PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Research breakthrough on male infertility

Monash researchers have discovered a small set of genes responsible for unravelling the secrets of male infertility

2011-05-13
(Press-News.org) Around one in 20 men is infertile, but despite the best efforts of scientists, in many cases the underlying causes of infertility have remained a mystery.

New findings by a team of Australian and Swedish researchers, however, will go a long way towards explaining this mystery.

According to their research published in Science this week, a small set of genes located within the power-plants of our cells – the mitochondria – are crucial to unravelling the secrets of male infertility.

Most of our genes are subjected to a rigorous quality-control process that prevents harmful mutations from freely accumulating within the gene pools of most species. If nasty mutations appear, then the individuals that harbor these mutations tend to do very poorly when it comes to reproducing and surviving, and hence these mutations are kept at low levels within the general population. But while this vital screening process works well for most of our genes, it is prone to breaking down in the set of genes housed inside of the mitochondria.

Lead researcher, Dr Damian Dowling, of Monash University, Australia, explains that mitochondrial genes are unusual because they are passed only from mother to child.

"This seemingly trivial fact actually has an enormous consequence for males. It means that mutations in the mitochondria can slip through the quality control checks unnoticed and therefore build up to high levels, if these mutations are harmful in their effects on males but not on females. This is because all of the screening of mitochondrial mutations is done in females as a result of their maternal inheritance," Dr Dowling said.

Dr Dowling and research colleagues Paolo Innocenti and Ted Morrow of Uppsala University, Sweden, have presented compelling evidence for this process in action in the common fruit fly.

Their studies show that the particular set of mitochondrial genes an individual harbours has major effects on the expression of about 10 per cent of all the other genes inside of males, but virtually no effect on females. Crucially, the genes that are most affected in males are expressed almost exclusively in the male reproductive organs and associated with male fertility.

"What our results suggest is that the mitochondria have inadvertently evolved to be bad for males, but good for females, as a by-product of their maternal transmission. This might well put the sexes in conflict when it comes to the question of which mitochondrial genes should be passed on to future generations," Dr Dowling said.

"While medical practitioners have a fairly good idea that certain mitochondrial mutations can bring about male infertility, the evolutionary process that we uncover actually suggests that the mitochondria might well harbor very many unidentified mutations, all of which could contribute to the problem of male infertility. At the very least, our results should therefore provide a road-map of where we should be looking for these mutations."

### END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Sound safety

Sound safety
2011-05-13
Engineers investigating "listener fatigue"-- the discomfort and pain some people experience while using in-ear headphones, hearing aids, and other devices that seal the ear canal from external sound -- have found not only what they believe is the cause, but also a potential solution. In two separate papers and a presentation at the 130th Audio Engineering Society convention in London on May 14th, 2011, Stephen Ambrose, Robert Schulein and Samuel Gido of Asius Technologies of Longmont, Colo., describe how sealing a speaker in the ear canal dramatically boosts sound pressures ...

Chiropractic manipulation results in little or no risk of chest injury

2011-05-13
Lombard, IL, May 13, 2011 – Dynamic chest compression occurs during spinal manipulation. While dynamic chest compression has been well studied in events such as motor vehicle collisions, chest compression forces have not been studied during chiropractic manipulation. In a study published online today in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, researchers quantified and analyzed the magnitude of chest compressions during typical as well as maximum chiropractic manipulation and have found them to be well under the threshold for injury. "Results from ...

Small Iowa Driver's Rights Cards Make BIG Impact On OWI Stops

Small Iowa Drivers Rights Cards Make BIG Impact On OWI Stops
2011-05-13
The Iowa Driver's Rights Cards are small, but they are making a BIG impact on a person's preservation and protection of their Constitutional and Statutory Rights, the evidence obtained during an investigation and the final outcome if charges are filed. What are Iowa Driver's Rights Cards? The Iowa Driver's Rights Cards, developed by the attorneys at Gourley, Rehkemper & Lindholm, PLC (GRL Law) of Des Moines, Iowa, are two cards: one card for your key chain with GRL's 24x7 telephone number on it, and the other card to hand to a police officer investigating you as ...

Elevated protein levels in cardiac muscles could predict mortality following angioplasty

2011-05-13
New research shows that elevated levels of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) or I (cTnI) in patients who had angioplasty indicate a higher risk of all-cause mortality and long-term adverse events such as heart attack. Routine monitoring of these protein levels following nonemergent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) could improve long-term outcomes for these patients. Details of the analysis are available online in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions, a peer-reviewed journal of The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI). More than ...

Doctors' decisions on initial hospital admissions may affect readmission rates

2011-05-13
Researchers compared hospitalization rates and rehospitalization rates of patients admitted for heart attack and for heart failure. Heart attack admissions are considered non-discretionary, whereas, heart failure admissions are considered more discretionary. Hospitalization after heart attack is mandated in treatment guidelines, so physicians have little or no room for discretionary decisions. Researchers examined Medicare claims data in 306 regions between 2007 and 2009. The results showed no relationship between heart attack hospitalization rates and readmission rates. ...

