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  • January 4, 2013
  • 10:44 AM
  • 273 views

Cellular Recap of 2012 #2: favorites

by TheCellularScale in The Cellular Scale

As promised, here are my favorite posts from each month.January: The Human Neuron" not so special after all?Butti C, Santos M, Uppal N, & Hof PR (2011). Von Economo neurons: Clinical and evolutionary perspectives. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior PMID: 22130090February: If you give a mouse a placebo...Wise RA, Wang B, & You ZB (2008). Cocaine serves as a peripheral interoceptive conditioned stimulus for central glutamate and dopamine release. P........ Read more »

Butti C, Santos M, Uppal N, & Hof PR. (2011) Von Economo neurons: Clinical and evolutionary perspectives. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior. PMID: 22130090  

Benolken RM, & Jacobson SL. (1970) Response properties of a sensory hair excised from Venus's flytrap. The Journal of general physiology, 56(1), 64-82. PMID: 5514161  

Forterre Y, Skotheim JM, Dumais J, & Mahadevan L. (2005) How the Venus flytrap snaps. Nature, 433(7024), 421-5. PMID: 15674293  

Kay JN, De la Huerta I, Kim IJ, Zhang Y, Yamagata M, Chu MW, Meister M, & Sanes JR. (2011) Retinal ganglion cells with distinct directional preferences differ in molecular identity, structure, and central projections. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 31(21), 7753-62. PMID: 21613488  

Casile A, Caggiano V, & Ferrari PF. (2011) The mirror neuron system: a fresh view. The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry, 17(5), 524-38. PMID: 21467305  

Marx M, Günter RH, Hucko W, Radnikow G, & Feldmeyer D. (2012) Improved biocytin labeling and neuronal 3D reconstruction. Nature protocols, 7(2), 394-407. PMID: 22301777  

Finger TE, & Kinnamon SC. (2011) Taste isn't just for taste buds anymore. F1000 biology reports, 20. PMID: 21941599  

Triana-Del Rio R, Montero-Domínguez F, Cibrian-Llanderal T, Tecamachaltzi-Silvaran MB, Garcia LI, Manzo J, Hernandez ME, & Coria-Avila GA. (2011) Same-sex cohabitation under the effects of quinpirole induces a conditioned socio-sexual partner preference in males, but not in female rats. Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior, 99(4), 604-13. PMID: 21704064  

Labour MN, Banc A, Tourrette A, Cunin F, Verdier JM, Devoisselle JM, Marcilhac A, & Belamie E. (2012) Thick collagen-based 3D matrices including growth factors to induce neurite outgrowth. Acta biomaterialia, 8(9), 3302-12. PMID: 22617741  

  • January 3, 2013
  • 08:33 PM
  • 157 views

Below Absolute Zero temperature

by Usman Paracha in SayPeople

Researchers have achieved the record “negative temperature”, i.e. below absolute zero that was considered to be the lowest possible temperature.

This research has been published online in the journal Science.

This is a paradoxical temperature as the temperature below zero is referred to as cold but this “negative absolute temperature” can also be considered as hotter than infinity and it has “motional degrees of freedom” while at colder temperatures atom........ Read more »

Braun, S., Ronzheimer, J., Schreiber, M., Hodgman, S., Rom, T., Bloch, I., & Schneider, U. (2013) Negative Absolute Temperature for Motional Degrees of Freedom. Science, 339(6115), 52-55. DOI: 10.1126/science.1227831  

  • December 30, 2012
  • 05:23 AM
  • 224 views

Scientists Rediscover the Violence Gene, MAOA-2R

by nooffensebut in The Unsilenced Science

New research shows that MAOA-2R induces violence and delinquency far more than the so-called “warrior gene,” MAOA-3R. It is also far more common in African-American men than white men. Plus, MAOA’s designation as a cancer gene could influence the development of therapies.... Read more »

Alpini G, Invernizzi P, Gaudio E, Venter J, Kopriva S, Bernuzzi F, Onori P, Franchitto A, Coufal M, Frampton G.... (2008) Serotonin metabolism is dysregulated in cholangiocarcinoma, which has implications for tumor growth. Cancer research, 68(22), 9184-93. PMID: 19010890  

