Limits Of Life On Earth: Are They The Key To Life On Other Planets?
...Funding will also support research about our solar system and beyond, to help identify possible new sites fo... mediated by microbes. Many regions of the solar system where life is postulated to exist, such as the oceans of Jupiter's moon Europa, are characterized by...Oral Vaccine Protects Infants From Severe Rotavirus Diarrhea
...aths. Rotavirus illness costs the U.S. health care system an estimated $400 million indirect costs annually,...e a protein on the virus' surface, wherethe immune system can easily recognize it and then tailor-make antibodies to fight that viral strain. When making the ...New Mathematical Model Could Help Predict Health Of Offshore Areas Where Rivers Enter The Sea
... lacked a technique forcoupling them intoa dynamic system that can also analyze the relative importance each of thecomponents. The importance of Chen's work is that it "fully couples" these factors in away thatallows researchers to isolate the level of influence from each of them. "Until we unders...New Form Of Gene Therapy Holds Promise For The Future
...ed only when needed. They have developed a system in mice in which the level of a geneticallyengineered protein responds to inflammatory signals produced by the micethemselves. This method of gene therapy, described in the October issue ofNature Biotechnology, may have great potential for treating c......ptide orphanin, which islinked to the human opiate system (relating to pain), also plays a role inregulating the circadian system (relating to biological rhythms and sleep).Charles Allen of the Center for Research on Occupational ......t of otherwise normal humanpregnancies. A mother's system regulates the amount of nutrients fed to herdeveloping baby through the bloodstream, but pregnancy can produce a stress onthe pancreas. When this happens, the pancreas sometimes can't produce enoughinsulin, a hormone that allows the body to use carbo...Scientists Use IGF-I To Grow New Membranes Around Neurons
...IGF-I can promote growth of new peripheral nervous system myelin sheaths," according to Eva L. Feldman , associate professor of neurology at the U-M Medical School . If U-M scientists are able to use IGF-I to regenerate myelin in animals, it will be extremely significant; because without myelin, neurons...Jefferson Scientists Develop Botulism Vaccine
...e harsh conditions of the gastrointestinal (GI) system and moves into the general circulation. It is eventually delivered to the central nervous system and causes paralysis. The researchers have created a novel form of the toxin that retain...Researcher Discovers Plant Genes For Phosphate Uptake
...member of the mustard family often used as a model system for research) for a week, figuring that this would cause the plants to beef up their phosphate uptake mechanisms. It did. Then they probed the DNA libraries of the starved plants for genes that produce phosphate transporter proteins. They found the ...First Selenium-Based Orally-Active Antihypertensive May Lead To New Family Of Therapeutic Agents
...ned to minimizeabsorption into the central nervous system and to resist damage fromenzymes in the gastrointe... that these molecules act on theperipheral nervous system and allow the blood vessels to relaxsufficiently so that blood flow increases," May said. Behaviora...Purdue Researchers Track Oil Spill's Effects On Sea Otters
...archers wanted to know whether the animal's immune system had been compromised," Snyder explains. "I have a ...Dr. Rebar asked me if we could evaluate the immune system of a sea otter, I said 'we can try.'" Snyder went to Alaska in the summer of 1995 to determine if it...Whitaker Awards $6.8 Million For Biomedical Engineering Education
...eering, including a long-distance teleconferencing system to exchange course offerings with the University of New Brunswick. The grant will help with the institute's start-up costs, including those for new faculty and staff, building renovation, equipment purchases and support for new courses. Duke Uni...Recombinant Protein Immunizes Mice, Promises New Strategy Against Infection And Cancer
...s. When germs enter the body, the immune system responds in two ways. Onearm of the immune system...ful immuneresponses and could be used as an immune system booster. The special propertiesof hsp70 prompted the researchers to investigate whether soluble hsp...Biological Clocks No Longer Found Only In The Brain
... by the brain. Using the fruit fly as a model system to study circadian rhythms, the researchers -- led...This advance shows how basic research with a model system has a broad impact on fields from agriculture to human biology." According to Kay, "Our finding...Dendritic Cell Therapy For The Treatment Of Cancer
... of cancer. Cancers may develop because the immune system is not given a strong enoughsignal to destroy the ...hen be shownbits of the tumour to which the immune system will react (tumour antigens) andreinfused into the patient. A recent clinical trial using this appr...Biodiversity Worth $2.9 Trillion
...stimating the worldwide value of a perennial grain system at $170 billion a year. "We hope assessments such as this," Pimentel said, "can serve as a foundation to develop strategies and policies to preserve biological diversity and maintain ecosystem integrity. All these services to humanity are possible o...Natural Variability Is Key To River Restoration
...logist at Colorado State University. "Every river system is different, and each will take a different mix o...oring their natural dynamic character." The river system study was funded by a grant from the George Gund Foundation, with logistical support from The Nature...Promising Fatty Acid Research Leads To MS Clinical Trial
...ease. MS is thought to be due to the body's immune system attacking our own tissue. In MS myelin, an insulating material surrounding nerve cells, is damaged. DrHarbige and his colleagues think that certain fatty acids work by dampening downthe damaging effects of the immune system. The next stage is to fi......sease, which affects the brain and central nervous system by creating holes in the myelin layers that insulate the nerve bundles. According to the Center's veterinary pathologist Dr. Nancy Thomas, "Myelin coats the nerve bundles much like the plastic coating around electrical wire, and when the coating is ......e trade winds slack off, nor why the ElNiño system eventually collapses," says Ackerman. "We do know ...that clouds play apart in El Niño and other system and we hope that the ARM program can provideinformation on their effects." EDITORS: Dr. Ackerma...