http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A study of gene expression in chickens, frogs, pufferfish, mice and people has revealed surprising similarities in several key tissues. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access Journal of Biology have shown that expression in tissues with a limited number of specialized cell types is strongly conserved, even between the mammalian and non-mammalian vertebrates. http://www.physorg.com/news159081834.html Biology Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:31:33 EST news159081834 A protein that the heart produces during its early development reactivates the embryonic coronary developmental program and initiates migration of heart cells and blood vessel growth after a heart attack, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. http://www.physorg.com/news158584443.html Medicine & Health Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:14:40 EST news158584443 Scientists have developed a new approach for surveying phosphorylation, a process that is regulated by critical cell signaling pathways and regulates several key cellular signaling events. The research, published by Cell Press in the April 10th issue of the journal Molecular Cell, describes the regulation of a previously uncharacterized protein and demonstrates that it plays an important role in cancer cell invasion. http://www.physorg.com/news158502443.html Medicine & Health Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:27:55 EST news158502443 (PhysOrg.com) -- Rutgers geneticist Linda Brzustowicz and her colleagues have identified a specific DNA change that is likely to increase risk for developing schizophrenia in some people. It provides a potential mechanism that may be a point of entry for drug therapy, consistent with the growing trend of personalized medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news158321225.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:07:26 EST news158321225 Caused by a mutation of the SMN gene, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an infantile and juvenile neurodegenerative disorder where motor neuron loss causes progressive paralysis. A new study published in the open access journal BMC Medicine details the first research focused on human muscle tissue atrophied due to a genetic condition, and sheds light on two distinct mechanisms at work in different forms of SMA. http://www.physorg.com/news158303237.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Apr 2009 06:07:49 EST news158303237 Results from a new study identify a biomarker that may be useful for predicting the outcome of treatment for neuroblastoma, the most common cancer in young children. The research, published by Cell Press in the April 7th issue of the journal Cancer Cell, also provides new information about the molecular signals that are involved in the progression of this often devastating pediatric cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news158245194.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:00:25 EST news158245194 Scientists studying Eastern North American monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) have uncovered a suite of genes that may be involved in driving the butterflies to migrate towards Mexico for the winter. Their research, published in the open access journal BMC Biology, describes 40 genes that are linked to the butterflies' compulsion to orientate themselves by an internal 'sun compass' and begin the 4000km journey southwards. http://www.physorg.com/news157733654.html Biology Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:54:45 EST news157733654 The biology of ovarian cancers discovered at an early stage may render them slower growing and less likely to spread than more aggressive cancers, which typically are discovered in an advanced stage, according to a study led by investigators in the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. This finding has implications for the question of whether screening for ovarian cancer could save lives. http://www.physorg.com/news157122604.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:10:37 EST news157122604 Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have used a new approach, known as RNA-Seq, to profile the gene expression of the bacterium that causes anthrax, Bacillus anthracis. Their study, published March 20, 2009, online by the Journal of Bacteriology, marks the first time any bacterial transcriptome -the complete collection of mRNAs produced by a bacterium as it expresses different genes -has been comprehensively defined, and provides a much more detailed view of how bacteria regulate their gene expression. http://www.physorg.com/news156774964.html Biology Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:36:29 EST news156774964 Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have identified genetic markers that signal poor outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer. These findings could one day lead to a genetic test that could help select or predict successful treatment options for patients with this type of cancer. The results were published in the American Journal of Pathology. http://www.physorg.com/news156619491.html Medicine & Health Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:25:25 EST news156619491 (PhysOrg.com) -- Providing another tool to help to understand gene regulation on a global scale, a nationwide research team has identified and mapped 55,000 enhancers, short regions of DNA that act to enhance or boost the expression of genes. The map, which will be published March 18 in the advance on-line edition of the journal Nature, will help scientists understand how cells control expression of genes specific to their particular cell type. http://www.physorg.com/news156604690.html Medicine & Health Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:19:29 EST news156604690 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have for the first time identified a molecular pathway that triggers an immune response in multiple mosquito species capable of stopping the development of Plasmodium falciparum-the parasite that causes malaria in humans. http://www.physorg.com/news156160228.html Medicine & Health Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:51:04 EST news156160228 Researchers have taken a first look at the broad genetic changes that accompany reproductive declines in inbred populations. Although scientists have known for more than a century that small populations of closely related plants or animals are likely to suffer from low reproductive success, the exact mechanism by which this "inbreeding depression" occurs is still the subject of debate. http://www.physorg.com/news156086725.html Biology Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:25:56 EST news156086725 Researchers have crafted a gene circuit that permits precise tuning of a gene's expression in a cell, an advance that should allow for more accurate analysis of the gene's role in normal and abnormal cellular function. http://www.physorg.com/news155938720.html Medicine & Health Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:18:56 EST news155938720 Animals have an astonishing ability to develop reliably, in spite of variable conditions during embryogenesis. New research, published in parallel this week in PLoS Biology and PLoS Computational Biology, addresses how living things can develop into precise, adult forms when there is so much variation present during their development