Cases O, Seif I, Grimsby J, Gaspar P, Chen K, Pournin S, Müller U, Aguet M, Babinet C, & Shih JC. (1995) Aggressive behavior and altered amounts of brain serotonin and norepinephrine in mice lacking MAOA. Science (New York, N.Y.), 268(5218), 1763-6. PMID: 7792602  

Caspi A, McClay J, Moffitt TE, Mill J, Martin J, Craig IW, Taylor A, & Poulton R. (2002) Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children. Science (New York, N.Y.), 297(5582), 851-4. PMID: 12161658  

Crabtree, G. (2013) Our fragile intellect. Part II. Trends in Genetics, 29(1), 3-5. DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2012.10.003  

Fergusson DM, Boden JM, Horwood LJ, Miller A, & Kennedy MA. (2012) Moderating role of the MAOA genotype in antisocial behaviour. The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science, 200(2), 116-23. PMID: 22297589  

Huang L, Frampton G, Rao A, Zhang KS, Chen W, Lai JM, Yin XY, Walker K, Culbreath B, Leyva-Illades D.... (2012) Monoamine oxidase A expression is suppressed in human cholangiocarcinoma via coordinated epigenetic and IL-6-driven events. Laboratory investigation; a journal of technical methods and pathology, 92(10), 1451-60. PMID: 22906985  

Malorni W, Giammarioli AM, Matarrese P, Pietrangeli P, Agostinelli E, Ciaccio A, Grassilli E, & Mondovi B. (1998) Protection against apoptosis by monoamine oxidase A inhibitors. FEBS letters, 426(1), 155-9. PMID: 9598998  

McDermott R, Tingley D, Cowden J, Frazzetto G, & Johnson DD. (2009) Monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) predicts behavioral aggression following provocation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(7), 2118-23. PMID: 19168625  

Murphy SM, Puwanant A, Griggs RC, & Consortium for Clinical Investigations of Neurological Channelopathies (CINCH) and Inherited Neuropathies Consortium (INC) Consortia of the Rare Disease Clinical Research Network. (2012) Unintended effects of orphan product designation for rare neurological diseases. Annals of neurology, 72(4), 481-90. PMID: 23109143  

Pietrangeli, P. (2004) Amine Oxidases and Tumors. NeuroToxicology, 25(1-2), 317-324. DOI: 10.1016/S0161-813X(03)00109-8  

Reti IM, Xu JZ, Yanofski J, McKibben J, Uhart M, Cheng YJ, Zandi P, Bienvenu OJ, Samuels J, Willour V.... (2011) Monoamine oxidase A regulates antisocial personality in whites with no history of physical abuse. Comprehensive psychiatry, 52(2), 188-94. PMID: 21295226  

Roush, W. (1995) Conflict marks crime conference. Science, 269(5232), 1808-1809. DOI: 10.1126/science.7569909  

Shih JC, Ridd MJ, Chen K, Meehan WP, Kung MP, Seif I, & De Maeyer E. (1999) Ketanserin and tetrabenazine abolish aggression in mice lacking monoamine oxidase A. Brain research, 835(2), 104-12. PMID: 10415365  

Sjöberg, R., Ducci, F., Barr, C., Newman, T., Dell'Osso, L., Virkkunen, M., & Goldman, D. (2007) A Non-Additive Interaction of a Functional MAO-A VNTR and Testosterone Predicts Antisocial Behavior. Neuropsychopharmacology, 33(2), 425-430. DOI: 10.1038/sj.npp.1301417  

Tuinier S, Verhoeven WMA, Scherders MJWT, Fekkes D, & Pepplinkhuizen L. (1995) Neuropsychiatric and biological characteristics of X-linked MAOA deficiency syndrome: A single-intervention case study. New Trends in Experimental and Clinical Psychiatry, 11(4), 99-107. info:/

Wong CC, Caspi A, Williams B, Craig IW, Houts R, Ambler A, Moffitt TE, & Mill J. (2010) A longitudinal study of epigenetic variation in twins. Epigenetics : official journal of the DNA Methylation Society, 5(6), 516-26. PMID: 20505345  

