Genomic variation easier to identify with UCSD/Brown software
...have been linked to infertility and a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Distinguishing microinversions from other types of mutations can be tricky, particularly when comparing DNA sequences of distantly related species. This task is now more reliable due to a new software program called InvChecker. Created b...New ergonomic backpack lightens the load
...d backpack could reduce the risk of orthopedic and muscular injuries to children, emergency workers, and others who use backpacks to carry loads. Lawrence C. Rome, a University of Pennsylvania biology professor and a Whitman Investigator at the MBL, where he spends his summers studying muscle in fish and fro...Dinosaurs -- stones did not help with digestion
...re helped by stones which they swallowed. In their muscular stomach these then acted as a kind of 'gastric mil...roblem with what is known as a gastric mill. Their muscular stomach is equipped with a layer of horn and contains stones which help to break up, crush and there...Seeing a neurotoxin's deadly grip
...rotoxin with mouse diaphragm, it produced far less muscular paralysis than the natural toxin. "This tells us that it is possible to design a small-molecule inhibitor that could powerfully disrupt the interaction between the toxin and the receptor," said Brunger. "Such inhibitors would act as powerful, specifi...Sea urchin genome suprisingly similar to man and may hold key to cures
...arkinsons, Alzheimers and Huntingtons diseases and muscular dystrophy. "Another surprise is that this spiny creature with no eyes, nose or hears has genes involved in vision, hearing and smell in humans," Calestani said. "The comparison of human genes with their corresponding ancestral sea urchin genes may ...A giant among minnows: Giant danio can keep growing
...sed to investigate muscle wasting diseases such as muscular dystrophy. Other studies have already shown that a condition similar to muscular dystrophy can be experimentally induced in zebrafish. One of the next steps for the researchers is t...Genetic variation: We're more different than we thought
...those linked with schizophrenia, cataracts, spinal muscular atrophy, and atherosclerosis. In related research published November 23, 2006, in an advance online publication in Nature Genetics, Scherer and colleagues also compared the two human genome maps--one assembled by Celera Genomics, Inc., and one from ...News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
... androgen receptor gene causes spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA). This inherited neurodegenerative disease targets motor neurons in adult males, whereas female carriers are usually unaffected. Katsuno et al. report that the mechanism may involve impaired retrograde axonal transport. In a transgenic ...Dartmouth researchers identify a gene that enhances muscle performance
...now wonder if it's possible to achieve elements of muscular fitness without having to exercise, which in turn, raises many questions about possible modes of exercise performance enhancement, including the development of drugs that could do the same thing as we have done genetically," he says. "This also might...Sea urchin genome is a biology boon and a computational feat
...genes associated with many human diseases, such as muscular dystrophy and Huntington's disease. The urchin also has genes associated with taste and smell, hearing and balance. And these eyeless animals can see or at least sense light. How? Through their feet. Scientists found genes associated with vision, g...A prickly subject: The sea urchin genome is sequenced
... cancer, infertility, blindness, and diseases like muscular dystrophy and Huntington's Disease? James Coffman, Ph.D., of the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor was one of the scientists who helped decode the 814 million pairs of nucleotide bases in the sea urchin's chromosomes. The...JCI table of contents: Nov. 1, 2006
...s, such as the genetic defect that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy, as well as be a secondary consequence of other diseases, such as cancer and diseases of the immune system. However, the molecular events that lead to muscle wasting are not well defined, meaning that treatments for this disease have not be...Researchers show that veins stiffen as we age
... arteries, capillaries and veins in your body. The muscular arteries carry blood away from the heart and out to your organs and limbs. Microscopic capillaries connect the arteries to the veins. The veins then transport the blood back to the heart. The veins are equipped with valves to prevent any backflow of...Mary Frances Lyon to receive Rockefeller's Pearl Meister Greengard Prize
...ed inherited diseases such as hemophilia, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, fragile X syndrome and certain cancers. Dr. Lyon has also made major contributions to understanding the effects of radiation and other environmental agents on genetic mutation. "Mary Frances Lyon is an exceptional role model, who worked ...Ghost protein leaves fresh tracks in the cell
...ns in diseases such as hereditary anemia, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, cardiac arrhythmia and the degenerative brain disease spinocerebellar ataxia 5. "As we learn more about mutations involving spectrin and their relationships to human diseases, we're going to have more and more questions about how these mu...West Australian fossil find rewrites land mammal evolution
...rough the top of the head but importantly also had muscular front fins with a well-formed humerus, ulna and radius the same bones are found in the human arm. "This new fossil proves that features of land-living tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates) evolved much earlier in their evolutionary history than previ...JCI table of contents: Oct. 12, 2006
...PICK Waste not, want not: Role for caveolin-3 in muscular dystrophy The muscular dystrophies are a group of genetic and hereditary diseases in which patients experience skeletal mus...Jumping gene could provide non-viral alternative for gene therapy
...h as the dystrophin gene, which could help correct muscular dystrophy. On the other hand, unlike retroviruses...rders, such as hemophilia, sickle cell disease and muscular dystrophy. ...Experimental cancer drugs counter muscle deterioration seen in muscular dystrophy
...-- Muscle weakness and fiber deterioration seen in muscular dystrophy can be countered by a class of drugs cur...n of the disease, in two different mouse models of muscular dystrophy. Led by Burnham Institute assistant professor Lorenzo Puri, M.D., Ph.D., in collaboration ......ted children to age prematurely, and some types of muscular dystrophies. "Understanding how the nuclear envelope forms in the first place may eventually help us understand how changes in it can cause these diseases and potentially how they can be treated," says Askjaer....