Antioxidant overload may underlie a heritable human disease
... There is plenty of evidence about the damaging effects of oxidative stress, but there is another side to the coin, said Ivor Benjamin of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. There has been so much emphasis on free radicals to...JCI table of contents: Aug. 9, 2007
... ... Signals downstream of the receptor for TSH had been thought to be mediated mainly by a protein complex kn...Disabling a sensory organ prompts female mice to act like male mice
... The finding, reported August 5, 2007, in the journal suggests that the neural circuits that govern gender-specific behaviors, such as aggression and courtship, are similar in the male and female brain. According to the new study, the sexual behaviors of female mice, at least, are ruled by a pheromone-detecting organ that engages a neura...Forecasting system provides flood warnings to vulnerable residents of Bangladesh
... ... The pilot program began this summer with the aim of delivering 1- to 10...JCI table of contents: August 1, 2007
... ... In a study that appea...US Department of Defense awards $1.6 million for implantable biochip research
... ... Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, C3B director and Dow Chemical Profess...More fish oil, less vegetable oil, better for your health
... Prostanoids help control blood pressure, fight allergies, and modulate inflammation, but...JCI table of contents -- July 26, 2007
... ... One potent, immune-based treatment for cancer is total body irradiation (TBI). This approach first depletes the body of the population of immune cells known as lymphocytes and then involves the adoptive transfer of tumor-specific T cells to the patient. Lymphodepletion has previously been shown to improve the ability of tumor-specific T cells to cause tumor regression. In a study appea...Renewable energy wrecks environment
... Ausubel has analyzed the amount of energy that each so-called renewable source can produce in terms of Watts of power output per square meter of land disturbed. He also compares the destruction of nature by renewables with the......... This discovery by a team of researchers from the Universities of Sheffield (UK) and Bayreuth contradicts our day-to-day experience. In the animal kingdom, geckos can climb up vertical inclines, displaying an incredible switchable adhesion as they do so. Insects also use another form of switchable adhesion to sit on your ceiling and then fly off before you climb up on your chai...JCI table of contents: July 19, 2007
... ... Mucins are large proteins that are secreted on the surface of the gut, and while long regarded as having a role as a barrier to mucosal infection, data to support this theory have been lacking. In a study appearing online on July 19 in advance of publication in the August print issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Michael McGuckin and colleagues from the University of Queens...Measuring the unseeable: Penn researchers probe proteins' dark energy
... The situation is akin to the discussion in astrophysics in which theoreticians predict that there is dark matter, or energy, that no one has yet se...Crystal structure enables tailoring of pharmaceuticals against asthma
... Asthma attacks are caused by an acute inflammatory reaction in the airways, a r...JCI table of contents: July 12, 2007
... ... Estrogen, which binds estrogen receptor alpha (ER-alpha), is a risk factor for breast cancer development. However, one-third of new breast cancers lack detectable ER-alpha. These ER-alphanegative cancers are more aggressive and have a worse prognosis than do ER-alphapositive breast cancers, and have been thought to be estrogen independent. In a study appearing online on July 12 in adva...'Virtual' mouse brains now available online
... "These images can be more than 100,000 times higher resolution than a clinical MRI scan," said G. Allan Johnson, Duke's Charles E. Putman Distinguished Professor of radiology and professor of biomedical engineering and physics. He is first author of a report describing the innovations set for publication in the research journal Neur...JCI Table of Contents -- July 2, 2007
... ... ... Mutations in the...Mother-of-pearl -- Classic beauty and remarkable strength
... Also called nacre ("NAY-ker"), mother-of-pearl is 3,000 times more fracture-resistant than the mineral it is made of, aragonite, says Pupa Gilbert, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "You can go over it with a truck and not break it - you will crumble the outside [of the shell] but not the [nacre] inside. And we don't understand how it fo...Psychiatric Genomics Center established at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
... Identifying the entire set of schizophrenia- and bipolar-associated genes is crucial for early diagnosis and prognosis, and may establish a path forward for prevention or treatment of disease progression. The Center will...JCI table of contents: June 21, 2007
... While many genetic mutations are known to predispose to cancer, it has re...UN issues analysis of global investors' sustainable energy 'gold rush'
... ... The report offers a host of reasons behind and insights into the worlds...JCI table of contents: June 14, 2007
... ... ... Pneumococcal meningitis involves inflammation of...New findings challenge established views on human genome
... In a group paper published in the June 14 issue of Nature and in 28 companion papers published in the June issue of Genome R...New findings challenge established views about human genome
The ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements (ENCODE), an international research consortium organised by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today published the results of its exhaustive, four-year effort to build a parts list of all biologically functional elements in 1 percent of the human genome in the journal Nature. The analysis was led...Food safety begins as vegetables grow