  • December 28, 2012
  • 05:32 PM
  • 264 views

Strange behavior: new study exposes living cells to synthetic protein

by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge

One approach to understanding components in living organisms is to attempt to create them artificially, using principles of chemistry, engineering and genetics. A suite of powerful techniques—collectively referred to as synthetic biology—have been used to produce self-replicating molecules, artificial pathways in living systems and organisms bearing synthetic genomes.... Read more »

Richard Harth. (2012) Strange behavior: new study exposes living cells to synthetic protein. ASU Biodesign Institute. info:/

  • December 26, 2012
  • 05:43 PM
  • 285 views

The physics of life: one molecule at a time

by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge

The esteemed physicist Erwin Schrödinger, whose name is associated with the most notorious equation of quantum mechanics, also wrote a brief essay entitled ‘What is Life?’, asking: ‘How can the events in space and time which take place within the spatial boundary of a living organism be accounted for by physics and chemistry?’ The 60 years following this seminal work have seen enormous developments in our understanding of biology on the molecular scale, with physics........ Read more »

Leake, M. (2012) The physics of life: one molecule at a time. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 368(1611), 20120248-20120248. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0248  

  • December 21, 2012
  • 12:57 PM
  • 288 views

Fossil Scan Reveals Ghost of Lizard Past

by Elizabeth Preston in Inkfish





Peering into the past life of this fossil took an x-ray scanner powered by a particle accelerator. What scientists saw there was mysterious: an ancient lizard had left behind its skin and teeth, but none of its bones. To tell the ghost's tale, they relied on some very modern equipment.

At Stanford University, an accelerator called a synchrotron sends electrons zipping around a track fast enough that x-rays spin off of them. These x-rays are collected into an extremely bright x-ray beam that........ Read more »

Edwards, N., Wogelius, R., Bergmann, U., Larson, P., Sellers, W., & Manning, P. (2012) Mapping prehistoric ghosts in the synchrotron. Applied Physics A. DOI: 10.1007/s00339-012-7484-3  

  • December 21, 2012
  • 11:59 AM
  • 61 views

Happy Christmas Lectures (Merry “Chemist-mas” everyone)

by Duncan Hull in O'Really?

If you hate Chemistry [1] it’s probably because your Chemistry teachers weren’t up to scratch. Peter Wothers, The Modern Alchemist, is someone who might rekindle your interest in Chemistry through his delivery of the 2012 Christmas Lectures. Wothers will unpick the chemistry of the world around us, looking at Air, Water and Earth, three of the original Greek ‘elements’ that tantalised alchemists for centuries. He’ll also be exploding and burning things too.... Read more »

Lippincott, W. (1979) Why Students Hate Chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education, 56(1), 1. DOI: 10.1021/ed056p1  

  • December 18, 2012
  • 05:21 AM
  • 149 views

Scientific controversy is healthy

by Raphaël Lévy in The blog of Raphaël Lévy’s lab at the University of Liverpool

Douglas Natelson (Professor of Physics at Rice University) has posted an interesting article on his blog a few days ago about the “stripy nanoparticles” controversy. He notes that the controversy raises questions about peer review because “Lévy points out that many articles seem to be published that take the assertion of stripiness practically on faith or on very scant [...]... Read more »

Cesbron, Y., Shaw, C., Birchall, J., Free, P., & Lévy, R. (2012) Stripy Nanoparticles Revisited. Small. DOI: 10.1002/smll.201001465  

  • December 18, 2012
  • 01:44 AM
  • 170 views

Plants have a chemical defense against irritating insects

by Usman Paracha in SayPeople

Researchers have found plants may repel the “insect antagonists” after getting cues related to the odors of flies to attract female flies that may result in damage to the plants.

This research has been published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"It's become increasingly clear in recent years that plants are responsive to odors," Mark Mescher, assistant professor of entomology, said in a statement. "But previous ex........ Read more »

  • December 18, 2012
  • 12:46 AM
  • 177 views

First ever seen intermediate compound between the aromatic and antiaromatic compounds

by Usman Paracha in SayPeople

Researchers have developed a stable "antiaromatic" compound that can be switched between the aromatic and anti-aromatic states and a first ever found intermediate state.

