Insight into cell metabolism will help interpret PETs, MRIs
...ennsylvania State University) in Webb's lab. NADH concentration has been used as an indicator for cell metabolism for some 50 years, but harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation were required to induce the fluorescence needed for the measurements. Webb and his colleagues, however, devised a technique several years...Study in Royal Society journal on world's only horned rodent
...s between maternally-derived yolk testosterone (T) concentration and early developmental traits in passerine birds ...ce for the correlated evolution of maternal yolk T concentration and length of the prenatal developmental period; higher yolk T is associated with shorter prenatal d...Recent developments on the genetics of alcohol use
... (ALDH2) may explain individual differences in the concentration and elimination of alcohol and acetaldehyde in the blood after heavy drinking, and may also help to explain alcohol-related organ damage. "When alcohol is consumed, there are two primary enzymes responsible for its metabolism: ADH and ALDH," explain...JILA study of RNA dynamics may help in drug design
...g and undocking were measured as a function of the concentration of magnesium ions in the surrounding fluid, revealing a complex dependence on metal ions, as is typical for RNA. The docking rate rose 12-fold as magnesium concentrations increased. A significant number of molecules still docked in the absence of mag...Chemical 'band-aid' prevents heart failure in mice with muscular dystrophy
...ous measurement of force and intracellular calcium concentration in individual myocytes as they are stretched. Yasuda's device uses microcarbon fibers stuck by electrostatic attraction to each end of a single cardiac myocyte. As the myocyte is stretched between the carbon fibers, a transmitter on one fiber measure...Bitter or sweet? The same taste bud can tell the difference
...s of rats. (The back of the tongue has the highest concentration of taste buds.) They isolated single cells from individual taste buds. They attached very small, fine electrodes to these single cells in Petri dishes in order to record the electrical activity of each cell. They also applied NPY to these cells. Cell...OT, VP studied as novel psychiatric drug sources; consider gender-specific drug models
...essin V1a/V2 antagonist conivaptin on serum sodium concentration and effective water clearance in hyponatremia clinical trials."...Choline during pregnancy may avoid, reverse some Fetal Alcohol Syndrome nervous disorders
... release such as low fluid volume or high osmotic concentration were much less effective in animals that had been exposed to pre-natal alcohol feed. With proper guidelines, he believes monitoring infants' urine flow and vasopressin content could serve as future tests for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Claybaugh is pres...DFG presents the 2005 MAK and BAT value lists
...stions for MAK values, i. e. the maximum allowable concentration of a working substance in the workplace atmosphere as a gas, steam or aerosol that, according to current knowledge, does not impair the health of employees exposed during eight-hour working days over the long term. Furthermore, the working substances...Corn fungus is nature's master blaster
...e into the perithecium as it tries to equalize the concentration of a salt solution inside the chamber. In the case of the fungus, at question was whether the sugar mannitol or potassium ions were responsible for the osmotic pressure that generated the propulsive force. In their experiments, Trail and Gaffoor crea...Study separates behavioral and physiological mechanisms in testosterone mediated trade-offs
...sing a new treatment, which increased testosterone concentration while blocking its direct actions (by blocking testosterone receptors), they show that the mechanism linking testosterone to parasite infection is via increased susceptibility, and that the action of testosterone on host parasite defense was most lik...Roundup(r) kills frogs as well as tadpoles, Pitt biologist finds
... made no difference: After exposure to the maximum concentration expected in nature, nearly all of the tadpoles from three species died. Although Roundup(r) is not approved for use in water, scientists have found that the herbicide can wind up in small wetlands where tadpoles live due to inadvertent spraying durin...Quantum cascade lasers key to handheld gas and liquid sensors
...c increase of these markers, but still at very low concentration levels, so you need extremely sensitive and reliable tools to detect these changes. We believe this is one way to develop a very compact sensing device, which could provide the sensitivities needed for breath diagnostics." Since the lasers are so sma...Grizzlies and salmon: Too much of a good thing?
...y , Canadian researchers say the difference in the concentration of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is profound between grizzly bears who eat lots of salmon and those that dont. The measurements were made by examining hair and fat samples from two groups of grizzly bears in the British Columbia region of Cana......cy by using a thicker sample and by increasing the concentration of praseodymium in the sample. The technique could be useful in quantum information processing applications. Discovering Diversity in Darwinian Evolution G. Meszena et al. Physical Review Letters (upcoming article) A new model clarifying the ...New window into ancient ozone holes
...and plants have shown a three-fold increase in the concentration of UV-B absorbing pigments to protect themselves against a 14 percent decrease in stratospheric ozone, says Lomax. "We have initially been investigating whether plants of palaeobotanical significance are capable of adapting to changes in UV-B radiat...Scientists find cell surface enzyme matriptase causes cancer
... hope it reaches its destination in an appropriate concentration and duration. In this case, the bull's eye is right on the cell surface." Bugge said the exact function of matriptase in healthy human cells remains a bit of a mystery. Previous studies show that cells comprising the outer lining, or epithelium, o...Leptin-signaling protein maintains normal body weight and energy balance in mice
...The more fat you have in your body, the higher the concentration of leptin in the bloodstream," Rui says. "Leptin sends a powerful signal to the brain saying: We have a surplus. Reduce feeding and increase energy expenditures." Leptin's signal is received by the hypothalamus the part of the brain that regulates t...U of M researchers show that increasing sugar processing in the liver can lower blood sugar
...ersity of Minnesota have shown that increasing the concentration of a key regulator involved in glucose metabolism ...y fuel of the body. Finding ways to increase that concentration could provide a treatment for diabetes and obesity. The research will be published in the Aug. 16 is......e amplitude of the electric field gradients, these concentration points can be fine-tuned, making it easy to separate and identify the specific analytes." While the ability to design and test for specific analytes with greater accuracy marks a large leap forward in separation technology, DMEG has another, possibl...