... There have been outbreaks of E. coli and Salmonella for at least the past decade, and the incidences of vegetable contamination are increasing in frequency. "We've studied plant pathogens on plants for a long time, but havent studied human pathogens on plants until recently," said Jeri D. Barak, res...Swabs not reliable for detecting lead dust in homes
... Researchers found that 64 percent of the locations that LeadCheck Swabs indicated were safe, actually had hazardous concentrations of lead in dust, according to federal standards. Katrina Korfmacher, Ph.D., an expert on lead poisoning at the University of Rochester Medical Center and first author of the study, warns that people should be aware of the tool's lack of sensitivity and how it mi...Disabling key protein may give physicians time to treat pneumonic plague
St. Louis, Jan. 23, 2007 -- The deadly attack of the bacterium that causes pneumonic plague is significantly slowed when it can't make use of a key protein, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report in this week's issue of Science.... Speed is a primary concern in pneumonic plague, which kills in three to four days and potentially could be used in a terrorist att...JCI table of contents: January 25, 2006
... Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disorder that causes degeneration of the nerves in the brain and spinal cord, leading to various symptoms including muscle weakness and pain. Most individuals with MS go through cycles of disease and remission, leading to the suggestion that there are regulatory mechanisms that counter the disease-causing inflammation. Using a mouse model of...Treatments for urinary infections leave bacteria bald, happy and vulnerable
... Instead of trying to wipe out bacteria, researchers in the laboratory of Scott Hultgren, Ph.D., the Helen L. Stoever Professor of Molecular Microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, have been working to create pharmaceuticals that essentially "defang" the bacteria by preventing them from assembling pili, microscopic hairs that bo...JCI table of contents November, 2005
...Have a taste for fat? Yes! A sensor in the mouth promotes preference for fatty foods ...... The sense of taste informs the organism about the quality of ingested food. It comprises five sub-modalities that perceive sweet, salt, sour, bitter, and umami stimuli. The possibility for an additional taste modality directed to lipid has often been suggested because many animals exhibit a spontaneo...Agonized death throes probable cause of open-mouthed, head-back pose of many dino fossils
... ... "Virtually all articulated specimens of Archaeopteryx are in this posture, exhibiting a classic pose of...New study finds genetically engineered crops could play a role in sustainable agriculture
(Santa Barbara, California) Genetically modified (GM) crops may contribute to increased productivity in sustainable agriculture, according to a groundbreaking study published in the June 8 issue of the journal Science. The study analyzes, for the first time, environmental impact data from field experiments all over the world, involving corn and cotton plants with a Bt gene inserted for its in...Turning the tables in chemistry
... In a commentary in this months Nature Chemical Biology, Brandeis University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professor Irving Epstein outlines a gathering storm clouding the future of U.S. science and prescribes a series of strategies to help avert a loom...Viable tiger populations, tiger trade incompatible
... Habitat loss and intense poaching of tigers and their prey, combined with inadequate government efforts to maintai...Washington University in St. Louis to invest $55 million for renewable energy research
...Washington University in St. Louis is creating a new International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) to encourage and coordinate university-wide and external collaborative research in the areas of renewable energy and sustainability including biofuels, CO2 mitigation and coal-related issues. The university will invest more than $55 million in the initiative, a...Stray penguins probably reached northern waters by fishing boat
... ... It wasn't the first sighting of a penguin in Alaskan waters. In fact Demmert himself reported seeing one while fishing in 2001, and in 1976 a research cruise in the Gulf of Alaska r...JCI table of contents -- June 1, 2007
... ... Some researchers have hypothesized that the fetus can be exposed to and mount an immune response against allergens to which the mother has been exposed, and this may have an effect on the development of allergic sensitivity (e.g. eczema and asthma) later in an infants life. However this hypothesis has remained controversial because of an inability to detect antigen-specific T cells in...Babies able to tell through visual cues when speakers switch languages: UBC study
... ... The findings suggest that older infants, raised in a monolingual environment, no longer need this facility. However, babies growing up in a bilingual environment advantageously maintain the discrimination abilities needed for separati...JCI table of contents: May 24, 2007
... ... In Crohn's disease, the lining of the small intestine is abnormally colonized by E. coli organisms that are able to adhere to and invade intestinal epithelial cells. In a study appearing online on May 24 in advance of publication in the June print issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Arlette Darfeuille-Michaud and colleagues from Universit dAuvergne, France, show that the ad...The first issue of the HFSP Journal is now available
... ... ...Studies assess effectiveness of serotonin and nerve stimulants on irritable bowel syndromes
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 21, 2007) Studies have shown that gastrointestinal (GI) tract function is often influenced by specific stimulants or reactors, which sometimes cause irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or constipation. Two studies presented today at Digestive Disease Week 2007 (DDW) take a closer look at GI stimulation, including one examining the role of serotonin and reactions to certain typ...