Parasites trigger healthy eating in caterpillars
...aterpillars store especially high amounts in their skin and blood to deter various natural enemies. "Normally the caterpillars wander around and eat lots of different plants," explained Bernays. But caterpillars with parasites in their bodies behave differently, the team found. "They are likely to stay...Scientists develop nanotech-laser treatment that kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue
...ine if shining near-infrared light on the animal's skin will destroy lymphatic tumors, while leaving norma...re we want. We can shine it on a local area of the skin or inside an internal organ using a fiber-optic device." Dai has applied for a patent on the procedu......05. Neuroscientists already knew that touching the skin with a vibrating object causes specialized sensory neurons in the brain to fire, and that firing of these neurons, which are found in a region of the brain known as the primary somatosensory cortex, is directly related to monkeys' ability to tell how...Other highlights in the August 3 JNCI
...nd a study of how imiquimod (Aldara) works against skin cancer. Body Size Associated With Increased Risk ...ara), a drug used topically to treat some types of skin cancer. Imiquimod induces production of proinflammatory cytokines that stimulates an antitumor immun...Study yields insights into pathogenic fungiand beer
...M&M--a sugar coating encasing the cell's DNA. "The skin of fungi microbes is what enables them to stick to your organs, and thus become pathogenic. It also enables the fungi to stick together, which is desirable for fermentation in beer." The genetic core to this study is a DNA phenomenon known as tandem...More than aiding balance, vestibular organs provide an on-line movement guidance system
...y feedback information from the eyes, muscles, and skin to assess and adjust a limb movement as it is bein...mulating the vestibular sensory nerves through the skin while volunteers performed a simple upper-body movement. The researchers found that the stimulus alt...Molecular mechanism of feather formation found
...orce the expression of either Shh or Bmp2 into the skin of six-day-old chick embryos. The virus infected only small patches of cells and allowed Harris to locally examine the effects of the treatment on barb patterning during feather development. To assess the specific role of Bmp2 in regulating Shh expr...Ethanol treatment may be instrumental in fighting IV-based infections
MADISON - Inserted through the skin and into a vein, long-term intravascular devices s...o insert them wear sterile gloves and swab patient skin with disinfectant, each year, about 500,000 patients develop an associated bloodstream infection. Of...Infectious disease expert warns of spread of Rocky Mountain spotted fever
...C-led study, government researchers took blood and skin tissue samples from 16 patients across Southeastern Arizona suspected of having the infection. Laboratory tests, including immunohistochemical staining, confirmed that 11 had the disease, while the remaining five were still probable cases. When th...Rockefeller researchers show evidence of asymmetric cell division in mammalian skin
...ng how asymmetric cell divisions are essential for skin development. Their findings challenge long standing ideas of how skin forms and functions and is one of the first documentations of asymmetric cell division in mammals. T...TPA and ATRA a potential one-two punch for cancer of the pancreas
...Asian shrub whose leaves produce a poison ivy-like skin rash ( ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=3837 ). Now they have achieved the same kind of success with pancreatic cancer. The cancer-fighting compound, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate and generally known as TPA, is found in an...Scientists find cell surface enzyme matriptase causes cancer
...ur initial round of experiments, we found that the skin of the mice was quite sensitive to fluctuations in...oo much matriptase developed distinctive, splotchy skin lesions within a year." According to Szabo, that's when things took an unexpected turn. He and his...Young athletes ignore skin cancer risk
...oung athletes are at such high risk for developing skin cancer, a University of Cincinnati (UC) dermatolog...st of the more than 1 million cases of nonmelanoma skin cancer diagnosed yearly in the United States are sun related. Melanoma, the most serious type of ski...Simple explanation for complex pattern of feather development
...the activator, Shh, or the inhibitor, Bmp2, in the skin of six-day old chick embryos by injecting them with a retrovirus. The results were seen in localized patches and demonstrated that a simple relationship between developmental genes could be the basis for formation of feather structures. This was the ...Genetics links whale to two different ocean basins
...." The study examined DNA samples extracted from skin biopsies collected from whales in the wintering grounds of both the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans for evidence of inter-oceanic exchange of individuals. Using a method of genetic capture-recapture of genotypes constructed of microsatellite markers......ies of the gene from particular tissues--including skin and other multi-layered epithelial tissues--after the animals reached maturity. The effects of premature aging observed in these p63 deficient mice (image available on request) were hair loss, reduced fitness and body weight, progressive curvature of...Other highlights in the August 17 JNCI
...tigue, paresthesias (itching, burning, or tingling skin sensations), and low levels of calcium in the blood--then they should have their magnesium levels checked and, if low, receive magnesium supplementation. Contact: Joanne Nicholas, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 212-639-3573, nicholaj@mskcc....Tissue engineered from fetal skin cells could treat paediatric burns
Swiss researchers have used skin constructed from fetal skin cells to treat eight children with burns, reporting their results in paper published online by THE L...Otter adaptations: How do otters remain sleek and warm
...web-like pattern that keeps water from the otter's skin and decreases heat loss. Also, the grooves between fins trap air bubbles, which help increase the thermal insulation of the otter's coat. Indeed, biologists have observed otters actively blowing air bubbles into their fur while grooming, and their en...Scientists find that protein controls aging by controlling insulin
... old, and then begin showing signs of age, such as skin atrophy, osteoporosis, arteriosclerosis and emphysema. The mice died prematurely at about two months. For the current study, they created a second strain of mutant mice in which the Klotho gene generated more of the protein than in normal mice. Thos...