Glimmer of hope for Tahitian tree snails' survival
... the island as a potential food source. It instead became something of an agricultural pest, and the rosy wolf snail was brought in. As a consequence, Tahitis tree snail populations have been almost completely wiped out, and three of the islands eight endemic Partula species are officially extinct, a fourth...First baby is born after oocytes were matured in the lab and frozen
...h the exception of one, which started as twins but became a singleton pregnancy due to spontaneous reduction. Dr Holzer said he believed that adjusting the media in which the immature oocytes were matured in the laboratory was probably responsible for the improved success rate as the trial progressed. ...Cell receptor may lead to new 'biomarker' for pancreatic cancer
...tive in treating this deadly disease. When cells became invasive, Waltz said, we saw higher levels of RON expression that correlated with the aggressive nature of this disease and cancer metastasis. Clearly, this signaling pathway is associated with pancreatic cancer and merits further investigation. A ...Discovery could help bring down price of DNA sequencing
... scientist who co-discovered the structure of DNA, became the first person to receive his own complete personal genome -- all three billion base pairs of his DNA code sequenced. The cost was $1 million, and the process took two months. A million dollars for a map of all your genes is way out of reach for ...St. Jude study shows genes play an unexpected role in their own activation
...he activation of certain target genes; those genes became activated even when KIX was disabled in CBP/p300. Further studies suggested that this KIX-independent mechanism can act on the same gene as the KIX-dependent mechanism; and that each mechanism may or may not contribute equally to activating a specifi...Pregnancy nausea/vomiting may indicate lower risk of breast cancer
...h nausea and vomiting was stronger as the symptoms became more severe, or persisted longer into pregnancy. A modest trend toward increased cancer risk was observed in premenopausal women who gained more than 40 pounds during pregnancy, compared to those who gained less than 23 pounds, said Jaworowicz, but t...NJIT professor says certain home shapes and roofs hold up best in hurricane
...ect of the homes design. That design eventually became an elevated structure of a square plan form on an open foundation. The home had a hip roof and was equipped with a central shaft with aerodynamic features designed to reduce wind forces during an extreme wind event. Wind tunnel tests at CSTB showed t...Giant magnetocaloric materials could have large impact on the environment
... viable magnetic refrigeration technology recently became brighter with the report of a giant magnetocaloric effect in gadolinium-silicon-germanium alloys. The addition of non-magnetic silicon and germanium ions brings about a giant entropy change when germanium-silicon chemical bonds connecting the magneti...Rove beetles act as warning signs for clear-cutting consequences
...ncreased. Also most mature forest-dwelling species became much less abundant or disappeared completely immediately after harvest. Even the low amount of mature forest beetles that survived the initial harvest would eventually die out or migrate elsewhere within a few years of harvest. The more forests are...Lung and bladder cancer deaths continue decades after arsenic exposure
.... The drinking water in a region of northern Chile became contaminated with very high amounts of arsenic beginning in 1958. In the 1970s, construction of water treatment plants in the region led to a decline in arsenic concentration. This sudden rise and fall of arsenic levels gave researchers the opportuni...Other highlights in JNCI, June 12
... incidence in AIDS patients before and after HAART became available. After 1996, the incidence of Kaposi sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in AIDS patients decreased, while cervical cancer rates in AIDS patients increased. CD4 count was strongly associated with a decrease in Kaposi sarcoma and non-Hodgkin...Study helps preserve Arctic whale, Eskimo subsistence hunt
...Environment, specializes in mammalian genetics and became involved with the research while still at Texas A&M University, along with doctoral student Ryan Huebinger. Researchers from Norway, Alaska and the continental United States collaborated in the study. Bickham said the study is encouraging because it ...Undergraduate research shows leaderless honeybee organizing
...ttle attention the workers pay the queen until it became time to go to become airborne. Then they started interacting with her at very high rates, and performing the worker piping signal on her. This interaction is a behavior that nobody had described before, Schneider said. Contrary to the popular conc...ASU research shows connection between testosterone, dietary antioxidants and bird coloration
... testosterone depleted their carotenoid levels and became healthier, as if they were combating testosterone directly with antioxidants. These findings show that there are nutrient specific mechanisms by which animals can avoid the immune costs of testosterone elevation and still keep their attractive and ...Scientists propose the kind of chemistry that led to life
...ins is how chemicals, which have no self-interest, became biological -- driven to evolve by natural selection, he says. This simple model shows a plausible route to this type of complexity. Dill is also a professor of biophysics and associate dean of research in the UCSF School of Pharmacy. He is a faculty ......the mice behaved normally in most situations, they became confused when required to discriminate between different spaces. This may model the difficulties in forming distinct memories for similar but distinct places and experiences that afflicts some elderly individuals....Largest synthetic gene ever built offers insights into anti-malarial drug resistance
...CQ), a synthetic version of quinine, which quickly became the treatment of choice because it was inexpensive − now seven cents a dose − and needs no refrigeration. The drug works by preventing heme crystallization, which destroys the parasite by building up toxic levels of non crystalline heme. But becaus...Human ancestors learned to walk upright in the trees, say experts
...n land. It was traditionally thought that humans became upright walkers in a slow process which had its or... sometimes grew back temporarily, eventually trees became separated and further apart, preventing our ape ancestors from swinging from one tree to the next. ...Smithsonian scientists connect climate change, origins of agriculture in Mexico
...he lakes formed beginning around 10,000 B.P., they became magnets for human populations who exploited the fertile soils and rich aquatic resources the lakes contained. The researchers found prehistoric pottery sherds and other artifacts in sediments at the edges of the lakes. At one lake, phytolith data sho...When the villain becomes your friend: The strange tale of muscle lactate
...ical signals was profoundly reduced and the muscle became paralysed. If, however, lactic acid and adrenaline were added in combination, the function of the signalling system was largely recovered and the contractile response of the muscles restored. It was further shown that the positive effect of lactic ac...