All posts; Tags Include "genetics"
- September 8, 2010
- 04:00 PM
- 9 views
First New Snail Larval Form Discovered Since 1878
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
What hid’st thou in thy treasure-caves and cells?
Thou hollow-sounding and mysterious main!
- Pale glistening pearls, and rainbow-colour’d shells,
Bright things which gleam unreck’d-of, and in vain!
- Keep, keep thy riches, melancholy sea!
We ask not such from thee
Felicia Hemans, 1827 The Treasures of the Deep
Just when you think you have the basics down, just when you show signs . . . → Read More: First New Snail Larval Form Discovered Since 1878... Read more »
Kyle C. Reynolds, Hiromi Watanabe, Ellen E. Strong, Takenori Sasaki, Katsuyuki Uematsu, Hiroshi Miyake, Shigeaki Kojima, Yohey Suzuki, Katsunori Fujikura, Stacy Kim.... (2010) New Molluscan Larval Form: Brooding and Development in a Hydrothermal Vent Gastropod, Ifremeria nautilei (Provannidae). Biological Bulletin, 219(1), 7-11. info:/
- September 8, 2010
- 03:23 PM
- 13 views
Finding the Gene for Migraines
by agoldstein in Beyond the Bench
Migraine headaches affect 1 in 6 women and 1 in 12 men, and can be triggered by any number of seemingly innocuous events, from eating cheese, to taking birth control pills, to exercising. In 2009, people worldwide spent $2.6 billion on preventative drugs, trying treatments from beta-blockers to anticonvulsants.1 Yet, despite being considered the most expensive brain disorder in the European Union and United States, the source of migraines has remained elusive . . . until now.... Read more »
Silberstein, S. (2008) Treatment recommendations for migraine. Nature Clinical Practice Neurology, 4(9), 482-489. DOI: 10.1038/ncpneuro0861
Anttila, V., Stefansson, H., Kallela, M., Todt, U., Terwindt, G., Calafato, M., Nyholt, D., Dimas, A., Freilinger, T., Müller-Myhsok, B.... (2010) Genome-wide association study of migraine implicates a common susceptibility variant on 8q22.1. Nature Genetics. DOI: 10.1038/ng.652
Pow DV, & Cook DG. (2009) Neuronal expression of splice variants of "glial" glutamate transporters in brains afflicted by Alzheimer's disease: unmasking an intrinsic neuronal property. Neurochemical research, 34(10), 1748-57. PMID: 19319679
Hassel, B., Tessler, S., Faull, R., & Emson, P. (2007) Glutamate Uptake is Reduced in Prefrontal Cortex in Huntington’s Disease. Neurochemical Research, 33(2), 232-237. DOI: 10.1007/s11064-007-9463-1
Boston-Howes, W. (2006) Caspase-3 Cleaves and Inactivates the Glutamate Transporter EAAT2. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 281(20), 14076-14084. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M600653200
- September 7, 2010
- 09:30 PM
- 25 views
Antibiotic beer, as drunk by the ancient Nubians
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
Today’s schooner of science is literally science in a schooner. Plus it comes with a new career path – bioarcheologist, expert in ancient diets. George Armelagos is the bioarcheologist in question, and he’d been studying the ancient Nubians who lived just south of ancient Egypt in present-day Sudan. George was looking at some bones and [...]... Read more »
Nelson ML, Dinardo A, Hochberg J, & Armelagos GJ. (2010) Brief communication: Mass spectroscopic characterization of tetracycline in the skeletal remains of an ancient population from Sudanese Nubia 350-550 CE. American journal of physical anthropology, 143(1), 151-4. PMID: 20564518
- September 7, 2010
- 03:29 PM
- 32 views
Perfectionism as a Risk Factor for Anorexia Nervosa
by Bill Yates in Brain Posts
Temperament is generally defined as innate early emotional and behavioral characteristics that precede puberty and adult development. Felt to have significant genetic components, temperament is also potentially influenced by environmental factors. There are a variety of temperament domains that have received significant attention in childhood, adolescent and adult populations. Some of the most commonly studied domains include:neuroticismharm avoidancenovelty seekingreward depend........ Read more »
Wade TD, Tiggemann M, Bulik CM, Fairburn CG, Wray NR, & Martin NG. (2008) Shared temperament risk factors for anorexia nervosa: a twin study. Psychosomatic medicine, 70(2), 239-44. PMID: 18158375
- September 6, 2010
- 10:02 PM
- 44 views
If Molluscs Could Communicate What Would They Say?
