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Turtles’ Mating Habits Protect Against Effects of Climate Change

By Guest PostJanuary 27, 2012Environment, Natureannette broderick, baby turtle, breeding season, chelonia mydas, climate change, DNA, egg, global temperature, global warming, green turtle, health problem, inbreeding, kimberley stokes, lucy wright, marine turtle, mating habits, north africa, north cyprus society, northern cyprus, ocean, offspring, satellite tracking, temperature, turkey, university of exeter, university of lefke, warmer temperature

The mating habits of marine turtle may help protect them against the effects of climate change, according to new research led by the University.

Published on 25th January 2012 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study shows how mating patterns of a population of endangered green turtles may be helping them deal with the fact that global warming is leading to a disproportionate number of females being born.

The gender of baby turtles is determined by the temperature of the eggs during incubation, with warmer temperatures leading to more females being born. Higher average global temperatures mean that offspring from some populations are predominantly female. This is threatening the future of some populations and there are concerns that inbreeding within groups due to a lack of males will lead to health problems. (more…)

Timely Ends: Telomere Length in Early Life Predicts Lifespan

By Guest PostJanuary 14, 2012Scienceblood cells, britt heidinger, cells, chromosomes, conditions, DNA, dna protection, environmental factors, exeter, function, genetic code, jon blount, lifespan, malfunction, plastic caps, predictor of longevity, telomere cap, telomere lengths, telomeres, universities of glasgow, zebra finches

New research by a team from the Universities of Glasgow and Exeter shows that a good indicator of how long individuals will live can be obtained from early in life using the length of specialised pieces of DNA called telomeres.

Telomeres occur at the ends of the chromosomes, which contain our genetic code.

They function a bit like the plastic caps at the end of shoelaces by marking the chromosome ends and protecting them from various process that gradually cause the ends to be worn away. This method of DNA protection is the same for most animals and plants, including humans, and the eventual loss of the telomere cap is known to cause cells to malfunction. This study is the first in which telomere length has been measured repeatedly from early in life of an individual and then for the rest of their natural lives. The results show that telomere length in early life is strongly predictive of lifespan. (more…)

Targeting Protein Critical To Cell Division Stops Cancer Cells From Proliferating And Kills Them

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2011Scienceanti cancer therapies, apoptosis, biology and metabolism, cancers, cell death, cell division, chemotherapy, chromosome transmission, combination therapy, computational analyses, daughter cells, DNA, drug taxol, dynamic structure, formation of a tumor, function, genetic screen, jorge torres, kinesin like protein, malignant cells, mitosis, mitotic spindle, molecular motor, normal cells, novel strategy, protein, spindle function, stard9, toxic

Suppressing a newly identified protein involved in regulating cell division could be a novel strategy for fighting certain cancers because it stops the malignant cells from dividing and causes them to die quickly, according to a study by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

During the five-year study, designed to seek new targets for anti-cancer therapies, researchers discovered that depleting the protein, called STARD9, also helped the commonly used chemotherapy drug Taxol work more effectively against certain cancers. (more…)

Researcher Explains How Santa Delivers Presents in One Night

By Guest PostDecember 17, 2011Culture, Sciencebody parts, cell phones, delivery methods, DNA, ekgs, electromagnetic waves, emerging technologies, kris kringle, larry silverberg, magic, mary, miami, michael from minneapolis, nano toymaker, Nanotechnology, north carolina state university, north pole labs, npl, organic material, reindeer, relativity clouds, saint nicholas, santa, santa claus, science and technology, Space, time continuum, tissues, traditionalist, trumps

Don’t believe in Santa Claus? Magic, you say? In fact, science and technology explain how Santa is able to deliver toys to good girls and boys around the world in one night, according to a North Carolina State University researcher.

