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. (PhysOrg.com) -- Six new inbred maize lines with resistance to aflatoxin contamination have now been registered in the United States by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). ARS plant pathologist Robert Brown and colleague Abebe Menkir, with the Ibadan, Nigeria-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, developed the lines. http://www.physorg.com/news174894984.html Biology Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:20:01 EST news174894984 (PhysOrg.com) -- The means to fully understand and exploit a type of fungus that could form the basis of a new class of antibiotics has been developed by researchers at the University of Bristol. With certain strains of bacteria becoming resistant to existing drugs, there is a growing need to find new sources of antibiotics. http://www.physorg.com/news174720553.html Biology Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:29:55 EST news174720553 Infectious diseases currently cause about one-third of all human deaths worldwide, more than all forms of cancer combined. Advances in cell biology and microbial genetics have greatly enhanced understanding of the cause and mechanisms of infectious diseases. Researchers from Thomas Jefferson University, the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and Yale University reported in PLoS ONE, a way in which intracellular pathogens exploit the biological attributes of their hosts in order to escape destruction. http://www.physorg.com/news174400147.html Biology Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:29:39 EST news174400147 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Adaptimmune Limited and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, today announced the approval of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and opening for enrollment of the first ever study using patients` cells carrying an engineered T cell receptor to treat HIV (SL9 HA-GAG-TCR). The trial may have important implications in the development of new treatments for HIV potentially slowing - or even preventing - the onset of AIDS. http://www.physorg.com/news174149785.html Medicine & Health Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:57:11 EST news174149785 A bacterium possibly linked to Crohn's disease could be lurking in wild animals. According to research published in the open access journal BMC Microbiology, Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (Map), can be transmitted between wildlife and domestic ruminants, supporting the theory of wildlife reservoirs of infection. http://www.physorg.com/news174142099.html Biology Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:20:03 EST news174142099 Leishmania is a deadly parasitic disease that affects over 12 million people worldwide, with more than 2 million new cases reported every year. Until recently, scientists were unsure exactly how the parasite survives inside human cells. That mystery has now been solved according to a new study published in Science Signaling by a team led by Dr. Martin Olivier - a scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University. It is hoped the new study will lead to the development of the first prophylactic treatment for leishmania. http://www.physorg.com/news174052180.html Medicine & Health Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:20:02 EST news174052180 (PhysOrg.com) -- Viruses like Hepatitis C proliferate by tricking cellular machinery into manufacturing the parts for duplicate viral particles. http://www.physorg.com/news173549327.html Chemistry Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:09:14 EST news173549327 (PhysOrg.com) -- The longest set of HARPS measurements ever made has firmly established the nature of the smallest and fastest-orbiting exoplanet known, CoRoT-7b, revealing its mass as five times that of Earth's. Combined with CoRoT-7b's known radius, which is less than twice that of our terrestrial home, this tells us that the exoplanet's density is quite similar to the Earth's, suggesting a solid, rocky world. The extensive dataset also reveals the presence of another so-called super-Earth in this alien solar system. http://www.physorg.com/news172299381.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:57:21 EST news172299381 (PhysOrg.com) -- Since the launch of the NASA Kepler Mission earlier this year, astronomers have been keenly awaiting the first detection of an Earth-like planet around another star. Now, in an echo of science fiction movies a team of scientists led by Dr David Kipping of University College London thinks that they may even find habitable ‘exomoons` too. The new results will appear in a paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. http://www.physorg.com/news171189203.html Space & Earth Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:34:04 EST news171189203 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Hawaii (UH) astronomer Dr. Tomotsugu Goto and colleagues have discovered a giant galaxy surrounding the most distant supermassive black hole ever found. The galaxy, so distant that it is seen as it was 12.8 billion years ago, is as large as the Milky Way galaxy and harbours a supermassive black hole that contains at least a billion times as much matter as our Sun. The scientists set out their results in a paper in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society later this month. http://www.physorg.com/news171105318.html Space & Earth Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:15:45 EST news171105318 Research published by Army scientists indicates that a minor reduction in levels of one particular gene, known as CD45, can provide protection against two divergent microbes: the virus that causes Ebola hemorrhagic fever and the bacterium that causes anthrax. Taken together, the results suggest a common host restriction factor and a promising approach to drug development for treating two completely different infections. http://www.physorg.com/news170002817.html Biology Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:01:30 EST news170002817 Researchers at the University of Leeds have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that allows the hepatitis C virus (HCV) to remain in the body for decades. http://www.physorg.com/news169741163.html Medicine & Health Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:19:51 EST news169741163 Over 160 years since potato blight wreaked havoc in Ireland and other northern European countries, scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) finally have the blight-causing pathogen in their sights and are working to accelerate breeding of more durable, disease resistant potato varieties. http://www.physorg.com/news169119922.html Biology Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:45:55 EST news169119922 Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have learned that some healthy people naturally developed an immune response against a protein that is made in excess levels in many cancers, including breast, lung, and head and neck cancers. The finding suggests that a vaccine against the protein might prevent malignancies in high-risk individuals. http://www.physorg.com/news168607596.html Medicine & Health Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:27:59 EST news168607596 Certainly there is strength in numbers, but only if those numbers can effectively communicate with one another. Now, a new study finds that administration of a novel small molecule which effectively disrupts a key bacterial communication process protects an animal host from infection. The research, published by Cell Press in the July 31st issue of the journal Molecular Cell, may lead to more effective treatments