Biology posts
- May 12, 2013
- 08:35 AM
- 45 views
Electromicrobiology - One of the rapidly rising scientific fields
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Introduction:
Electromicrobiology is one of the rising subjects in the field of science. It combines the technology with biology.
In this subject, initially scientists found the transmission of electrical signals between the microbes. On a further note, in this subject, we study about the complex interaction between the microorganisms and technological devices while considering the novel electrical properties of the microorganisms i.e. accepting or donating the electrons from electrodes wi........ Read more »
Lovley, D. (2012) Electromicrobiology. Annual Review of Microbiology, 66(1), 391-409. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-micro-092611-150104
- May 12, 2013
- 07:55 AM
- 45 views
Plants are listening, but how?
by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics
A group of researchers from the University of Western Australia reported a new type of unknown mechanism by which some plants communicate.... Read more »
Gagliano, M., & Renton, M. (2013) Love thy neighbour: facilitation through an alternative signalling modality in plants. BMC Ecology, 13(1), 19. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6785-13-19
Gagliano, M., Mancuso, S., & Robert, D. (2012) Towards understanding plant bioacoustics. Trends in Plant Science, 17(6), 323-325. DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2012.03.002
- May 12, 2013
- 06:51 AM
- 52 views
An interesting case report on autism and diet
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
Nodding syndrome.Ever heard of it? Well, up until a few days ago I hadn't. That is before coming across articles on the topic by Richard Idro and colleagues* (open-access) and Angelina Kakooza-Mwesige and colleagues** (open-access). Whilst not specifically my line of expertise or interest, I was intrigued to read about how nodding and other symptoms of the epileptic variety, at least in some cases, seemed to be precipitated by food and showed a potential nutritional angle.Curving spacetime&........ Read more »
Herbert, M., & Buckley, J. (2013) Autism and Dietary Therapy: Case Report and Review of the Literature. Journal of Child Neurology. DOI: 10.1177/0883073813488668
- May 12, 2013
- 05:49 AM
- 50 views
Visualizing the Connectome
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic_Discover
Last year, I blogged about a new and very pretty way of displaying the data about the human ‘connectome’ – the wiring between different parts of the brain. But there are many beautiful ways of visualizing the brain’s connections, as neuroscientists Daniel Margulies and colleagues of Leipzig discuss in a colourful paper showcasing these techniques. Here, [...]... Read more »
Margulies DS, Böttger J, Watanabe A, & Gorgolewski KJ. (2013) Visualizing the Human Connectome. NeuroImage. PMID: 23660027
- May 12, 2013
- 05:01 AM
- 41 views
Online skeletal and dental datasets (links links links!)
by zacharoo in Lawn Chair Anthropology
Jean Jacques Hublin has a commentary [1] in the current issue of Nature, about making fossils available for scanning, digital replication, and ultimately hopefully open dissemination. As Hublin points out, it's a bit ridiculous that a fossil is a rare enough thing as it is, but even after their discovery, fossils "can become unreachable relics once they are in storage." Fortunately, Hublin goes on to point to online collections that are available to anyone interested. Somewhat ironically, t........ Read more »
Hublin, J. (2013) Palaeontology: Free digital scans of human fossils. Nature, 497(7448), 183-183. DOI: 10.1038/497183a
Skinner MM, Kivell TL, Potze S, & Hublin JJ. (2013) Microtomographic archive of fossil hominin specimens from Kromdraai B, South Africa. Journal of human evolution, 64(5), 434-47. PMID: 23541384
- May 12, 2013
- 02:00 AM
- 63 views
Quasi-magical thinking and the public good
by Marcel Montrey in Evolutionary Games Group
Cooperation is a puzzle because it is not obvious why cooperation, which is good for the group, is so common, despite the fact that defection is often best for the individual. Though we tend to view this issue through the lens of the prisoner’s dilemma, Artem recently pointed me to a paper by Joanna Masel, […]... Read more »
Masel, J. (2007) A Bayesian model of quasi-magical thinking can explain observed cooperation in the public good game. Journal of Economic Behavior , 64(2), 216-231. DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2005.07.003
- May 11, 2013
- 12:09 PM
- 56 views
Undercover For Forty Years: Does the Black Swamp Snake Still Exist in Alabama?
by David Steen in Living Alongside Wildlife
One of the most valuable ponds in Alabama, if you ask me
It
was a drive from Auburn University to a conference in the Florida panhandle
that allowed us a short detour to visit one of the most storied wetlands in
Alabama herpetological history. But, I didn’t realize that at the time.