This research has been published online in the journal Nature Chemistry.

Aromatic compounds are the class of organic chemical compounds that have one or more rings of carbon atoms and undergo chemical reactions characteristic of benzene. It was found that nearly half of all organic compounds are aromatic compound........ Read more »

  • December 15, 2012
  • 08:14 AM
  • 125 views

Microwave heating: still nothing special

by Tom Phillips in A Chemical Education

For many years there has been debate over whether there is a specific microwave effect on chemical reactions or if it’s just a thermal effect. A couple of years ago I took lecture course on microwave and ultrasound chemistry. The … Continue reading →... Read more »

Kappe C. Oliver, Pieber Bartholomäus, & Dallinger Doris. (2012) Microwave Effects in Organic Synthesis—Myth or Reality?. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201204103  

  • December 13, 2012
  • 07:53 PM
  • 133 views

Stripy revisited posts; where to start…

by Raphaël Lévy in The blog of Raphaël Lévy’s lab at the University of Liverpool

A round post about the stripy nanoparticles controversy... Read more »

Cesbron, Y., Shaw, C., Birchall, J., Free, P., & Lévy, R. (2012) Stripy Nanoparticles Revisited. Small. DOI: 10.1002/smll.201001465  

  • December 13, 2012
  • 08:09 AM
  • 182 views

Order in the cell maintained by a disordered protein?

by Clay Clark in Biochem Blogs

Normally proteins have a globular shape in order to be enzymatically or structurally relevant. Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) broke the protein norms by maintaining their functional roles with little to no overall structure. Most proteins have regions of disorder, such … Continue reading →... Read more »

Kalkhoven Eric. (2004) CBP and p300: HATs for different occasions. Biochemical Pharmacology, 68(6), 1145-1155. DOI: 10.1016/j.bcp.2004.03.045  

Avantaggiati M L, Ogryzko V, Gardner K, Giordano A, Levine A S, & Kelly K. (1997) Recruitment of p300/CBP in p53-dependent signal pathways. Cell, 1175-1184. PMID: 9215639  

Ferreon Josephine C, Lee Chul Won, Arai Munehito, Martinez-Yamout Maria A, Dyson H Jane, & Wright Peter E. (2009) Cooperative regulation of p53 by modulation of ternary complex formation with CBP/p300 and HDM2. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. PMID: 19357310  

  • December 12, 2012
  • 06:54 AM
  • 100 views

Making semiconducting polymers in flow

by Tom Phillips in A Chemical Education

Organic electronics has a problem with batch-to-batch variability in the quality of materials, particularly the active semiconducting layer. A fellow PhD student in my office described to me the trouble he often experiences. He made one batch of solar cells … Continue reading →... Read more »

Bannock J. H., Krishnadasan S. H., Nightingale A. M., Yau C. P., Khaw K., Burkitt D., Halls J. J. M., Heeney M., & de Mello J. C. (2012) Continuous Synthesis of Device-Grade Semiconducting Polymers in Droplet-Based Microreactors. Advanced Functional Materials. DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201203014  

  • December 10, 2012
  • 07:57 AM
  • 183 views

Are Rocks the Key to Finding Extraterrestrial Life?

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

While scientists like to bandy origin of life theories around, they seldom make the connection to astrobiological research. These theories, however, have a lot to suggest about how life may have developed on other worlds. According to recent studies, low-density vesicular volcanic rock material like pumice might have acted as something like a natural laboratory [...]... Read more »

Martin D. Brasiera, Richard Matthewmana, Sean McMahonb, Matt R. Kilburnc, & David Wacey. (2013) Pumice from the ∼3460 Ma Apex Basalt, Western Australia: A natural laboratory for the early biosphere. Precambrian Research, 1-10. info:/10.1016/j.precamres.2012.09.008

  • December 8, 2012
  • 08:24 AM
  • 231 views

New type of chemical bonding in the shining universe

by Usman Paracha in SayPeople

Scientists found new type of chemical reaction at molecular level that is thought to change the views about chemical compound formation.

