Compared to any other liquid on Earth, water behaves in strange and unexpected ways, yet its unusual properties enable and protect life as we know it. By tracking individual water molecules in a “supercooled” state, scientists find what explains one of water’s most notable and life-saving features: its astounding capacity to resist gaining or losing heat.
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By tracking water molecules, physicists hope to unlock secrets of life
In the past decade, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, has ushered in a new era in the fight between man and bug. By harnessing the power of nature’s own antibiotics, scientists have engineered an enzyme known as a lysin that not only kills MRSA in mice but also works synergistically with antibiotics that were once powerless against the formidable organism. 
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Newly engineered enzyme is a powerful staph antibiotic
Ovarian cancer is often asymptomatic and is diagnosed at an advanced stage with poor survival rates, thus, there is an urgent need to develop biomarkers for earlier detection of ovarian cancer. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that the previously-reported metastasis-inducing protein, anterior gradient protein 2 (AGR2), can be detected in the blood of ovarian cancer patients. Using a newly developed ELISA test, we show significantly increased concentrations of AGR2 protein in plasma from cancer patients relative to normal controls. Plasma AGR2 concentrations were highest in stage II and stage III ovarian cancer patients and were similarly elevated in patients with both serous and non-serous tumours. The identification of elevated plasma concentrations of AGR2 may provide a useful biomarker to aid in the discrimination of normal and ovarian cancer patients particularly when used in combination with CA125.
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Increased plasma concentrations of anterior gradient 2 protein are positively associated with ovarian cancer
Background/Aim: Increasing nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability improves hepatic endothelial dysfunction, which ameliorates intrahepatic resistance and portal hypertension. Acute administration of sildenafil increases hepatic production of nitric oxide (NO) with reduction of hepatic sinusoid resistance in cirrhotic patients and enhances the vasorelaxation response to nitric oxide in cirrhotic rat livers. However, the mechanisms were still unclear. Therefore, our study aims to evaluate the effects and mechanisms of administration of sildenafil for one week in the hepatic microcirculation of cirrhotic rats. Methods: Cirrhosis was induced by bile duct ligation. Sham-operated rats served as normal controls. Intrahepatic resistance was evaluated by in situ liver perfusion. Expression of phosphorylated endothelial nitric oxide synthase (p-eNOS), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt), phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5), and soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) were determined by Western blot analysis. Biosynthesis of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) and GTP cyclohydrolase I (GTPCH-I) activity were examined by HPLC. Intravital microscopy was used to observe the direct change in hepatic microcirculation. Results: In cirrhotic rat livers, sildenafil treatment increased hepatic sinusoid volumetric flow, NO bioavailability, BH4, GTPCH-I activity, protein expression of p-Akt, p-eNOS and sGC. These events were associated with reduced protein expression of PDE-5, portal perfusion pressure, and portal vein pressure. In contrast, sham rats did not produce significant change in these measurements. Conclusions: Sildenafil treatment improves endothelial dysfunction by augmenting NO bioavailability in hepatic microcirculation.
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Administration of a low dose of sildenafil for one week decreases intrahepatic resistance in rats with biliary cirrhosis: The role of NO…
Those of us who once learned that genes are entities that propagate and manifest themselves within species may find their conceptual categories stretched beyond the breaking point if they dare read the overview of progress in metagenomics on page 102 by W. Ford Doolittle and Olga Zhaxybayeva. Together with the similarly challenging Feature by Karen Hopkin published in December (BioScience 59: 928-931), their article reminds us, if reminding were needed, that there is still a great deal still to be understood about how and where, exactly, natural selection acts on DNA. Critical analysis of new data makes clear that, among the bacteria and archaea that are Doolittle and Zhaxybayeva’s focus, the concept of species may hamper the appreciation of more fundamental categories: communities of interacting genes. Moreover, as Hopkin explained, the functioning of genes is not as straightforward as it once appeared. At least in eukaryotes, it is becoming more difficult to define precisely what a “gene” is. And as if this iconoclasm were not enough, biologists are becoming more aware of the importance for evolution of processes that do not principally involve heritable variations in DNA sequences.