for bacterial infection that won't encourage growth of treatment resistant bacteria. http://www.physorg.com/news168178708.html Biology Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:20:08 EST news168178708 New research from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia sheds light on the role of cell receptors in acting as gatekeepers for infectious viruses. By using mice genetically engineered to lack a particular receptor in heart and pancreas cells, the study team prevented infection by a common virus that causes potentially serious diseases in humans. http://www.physorg.com/news167489080.html Biology Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:00:01 EST news167489080 New findings from Queen's University biologists show that in the plant world, bigger isn't necessarily better. http://www.physorg.com/news166790686.html Biology Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:45:27 EST news166790686 The influenza virus that wreaked worldwide havoc in 1918-1919 founded a viral dynasty that persists to this day, according to scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. In an article published online on June 29 by the New England Journal of Medicine, authors Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Jeffery K. Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D., and David M. Morens, M.D., argue that we have lived in an influenza pandemic era since 1918, and they describe how the novel 2009 H1N1 virus now circling the globe is yet another manifestation of this enduring viral family. http://www.physorg.com/news165515121.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:10:01 EST news165515121 Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) have found another clue that may lead to eradication of HIV from infected patients who have been on antiretroviral therapy. A real cure for HIV has been elusive because the virus can "hide" in a latent form in resting CD4-T cells. By understanding this "latency" effect, researchers can identify ways to reactivate the virus and enable complete clearance by current or future therapies. http://www.physorg.com/news165216810.html Medicine & Health Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:42:40 EST news165216810 If the growing presence of computer 'geeks' on television crime shows is any indicator, computers are increasingly becoming essential tools for detecting and combating skullduggery. However, television detectives are not the only ones taking advantage of these tools. Researchers also are beginning to collaborate with computer scientists to help uncover biological forms of deception, known as molecular mimicry. http://www.physorg.com/news165147154.html Biology Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:40:01 EST news165147154 "To thine own self be true" may take on a new meaning -not with people or animal behavior but with plant behavior. http://www.physorg.com/news164652485.html Biology Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:48:52 EST news164652485 (PhysOrg.com) -- While humans are still struggling to get rid of unwanted carbon it appears that the heavens are really rather good at it. New research by astrophysicists at the University of Warwick has discovered that a mystery stellar explosion recorded in 2006 may have marked the unusual death of an equally unusually carbon-rich star. http://www.physorg.com/news163061166.html Space & Earth Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:46:41 EST news163061166 Scientists in Portugal and France managed to follow the patterns of gene expression in food-poisoning bacteria Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) live during infection for the first time. The work about to be published in PLoS Pathogens shows how the bacterial genome shifts to better adapt to infection by activating genes involved in virulence and subversion of the host defences, as well as adaptation to the host conditions. This is the first time that the molecular interactions between L. monocytogenes and its host, as they occur during the different steps of infection, are followed in real time paving the way, not only to the development of new therapies against this potentially lethal bacterium, but also for the study of other pathogen/host interactions. http://www.physorg.com/news162754099.html Biology Thu, 28 May 2009 18:28:56 EST news162754099 Viruses are molecular marauders, plundering cells for the resources they need to multiply. Of central importance for viruses is the ability to commandeer cellular gene expression machinery. Several human herpesviruses put the breaks on normal cellular gene expression to divert the associated enzymes and resources towards their own viral genes. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), which causes several AIDS-associated cancers, has now been shown to do this in an unexpected way, using a process that is normally protective, called polyadenylation. http://www.physorg.com/news162625056.html Biology Wed, 27 May 2009 06:38:19 EST news162625056 Researchers in the "Molecular Infection Biology group" at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and the Braunschweig Technical University could now demonstrate for the first time that bacteria of the Yersinia genus possess a unique protein thermometer - the protein RovA - which assists them in the infection process. http://www.physorg.com/news162040657.html Biology Wed, 20 May 2009 12:18:27 EST news162040657 For the first time UK scientists have shown what the food poisoning bug Salmonella feeds on to survive as it causes infection: glucose. http://www.physorg.com/news161956043.html Biology Tue, 19 May 2009 12:47:41 EST news161956043 Members of the international Nearby Supernova Factory (SNfactory), a collaboration among the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a consortium of French laboratories, and Yale University, have found a new technique that establishes the intrinsic brightness of Type Ia supernovae more accurately than ever before. These exploding stars are the best standard candles for measuring cosmic distances, the tools that made the discovery of dark energy possible. http://www.physorg.com/news161885998.html Space & Earth Mon, 18 May 2009 17:20:36 EST news161885998 Whatever dark energy is, explanations for it have less wiggle room following a Hubble Space Telescope observation that has refined the measurement of the universe's present expansion rate to a precision where the error is smaller than 5 percent. The new value for the expansion rate, known as the Hubble constant, or Ho (after Edwin Hubble who first measured the expansion of the universe nearly a century ago), is 74.2 kilometers per second per megaparsec (error margin of ± 3.6). The results agree closely with an earlier measurement gleaned from Hubble of 72 ± 8 km/sec/megaparsec, but are now more than twice as precise. http://www.physorg.com/news160923906.html Physics Thu, 07 May 2009 14:05:55 EST news160923906 Virginia Tech virologist Chris Roberts' goal is to develop a platform for a flu vaccine that allows rapid modifications to meet new strains of flu. http://www.physorg.com/news160662736.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 May 2009 13:32:48 EST news160662736 Dengue fever is a terrible viral disease blighting many of the world's tropical regions. Carried by mosquitoes, such as Aedes aegypti, 40% of the world's population is believed to be at risk from the infection. What is more, previous exposure to other strains of the fever does not confer protection. In fact, subsequent infections are significantly worse, and can result in fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever. http://www.physorg.com/news160383165.html Biology Fri, 01 May 2009 07:53:39 EST news160383165