JCI table of contents, April 1, 2005
...umans. African green monkeys (AGM) are the natural hosts of SIV (the simian equivalent of HIV), where infec...uestion in HIV/SIV research: why don't the natural hosts of SIV exhibit disease progression despite high levels of viral replication? The researchers compare...Scottish scientists win 800,000 to boost research into fighting killer viruses
...sese present in the genome of all mammals) protect hosts by interfering with the infection by related disease-causing retroviruses. The new grant will boost the study of how an 'endogenous' retroviruses (ERV) named enJS56A1 interferes with a pathogenic 'exogenous' retrovirus (JSRV), the cause of major infe...The Bacteria's guide to survival
...nce gene expression and the fate of cells in their hosts by tugging on the host cells' membranes with their pili. For bacteria like N. gonorrhoeae that pass directly from host to host, the researchers argue, it would be in a bacterium's interest to help keep its host alive. And bacteria appear to do this...Weather forecasts may be predictors for prevalence of West Nile virus
...iod of greatest risk of transmission to incidental hosts such as horses, humans and other wildlife, they concluded. A review of the weather and mosquito-infection-rate data shows that 2002, the major outbreak year, coincided with a warmer spring and summer and earlier abundance of Cx. pipiens than the two...NASA study finds snow melt causes large ocean plant blooms
...y to a decline in fishpopulations. The Arabian Sea hosts one of the world's largest pools of oxygen-poorwater at depths between 200 and 1,000 meters (656 to 3,281 feet). Sincethe Arabian Sea lacks an opening to the north, the deeper waters are notwell ventilated. Also when organic matter produced by phytop...National Academies news: Conference on genomics revolution set for November 2005
...ear the National Academies Keck FUTURES INITIATIVE hosts a conference to bring together more than 100 of the nation's best and brightest researchers from academia, industry, and government laboratories to ask questions about -- and to discover interdisciplinary connections between --important areas of cutt...Royal Society study on adaptability of fish to warming oceans
...cted on both several cereal crops and uncultivated hosts at the landscape scale. Analyses indicated that ge...ation was high between populations on uncultivated hosts and on crops, indicating relatively limited gene flow between these two habitat types. Nevertheless ...A new study examines how shared pathogens affect host populations
...ase or West Nile encephalitis that infect multiple hosts are commonly transmitted by vectors, and their tra...te is often thought to depend on the proportion of hosts or vectors infected (i.e. frequency dependence). A study, to appear in the July 2005 issue of The Am...Research takes big picture of wheat streak mosaic
... planted wheatwould break the cycle between summer hosts and winter wheat emerging inthe fall." No chemical application is available to treat the disease and miticideshaven't proven effective, he said. The best control method is to destroyvolunteer wheat, so the curl mite can't survive. The informati...Yale scientist studying virus infections named Burroughs Wellcome Investigator
... intended to shed light on the issues of how human hosts handle infectious challenge. The grants give recipients the freedom and flexibility to pursue new avenues of inquiry and higher-risk research projects that hold potential for advancing the understanding of how infectious agents and the human body int...Cigarette smoke exacerbates alcohol's effects on defense against Streptococcus pneumoniae
...defects in ciliary beating that are likely to make hosts more susceptible to infections caused by microorganisms that colonize their upper respiratory tracts." "This study points to the importance of understanding the potential combined adverse effects of alcoholism and cigarette smoking on lung defenses a...Scientists identify genes responsible for 'black rot' disease in vegetables
...stard, radish, rutabaga, and turnip, are potential hosts for Xcc. The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana is also susceptible to Xcc infection. Surprisingly, however, some wild cruciferous weed species do not manifest the characteristic symptoms of "black rot" disease when infected. To date, there is no eff...Virus uses tiny RNA to evade the immune system
...f the hide-and-seek game between pathogens and the hosts they infect, researchers have found that a virus appears to cloak itself with a recently discovered gene silencing device to evade detection and destruction by immune cells. The report by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers in an artic...Study in Royal Society journal on heritability of female orgasm
...romote biodiversity by allowing symbiont-protected hosts to thrive in habitats teeming with potential predators. Contact: Dr N Lindquist, Institute of Marine Sciences, UNC Chapel Hill, 3431 Arendell Street, MOREHEAD CITY, NORTH CARO, 28557, United States Supply-side invasion ecology: characterizing propa...Plant pathologists explore using fungi to control plant diseases
...ophytes appear to have co-evolved with their plant hosts where the association can be mutually beneficial to both," said Paul Backman, professor of plant pathology, biological control and biosecurity, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. "Recent research indicates that some of these benefits...Fossil Patagonian plants show high insect feeding diversity 52 million years ago
... the Patagonian sites for individual plant species hosts is also highest. "Insect damage on leaves, the remains of insect meals, is uniquely valuable data," says Wilf. "While actual insect fossils can give us taxonomic information, leaf damage provides unique ecological data about which and how many ki...Parasite whips up ideas for bowel cancer treatments
... the US journal Science, found the reason why some hosts were able to expel the worms naturally without the...rong way down an escalator. "What we found is that hosts whose bodies generated a good allergic response to the worms were able to increase the rate of cell ...Study: Harmless virus kills some cancers
...d normal human epithelial cells, which are natural hosts for both AAV2 and HPV. In cultures infected with both AAV2 and HPV, the team found that after six days, all HPV infected cells had died. Meyers then used the same approach in four types of cancer cervical, breast, prostate and squamous cell - all ep......, a group of viruses that can liquefy their insect hosts in a matter of days but don't induce so much as a sneeze in mammals, as potential pesticides. But the viruses would require tweaking to be effective since they kill insects more slowly than chemical insecticides. Studying baculoviruses also yields in......st devastated by parasitic diseases. The MBL also hosts several international parasitology meetings annually, and attracts visiting scholars from around the globe throughout the year. The scholars, many of whom are from developing countries, are drawn to the MBL's Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular...