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Making Germs Glow: New Test Helps Save Lives and Cuts Costs

By Guest PostOctober 15, 2011Scienceadvandx, beneficial bacteria, bioindustry sponsors, blood cultures, bloodstream infections, clinical microbiology laboratories, dna sequence, donna wolk, fluorescence, genetic code, infectious disease, lag time, microbiology, pathogens, peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridization, pna fish

*Replacing conventional laboratory tests with a new DNA sequence-based technology to identify pathogens causing bloodstream infections dramatically lowered mortality and health-care costs, a clinical study conducted by an interdisciplinary UA research team found.*

Unlike conventional laboratory tests, a new technology called PNA-FISH is designed to rapidly identify bloodstream pathogens by their genetic code. Results are available within hours instead of days providing pharmacists and physicians with information they can use to rapidly customize antimicrobial treatment for patients with infections.

PNA-FISH is an abbreviation for “peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridization.” Rapid reporting of PNA FISH results to pharmacists and physicians cut the mortality of ICU patients with enterococcus or streptococcus bloodstream infections by almost half and slashed mortality from yeast infections by 86 percent. In addition, the intervention resulted in healthcare cost reduction of almost $5 million per year. (more…)

New Technologies Challenge Old Ideas About Early Hominid Diets

By Guest PostOctober 15, 2011Sciencec3 photosynthetic pathway, chimpanzees, early hominids, gorillas, hominid teeth, long-held assumptions, national science foundation, nutcracker man, paranthropus boisei, sponheimer, unger, university of arkansas, university of colorado at boulder

New assessments by researchers using the latest high-tech tools to study the diets of early hominids are challenging long-held assumptions about what our ancestors ate, says a study by the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Arkansas.

By analyzing microscopic pits and scratches on hominid teeth, as well as stable isotopes of carbon found in teeth, researchers are getting a very different picture of the diet habitats of early hominids than that painted by the physical structure of the skull, jawbones and teeth. While some early hominids sported powerful jaws and large molars — including Paranthropus boisei, dubbed “Nutcracker Man” — they may have cracked nuts rarely if at all, said CU-Boulder anthropology Professor Matt Sponheimer, study co-author. (more…)

Two Seemingly Unrelated Phenomena Share Surprising Link

By Guest PostOctober 14, 2011Scienceelastic film, swinging pendulums, synthetic films, unrelated phenomena, wrinkling energy

A coupled line of swinging pendulums apparently has nothing in common with an elastic film that buckles and folds under compression while floating on a liquid, but scientists at the University of Chicago and Tel Aviv University have discovered a deep connection between the two phenomena. (more…)

Astronomers Find Bounty of Failed Stars

By Guest PostOctober 14, 2011Sciencealeks scholz, astronomical oddballs, brown dwarfs, Chile, dublin institute of advanced studies, eth zurich, failed stars, garching, gas clouds, Germany, giant planets, hawaii, ireland, jupiter, koraljka muzic, mariangela bonavita, motohide tamura, ngc 1333, optical and infrared wavelengths, planets, ray jayawardhana, rho ophiuchi star, sonyc, stars, subaru telescope, substellar objects in nearby young clusters, switzerland, university of toronto, very large telescope, vincent geers, vlt

*One youngster only six times heftier than Jupiter*

TORONTO, ON – A University of Toronto-led team of astronomers has discovered over two dozen new free-floating brown dwarfs, including a lightweight youngster only about six times heftier than Jupiter, that reside in two young star clusters. What’s more, one cluster contains a surprising surplus of them, harbouring half as many of these astronomical oddballs as normal stars.

“Our findings suggest once again that objects not much bigger than Jupiter could form the same way as stars do. In other words, nature appears to have more than one trick up its sleeve for producing planetary mass objects,” says Professor Ray Jayawardhana, Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics at the University of Toronto and leader of the international team that made the discovery. (more…)

WHOI Teaming with Flatley Discovery Lab in Search for Effective Treatments for Cystic Fibrosis

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2011Health, Scienceantibiotics, biological and chemical processes of ocean microbes, cf, cftr, cftr gene, charlestown, chemical extracts, cystic fibrosis, cystic fibrosis trans-membrane conductance regulator, flatley discovery lab, fungi, gene, john flatley, marine actinomycetes, marine microbes, marine microbial extracts, membrane, microbes, microbial infection biofilm, mutation, phytoplankton, respiratory disease, richard fitzpatrick, sodium transport, susan k. avery, therapeutic agents for cystic fibrosis, tracy mincer, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has signed a $1.18 million agreement with the Flatley Discovery Lab in Charlestown, Mass., to investigate and supply marine microbial extracts as possible treatments for cystic fibrosis (CF).

The life-shortening respiratory disease has eluded attempts at a cure, although researchers have been successful in some cases at adding years to a person’s lifespan, primarily through treatment with antibiotics. (more…)

Zinc’s Role in the Brain

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2011Health, Sciencechemical in synaptic vesicles, duke university, long-term potentiation, neuroscience, stores neurotransmitters, the role of zinc in the brain, university of toronto scarborough (utsc), xiao-an zhang, zinc, zinc’s function, zinc’s role in the brain, zx1

*Research gives insight into 50-year-old mystery – zinc important for learning and memory

TORONTO, ON – Zinc plays a critical role in regulating how neurons communicate with one another, and could affect how memories form and how we learn. The new research, in the current issue of Neuron, was authored by Xiao-an Zhang, now a chemistry professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), and colleagues at MIT and Duke University.

Researchers have been trying to pin down the role of zinc in the brain for more than fifty years, ever since scientists found high concentrations of the chemical in synaptic vesicles, a portion of the neuron that stores neurotransmitters. But it was hard to determine just what zinc’s function was. (more…)

Worms Among First Animals To Surface After K-T Boundary Extinction Event, CU-Led Study Finds

By Guest PostOctober 12, 2011Sciencedemise of dinosaurs, extinction boundary, extinction event, global extinctions, k t boundary, nuclear winter

A new study of sediments laid down shortly after an asteroid plowed into the Gulf of Mexico 65.5 million years ago, an event that is linked to widespread global extinctions including the demise of big dinosaurs, suggests that lowly worms may have been the first fauna to show themselves following the global catastrophe. (more…)

Battle between the Placenta and Uterus could Help Explain Preeclampsia

By Guest PostOctober 12, 2011Sciencebaby’s placenta, brews in the mother’s womb, cure for preeclampsia, disease of pregnancy, dr. harvey j. kliman, father’s biological goal, lymphocytes, mother during pregnancy, mother’s uterus, online issue of reproductive sciences, preeclampsia, protein 13, trophoblasts, yale school of medicine, yale university

A battle that brews in the mother’s womb between the father’s biological goal to produce the biggest, healthiest baby possible vs. the mother’s need to live through delivery might help explain preeclampsia, an often deadly disease of pregnancy. The fetus must be big enough to thrive, yet small enough to pass through the birth canal. In a new study, Yale researchers describe the mechanism that keeps these conflicting goals in balance. (more…)

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Category Archives: Science

*Research gives insight into 50-year-old mystery – zinc important for learning and memory