An important new step in the mechanism used by bacteria to evade our immune system has been characterized. It is an 'invisibility cloak' which means that bacteria like Haemophilus influenzae, a common cause of ear infections in children, can move about the body without the risk of being attacked by the immune system.
For quite some time now, scientists suspected the so-called hexosamine pathway -- a small side business of the main sugar processing enterprise inside a cell -- to be involved in the development of insulin resistance. But they could never quite put their finger on the underlying mechanism. Now, researchers have uncovered the long-missing molecular link: the enzyme OGT, the last in a line of enzymes that shuttle sugars through the hexosamine pathway.
NASA has selected a proposal by an MIT-led team to develop plans for an array of radio telescopes on the far side of the moon that would probe the earliest formation of the basic structures of the universe.
Drug treatments for depression can take many weeks for the beneficial effects to emerge. The excruciating and disabling nature of depression highlights the urgency of developing treatments that act more rapidly. Ketamine, a drug used in general medicine as an anesthetic, has recently been shown to produce improvements in depressed patients within hours of administration. A new study provides some new insight into the mechanisms by which ketamine exerts its effects.
Protected forest strips buffering rivers and streams of the Amazon rainforest should be significantly wider than the current legal requirement, according to new research. Brazilian forestry legislation currently requires that all forest strips alongside rivers and streams on private land be maintained as permanent reserves and it sets a minimum legal width of 60m. But after investigating the effects of corridor width on the number of bird and mammal species, researchers say a minimum critical width of 400m is necessary.
One day they are crawling, the next day they are driving and then suddenly they aren't kids anymore. As children reach adulthood, the parent-child relationship changes as parents learn to adapt to newly independent children. A new study explores the differences in how mothers and fathers interacted with their young adult children.
Astronomers predict that the Earth will be swallowed up by the Sun in about 7.6 billion years unless the Earth's orbit can be altered. Previous calculations had suggested that the Earth would escape ultimate destruction, although be battered and burnt to a cinder. But this did not take into account the effect of the drag caused by the outer atmosphere of the dying Sun.
Researchers have found a previously unknown molecular pathway in mice that spurs the growth of new blood vessels when body parts are jeopardized by poor circulation. At present, their observation adds to the understanding of blood vessel formation. In the future, though, the researchers suggest it is possible that the pathway could be manipulated as a means of treating heart and blood vessel diseases and cancer.
Chemists in England and the Netherlands have discovered a substance that could keep those boxes of Valentine's Day chocolates, and other goodies, looking fresher and tastier. Their finding prevents formation of unsightly white films on the outside of chocolate. Called "fat bloom," white films are actually tiny particles of crystalline fat and most often appear on the surface of chocolates that contain nut-based fillings.
A moderate level of aerobic fitness can significantly reduce stroke risk for men and women, according to a large, long-running study. About 780,000 U.S. adults suffer a stroke each year, and stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States, according to the American Stroke Association. It’s often fatal, claiming about 150,000 lives and ranking as the No. 3 cause of death.
Predatory crabs and fish are poised to return to warming Antarctic waters for the first time in millions of years, threatening the shallow marine ecosystems surrounding Antarctica. Antarctic marine communities resemble the primeval waters of millions years ago because modern predators - crabs and fish - are missing. But this is about to change. 'The crabs are on the doorstep. They are sitting in deep water only a couple of hundred bathymetric meters away from the slightly cooler shallow water in the Antarctic shelf environment.
Do apes have imagination? How do they understand pictures? A years-long study of apesperformed by a cognitive scientist shows, among other things, that it doesn't take a human brain to understand pictures as being a representation. When humans compare a picture with reality, it's often necessary to fill in information that is missing in the picture. For instance, how do we know that a person in a picture is running, as opposed to being frozen in a position?
Satellite tracking systems and acoustic sensors are giving researchers insights into the behavior and lifestyles of some very elusive animals in the ocean, including the fabled white shark.
Previtamin D3 production varies depending on several factors including skin type and weather conditions. Excessive exposure to sunlight does not result in Vitamin D intoxification because previtamin D3 and vitamin D3 are photolyzed to several photoproducts. During the winter at altitudes above approximately 35 degrees, there is minimal if any previtamin D3 production in the skin.