You
wouldn’t know it by looking at them now, but there are a... Read more »
Willson, J., Winne, C., Dorcas, M., & Gibbons, J. (2006) Post-drought responses of semi-aquatic snakes inhabiting an isolated wetland: Insights on different strategies for persistence in a dynamic habitat. Wetlands, 26(4), 1071-1078. DOI: 10.1672/0277-5212(2006)26[1071:PROSSI]2.0.CO;2
Winne, C., Dorcas, M., & Poppy, S. (2005) Population Structure, Body Size, and Seasonal Activity of Black Swamp Snakes (Seminatrix pygaea). Southeastern Naturalist, 4(1), 1-14. DOI: 10.1656/1528-7092(2005)004[0001:PSBSAS]2.0.CO;2
Dodd Jr., C.K. (1993) Population structure, body mass, activity, and orientation of an aquatic snake during a drought. . Canadian Journal of Zoology, 71(7), 1281-1288. DOI: 10.1139/z93-177
- May 11, 2013
- 09:43 AM
- 42 views
Arm and leg modelling
by zacharoo in Lawn Chair Anthropology
No, I'm not looking for people with lithe limbs to be photographed for money. Much more sexily, I'm referring to a recent paper (Pietak et al., 2013) that's found that the relative length of the segments of human limbs can be modeled with a log-periodic function:Figure 2 from Pietak et al. 2013. Human within-limb proportions are such that the length of each segment (e.g., H1-6) of a limb, from fingertip to shoulder (A) and to to hip (B), can be predicted by a logarithmic periodic function&........ Read more »
Pietak A, Ma S, Beck CW, & Stringer MD. (2013) Fundamental ratios and logarithmic periodicity in human limb bones. Journal of anatomy, 222(5), 526-37. PMID: 23521756
Schultz, A. (1944) Age changes and variability in gibbons. A Morphological study on a population sample of a man-like ape. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2(1), 1-129. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.1330020102
- May 11, 2013
- 08:00 AM
- 47 views
Cellular Alchemy: Converting Fibroblasts Into Heart Cells
by Jalees Rehman in The Next Regeneration
Medieval alchemists devoted their lives to the pursuit of the infamous Philosopher's Stone, an elusive substance that was thought to convert base metals into valuable gold. Needless to say, nobody ever discovered the Philosopher’s Stone. Well, perhaps some alchemist did get lucky but was wise enough to keep the discovery secret. Instead of publishing the discovery and receiving the Nobel Prize for Alchemy, the lucky alchemist probably just walked around in junkyards, surreptitiously c........ Read more »
Nam, Y., Song, K., Luo, X., Daniel, E., Lambeth, K., West, K., Hill, J., DiMaio, J., Baker, L., Bassel-Duby, R.... (2013) Reprogramming of human fibroblasts toward a cardiac fate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(14), 5588-5593. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1301019110
- May 11, 2013
- 05:12 AM
- 57 views
True Facts About The Dung Beetle | video | @GrrlScientist
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
This week's Caturday morning video smile is a lovely blend of science, animals and humour all rolled up into a short video.... Read more »
Dacke Marie, Baird Emily, Byrne Marcus, Scholtz Clarke H., & Warrant Eric J. (2013) Dung Beetles Use the Milky Way for Orientation. Current Biology, 23(4), 298-300. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.12.034
- May 11, 2013
- 01:00 AM
- 32 views
Bone Marrow Cell Infusions Do NOT Improve Cardiac Function After Heart Attack
by Jalees Rehman in The Next Regeneration
For over a decade, cardiologists have been conducting trials in patients using cells extracted from the bone marrow and infusing them into the blood vessels of the heart in patients who have suffered a heart attack. This type of a procedure is not without risks.... Read more »
Surder, D., Manka, R., Lo Cicero, V., Moccetti, T., Rufibach, K., Soncin, S., Turchetto, L., Radrizzani, M., Astori, G., Schwitter, J.... (2013) Intracoronary Injection of Bone Marrow Derived Mononuclear Cells, Early or Late after Acute Myocardial Infarction: Effects on Global Left Ventricular Function Four months results of the SWISS-AMI trial. Circulation. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.112.001035
