Biology posts
- December 30, 2016
- 07:05 AM
- 249 views
Annual review 2016
by Joana Guedes in BHD Research Blog
2016 has been a busy year for BHD research. With the new year approaching, this week’s blog will review the studies we’ve particularly enjoyed writing about and revisit the year’s highlights.... Read more »
Gupta, N., Sunwoo, B., & Kotloff, R. (2016) Birt-Hogg-Dubé Syndrome. Clinics in Chest Medicine, 37(3), 475-486. DOI: 10.1016/j.ccm.2016.04.010
- December 30, 2016
- 05:00 AM
- 248 views
Friday Fellow: Peacock Spikemoss
by Piter Boll in Earthling Nature
by Piter Kehoma Boll This is the last Friday Fellow of the year and I decided to choose a beautiful and little known plant, the peacock spikemoss, more commonly known as Willdenow’s spikemoss or peacock fern, and scientifically known as Selaginella … Continue reading →... Read more »
Chai, Tsun-Thai, & Wong, Fai-Chu. (2012) Antioxidant properties of aqueous extracts of Selaginella willdenowii. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research, 6(7). DOI: 10.5897/JMPR11.1378
- December 29, 2016
- 05:57 AM
- 329 views
The Myth of "Darwin's Body-Snatchers"
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic_Discover
Did Charles Darwin's thirst for skulls contribute to the near-extinction of the Aboriginal Tasmanian people?
If you believe certain creationists, Darwin sought examples of Tasmanian skulls in order to prove that this unfortunate race was a 'missing link' between humans and apes. However, according to John van Wyhe in a new paper called Darwin's body-snatchers?, this story has zero basis in fact.
As a Darwin scholar, I thought I had heard all the myths concerning Charles Darwin but on... Read more »
van Wyhe J. (2016) Darwin's body-snatchers?. Endeavour. PMID: 28012688
- December 27, 2016
- 02:04 PM
- 429 views
Why we have not met Aliens yet?
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
A huge of number of people keeps on thinking about the existence of some other intelligent beings in the universe but still we have not met any aliens. Why?
Earth is rare
Earth is special planet
One of the reasons that we have not met aliens is that Earth is rare and there is nothing just like Earth in the universe. In this regard, Paleontologist Peter Ward and astronomer Donald Brownlee presented the Rare Earth Hypothesis about 17 years ago.
According to the Rare Earth Hypothesis, t........ Read more »
Heller, R., & Armstrong, J. (2014) Superhabitable Worlds. Astrobiology, 14(1), 50-66. DOI: 10.1089/ast.2013.1088
- December 27, 2016
- 06:10 AM
- 328 views
2016 autism research review on Questioning Answers
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
Time flies! Once again, I'm posting my annual 'state of the science' autism research review, this time covering the particularly unusual year of 2016.With around 300 blog entries to choose from, I'm changing the format this year to list a 'top 5' of areas where I think some scientific progress has been made. The caveat as ever being that there are still mountains to climb in terms of delineating aetiology, nature and importantly, how one can actually improve quality of life for those on the........ Read more »
Waterhouse, L., London, E., & Gillberg, C. (2016) ASD Validity. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 3(4), 302-329. DOI: 10.1007/s40489-016-0085-x
Nevill, R., Lecavalier, L., & Stratis, E. (2016) Meta-analysis of parent-mediated interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism. DOI: 10.1177/1362361316677838
- December 23, 2016
- 11:17 PM
- 346 views
The Lyme disease spirochete lives without thiamine
by Microbe Fan in Spirochetes Unwound
