New target for obesity and related metabolic disorders
...estive tract in humans and mice, as well as in the rodent brain, the function of GPR119 had previously remained mysterious. After screening a proprietary library of small molecules including several hundred thousand compounds for their ability to activate GPR119, the researchers then identified one such che...Conservation International & Disney discover new species in the 'Realm of the Yeti'
...alleri) that specializes in burying small bird and rodent carcasses into a subterranean crypt to feed their offspring. A new subspecies of a small mammal known as the Qinghai vole (Microtus fuscus), which was also a new record for the Sichuan province. Up to three new species of frogs, eight new species o...Hantavirus found in African wood mouse
...s in humans when it is inhaled through aerosolized rodent urine or droppings. A team led by Jan ter Meulen ... that the Sangassou discovery has implications for rodent classification, said ter Meulen. "According to the co-evolution hypothesis, the phylogeny (evolution...Ancient DNA provides clues to the evolution of social behavior
A rare Patagonian rodent known as the colonial tuco-tuco fascinates biologi.... From these teeth, scientists can determine which rodent species lived in a roughly 3-mile radius of the cave at any given time. Using modern and ancient DNA...A new view on Lyme disease: Rodents hold the key to annual risk
... link between increased Lyme disease risk and high rodent densities indicates that important food sources--or predators--of the rodent hosts of nymphs will be valuable predictors of disease risk....Transcription factor protein's role in cell death, neurodegeneration and schizophrenia
... factor, were localized in the dendrites of intact rodent neurons. "Transcription factors normally only function in the nucleus and to find a transcription factor in the dendrite is pretty unique," says senior author James Eberwine, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology. "These factors are proteins that bind to ...News tips from The Journal of Neuroscience
... neural crest precursors. When the authors treated rodent and human skin-derived precursors (SKPs) with fors...ed into Schwann cells. The authors then cocultured rodent SKP-derived Schwann cells, genetically labeled with yellow fluorescent protein (YFP), with dorsal ro...Medium is the message for stem cells in search of identities
...n addition, the discovery reinforces a notion that rodent embryonic stem cell biology can be used to understand basic brain mechanisms, potentially leading to treatments where adult stem cells are taken from patients, cultured and transplanted into damaged brain environments to restore functions lost to dis...Land use, land cover affect human health, food security
... other, so the disease spreads horizontally in the rodent population, and more in contact with people, so there is a greater chance humans can contract this disease." Goodin said the reoccurrence of the hantavirus, which re-emerged in the 1990s in United States, is evidence of the delicate balance of ecol...Increased risk of hantavirus forecast for US southwest
...ontract the virus through contact with rodents and rodent droppings. In 2005, the Four Corners region recorded four cases of hantavirus. The researchers forecast the hantavirus risk in 2006 as "moderate," similar in severity to the six and eight cases recorded in region in 1998 and 1999 respectively. "T...Natural vitamin E tocotrienol reaches blood at protective levels
...ain injury. To observe the TCT's effectiveness, rodent neural cells were pretreated with extremely low concentrations of TCT; these cells avoided the cell death associated with toxicity caused by homocysteic acid. But to reduce free-radical activity and resulting neurotoxicity, the scientists found that ...Thieves promote stable coexistence among desert rodents
...xplanations for the remarkable diversity of desert rodent communities. "I always had a suspicion that caching was important because heteromyids are so obsessive about it." Using resource-processing models of coexistence where feeding by one species creates a modified resource another can use, the research...Evidence of rapid evolution is found at the tips of chromosomes
...on. We will have to be very careful now how we use rodent systems, bearing in mind this difference and the possibility that there might be others."...Tiny inhaled particles take easy route from nose to brain
...suggest that despite differences between human and rodent olfactory systems, this pathway is likely to be operative in humans," the authors conclude. ...Healing potential discovered in everyday human brain cells
...-term investigations of adult human stem cells and rodent embryonic stem cells. Last year, the researchers...them to do it. Something in the environment in the rodent brain is sufficient to get these cells to become neurons." Scientists speculate a small amount of ...Pest control research leads to pain control discovery
...oratory examined the effects of these compounds in rodent inflammatory pain ehavior models. "Inflammatory mediators sensitize pain receptors and cause the animal to withdraw more quickly from a noxious stimulus, an indication of 'hyperalgesia' or heightened response to a painful stimulus. The sEH inhibitors...Scent of father checks daughter's maturity
...xplained. If the biological father is removed from rodent families, the daughters tend to mature faster, he said. "Recently, experts elsewhere discovered a little-known pheromone receptor gene in the human olfactory system, linking the role of pheromones on menarche, or the first occurrence of menstruation,...Promising preclinical results with live attenuated H5N1 vaccines
... PLoS Medicine, results from mice and ferrets (the rodent flu model of choice) are very encouraging and pave the way to testing these vaccines in human volunteers. The researchers developed vaccines using 3 artificially constructed, weakened forms of the influenza virus. The 3 vaccine viruses were constru...JCI table of contents: September 14, 2006
...lls and fat cells was decreased in three different rodent models of obesity. If the rodents lacked one of the receptors for TNF-alpha, the number and energy burning function of the mitochondria in the muscle and fat cells increased and, most importantly, the animals gained less weight. Conversely, the numbe...Rodent's bizarre traits deepen mystery of genetics, evolution
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A shadowy rodent has potential to shed light on human genetics and the mysteries of evolution. Purdue University research has shown that the vole, a mouselike rodent, is not only the fastest evolving mammal, but also harbors a number of puzzling genetic traits that ...