Rehman, J. (2013) Bone Marrow Tinctures for Cardiovascular Disease: Lost in Translation. Circulation. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.002775
- May 10, 2013
- 11:30 PM
- 50 views
Learning and evolution are different dynamics
by Artem Kaznatcheev in Evolutionary Games Group
A couple of weeks ago, if you randomly woke me in the middle of the night and demanded to know the fundamental difference between evolution and learning as adaptive processes, I would probably respond: “how did you get into my house? and umm… I guess they are mostly the same, it is just a matter […]... Read more »
Brenner, T. (1998) Can evolutionary algorithms describe learning processes?. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 8(3), 271-283. DOI: 10.1007/s001910050064
- May 10, 2013
- 07:49 PM
- 42 views
Digging for Answers: The Potential of Curcumin as an Epigenetic Therapeutic Drug to Treat Cancer
by Karolyn G. in EpiBeat
The brilliant golden powder of turmeric is best known as the main spice in curry, but has also been widely used for many years in Eastern traditional medicines as an anti-inflammatory agent. Turmeric has been used as an alleviator for arthritis, stomach pain, and cancer, among many other health issues. The healing properties of turmeric ...... Read more »
Link A, Balaguer F, Shen Y, Lozano JJ, Leung HC, Boland CR, & Goel A. (2013) Curcumin modulates DNA methylation in colorectal cancer cells. PloS one, 8(2). PMID: 23460897
- May 10, 2013
- 10:59 AM
- 49 views
Autism results in enhanced motion sensitivity in the patients
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main Point:
Researchers found that the children with autism are twice as fast as the normal children of their age in the sensitivity of motion.
Published in:
Journal of Neuroscience
Study Further:
Previously, researchers found that the autistic people have enhanced visual abilities with still images. Now, this is the first study to show that they are also highly sensitive to the motion.
In this study, researchers exposed the children to the brief video clips of moving black and........ Read more »
Foss-Feig, J., Tadin, D., Schauder, K., & Cascio, C. (2013) A Substantial and Unexpected Enhancement of Motion Perception in Autism. Journal of Neuroscience, 33(19), 8243-8249. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1608-12.2013
- May 10, 2013
- 09:01 AM
- 14 views
Children with rare disease CDG don’t have mutation in every cell type
by Heather Buschman, Ph.D. in Beaker
Sanford-Burnham researchers discover that several children born with rare diseases called Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation (CDG) don’t contain the mutation in every cell type—raising new questions about inheritance, genomic sequencing, and diagnostics.... Read more »
Ng, B., Buckingham, K., Raymond, K., Kircher, M., Turner, E., He, M., Smith, J., Eroshkin, A., Szybowska, M., Losfeld, M.... (2013) Mosaicism of the UDP-Galactose Transporter SLC35A2 Causes a Congenital Disorder of Glycosylation. The American Journal of Human Genetics, 92(4), 632-636. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2013.03.012
- May 10, 2013
- 07:42 AM
- 53 views
Divide and define: Clues to understanding how stem cells produce different kinds of cells
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
The human body contains trillions of cells, all derived from a single cell, or zygote, made by the fusion of an egg and a sperm. That single cell contains all the genetic information needed to develop into a human, and passes identical copies of that information to each new cell as it divides into the many diverse types of cells that make up a complex organism like a human being.... Read more »
Laura J. Williams. (2013) Divide and define: Clues to understanding how stem cells produce different kinds of cells. The Michigan State University. info:/
- May 10, 2013
- 03:44 AM
- 56 views
Depression or antidepressant use linked to C.diff infection?
