OHSU researcher develops first animal model to treat devasting head and neck cancers
...s made me realize that this terrible disease could happen to people all around us, even our loved ones, and inspired me to my best effort in leading this study," Wang said. "It was a true team effort of the head and neck cancer research division, especially with Dr. Shilong Lu, the first author on this...Coffee, black, decaf and a little llama on the side
...offee, tea and cocoa for centuries. These camelids happen to be among the few creatures whose immune systems can produce antibodies that aren't destroyed at the high temperatures common to brewed beverages. The researchers reasoned that if they could create heat-resistant camelid antibodies that reacted to...Study provides new understanding of spontaneous hybridization
... traits between species. But does the same process happen without human aid? In a new study in the June issue of American Naturalist, Kenneth D. Whitney (Indiana University and Rice University), Rebecca A. Randell (Indiana University), and Loren H. Rieseberg (Indiana University), explore how spontaneous hyb...NYU algorithm enhances ability to detect cancer genes
...mes may have many other unrelated deletions, which happen as "collateral damage" to the genomes as the cancer progresses to an advanced stage. The NYU algorithm estimates the location of tumor suppressor genes by analyzing segmental deletions in the genomes from cancer patients and the spatial relation of t...What controls stickiness of 'smart' chromosomal glue
... and if you don't have recombination that does not happen properly." Amon also said that the Nature paper represents a significant advance in understanding the enzyme that phosphorylates Rec8, named Polo kinase, because it more accurately identified the specific sites on the Rec8 subunit that Polo phosphor...New male contraceptive targets sperm, not hormones
...their sex drive go up or down--all things that can happen when you manipulate hormones." This will be the second contraceptive study of the IVD in men. In the pilot study, the method was very effective: All 30 men either had no sperm in their semen or had levels too low to cause a pregnancy. Early monkey ...New strategy developed to combat West Nile Virus
...conditions remain humid. These moist hammocks also happen to be the spring nesting and roosting sites of many species of wild birds, which act as hosts and carriers for the diseases. While confined in the hammocks, the mosquitoes feed almost exclusively on the nesting birds and as a result, each bird is bit...Better model of deadly brain cancer
... we'll be able to explore mechanistically why they happen when the basic process of end-joining is compromised. Other mouse models of medulloblastoma have been created by knocking out patched or other individual genes that have been implicated in the development of medulloblastoma. However, said Alt, what...Even at small scales, the big decisions are made at the water cooler
...sometimes said that the pivotal discussions do not happen in large, well-attended meetings, but in one-on-one conversations around the water cooler. It turns out that among individual neurons in our brains, the same may hold true. Likening the process to the sort of casual conversations one might have at ...First link of oral bacteria and preterm birth found in human
...ature deliveries prior to 30 weeks than those that happen later in pregnancy and can result in babies born with many health challenges and who struggle to thrive at their low-birth weights. According to 2003 statistics from the March of Dimes ( http://www.marchofdimes.com/prematurity/15341_10734.asp ), hosp...New human retrovirus originated in mice
...ajor question is whether such infection could ever happen in nature. "So, one of the things that is important about our study from a virologic point of view, is that this is the first really solid example of an authentic xenotropic retroviral infection in a human being," said Ganem. According to DeRisi, the...Truly informed consent must include talking about future fertility, warn experts
...olescents and which raise the issue of what should happen to stored sperm if the patient should die a frightening subject for any teenager to be confronted with. "These are all highly emotive subjects that need to be handled with great sensitivity." Professor Sophie Foss, an oncologist who specialises in t...Embryos tell story of Earth's earliest animals
...d. "Hopefully, the question about whether this can happen can be put to rest." What distinguishes animals from other organisms is the ability to ingest other organisms, either by consuming them as food, as humans do, or by digesting food externally and sucking up the aftermath, in the manner of starfish....New beginning of 'natural spring' announced by UNH scientist, group
...ree day occur - have all shifted. These events now happen a week earlier on average. These trends are consis...ent with what computer models have predicted would happen with global warming. "Climate researchers had known for some time that various trends were emerging ...Evolution in action: Why some viruses jump species
...our knowledge about what molecular changes need to happen for species transfer, which changes or combinations of changes are the critical ones, and how frequently they occur."...Molecular mechanism may explain how fevers spark seizures
...euronal cell surface, and Kang wondered what would happen to these receptors when they were exposed to high temperatures. She raised the temperature of cells expressing the mutant receptors to 40 degrees Celsius, simulating a "fever" of 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and she found that the receptors disappeared fr...Poison dart frog mimics gain when birds learn to stay away
...o take hold." The frogs Darst and Cummings studied happen to live in the same forest basin where the famous naturalist Henry Bates first described mimicry in butterflies over 100 years ago. His theory, known as Batesian mimicry, describes how edible species can gain protection from predators by looking like...Sex: Why bother? Evolutionary mysteries probed at UH
...h to asexual reproduction is extremely unlikely to happen in humans due to a genetic quirk of mammals called genomic imprinting, asexuality can and has re-evolved many times in animals such as reptiles, fish and insects. However, despite its many costs, sexual reproduction is widespread and asexual populat...Ernst Mayr's theory illustrated in genetic epidemiology studies
... radical adaptive change that would be unlikely to happen if you had just natural selection in a large population alone," Templeton said. "It's kind of like you stirred the pot at random, but then it goes off in a new direction due to natural selection. So, that was a very controversial idea when it was int......ding to Dr. Cunnane our initial brain boost didn't happen by adaptation, but by exaptation, or chance. "Anthropologists and evolutionary biologists usually point to things like the rise of language and tool making to explain the massive expansion of early hominid brains. But this is a Catch-22. Something ha...