NC State’s Dr. Larry Silverberg, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, can explain the science and engineering principles that allow Santa, also known as Kris Kringle or Saint Nicholas, to pull off the magical feat year after year. (more…)

Backpacks, Not the Bombs Inside, Key to Finding DNA

By Guest PostDecember 9, 2011Scienceatlanta, backpacks, bomb fragments, bomb squad, bombings, centennial olympic park bombing, david foran, detonate bombs, DNA, explosive devices, explosives, fbi, homemade bombs, ieds, insurgents, michigan state university, oklahoma city bombing, pipe bombs, shane hoffmann, shawn stallworth, straps and zipper, terrorists, united states, weapon of choice

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Catching terrorists who detonate bombs may be easier by testing the containers that hide the bombs rather than the actual explosives, according to pioneering research led by Michigan State University.

Currently, law enforcement labs tend to test for DNA on the exploded bomb fragments – but this has a low success rate, said David Foran, an MSU forensic biologist and lead investigator on the research project. (more…)

UCLA Scientists Engineer Blood Stem Cells to Fight Melanoma

By Guest PostDecember 1, 2011Health, Scienceantigen, blood stem cells, cancer and stem cell, cancer patient, caucasians, dimitrios n vatakis, DNA, genes, genetically engineered, human melanoma, immune system, jerome zack, microbiology, mouse models, PET, positron emission tomography, t cell receptor, t cells, viral vehicle

Researchers from UCLA’s cancer and stem cell centers have demonstrated for the first time that blood stem cells can be engineered to create cancer-killing T-cells that seek out and attack a human melanoma. The researchers believe the approach could be useful in about 40 percent of Caucasians with this malignancy.

Done in mouse models, the study serves as the first proof-of-principle that blood stem cells, which make every type of cell found in the blood, can be genetically altered in a living organism to create an army of melanoma-fighting T-cells, said Jerome Zack, the study’s senior author and a scientist with UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA. (more…)

Yale Researchers Find Genetic Link Between Heart Disease and Brain Aneurysms

By Guest PostNovember 25, 2011Health, ScienceAli Ozturk, aneurysms, atherosclerosis, blood vessels, brain, bursting blood vessels, cardiovascular disorders, constriction of blood vessels, DNA, elasticity, endothelin receptor, genes, genetic risk factors, heart disease, hypertension, intracranial aneurysms, Katsuhito Yasuno, Kaya Bilguvar, mehmet bakircioglu, murat gunel, Richard Lifton, Shrikant Mane, variant of gene, vasospasm, vessel spasm, vessel tone

Yale School of Medicine researchers have discovered that a variant of a gene linked to heart disease also increases the risk of deadly aneurysms of blood vessels in the brain. The discovery of this link raises hopes for new treatments for intracranial aneurysms, which affect more than a half million people worldwide annually.

“Existing drugs already target this common pathway and, in the future, could help treat or prevent aneurysms in people who are at risk,” said Murat Gunel, professor of neurosurgery, genetics and neurobiology and senior author of the study, published the week of Nov. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

Yale Researchers Discover Promising Anti-HIV Agents

By Guest PostNovember 23, 2011Health, Sciencebristol myers squibb, chemical compounds, d4t, DNA, effective hiv treatments, festinavir, function of an enzyme, genetic material, hiv 1 reverse transcriptase, hiv and human t cells, hiv drugs, hiv replication, human t cells, infection of human cells, jlj494, karen s anderson, less toxic aids drugs, mariela bollini, non nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, prevent hiv, prophylactic anti hiv treatment, reverse transcriptase inhibitor, tai shun lin, toxicity, vinay v thakur, wild type, wild type hiv, william h prusoff, william l jorgensen, yung chi tommy cheng, zerit

Researchers at Yale University have discovered new chemical compounds that prevent HIV from replicating in human T-cells. These compounds could result in new, highly effective HIV treatments that are 10 to 2000 times more potent than HIV drugs now on the market.

“The current compounds or slight variants could become drugs,” said Professor William L. Jorgensen, one of two principal investigators behind the research. The other is Karen S. Anderson, a pharmacology professor at Yale School of Medicine. They reported their results online Nov. 15 in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. (more…)

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