Outcomes of patients in trials; Better blood pressure treatment; Snake bites, and more
...ways of finding which parts of an animal's genetic sequence are active in any one particular part of the body,...nake bites in West Africa. They isolated expressed sequence tags (ESTs) produced by the venom glands. Each EST is a small part of the active part of a gene. The...New understanding of Ewing's sarcoma suggests novel treatment strategy
...tein," Toretsky said. They found a certain peptide sequence attached to EWS-FLI1 in every experiment they conducted, and a search of the Human Genome database showed these sequences belonged to RNA helicase A (RHA), a common helicase not known to be oncogenic. They then conducted a number of rigorous studies...WPI team receives $1.8 million to study atherosclerotic plaque progression and rupture
...ing of why and how plaques form, and detailing the sequence of events that ultimately trigger catastrophic plaque rupture. MRI and histological studies of diseased arteries will be used to document the progression of plaques and assess their likelihood of rupture. For the first time, human plaque growth func...Hebrew University researchers succeed in observing for 1st time how DNA damage is identified
...rs the sporulation phase, it verifies that the DNA sequence is in proper order and does not contain any mutations. But the process of how this occurs has not been observed until now. "For the first time it is now possible to see how this phenomenon occurs," said Dr. Ben-Yehuda. "Proteins triggered by the bac...Technique could speed new medulloblastoma drugs
...rent solution to that problem--to identify the DNA sequence of all the genes in each child's tumor to determine which ones are mutated--is an enormous and expensive undertaking, he said. However, the St. Jude team used an approach for identifying the signaling pathways that cause medulloblastoma in different...Genes and environment interact to promote cancer
... because they sit on top of the gene and leave its sequence unchanged can also be passed down from one generation to the next, said Jirtle, who has extensively studied the phenomenon. They can also be reversible. Methyl groups can be added or knocked off following exposure to various substances. Finding meth...New 'litmus test' could aid discovery of anti-cancer drugs
... triplex binders to a solution with a specific DNA sequence between the gold nanoparticles, the colorimetric m...ules you can develop new therapies." A certain DNA sequence might be linked to colon cancer, for example, and the proteins expressed by that DNA produce cancer ...Scientists uncover genes for virulence in strain of community-acquired MRSA
...o, CA, USA), and colleagues worked out the genetic sequence of USA300 and compared it to other strains of S aureus, to identify the genes responsible for its distinctive virulence properties. They found that USA300 has incorporated part of the genome of another bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidis into its ow...Two papers win the Lancet's Paper of The Year 2005
...virus" published in Science--used the full genome sequence to recreate the virus and study its effects in mice. In a Comment, The Lancet states: "The editors congratulate the 16 authors, for completing a fascinating piece of research that could prove to be crucially important when the next influenza pandemic...Evidence lacking for 'inflatable-pants' heart failure therapy
...set of balloon-like pants programmed to inflate in sequence with the heart beat. Pneumatic cuffs fit snugly around the legs and thighs and are designed to force oxygen-rich blood to the top half of the body to fuel the heart. "The theory is that it allows the heart to rest and renew itself," said Brent O'Conn...Brain researchers discover the evolutionary traces of grammar
... the rules they had learned as they evaluated each sequence as grammatically "right" or "wrong". In the processing of both rule types, the researchers from Leipzig were able to show activity in a phylogenetically older brain area, the frontal operculum. As they had suspected, a younger brain structure, Broca'......unds successively and so the duration of the sound sequence was a potential problem." Finally, said Brannon, p...iate such non-numerical factors as the length of a sequence of drumbeats or the intensity of sound with numerical size. In contrast, Jordan and Brannon gave eac......es contribute to Z-DNA formation. For example, the sequence CG repeated more than 14 times in a row is prone to forming Z-DNA, while the sequence AT is not as efficient at forming this structure. Analysis of the genome reveals that DNA sequences ...Scientists discover genetic profile of an often-misdiagnosed chronic allergic disease of children
...ymorphisms (SNPs)--particular spots within the DNA sequence of the gene where a single base of DNA may vary from person to person. One particular SNP in the gene appears to occur more frequently in patients with EE than in controls, and, if this is confirmed, SNPs may provide a way to determine if people are ...St. Jude conducts first large-scale bird flu genome study
...Science. The project produced 70 million bases of sequence information leading to DNA sequences for 2,196 genes and 169 complete bird flu genomes from the St. Jude collection, including representatives of all known subtypes of the virus including H5 bird flu. Preliminary analysis of these data and developmen...Identified: DNA that controls the malaria parasite's disguise mechanism
...mmune system. The new discovery identifies the DNA sequence that is needed to switch these genes on and off. With this greater understanding of the parasite's disguise-switching mechanism, scientists will now attempt to identify the activating proteins that enable the parasite's 60 disguises to be switched. ...Gene increases risk of tuberculosis
.... The genetic change was a tiny one, with the DNA sequence differing by only a single nucleotide (the building blocks of DNA). This change, which resulted in increased production of the MCP-1 protein, was five times more prevalent in individuals with active TB than in those who were infected but remained he...Mutations in HRAS gene sequence confirmed in patients with Costello syndrome
Gene mutations in the HRAS sequence are present in most patients affected with Costell...Of the 19 sets of parents tested, none carried the sequence change found in their children, indicating that the mutation occurred in the parents' germ cells. Th...Coffee jump-starts short-term memory
...til you've dialed it." The volunteers were shown a sequence of simple images (the letters A, B, C or D) and then asked if an image was the same as the one shown two images earlier. The volunteers were instructed to respond as quickly as possible using the right index finger for "yes" and the left index finger...Conference offers new opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration
...nd reduce the cost of diagnostic tests; and how to sequence an individual's genome for under $1,000. Representatives from public and private funding organizations, government, industry, and the science media also participated in these focus groups. "Putting researchers from diverse fields in a room and askin...