International team of scientists finds adaptations to stress in oyster genome
When it comes to stress, oysters know how to deal. The tough-shelled mollusks can survive temperature fluctuations, toxic metals and exposure to air, and a new study of their genetic makeup is helping to explain how.
An international team of scientists, including the University of Delaware’s Patrick M. Gaffney, professor of marine biosciences, sequenced the genome of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, in a Naturepaper published on Sept. 19. (more…)
Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one.
—Voltaire
In the first scientific study to test whether doubts about getting married are more likely to lead to an unhappy marriage and divorce, UCLA psychologists report that when women have doubts before their wedding, their misgivings are often a warning sign of trouble if they go ahead with the marriage.
The UCLA study demonstrates that pre-wedding uncertainty, especially among women, predicts higher divorce rates and less marital satisfaction years later. (more…)
Parents are generally considered to be the pillar of the family, but are they? It is mostly said that parents come after God but where are such examples? Nowadays, parents are lying in old age homes and kids are enjoying their life with their partners in their homes. Is this correct? We cannot comment on what is right and what is wrong. We cannot pin point somebody’s thinking or decision. But yes, there are places where these unwanted parents can live their life happily and peacefully.
These are the organizations which provide place to elderly people to live and in return they get rent. They are the one who care for them; bestow them all the major items for living and an amazing atmosphere to live in. These old age homes are also known as “retirementhomes” where these elderly people can live their second inning of life happily and peacefully with all the facilities of daily living, available with them. (more…)
Doctors can improve treatment programs using this knowledge
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can contain dozens of different mutations, called polymorphisms. In a recent study an international team of researchers, including University of Missouri scientists, found that one of those mutations, called 172K, made certain forms of the virus more susceptible to treatment. Soon, doctors will be able to use this knowledge to improve the drug regimen they prescribe to HIV-infected individuals.
“The 172K polymorphism makes certain forms of HIV less resistant to drugs,” said Stefan Sarafianos, corresponding author of the study and a researcher at MU’s Bond Life Sciences Center. “172K doesn’t affect the virus’ normal activities. In some varieties of HIV that have developed resistance to drugs, when the 172K mutation is present, resistance to two classes of anti-HIV drugs is suppressed. We estimate up to 3 percent of HIV strains carry the 172K polymorphism.” (more…)
Eight billion years ago, rays of light from distant galaxies began their long journey to Earth. That ancient starlight has now found its way to a mountaintop in Chile, where the newly constructed Dark Energy Camera, the most powerful sky-mapping machine ever created, has captured and recorded it for the first time.(more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Childhood vaccines do not cause autism. President Obama was born in the United States. Global warming is confirmed by science. And yet, many people believe claims to the contrary.
In a study appearing in the current issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest, researchers from the University of Michigan, University of Western Australia and University of Queensland examined factors that cause people to resist correcting misinformation.
Misinformation can originate from rumors but also fiction, government and politicians, and organizations, the researchers say. (more…)
Only 1 in 5 firms excels at supporting new regulation and responding rapidly to client demands
Leading firms are rethinking their operations, forming external partnerships
NEW YORK, N.Y. – 21 Sep 2012: A new report released by IBM in collaboration with Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. reveals that increasing regulatory pressures and shifting customer demands are forcing financial markets firms to transform how they operate. Forward-thinking firms are breaking away from the industry’s long-held “not invented here” approach to managing operations to create a more open, agile and customer-focused model that expands the traditional boundaries of collaboration with external partners.
In a survey of 133 senior business executives and top IT decision makers from large and small firms located in the world’s trading centers – the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore and Hong Kong – 77 percent cite regulatory requirements and 59 percent point to more demanding customers as the top external market drivers triggering changes in their operating models. Only 22 percent of the firms currently excel at meeting both. (more…)
The first detailed and complete picture of a protein complex that is tied to human birth defects as well as the progression of many forms of cancer has been obtained by an international team of researchers led by scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Knowing the architecture of this protein, PRC2, for Polycomb Repressive Complex 2, should be a boon to its future use in the development of new and improved therapeutic drugs.
“We present a complete molecular organization of human PRC2 that offers an invaluable structural context for understanding all of the previous biochemical and functional data that has been collected on this complex,” says Berkeley Lab biophysicist Eva Nogales, an electron microscopy expert who led this research. “Our model should also be an invaluable tool for the design of new experiments aimed at asking detailed questions about the mechanisms that enable PRC2 to function and how those mechanisms might be exploited.” (more…)
