telomere crisis: A crucial stage in breast cancer
...ples from living subjects. "In human studies, the order from normal ducts, to ductal hyperplasia, to ductal carcinoma in situ, to invasive cancer is just association," says Gray, "because we can't look at the same tissue all the way through the crisis." Therefore the researchers compared the assumed sequ...Method to visualize gene activity may provide insight into normal development & genome function
... "Cell fate decisions must be understood in order for any of the incredible medical potential of stem cell therapy to be realized," adds Dave Kosman, a research scientist in the Bier and McGinnis laboratories and lead author on the paper Multiplex labeling, as the technique is called, uses RNA...Bad news for pathogenic bacteria: Scientists find protein essential for bacterial survival
...l , suggest that bacteria rely on a key protein in order to properly regulate gene expression a process fundamental to cell survival. This protein, called DksA, coordinates the expression of numerous genes in response to environmental signals. Figuring out how to block DksA production in harmful...Transcriptional gene silencing in nucleus shown by UCSD/VA medical researchers
...promoter" region within the gene must be active in order to allow the genetic information encoded in the DNA to be copied (transcribed) into a single strand of RNA called messenger RNA (mRNA). During normal transcription, the mRNA leaves the nucleus and travels to the cytoplasm of the cell, where it works ...Study explains spatial orientation differences between sexes
...h respect to complex perceptual-motor behaviour in order to design recreational, rehabilitation and work environments that ensure safety and top performance."......ch lions live force them into "gang membership" in order to survive. For more information about this session, and other ESA Annual Meeting activities, visit the ESA meeting homepage at: http://www.esa.org/portland . The theme for the meeting is "Lessons of Lewis and Clark: Ecological Exploration of Inhabi......lution of sorts, an overturning of the established order brought on by fishing pressure, that leads to major changes in the coastal marine ecosystem, according to the article, "Accelerating Trophic-level Dysfunction in Kelp Forest Ecosystems of the Western North Atlantic." In the Gulf of Maine, the revolut...