Thiamine, or vitamin B1, is vital for the survival of all living things. One of the biologically functional forms of thiamine, thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), is essential for the catalytic activity of several critical metabolic enzymes. For this reason, we must get thiamine from the food that we eat (or the vitamin pills that we swallow). Microbes obtain the vitamin from their surroundings, but they can also make their own thiamine if it's not available.It turns out that the Lym........ Read more »
Zhang K, Bian J, Deng Y, Smith A, Nunez RE, Li MB, Pal U, Yu AM, Qiu W, Ealick SE.... (2016) Lyme disease spirochaete Borrelia burgdorferi does not require thiamin. Nature Microbiology, 16213. PMID: 27869793
Xu H, Caimano MJ, Lin T, He M, Radolf JD, Norris SJ, Gherardini F, Wolfe AJ, & Yang XF. (2010) Role of acetyl-phosphate in activation of the Rrp2-RpoN-RpoS pathway in Borrelia burgdorferi. PLoS pathogens, 6(9). PMID: 20862323
Subba Raju BV, Esteve-Gassent MD, Karna SL, Miller CL, Van Laar TA, & Seshu J. (2011) Oligopeptide permease A5 modulates vertebrate host-specific adaptation of Borrelia burgdorferi. Infection and immunity, 79(8), 3407-20. PMID: 21628523
- December 23, 2016
- 06:43 AM
- 320 views
Establishment of a new BHD Syndrome cell line
by Joana Guedes in BHD Research Blog
Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome is caused by mutations in the FLCN gene. The FLCN protein acts as a tumour suppressor and BHD patients have a high risk of developing renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The mechanisms of tumour formation in BHD have been investigated using mouse models and human RCC tissues. However, in vitro signalling studies of human renal cells with mutant FLCN are still scarce. In a recent study, Furuya et al. (2016) established a new cell line from a BHD patient’s chromophobe ........ Read more »
Furuya, M., Hasumi, H., Baba, M., Tanaka, R., Iribe, Y., Onishi, T., Nagashima, Y., Nakatani, Y., Isono, Y., & Yao, M. (2016) Establishment and characterization of BHD-F59RSVT, an immortalized cell line derived from a renal cell carcinoma in a patient with Birt–Hogg–Dubé syndrome. Laboratory Investigation. DOI: 10.1038/labinvest.2016.137
- December 23, 2016
- 05:03 AM
- 361 views
ADHD symptoms and chronic fatigue syndrome?
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
With the pinnacle of the season of 'jolly' almost upon us, I'd like to make some brief discussion on the findings reported by Denise Rogers and colleagues [1] and specifically the observation that: "ADHD [attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder] symptoms were significantly greater in the CFS [chronic fatigue syndrome] group than in HC [healthy controls]."With the aim of examining both the prevalence of fatigue in cases of ADHD and the prevalence of ADHD symptoms in adults wi........ Read more »
Rogers, D., Dittner, A., Rimes, K., & Chalder, T. (2016) Fatigue in an adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder population: A trans-diagnostic approach. British Journal of Clinical Psychology. DOI: 10.1111/bjc.12119
- December 23, 2016
- 05:00 AM
- 229 views
Friday Fellow: Christmas Wreath Lichen
by Piter Boll in Earthling Nature
by Piter Kehoma Boll Celebrating Christmas (or whatever you call this time of the year), today’s Friday Fellow is another lichen. And the reason I chose it is because it is known as Christmas wreath lichen due to its red … Continue reading →... Read more »
Elfie Stocker-Wörgötter. (2010) Stress and Developmental Strategies in Lichens. Symbioses and Stress, 525-546. DOI: 10.1007/978-90-481-9449-0_27
- December 22, 2016
- 03:31 AM
- 359 views
Psychosis (sometimes) as an immune disorder?