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
Why don’t animal’s use wheels in locomotion? Why aren’t blue whales bigger? Why are there no freshwater starfish? Why are there no tree dwelling cephalopods? Why can’t my dog make a decent cocktail? These are the kinds of questions that intrigue me. Apparently I am not alone.
Geerat Vermeij’s new paper “Sound reasons for . . . → Read More: If Molluscs Could Communicate What Would They Say?... Read more »
Christopher L. Kitting. (1979) The use of feeding noises to determine the algal foods being consumed by individual intertidal molluscs. Oecologia, 1-17. DOI: 10.1007/BF00388806
GEERAT J. VERMEIJ. (2010) Sound reasons for silence: why do molluscs not communicate acoustically?. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 485-493. DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2010.01443.x
- September 6, 2010
- 04:11 PM
- 67 views
Follow Dr. Bik to the Gulf!
by Holly Bik in Deep Sea News
Remember Dr. M’s recent disturbing post about the quelling of independent science in the Gulf? I can now officially announce that my lab was one of the recipients of the rapid response research grants awarded by the National Science Foundation—hurrah! I’m the postdoc assigned to this project, which aims to characterize pre-spill meiofaunal community structure in . . . → Read More: Follow Dr. Bik to the Gulf!... Read more »
De Troch, M.D., et al. (2006) Resource availability and meiofauna in sediment of tropical seagrass beds: Local versus global trends. Marine Environmental Research, 61(1), 59-73. DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2005.05.003
- September 3, 2010
- 12:43 PM
- 65 views
Your Home: A Cancer Survival Tool?
by Kari Kenefick in Promega Connections
Research published in Cell, July 9, 2010, provides compelling evidence for an environmental component for cancer survival, that is a macro environmental component. While other studies have examined the effects of diet and exercise and even toxicological components on cancer susceptibility, Cao et al. studied mice living in an “enriched housing environment” that included more [...]... Read more »
Cao L, Liu X, Lin EJ, Wang C, Choi EY, Riban V, Lin B, & During MJ. (2010) Environmental and genetic activation of a brain-adipocyte BDNF/leptin axis causes cancer remission and inhibition. Cell, 142(1), 52-64. PMID: 20603014
- September 3, 2010
- 10:43 AM
- 51 views
My E. coli brother's keeper
by The Curious Wavefunction in The Curious Wavefunction
Would an anti-indole work?Antibiotic resistance is one of the best examples of evolution in real-time and it’s also one of the most serious medical problems of our time. Emerging resistance in bacteria like MRSA threatens to bring on a wave of epidemics that may remind us of past, more unseemly times.Given the threat that antibiotic resistance poses, it is paramount to understand the mechanisms behind this process. While considerable progress has been made in understanding the genetic basis of........ Read more »
Lee HH, Molla MN, Cantor CR, & Collins JJ. (2010) Bacterial charity work leads to population-wide resistance. Nature, 467(7311), 82-5. PMID: 20811456
- September 1, 2010
- 08:37 AM
- 48 views
Dispersants! Part III: Do dispersants really promote degradation of oil?
by Holly Bik in Deep Sea News
Promoting microbial degradation of oil has been one of the main arguments in favor of dispersant use. Interestingly, the PWSRCAC review (covering literature from 1997-2008) did not identify any recent study that explicitly found dispersant use enhancing the biodegradation of oil. Actually, ~50% of studies found that chemical additives inhibited microbial degradation and the other half . . . → Read More: Dispersants! Part III: Do dispersants really promote degradation of oil?... Read more »
Venosa AD, & Holder EL. (2007) Biodegradability of dispersed crude oil at two different temperatures. Marine pollution bulletin, 54(5), 545-53. PMID: 17316707
Yoshida A, Nomura H, Toyoda K, Nishino T, Seo Y, Yamada M, Nishimura M, Wada M, Okamoto K, Shibata A.... (2006) Microbial responses using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis to oil and chemical dispersant in enclosed ecosystems. Marine pollution bulletin, 52(1), 89-95. PMID: 16202430
- September 1, 2010
- 05:32 AM
- 103 views
Were does Resilience against Depression Reside in the Brain?