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny". So said a very sceptical Han Solo.Regular readers might know that I'm a bit of fan of the whole gut-brain axis; indeed other kinds of axes too. I know that to some it might sound a bit daft that what goes on in our deepest, darkest bowels might actually have some important effects on the operations of the grey-pinkish matter floating around in skull central - and vice-versa - but nonetheless it interests me. The gastrointestinal ........ Read more »
Rogers, M., Greene, M., Young, V., Saint, S., Langa, K., Kao, J., & Aronoff, D. (2013) Depression, antidepressant medications, and risk of Clostridium difficile infection. BMC Medicine, 11(1), 121. DOI: 10.1186/1741-7015-11-121
- May 10, 2013
- 03:04 AM
- 39 views
Signalling diagram update – a review of two years’ progress
by Lizzie Perdeaux in BHD Research Blog
The signalling diagram has been updated to include the following recent research papers: FNIP2 causes MNU-induced apoptosis (Sano et al., 2013) FLCN inhibits MMP9 (Pimenta et al., 2012) FLCN inhibits HIF-1a, mTORC1 and mTORC2 (Nishii et al., 2013) FLCN and … Continue reading →... Read more »
Sano S, Sakagami R, Sekiguchi M, & Hidaka M. (2013) Stabilization of MAPO1 by specific binding with folliculin and AMP-activated protein kinase in O⁶-methylguanine-induced apoptosis. Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 430(2), 810-5. PMID: 23201403
Pimenta SP, Baldi BG, Nascimento EC, Mauad T, Kairalla RA, & Carvalho CR. (2012) Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome: metalloproteinase activity and response to doxycycline. Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil), 67(12), 1501-4. PMID: 23295609
Nishii T, Tanabe M, Tanaka R, Matsuzawa T, Okudela K, Nozawa A, Nakatani Y, & Furuya M. (2013) Unique mutation, accelerated mTOR signaling and angiogenesis in the pulmonary cysts of Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome. Pathology international, 63(1), 45-55. PMID: 23356225
Pradella LM, Lang M, Kurelac I, Mariani E, Guerra F, Zuntini R, Tallini G, Mackay A, Reis-Filho JS, Seri M.... (2013) Where Birt-Hogg-Dubé meets Cowden Syndrome: mirrored genetic defects in two cases of syndromic oncocytic tumours. European journal of human genetics : EJHG. PMID: 23386036
Lu X, Boora U, Seabra L, Rabai EM, Fenton J, Reiman A, Nagy Z, & Maher ER. (2013) Knockdown of Slingshot 2 (SSH2) serine phosphatase induces Caspase3 activation in human carcinoma cell lines with the loss of the Birt-Hogg-Dubé tumour suppressor gene (FLCN). Oncogene. PMID: 23416984
Kawai A, Kobayashi T, & Hino O. (2013) Folliculin regulates cyclin D1 expression through cis-acting elements in the 3' untranslated region of cyclin D1 mRNA. International journal of oncology, 42(5), 1597-604. PMID: 23525507
Gharbi H, Fabretti F, Bharill P, Rinschen M, Brinkkötter S, Frommolt P, Burst V, Schermer B, Benzing T, & Müller RU. (2013) Loss of the Birt-Hogg-Dubé gene product Folliculin induces longevity in a hypoxia-inducible factor dependent manner. Aging cell. PMID: 23566034
- May 9, 2013
- 11:05 PM
- 35 views
Stop to smell the flowers. Especially lavender.
by Cobb & Hecht in Do You Believe In Dog?
(source)Hi Julie, WOW!Dogs in clothes. Corgis in bikinis at the beach. Greyhounds in onesies. We people do some weird things to our canine friends, no?! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy being dressed up in a padded outfit all day long, so I think I'll pass on sharing that experience with my dogs. As you said, cultural perceptions, ethics and expectations add a whole layer of extra consideration. It's not always easy to work out what dogs want or need. That's why I like........ Read more »
Wells Deborah L. (2009) Sensory stimulation as environmental enrichment for captive animals: A review. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 118(1-2), 1-11. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2009.01.002
Graham Lynne, Wells Deborah L., & Hepper Peter G. (2005) The influence of olfactory stimulation on the behaviour of dogs housed in a rescue shelter. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 91(1-2), 143-153. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2004.08.024
Wells Deborah L. (2006) Aromatherapy for travel-induced excitement in dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 229(6), 964-967. DOI: 10.2460/javma.229.6.964
MOTOMURA NAOYASU, SAKURAI AKIHIRO, & YOTSUYA YUKIKO. (2001) REDUCTION OF MENTAL STRESS WITH LAVENDER ODORANT. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 93(3), 713-718. DOI: 10.2466/pms.2001.93.3.713
- May 9, 2013
- 03:41 PM
- 46 views
May 9, 2013
by Erin Campbell in HighMag Blog
When we think of wounds, we don’t typically think of them as part of normal, healthy function. Micro-wounds, however, form when white blood cells have to cross the barrier in our blood vessels to get to an injury or infection. These micro-wounds happen all the time, and our cells heal these wounds efficiently and elegantly.One of the most important barriers in our body is that created by the vascular endothelium. Vascular endothelial cells line all of our blood vessels—from........ Read more »
Martinelli, R., Kamei, M., Sage, P., Massol, R., Varghese, L., Sciuto, T., Toporsian, M., Dvorak, A., Kirchhausen, T., Springer, T.... (2013) Release of cellular tension signals self-restorative ventral lamellipodia to heal barrier micro-wounds. originally published in the Journal of Cell Biology, 201(3), 449-465. DOI: 10.1083/jcb.201209077
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