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"Some psychosis cases an 'immune disorder'" went the BBC headline with reference to the paper by Belinda Lennox and colleagues [1] talking about the detection of antibodies against the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) in cases of first-episode psychosis (FEP).Although by no means a universal phenomenon, researchers reported that 3% of their 228 participants diagnosed with FEP who provided a blood sample showed the presence of NMDAR antibodies compared with none of the healthy controls ........ Read more »
Lennox, B., Palmer-Cooper, E., Pollak, T., Hainsworth, J., Marks, J., Jacobson, L., Lang, B., Fox, H., Ferry, B., Scoriels, L.... (2016) Prevalence and clinical characteristics of serum neuronal cell surface antibodies in first-episode psychosis: a case-control study. The Lancet Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1016/S2215-0366(16)30375-3
- December 21, 2016
- 06:02 AM
- 390 views
"New form of autism found"
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"New form of autism found" went one of the headlines reporting on the paper by Dora C. Tărlungeanu and colleagues [1] and findings that "elucidate a neurological syndrome defined by SLC7A5 mutations and support an essential role for the BCAA [branched-chain amino acids] in human brain function." This work continues a rather important research story talking about how one 'type' of autism might have some important roots in relation to the branched-chain amino acids and their m........ Read more »
Tărlungeanu, D., Deliu, E., Dotter, C., Kara, M., Janiesch, P., Scalise, M., Galluccio, M., Tesulov, M., Morelli, E., Sonmez, F.... (2016) Impaired Amino Acid Transport at the Blood Brain Barrier Is a Cause of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Cell, 167(6), 1481-2147483647. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.11.013
- December 20, 2016
- 08:19 AM
- 336 views
Poking holes into membranes to label proteins for live imaging
by Gal Haimovich in Green Fluorescent Blog
There are two major way to label inner proteins, structures or organnelles for live cell imaging. The most common method is fusing the studied protein to a fluorescent protein. A second approach is the addition of labeling agents from outside the … Continue reading →... Read more »
Teng KW, Ishitsuka Y, Ren P, Youn Y, Deng X, Ge P, Belmont AS, & Selvin PR. (2016) Labeling proteins inside living cells using external fluorophores for microscopy. eLife. PMID: 27935478
- December 20, 2016
- 04:33 AM
- 376 views
Generation R does gestational vitamin D levels and autistic traits
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"Gestational vitamin D deficiency was associated with autism-related traits in a large population-based sample. Because gestational vitamin D deficiency is readily preventable with safe, cheap and accessible supplements, this candidate risk factor warrants closer scrutiny."So said the findings reported by Vinkhuyzen and colleagues [1] (open-access) reporting on data derived from "the Generation R Study, a population-based prospective cohort from fetal life onward, based in Rotterdam, The Netherl........ Read more »
Vinkhuyzen AA, Eyles DW, Burne TH, Blanken LM, Kruithof CJ, Verhulst F, Jaddoe VW, Tiemeier H, & McGrath JJ. (2016) Gestational vitamin D deficiency and autism-related traits: the Generation R Study. Molecular psychiatry. PMID: 27895322
- December 19, 2016
- 03:19 AM
- 374 views
Gut barrier integrity meets blood-brain barrier integrity with autism in mind
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"In the ASD [autism spectrum disorder] brain, there is an altered expression of genes associated with BBB [blood-brain barrier] integrity coupled with increased neuroinflammation and possibly impaired gut barrier integrity."Although pretty enthused to see research linking names like Anna Sapone, Tim Buie and Alessio Fasano in the recent paper published by Maria Fiorentino and colleagues [1] (open-access), I was slightly less impressed with the use of the term 'the ASD brain' ........ Read more »
Fiorentino, M., Sapone, A., Senger, S., Camhi, S., Kadzielski, S., Buie, T., Kelly, D., Cascella, N., & Fasano, A. (2016) Blood–brain barrier and intestinal epithelial barrier alterations in autism spectrum disorders. Molecular Autism, 7(1). DOI: 10.1186/s13229-016-0110-z
- December 18, 2016
- 05:45 AM
- 389 views
Fusion and sex in protocells & the start of evolution
by Artem Kaznatcheev in Evolutionary Games Group
