news 2009

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have identified a protein present in non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) that could form the basis of a vaccine to protect against the infection that kills many tens of thousands in the developing world. In research published in PNAS, researchers reveal that a protein found on the surface of NTS called OmpD, may protect against these infections when purified from the bacteria and used in a vaccine.

PA 193/09 A microscopic single-celled organism, adapted to survive in some of the harshest environments on earth, could help scientists gain a better understanding of how cancer cells behave. Experts at The University of Nottingham were astonished to discover that the archaeon Haloferax volcanii was better at repairing DNA damage if enzymes, that are widely considered to be critically important in coordinating the repair of DNA, were mutated.

BERKELEY — A large study of patients with mild cognitive impairment revealed that results from cognitive tests and brain scans can work as an early warning system for the subsequent development of Alzheimer's disease. The research found that among 85 participants in the study with mild cognitive impairment, those with low scores on a memory recall test and low glucose metabolism in particular brain regions, as detected through positron emission tomography (PET), had a 15-fold greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease within two years, compared with the others in the study.

Cambridge, Mass. July 13, 2009 - A new study of the cognitive processes involved with honesty suggests that truthfulness depends more on absence of temptation than active resistance to temptation. Using neuroimaging, psychologists looked at the brain activity of people given the chance to gain money dishonestly by lying and found that honest people showed no additional neural activity when telling the truth, implying that extra cognitive processes were not necessary to choose honesty.

Studies of biodiversity at sites such as Colorado's 12,100-foot Hasley Pass are used to estimate total plant species richness over extensive alpine habitat in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. (John Harte/UC Berkeley) BERKELEY — Ask biologists how many species live in a pond, a grassland, a mountain range or on the entire planet, and the answers get increasingly vague.

Genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia can be explained by the combined effect of a large number of common genes, according to a new study published in the prominent journal Nature. These genes are also linked to bipolar disorder. "As well as the connection between schizophrenia and the combined effect of a large number of genes, we have also obtained some indications that individual genes which form part of the immune system may provide protection against schizophrenia," says Christina Hultman, Professor of psychiatric epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet.

Are freely availably scientific papers better disseminated? Many believe so, but recent research results present new evidence suggesting that the higher number of citations received by open access papers is mostly due to a difference in quality.

A team of researchers at UCL's Ear Institute is using a unique machine to deepen our understanding of how the brain responds to sound. The Ear Institute's new small-animal magnetoencephalograph, or MEG for short, is the most advanced machine of its type in the world. Its installation is a result of a collaboration between UCL, the Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT) in Japan and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris, France.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that babies born by planned Caesarean section experience changes to the DNA pool in their white blood cells, which could be connected to altered stress levels during this method of delivery. The findings, presented in the July issue of the scientific journal Acta Paediatrica, may be a part of an explanation for why babies born by Caesarean section have an increased risk of developing certain disease in later life.

PA 181/09 Discovered back in the 1600s quinine was the first effective treatment in the fight against malaria - and it continues to be a commonly used treatment against this devastating disease. But the drug is associated with a long list of side effects which can range from sickness and headaches to blindness, deafness and in rare cases death — and until now no one knew why.

The personal experience of patients' forgetfulness in everyday life combined with a sample of cerebrospinal fluid may be two important tools in the detection of Alzheimer's disease as early as possible. This is the conclusion of a study that has been published in Lancet Neurology, in which scientists from the Karolinska Institutet have followed patients with various forms of mild cognitive impairment for three years using, among other tests, analysis of cerebrospinal fluid.

BERKELEY — Although it is known that infants are more susceptible than adults to the toxic effects of pesticides, this increased vulnerability may extend much longer into childhood than expected, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. Among newborns, levels of paraoxonase 1 (PON1), an enzyme critical to the detoxification of organophosphate pesticides, average one-third or less than those of the babies' mothers.

June 22, 2009 — Virginia Key — Predation is one of the most fundamental and fascinating interactions in nature, and sharks are some of the fiercest predators on Earth. However, their hunting pattern is difficult to study because it is rarely observed in the wild. As a result, shark predatory behavior has remained much of a mystery.

BERKELEY — University of California, Berkeley, researchers have found what they think is a critical and, until now, missing piece of the puzzle about how stress causes sexual dysfunction and infertility. Scientists know that stress boosts levels of stress hormones - glucocorticoids such as cortisol - that inhibit the body's main sex hormone, gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), and subsequently suppresses sperm count, ovulation and sexual activity.

A new large population-based study from Karolinska Institutet has examined the gene-environment interaction between smoking and SE alleles in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have identified an elusive male gene in the field poppy that stops self-fertilization, a mechanism that prevents inbreeding, and promotes greater genetic diversity. Plant biologists had already uncovered that poppies prevent self-fertilization when a female gene on the stigma tells it which pollen to accept or reject, triggering several chemical signals to stop pollen tube growth.

The human immune system activates T and B cells in the lymph nodes to protect itself from invaders. Professor Burkhard Becher and his team have now been able to demonstrate that immunity can also arise in the liver.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield, funded by the UK´s leading dementia research charity, the Alzheimer´s Research Trust, have uncovered how a type of brain cell is affected in Alzheimer´s. The team´s exciting findings are to be published later this month (May 2009)in two journals.

PA 130/09 It can take just hours after the symptoms appear for someone to die from bacterial meningitis. Now, after years of research, experts at The University of Nottingham have finally discovered how the deadly meningococcal bacteria is able to break through the body's natural defence mechanism and attack the brain.

] Protein p53 protects the body against cancer and is knocked out in many cancer tumours. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified two molecules that can restore p53's cancer-killing properties. New results are now presented on the two substances, one of which will undergo clinical tests later this year.