Advancing insights into the complexity of life processes do not take anything away from the truths that previous generations of biologists have established. The colors of crossed pea plants can still be predicted using the laws of segregation and independent assortment, and innumerable experiments have confirmed the value of principles of population genetics established a century ago. But Gregor Mendel, G. H. Hardy, and Wilhelm Weinberg considered carefully selected cases amenable to analysis with the tools they had available. It is unsurprising that today, with vastly more powerful tools, we can see realities they could scarcely have been aware of. A sort of selection process will doubtless determine how useful some older concepts will remain.
It’s fascinating to consider the extent to which the biologists of the next century, or for that matter, of the coming decade, will rely on ideas familiar today. It would be arrogant to suppose that they will find them sufficient. It would likewise be arrogant to imagine that better understanding will make evolution in the real world predictable in detail. There are good reasons to believe that will remain impossible, which may be comforting to those who fear science’s influence. Yet the most basic biological insight of all–that repeated, controlled experiments can elucidate comprehensible and general mechanisms that constitute life–has come through with flying colors. The understanding of life is deepening, not disintegrating, and explanation is not going out of style, despite the attempts of evolution-deniers to muddy the waters. People who want to see science contribute to solving escalating environmental problems can be grateful: the enlightenment is not repealed. The potential for biology to help has never been greater.
Timothy M. Beardsley
Editor in Chief
BioScience 60: 91
doi:10.1525/bio.2010.60.2.1
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Broadening Biology
Trevigen announces a validated assay, with higher sensitivity and pre-coated antibody plates to measure the effectiveness of PARP inhibitors in cell and tissue lysates for anticancer drug screening.
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HT PARP in vivo Pharmacodynamic Assay II
Great America with Hugh Downs for Public TV is launching a new series for its interstitial programming on the need for a healthy planet.
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Great America with Hugh Downs to Produce a Series on Agriculture and the Need for a Healthy Planet
Ever since the dawn of time, teenage boys have been defined by their sexual urges. Stereotype or not, the same fate has now befallen male mice. In new research that harkens back to those awkward high school moments and uncomfortable coming-of-age memories, scientists now show that male mice genetically selected for high levels of nervous energy act like sex-crazed teenage boys: highly motivated, but awkward and inefficient.
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Brain arousal heightens sexual activity in male mice
Sphingolipids including sphingomyelin have been implicated as potential atherogenic lipids. Studies in apolipoprotein-E (apoE) null mice have revealed that the serine palmitoyl transferase inhibitor myriocin reduces plasma levels of sphingomyelin, ceramide, sphingosine-1-phosphate and glycosphingolipids, and that this is associated with potent inhibition of atherosclerosis. Interestingly, hepatic apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) synthesis and plasma high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were also increased in apoE null mice treated with myriocin. Since myriocin is a known inhibitor of ERK phosphorylation, we assessed the possibility that myriocin may be acting to increase hepatic apoA-I production via this pathway. To address this, HepG2 cells and primary mouse hepatocytes were treated with 200 mM myriocin for up to 48 hours. Myriocin increased apoA-I mRNA and protein levels, by approximately 3-fold and 2-fold, respectively. Myriocin also increased apoA-I secretion up to 3.5-fold, and decreased ERK phosphorylation by approximately 70%. Similar data were obtained when primary hepatocytes were isolated from apoE null mice that were treated with myriocin (intraperitoneal injection at a dose of 0.3 mg / kg body weight). Further experiments revealed that the MAP kinase kinase inhibitor PD98059 potently inhibited ERK phosphorylation, as expected, and increased primary hepatocyte apoA-I production by 3-fold. These data indicate that ERK phosphorylation plays a role in regulating hepatic apoA-I expression, and suggest that the anti-atherogenic mechanism of action for myriocin may be linked to this pathway.