In 1864, five years after reading Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, Pyotr Kropotkin — the anarchist prince of mutual aid — was leading a geographic survey expedition aboard a dog-sleigh — a distinctly Siberian variant of the HMS Beagle. In the harsh Manchurian climate, Kropotkin did not see competition ‘red in tooth and claw’, […]... Read more »
Sinai, S, Olejarz, J, Neagu, IA, & Nowak, MA. (2016) Primordial Sex Facilitates the Emergence of Evolution. arXiv. arXiv: 1612.00825v1
- December 17, 2016
- 05:51 AM
- 320 views
Pregnancy influenza infection not linked to offspring autism
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"There was no association between maternal influenza [flu] infection anytime during pregnancy and increased ASD [autism spectrum disorder] risk."So said the findings reported by Ousseny Zerbo and colleagues [1] continuing a research theme from this author (see here for example) looking at how various infections 'encountered' during critical periods of pregnancy may / may not impact on offspring autism risk. This time around the focus was on viral infections and in partic........ Read more »
Zerbo O, Qian Y, Yoshida C, Fireman BH, Klein NP, & Croen LA. (2016) Association Between Influenza Infection and Vaccination During Pregnancy and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder. JAMA pediatrics. PMID: 27893896
- December 16, 2016
- 05:25 AM
- 302 views
Patient participation in clinical trials
by Joana Guedes in BHD Research Blog
Clinical trials are crucial to help doctors and scientists understand how to safely treat a particular condition, to evaluate new treatments and to test drug safety and efficacy. They have an important role in every step of managing a condition with different clinical trials helping with prevention, diagnosis, treatments and follow-up support.... Read more »
Moorcraft SY, Marriott C, Peckitt C, Cunningham D, Chau I, Starling N, Watkins D, & Rao S. (2016) Patients' willingness to participate in clinical trials and their views on aspects of cancer research: results of a prospective patient survey. Trials, 17. PMID: 26745891
- December 16, 2016
- 05:00 AM
- 305 views
Friday Fellow: Common Stonewort
by Piter Boll in Earthling Nature
by Piter Kehoma Boll It’s always hard to introduce a less charismatic species here. Not because they are less interesting to me, but because I cannot find good information available. But I try to do my best to show all … Continue reading →... Read more »
Ariosa, Y., Quesada, A., Aburto, J., Carrasco, D., Carreres, R., Leganes, F., & Fernandez Valiente, E. (2004) Epiphytic Cyanobacteria on Chara vulgaris Are the Main Contributors to N2 Fixation in Rice Fields. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 70(9), 5391-5397. DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.9.5391-5397.2004
- December 16, 2016
- 03:16 AM
- 313 views
Non-febrile seizures in children with autism vs unaffected siblings
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"Children with idiopathic ASD [autism spectrum disorder] are significantly more likely to have non-febrile seizures than their unaffected siblings, suggesting that non-febrile seizures may be ASD-specific."So said the findings from Lena McCue and colleagues [1] (open-access) continuing a research theme looking at one of the important 'comorbidities' that seems to be over-represented when it comes to a diagnosis of autism (see here). Idiopathic autism or ASD refers to autism as the........ Read more »
McCue, L., Flick, L., Twyman, K., Xian, H., & Conturo, T. (2016) Prevalence of non-febrile seizures in children with idiopathic autism spectrum disorder and their unaffected siblings: a retrospective cohort study. BMC Neurology, 16(1). DOI: 10.1186/s12883-016-0764-3
- December 15, 2016
- 02:59 AM
- 364 views
ADHD, not autism, might count when it comes to 'comorbid psychiatric symptomatology'
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
A quote to begin this fairly brief post: "Our study concluded that higher levels of ADHD [attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder] severity-not ASD [autism spectrum disorder] severity-were associated with a higher prevalence of comorbid psychiatric symptomatology in school-age children with ASD. These findings may encourage clinicians to thoroughly assess ADHD symptomatology in ASD children to better inform treatment planning."That was the research bottom line reported by Ro........ Read more »
Mansour R, Dovi AT, Lane DM, Loveland KA, & Pearson DA. (2016) ADHD severity as it relates to comorbid psychiatric symptomatology in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Research in developmental disabilities, 52-64. PMID: 27889487
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