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
Resilience is in psychiatry the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and catastrophe. In this post it’s used as having an adaptive system that uses exposure to stress to provide resistance to future negative events.
Stress can lead to depression accompanied by atrophy and loss of neurons in the adult hippocampus in experimental [...]
Related posts:Were is Depression Located in the Brain?
Adolescents brain and Depression
Neurobiology of Psychosocial Stress and Depression
... Read more »
Thomas Frodl,, Angela Carballedo1,, Andrew J. Fagan,, Danusia Lisiecka1,, Yolande Ferguson,, Ian Daly,, James F. Meaney,, & Dermot Kelleher. (2010) Microstructural Correlates of Resilience against Major Depressive Disorder: Epigenetic Mechanisms?. Nature Precedings. info:/
- August 31, 2010
- 10:18 PM
- 95 views
The Link Between Positive Psychology and Cancer Survival
by Walter Jessen in Highlight HEALTH
The seemingly common idea that a positive outlook will help someone in poor health is currently under scientific investigation. A special supplement of the Annals of Behavioural Medicine directly addressed this topic and a recent article in the Lancet explored the relationship between positive psychology and cancer pathology.... Read more »
Ondicova K, & Mravec B. (2010) Role of nervous system in cancer aetiopathogenesis. The lancet oncology, 11(6), 596-601. PMID: 20522385
- August 31, 2010
- 03:32 PM
- 68 views
A Finch’s Ways to Find a Mate: 1) Peacock It Out, 1a) Meet as Many Friends as You Can
by Michael Gutbrod in A Scientific Nature
For those of you out there moping over how your disadvantageous (you might call it unlucky) genetic makeup has led to your not so attractive (others might call it ugly) appearance, there may be hope for you yet! In the animal world, scientists Kevin P. Oh and Alexander V. Badyaev have found that more social [...]... Read more »
Oh, K., & Badyaev, A. (2010) Structure of Social Networks in a Passerine Bird: Consequences for Sexual Selection and the Evolution of Mating Strategies. The American Naturalist, 176(3). DOI: 10.1086/655216
- August 31, 2010
- 01:01 PM
- 52 views
Parasitic Editors Win the Genome
by Rob Mitchum in ScienceLife
In biology, fitness can be crudely measured by a simple method: counting. If a particular species is well represented in a particular ecosystem, one can conclude that evolution has treated them well, with circumstances allowing them to thrive. It’s a bit simplistic to declare evolutionary winners or losers, but a species that over-populates an island [...]... Read more »
Aziz RK, Breitbart M, & Edwards RA. (2010) Transposases are the most abundant, most ubiquitous genes in nature. Nucleic acids research, 38(13), 4207-17. PMID: 20215432
- August 31, 2010
- 12:30 PM
- 39 views
Genomic analysis can be powerful – in the right hands
by Rachel Bernstein in Berkeley Science Review Blog
You may have heard about the controversial genetics study connecting a set of 150 genetic markers to “exceptional longevity” (people living past 100). Everybody’s interested in living longer, so it’s not surprising that the work, published by Boston University researchers in July in the journal Science, was covered with much fanfare in many main-stream news outlets (for example, in the NY Times and Scientific American). Science even hosted a media teleconference to promote the story. Con........ Read more »
Teslovich TM, Musunuru K, Smith AV, Edmondson AC, Stylianou IM, Koseki M, Pirruccello JP, Ripatti S, Chasman DI, Willer CJ.... (2010) Biological, clinical and population relevance of 95 loci for blood lipids. Nature, 466(7307), 707-13. PMID: 20686565
- August 31, 2010
- 12:17 PM
- 77 views
Wolves Are Smart, but Dogs Look Back
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
Dogs are pretty smart. They can have huge vocabularies, they can infer meaning in the growls of other dogs, and they can effortlessly figure out if other dogs want to play or fight with them. But their intelligence might be limited to the social domain; indeed, while they outperform chimpanzees in social tasks, chimpanzees outperform them in many other tasks. And they might have developed their impressive social skills as merely an accident of natural and artificial selection.