This research has been published online in the July 20th issue of the journal Science.

“We discovered a new type of chemical bonding,” University of North Dakota’s computational chemist Mark Hoffmann, who is known for his work on theory and computational modeling of chemical compound synthesis, said in a statement. “That’s a ........ Read more »

  • December 6, 2012
  • 01:40 PM
  • 156 views

Cyclotides: A new ‘wave’ of discovery

by Clay Clark in Biochem Blogs

The cyclotide family is the the largest class of circular proteins with as many as 50,000 predicted members. They are currently only found in the Violaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Rubiaceae and recently (1) Fabaceae family of the plant kingdom (violets, gourds, coffee and legumes, … Continue reading →... Read more »

Poth A. G., Colgrave M. L., Lyons R. E., Daly N. L., & Craik D. J. (2011) From the Cover: Discovery of an unusual biosynthetic origin for circular proteins in legumes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(25), 10127-10132. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1103660108  

Saska I., Gillon A. D., Hatsugai N., Dietzgen R. G., Hara-Nishimura I., Anderson M. A., & Craik D. J. (2007) An Asparaginyl Endopeptidase Mediates in Vivo Protein Backbone Cyclization. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 282(40), 29721-29728. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M705185200  

  • November 29, 2012
  • 10:30 PM
  • 319 views

Come out smelling like a rose

by Aurametrix team in Olfactics and Diagnostics

You are what you eat. And you smell like your food. Well, it's actually a bit more complicated - as we emit complex combinations of volatile chemicals produced from food by our own metabolic system as well as microbes that call us home. Same foods can be translated into a wide range of odors, depending on the individual. People exhibit a large variety of smells, much more diverse than animals or plants. Thanks to variations in our digestive enzymes, diets, supplements, medicines, perfumes, deter........ Read more »

  • November 29, 2012
  • 04:37 PM
  • 202 views

Metal measuring and autism

by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers

Now and again, two papers of a similar ilk are published temporally close together in the great autism research melting pot so as to cumulatively make for interesting reading.Congratulations, it's a baby T-1000 @ Wikipedia  In the case of this post, I am referring to the paper by Jim Adams and colleagues* and the paper by Yahya Al-Farsi and colleagues** which both examined the burden of metals present in cases of autism from the perspective of two very different geographical areas of the wo........ Read more »

Adams, J., Audhya, T., McDonough-Means, S., Rubin, R., Quig, D., Geis, E., Gehn, E., Loresto, M., Mitchell, J., Atwood, S.... (2012) Toxicological Status of Children with Autism vs. Neurotypical Children and the Association with Autism Severity. Biological Trace Element Research. DOI: 10.1007/s12011-012-9551-1  

Al-Farsi, Y., Waly, M., Al-Sharbati, M., Al-Shafaee, M., Al-Farsi, O., Al-Khaduri, M., Gupta, I., Ouhtit, A., Al-Adawi, S., Al-Said, M.... (2012) Levels of Heavy Metals and Essential Minerals in Hair Samples of Children with Autism in Oman: a Case–Control Study. Biological Trace Element Research. DOI: 10.1007/s12011-012-9553-z  

  • November 28, 2012
  • 10:19 AM
  • 219 views

Mr. Nanny Makes Mr. Right

by Miss Behavior in The Scorpion and the Frog

Quick! Introduce yourself to this guy before his baby-high wears off! Photo by David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net. What happens if you take a wrestler or action star and force him to babysit obnoxious but lovable kids? Well, if you’ve seen movies like The Pacifier with Vin Diesel, The Tooth Fairy with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Kindergarten Cop with Arnold Schwarzenegger, or The Spy Next Door with Jackie Chan, you know that he will fall madly in love both with his young ........ Read more »

Kenkel, W., Paredes, J., Yee, J., Pournajafi-Nazarloo, H., Bales, K., & Carter, C. (2012) Neuroendocrine and Behavioural Responses to Exposure to an Infant in Male Prairie Voles. Journal of Neuroendocrinology, 24(6), 874-886. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2826.2012.02301.x  

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