By experimentally switching genes off or on at specific stages in an animal’s lifecycle, California scientists have discovered that vigor and lifespan can be significantly extended with no side effects. Many researchers believe that increasing lifespan will dampen reproduction. But the new study of the tiny roundworm commonly known as C. elegans shows that silencing a key gene only in adulthood increases longevity with no effect on reproduction.
Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., have demonstrated a prototype device that automatically and continuously monitors the air for the presence of bacterial spores. The result is a novel alarm capability reminiscent of smoke detectors. Current methods for detecting bacterial spores, such as anthrax, require a trained operator. The large number of trained monitors required, with associated costs, limits widespread implementation of these methods.
In a study sure to disappoint the soy industry, researchers say they’ve found that soy protein enriched with isoflavones appears to have no effect on bone mineral content and bone mineral density in young women. Isoflavones are chemicals made by plants, possibly to protect them against oxidation and organisms that might attack them, and soy beans are an especially good source. Isoflavones such as genistein are structurally similar to human estrogens and for that reason have some estrogen-like properties. Scientists and drug companies have become increasingly interested in them over the past few years since the naturally occurring chemicals seem to produce positive effects in bone without the negative impact, such as cancer, that estrogens are believed to have on reproductive organs in some women.
You’d think everyone could agree that something as grimly named as Pfiesteria would be toxic. It sure sounds toxic. But a researcher in North Carolina has been at the center of controversy for the last several years because of her claim that the organism does in fact harm fish and is responsible for periodic massive kills. A team at her own school, in fact, refuted her claims, saying when they repeated the experiments they were unable to observe the dinoflagellate microbe forming some of its previously reported toxic life-stages. The ball’s back in Dr. JoAnn Burkholder’s court today, with a new study that her team says refutes the findings published last summer stating that Pfiesteria is not toxic to fish or humans.
Federal researchers say they’ve developed several drug candidates that show promise in protecting the brain against damage from stroke, with the potential to fight chronic neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease as well.. The drugs, called p53 inhibitors, attack a key protein involved in nerve cell death and represent a new strategy for preserving brain function following sudden injury or chronic disease.
Drug-resistant staph infections are a major concern to health care providers. Hospitals in particular have become home to some strains of Staphylococcus aureus that resist every known antibiotic, including the last-resort vancomycin. But two researchers say they’ve discovered just how so-called “Hospital staph” develops resistance, potentially opening the door for development of new drugs that beat it to the punch.
It’s one of those stories that simultaneously gives great hope but also a little dread. Researchers in Pennsylvania say they’ve successfully stimulated the production of a pain-blocking protein in mice by using a modified herpes virus to attach the appropriate genes onto the animals’ DNA. That’s potentially terrific news. If the same technique held true in humans, it could offer a new way to treat the devastating pain associated with some forms of cancer, such as bone cancer. Of course, a hell of a lot of mice were bred specifically develop the extremely painful bone tumors, just so the technique could be tested. It’s no doubt a necessary sacrifice, but one that shouldn’t be overlooked entirely. You don’t have to be a wacko member of PETA to spare a thought for the millions of mice and other lab animals that are sacrificed each year so humans can live healthier lives.
Researchers say they’ve developed a new test for prions that improves the accuracy and speed with which the malformed and infectious proteins can be detected. Prions cause neurodegenerative diseases in sheep, deer and elk, plus Mad Cow disease in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob in humans.
This is a little complex, but bear with us. Nearly all cells house their DNA inside a nucleus. But a little one-celled critter called Tetrahymena houses different versions of its DNA in each of its two nuclei. Researchers have found that the smaller nucleus (called the micronucleus) just keeps the cell’s full genome safe, acting as a sort of “lock box.” The larger nucleus (called the macronucleus) uses the DNA to regulate the cell’s life functions. When the cell mates to create a new generation, the two work together to compare the cell’s current DNA against what’s been stored in the lock box. If any foreign genes have snuck in (like from a virus) they nuclei eliminate it, to make sure baby gets a fresh start. Pretty neat, with possible implications for larger organisms, too.
Freeloaders ?? individuals eager to join social groups, but who once in, tend to avoid pulling their fair share of the chores ?? have long posed something of a problem for evolutionary biologists. In theory, because freeloaders don?t expend the efforts and energy of their more civic-minded neighbors, they should be able to translate that energy into more offspring, spreading their “slacker genes” and overrunning the world with offspring of similar ilk. But that doesn’t happen, and an Arizona researcher thinks she knows why.
Fifty pounds of romaine lettuce makes enough Caesar salad for a hundred people, but it?s just a one-day food supply for a manatee in captivity. To feed the endangered aquatic mammals more economically while they recover from injuries or medical treatment, a University of Florida veterinarian has developed a new manatee chow that costs one-tenth the price of lettuce. The discovery comes at a time when manatee injuries and subsequent deaths have reached record rates. In 1986, 122 manatees died in Florida. Fifteen years later, that number climbed to 325.
The lowly and somewhat gruesome bloodworm may have a few lessons to teach material scientists.The critter apparently is the first ever to be found to use a copper-containing mineral structure as part of its skeleton. The finding is remarkable first because the amount of copper detected in the jaw tip of the marine worm would normally be toxic to an organism. Second, the copper also occurs in non-mineral form in the bloodworm jaw where it may act as a sort of bridge, cross-linking long chains of fibrous proteins. And that has appealing commercial posibilities. “The marriage of protein with copper mineral as well as with bound copper ions is an intriguing concept per se but may also serve as a design prototype for new materials that need to be hard, lightweight, and durable.”
Turns out all those CGI cats working on the “Jurassic Park” and “Lost World” films were pretty spot on. A mummified dinosaur uncovered in Montana looks shockingly like the creatures depicted on the big screen. Almost too much alike. Hey, wait a minute….