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Myriocin-mediated upregulation of hepatocyte apoA-I synthesis is associated with ERK inhibition
Using high resolution genome sequencing, scientists have tracked a deadly strain of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as it traveled between South America, Europe and Southeast Asia. The new technique provides an unprecedented view of how MRSA evolved over decades and across entire continents, as well as on the short timescale of a few weeks within a hospital in Thailand. 
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Researchers track evolution and spread of drug-resistant bacteria across hospitals and continents
Nu-Tech 2010 will include researchers from Nagoya University discussing how a new gene-based promoter can create pathogen-resistant plants.
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NU Tech 2010 to Showcase a New Way of Developing Disease-Resistant Plants
Since their initial discovery in 1973, dendritic cells, the sentinels of the immune system, have turned up in a number of places other than the immune organs. They stand guard in the heart, for instance, and in 2008, the first population native to the brain was identified. New research shows that dendritic cells are not only present in the brain, but active, too. They confront foreign substances and seem to form a barrier between healthy and stricken brain tissue following a stroke.
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First evidence that the brain’s native dendritic cells can muster an immune response
An unusual finding in previous studies of vitamin D-deficient patients has prompted a new clinical study at The Rockefeller University Hospital. Investigator Manish Ponda aims to discover if there is a causative relationship between vitamin D supplementation and elevated levels of small LDL cholesterol. The hospital is currently recruiting subjects for the study.
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Clinical Trial to explore link between vitamin D and cholesterol
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a location system based on a constellation of satellites orbiting the earth at altitudes of approximately 12,500 miles (20,200 km). GPS satellites are orbited high enough to avoid the problems associated with land based systems, yet can provide accurate positioning 24 hours a day, anywhere in the world and which has become the foundation of all the GPS vehicle tracking systems currenly in use. Whilst Navigation could stand for the “determination of position and direction on or near the surface of the Earth”, GPS Navigation would stand for the same with the added assistance of the Global Positioning System (GPS). The GPS is built upon numerous satellites that revolve around the earth every twelve hours which send radio signals to the GPS Tracking System, and which is maintained by the U.S Department of Defence.
A GPS chip is a small radio-receiver that can capture the signals of several GPS satellites simultaneously and by using a computational method called Trilateration Principle computes its Position, Velocity and the exact Time. This information is given out in encoded form and so requires an appropriate de-coding device in order to display it in a usable form.
GPS vehicle tracking systems can produce individual vehicle data like spacing, headway, velocity, and acceleration which in turn will lead to better traffic flow modelling and a better understanding of driver behaviour. GPS fleet tracking would then be the next stage in the management of numerous corporate or company assets such as vehicles.
A common example of a GPS fleet management system is a car tracking system or the auto tracking system which is also one of the biggest advancements in car security using radio or satellite positioning to locate a car after it has been stolen. When the car is stolen, the vehicle tracking system is activated to send out a unique signal that the authorities can follow. Some vehicle tracking systems can detect unauthorized movement of the vehicle and relay the information to the police. The systems are built to withstand the most demanding of operational conditions and also permit selective reporting of vehicle position and event information. The units support logging of positional information and also records exceptions such as alarm conditions, failure and break of GPS signal strength, loss of power and stop / go events.
Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) is an automated auto tracking system used for locating vehicles, fleet management and monitoring data. An anonymous vehicle tracking system traces individual vehicles on transportation networks by linking vehicle features acquired from various detection stations. This system finds its application in real time traffic surveillance and is a valuable tool for real time congestion monitoring, traveller information, and control and system evaluation.
Stanford Who’s Who has acknowledged Michelle McPherson for her exemplary performance in the Health Services Industry.
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Regional Laboratory Manager Finds Her Path To Stanford Who’s Who
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