UGA scientists unravel 'molecular inch-worm' structure of walking-pneumonia bacterium
...ae. This structure, called a "terminal organelle," performs several tasks for this pervasive bacterium and even acts as a "molecular inch-worm," helping the microorganism move. "Mycoplasmas are among the simplest known prokaryotes--only a fraction the size of other health-related bacteria such as E. coli," s...JCI table of contents: October 19, 2006
...jci.org/article.php?id=28746 PULMONARY: TLR4 performs a balancing act in the lungs Emphysema is a chronic lung disease that causes severe shortness of breath. It is characterized by a gradual loss of lung elasticity and irreversible airspace enlargement. Maintaining the correct balance of oxidants an...Predicting species abundance in the face of habitat loss
...arracenia food web in which each link in the chain performs a specialized service in breaking down the arthropod prey that is used by the next species in the processing chain. With over 200 million acres of the world's forestlands destroyed in the 1990s alone, and an estimated 40% increase in the human popu...New breast cancer screening tool helps general practitioners
...onstrated that a simple point scoring system (PAT) performs very well in identifying women in a screening mammography population who would benefit from referral to a cancer risk clinic for genetic counseling and consideration of DNA testing of appropriate family members." In the context of developing compr...News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
...sed at much lower levels. In mice, netrin-1, which performs the function of both proteins, was expressed in a pattern similar to that of netrin-1 and netrin-2 in chicks. Thus for commissural neuron guidance, the netrin-1 gradient is consistent with its long-range actions. Contextual modulation in human ...Newly discovered gene may hold clues to evolution of human brain capacity
...ars of evolutionary history, an indication that it performs a biologically important function. But sometime after the human lineage diverged from its last common ancestor with chimpanzees 5 to 7 million years ago, HAR1 began to change rather dramatically. "We found 18 differences between chimps and humans, ...NIH funds 14 High-End Instrumentation grants
...ltra high-throughput genome sequencing system that performs clonal amplification and pyrosequencing will support microbial genome sequencing, unbiased explorations of human microbial diversity, and HIV analyses. University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.) $1,600,000 A high-end,...Life and death in the hippocampus: what young neurons need to survive
...ers to fit in. You are selecting for the cell that performs best in this environment." The Gage lab previously showed that the rate at which new neurons emerge from stem cells depends on an animal's activity. "If you put animals in an enriched environment and give them access to running wheels, you increase......ays a minor role. So the combined Hoxa1-Hoxb1 gene performs essentially all the functions of the ancient gene, Capecchi says. A New Approach to Gene Therapy? Capecchi says scientists hypothesized that when a gene duplicates into identical genes, mutations can occur so the once-identical duplicates evol...Forest service researchers test Chinese tallow tree for use in building materials
... to plant more of it, Groom continued. But if it performs well as the sole material for composite panels, it should also perform well when mixed with other species. So, if mixed stands of trees are harvested commercially for use in composites, the Chinese tallow tree in the stand could be added in without a...New research promising for improving brain cell survival after brain injury
...nce. "Now our challenge is to understand how BP5 performs it neuron-savingfunction and develop drugs that can do the same thing," Prof Tan said. "Ultimately, we want to deliver the drug to patients suffering brain injury from stroke or trauma so save as many neurons as possible. "Such a drug would limit...Findings by Einstein scientists reveal possible strategy against obesity, diabetes and infertility
...hormone that controls appetite, burns calories and performs other crucial physiological activities as well. But the precise mechanism(s) by which leptin carries out these metabolic tasks is still controversial. Now, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have shown how le...Global atmospheric carbon level may depend primarily on southernmost ocean
...is dividing line, and we have found that the water performs two very different functions depending on which side of the line it flows toward," said Irina Marinov, the study's lead author. "While the water north of the line generally spreads nutrients throughout the world's oceans, the second, southward-flowin...Trials for new drug to overcome HIV
...or this month is intended to discover how the drug performs as part of a combination treatment with other anti-HIV drugs, which is a more realistic situation. Fortyeight patients whose existing drug regimes are failing will receive either PA-457 or a placebo in addition to their standard drugs. There are plan...Cincinnati surgeon leads first test of mobile robotic surgery
...a new approach to surgical care in which a surgeon performs operations using a surgical robot and advanced computer technology on a patient located miles away. Timothy Broderick, MD, assistant professor of surgery at UC and medical director for its Center for Surgical Innovation (CSI), is leading the first te...New analysis of networks reveals surprise patterns in politics, the web
...works have been proposed before, the U-M technique performs it faster and more accurate than other methods, Newman said. It also adds a new element to the analysis: it weighs how tightly members are bound to their groups, which can affect their functions or the roles that they play. In the example of politica...K-Staters design and build a low-cost remote sensing tool for environmental studies
...on near Manhattan this summer. If the sensing tool performs as the team hopes, it will be made available to climate scientists, who would then be able to reconstruct it to obtain high-resolution images and reliable data. The development of the sensing tool is part of a three-year research instrumentation proj......lationship between the structure of WRN and how it performs its multiple functions to prevent aging and cancer is a perfect example of the kind of problem we designed the SBDR program to solve. With 21 investigators in 15 institutions, SBDR's goal is to gain fundamental insights into the molecular machines th...How the octopus forms an elbow
...e a three-jointed vertebrate limb when the octopus performs precise point-to-point movements. Researchers have now illuminated how octopus arms are able to form joint-like structures, and how the movements of these joints are controlled. The new findings, which appear in the April 18th issue of Current Biolog......ducted by Cameron Perry in Frank's lab. Perry also performs the MR imaging, coordinating the specimen selection and transfer with H. J. Walker of the Marine Vertebrate Collection. The data analysis and visualization software is being developed by German Eichberger in Frank's lab....