Investigators at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have demonstrated that attacks on the mitochondrial protein Drp1 by the free radical nitric oxide which causes a chemical reaction called S-nitrosylation mediates neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Prior to this study, the mechanism by which beta-amyloid protein caused synaptic damage to neurons in Alzheimer’s disease was unknown.
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SAGE and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) are pleased to announce that the Journal of Correctional Health Care (JCHC), the official publication of NCCHC, has been accepted for inclusion in MEDLINE. MEDLINE is the premier bibliographic database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), containing more than 16 million journal article citations.
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Ali Shilatifard, Ph.D., Investigator, has joined with a team of colleagues to propose an operational definition of “Epigenetics” - a rapidly growing research field that investigates heritable alterations in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in DNA sequence. Dr.
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Along with new cutting-edge methods, Cold Spring Harbor Protocols is home to an in-depth library of basic laboratory methods. The April issue features two of these standard techniques. From molecular biology researchers to law enforcement forensics laboratories, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the commonly used method for nucleic acid amplification.
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For years, researchers and physicians have known that infants’ immune systems do not respond well to certain vaccines, thus the need for additional boosters as children develop. Now, in a new study from the University of Missouri, one researcher has found an explanation for that poor response. In the study, the MU scientist found evidence that the immune systems of newborns might require some time after birth to mature to a point where the benefits of vaccines can be fully realized.
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Psychologists and neurologists invest considerable effort in the study of working memory. In terms of information retention, there is a difference between long-term memory, which is affected in diseases such as Alzheimer, and short-term or working memory, which allows us to make immediate decisions or structure a discourse. This more ephemeral memory is affected in diseases such as schizophrenia and depression, although a cause-effect relationship has not been established.
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A major effort from within the Aspergillus community has resulted in the publication of an exceptional supplement by the Elsevier journal Fungal Genetics and Biology. The supplement provides extensive studies based on the genome analysis of two Aspergillus species: Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus nidulans. The publication was enabled by Eurofungbase, a coordination action programme funded by the European Commission, and was strongly supported by DSM.
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The power of magnetism could be an enabling technology to address a major problem facing bioengineers as they try to create new tissue - getting human cells to not only form structures, but to stimulate the growth of blood vessels to nourish their growth.
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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has announced that the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) and the Chemicals Assessment Schemes Unit (CASU) will merge to form the new Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD) on 1 April 2009. Kerr Wilson, currently Chief Executive of PSD, becomes Director of CRD reporting directly to HSE’s Chief Executive Geoffrey Podger.
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Researchers at the University of Rochester have developed a novel optical technique that permits rapid analysis of single human immune cells using only light. Availability of such a technique means that immunologists and other cellular researchers may soon be able to observe the responses of individual cells to various stimuli, rather than relying on aggregate statistical data from large cell populations.
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