Previous resear........ Read more »
Miklósi A, Kubinyi E, Topál J, Gácsi M, Virányi Z, & Csányi V. (2003) A simple reason for a big difference: wolves do not look back at humans, but dogs do. Current biology : CB, 13(9), 763-6. PMID: 12725735
- August 31, 2010
- 10:44 AM
- 40 views
Rapid Human Adaptation to High Altitudes
by Daniel Koboldt in Massgenomics
Two studies in the journal Science demonstrated that genes in the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) oxygen signaling pathway have undergone strong, recent positive selection in Tibetan highlanders. One study was a genome-wide scan using SNP arrays; the other a large-scale exome sequencing effort. The exome study was particularly interesting; using the Nimblegen 2.1M exon capture array [...]... Read more »
Storz, J. (2010) Genes for High Altitudes. Science, 329(5987), 40-41. DOI: 10.1126/science.1192481
Simonson TS, Yang Y, Huff CD, Yun H, Qin G, Witherspoon DJ, Bai Z, Lorenzo FR, Xing J, Jorde LB.... (2010) Genetic evidence for high-altitude adaptation in Tibet. Science (New York, N.Y.), 329(5987), 72-5. PMID: 20466884
Yi X, Liang Y, & Huerta-Sanchez E. (2010) Sequencing of 50 human exomes reveals adaptation to high altitude. Science (New York, N.Y.), 329(5987), 75-8. PMID: 20595611
- August 27, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 201 views
Silver Spoon Hyenas: Maternal Social Status Affects Male Reproductive Success
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
Figure 1: A mother hyena with her cubs.
Early developmental experiences can have significant implications for the growth, behavior, survival, and reproductive success of an individual. In many species, one of the most important factors that affects an individual's early development is the maternal environment. However, mothers not only provide an environment for their offspring, but also half of their genes, making it difficult to separate the effects of nature and nurture when investigating d........ Read more »
Höner, O., Wachter, B., Hofer, H., Wilhelm, K., Thierer, D., Trillmich, F., Burke, T., & East, M. (2010) The fitness of dispersing spotted hyaena sons is influenced by maternal social status. Nature Communications, 1(5), 1-7. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1059
- August 27, 2010
- 10:00 AM
- 74 views
Stop Targeting Lasers on My Chromosomes!
by Sara Klink in Promega Connections
The phases of the cell cycle, particularly that of mitosis, were taught in college as part of my studies in biology. The cell cycle is a fundamental process for all organisms and constantly happens within our bodies. While cells generally spend most of the time in interphase, many scientists focus on what happens as the [...]... Read more »
Baker, N., Zeitlin, S., Shi, L., Shah, J., & Berns, M. (2010) Chromosome Tips Damaged in Anaphase Inhibit Cytokinesis. PLoS ONE, 5(8). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012398
- August 26, 2010
- 04:55 PM
- 59 views
Galaxy, a stride towards reproducible computational research
Galaxy started out as a very useful tool to do genomics research that was reproducible and sharable. One of my pet peeves in reading research papers that use genomic analysis or online genomics resources is the materials and methods sections. Often the methods and parameters used are mentioned only in a very cursory manner, if [...]... Read more »
Goecks, J., Nekrutenko, A., Taylor, J., & Galaxy Team, T. (2010) Galaxy: a comprehensive approach for supporting accessible, reproducible, and transparent computational research in the life sciences. Genome Biology, 11(8). DOI: 10.1186/gb-2010-11-8-r86
- August 26, 2010
- 07:46 AM
- 58 views
The Usefulness of Dolphin Snot
For years marine biologists have relied on dart biopsies – small portions of tissue obtained by shooting a dart into an animal – to study the genetics of dolphins in the wild. The trouble is that this method can’t be used on very young animals for fear of harming them, and concerns about injury to [...]... Read more »
Frère, C., Krzyszczyk, E., Patterson, E., Hunter, S., Ginsburg, A., & Mann, J. (2010) Thar She Blows! A Novel Method for DNA Collection from Cetacean Blow. PLoS ONE, 5(8). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012299
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