stages. A team led by John Reinitz at Stony Brook University, and funded by the National Institutes of Health, shows how fruit fly embryos can "forget" initial incorrect versions of their body plan and develop into recognizable adult flies. http://www.physorg.com/news155888495.html Biology Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:24:48 EST news155888495 With obesity reaching epidemic levels, researchers at the Ohio State University Medical Center are studying a potentially long-term treatment that involves injecting a gene directly into one of the critical feeding and weight control centers of the brain. http://www.physorg.com/news155843941.html Medicine & Health Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:59:53 EST news155843941 (PhysOrg.com) -- A pioneering Cornell and University of Bonn study has isolated and purified mouse heart stem cells, settling a debate over whether such cells exist. http://www.physorg.com/news154890995.html Biology Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:17:26 EST news154890995 A collaborative research effort spanning nearly a decade between researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and King`s College London (KCL) has identified a novel gene for inherited amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig`s disease). This is the fourth gene associated with familial forms of the devastating neurological disorder. Two papers, published in the February 27 edition of Science, report mutations in FUS/TLS, a gene known to play a role in DNA repair and the regulation of gene expression. The mutations affect the behavior of the FUS/TLS protein within cells and lead to deposits of abnormal protein within motor neurons. http://www.physorg.com/news154880974.html Medicine & Health Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:30:17 EST news154880974 Yale researchers have filled in a missing gap on the molecular road map of Alzheimer's disease. In the Feb. 26 issue of the journal Nature, the Yale team reports that cellular prion proteins trigger the process by which amyloid-beta peptides block brain function in Alzheimer's patients. http://www.physorg.com/news154790497.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:22:13 EST news154790497 Scientists have discovered a mutation responsible for cancer progression, a finding with potential implications for the development of treatment against not one, but a series of cancer types since this mutation can be linked to an abnormality recently discovered to exist in all malignancies. The discovery has just been published in the journal Nature Genetics. http://www.physorg.com/news154121367.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:30:14 EST news154121367 (PhysOrg.com) -- Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified a gene that plays a key role in regulating liver cancer progression, a discovery that could one day lead to new targeted therapeutic strategies to fight the highly aggressive disease. http://www.physorg.com/news154109542.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:12:55 EST news154109542 Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of California, San Diego have developed a set of molecular tools that provide important insight into the complex genomes of multicellular organisms. The strategy promises to clarify the longstanding mystery of the role played by vast stretches of DNA sequence that do not code for the functional units -genes -that nevertheless may have a powerful regulatory influence. The research is described in the 12 February edition of the journal Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news153684408.html Biology Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:07:13 EST news153684408 Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that a class of chromatin proteins is crucial for maintaining the structure and function of chromosomes and the normal development of eukaryotic organisms. The research, reported in today's print issue of Genes and Development, also found that this protein class, known as linker histones, works to regulate gene expression in vivo. http://www.physorg.com/news153671206.html Biology Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:27:18 EST news153671206 A paper in this week's PLoS Biology reports that a common gene regulatory circuit controls the development of all dentitions, from the first teeth in the throats of jawless fishes that lived half a billion years ago, to the incisors and molars of modern vertebrates, including you and me. http://www.physorg.com/news153472704.html Biology Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:22:09 EST news153472704 Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have discovered a gene that when mutated causes obesity by dampening the body's ability to burn energy while leaving appetite unaffected. http://www.physorg.com/news152985131.html Medicine & Health Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:52:49 EST news152985131 Alcohol consumption is known to cause liver damage. Yet the specifics of alcohol-induced liver injury can differ depending on the pattern of drinking. New rodent findings show that chronic drinking causes more injury - as measured by gene-expression changes - to the liver than acute or binge drinking. http://www.physorg.com/news152902421.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:53:57 EST news152902421 Anyone with a sweet tooth knows that too much of a good thing can lead to negative consequences. The same can be said about the signals that help maintain nerve cells, as demonstrated in a new study of myelin, a protein key to efficient neuronal transmission. http://www.physorg.com/news152773248.html Biology Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:01:21 EST news152773248 (PhysOrg.com) -- One of the grand goals in nanotechnology is to develop a single microfluidic device that integrates all of the components needed to perform polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based nucleic acid analyses. Experts predict that such a device would enable researchers to develop rapid assays for cancer and other life-threatening diseases while a patient is in the doctor`s office. http://www.physorg.com/news151345628.html Nanotechnology Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:27:08 EST news151345628 Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have demonstrated that a recently discovered class of molecule called microRNA (miRNAs), regulate the gene expression changes in airway cells that occur with smoking and lung cancer. These findings, which appear in the on-line early edition of journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may lead to a new, relatively non-invasive biomarker for smoking-related lung diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news151076573.html Biology Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:42:53 EST news151076573 The emerging field of nutrigenomics, which aims to identify the genetic factors that influence the body's response to diet and studies how the bioactive constituents of food affect gene expression, is explored in a series of provocative, interdisciplinary reports and analyses in the December 2008 Special Issue (Volume 12, number 4) of OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com). The issue is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/omi http://www.physorg.com/news149775085.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:11:25 EST news149775085