Study finds pigs susceptible to virulent ebolavirus can transmit the virus to other animals

2011-05-13
[EMBARGOED FOR MAY 13, 2011] Canadian investigators have shown that a species of ebolavirus from Zaire that is highly virulent in humans can replicate in pigs, cause disease, and be transmitted to animals previously unexposed to the virus. The findings are published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases and are now available online. (Please see below for a link to the embargoed study online.) In order to prevent human outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever, it is important to identify animal species that replicate and transmit the virus to other animals and, potentially, ...

Be specific: Perceived media bias can lead to political action

2011-05-13
Politicians should be careful when they rail against mainstream news media. A study from North Carolina State University shows that perceived bias of media outlets can lead to increased political engagement – but only on specific issues. When there is a general perception of bias in the news media it actually results in increased apathy among citizens. "With this study, we wanted to see whether people's perception of media bias affected their political participation, beyond voting," says Dr. Andrew Binder, an assistant professor of communication at NC State and co-author ...

A giant interneuron for sparse coding

A giant interneuron for sparse coding
2011-05-13
The brain is a coding machine: it translates physical inputs from the world into visual, olfactory, auditory, tactile perceptions via the mysterious language of its nerve cells and the networks which they form. Neural codes could in principle take many forms, but in regions forming bottlenecks for information flow (e.g., the optic nerve) or in areas important for memory, sparse codes are highly desirable. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt have now discovered a single neuron in the brain of locusts that enables the adaptive regulation ...

Accenture, CSC, and Other World-Class Companies Are Winners at the 12th Annual CorpU Awards for Corporate Learning Organizations

2011-05-13
The Corporate University Xchange Awards for Excellence and Innovation in Corporate Learning salute corporate and government learning organizations that create exciting, impactful programs resulting in measurable improvements in employee and business performance. Since 1999, these independently judged awards have set the standard for corporate learning. "These corporate learning organizations are key to the realization of business strategy," said Peter McAteer, CEO of CorpU. "Winning these awards is an added indicator of their success." The presentations ...

Livestock also suffer traffic accidents during transport

Livestock also suffer traffic accidents during transport
2011-05-13
A Spanish study has analysed traffic accidents involving cattle being transported for human consumption in the country for the first time. Despite the "relatively" low mortality rate, animals suffer high-risk situations that cause pain and stress. The scientists say that specific protocols for action are needed with regard to these accidents, and to prepare the emergency services to deal with them. Most of the 86 lorry accidents identified from 2000 to 2009 in Spain involved the transportation of pigs (57%), followed by cattle (30%), chickens (8%), and sheep (5%). Despite ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Call for papers: 14th Asia-Pacific Conference on Transportation and the Environment (APTE 2025)

A novel disturbance rejection optimal guidance method for enhancing precision landing performance of reusable rockets

New scan method unveils lung function secrets

Searching for hidden medieval stories from the island of the Sagas

Breakthrough study reveals bumetanide treatment restores early social communication in fragile X syndrome mouse model

Neuroscience leader reveals oxytocin's crucial role beyond the 'love hormone' label

Twelve questions to ask your doctor for better brain health in the new year

Microelectronics Science Research Centers to lead charge on next-generation designs and prototypes

Study identifies genetic cause for yellow nail syndrome

New drug to prevent migraine may start working right away

Good news for people with MS: COVID-19 infection not tied to worsening symptoms

Department of Energy announces $179 million for Microelectronics Science Research Centers

Human-related activities continue to threaten global climate and productivity

Public shows greater acceptance of RSV vaccine as vaccine hesitancy appears to have plateaued

Unraveling the power and influence of language

Gene editing tool reduces Alzheimer’s plaque precursor in mice

TNF inhibitors prevent complications in kids with Crohn's disease, recommended as first-line therapies

Twisted Edison: Bright, elliptically polarized incandescent light

Structural cell protein also directly regulates gene transcription

Breaking boundaries: Researchers isolate quantum coherence in classical light systems

Brain map clarifies neuronal connectivity behind motor function

Researchers find compromised indoor air in homes following Marshall Fire

Months after Colorado's Marshall Fire, residents of surviving homes reported health symptoms, poor air quality

Identification of chemical constituents and blood-absorbed components of Shenqi Fuzheng extract based on UPLC-triple-TOF/MS technology

'Glass fences' hinder Japanese female faculty in international research, study finds

Vector winds forecast by numerical weather prediction models still in need of optimization

New research identifies key cellular mechanism driving Alzheimer’s disease

Trends in buprenorphine dispensing among adolescents and young adults in the US

Emergency department physicians vary widely in their likelihood of hospitalizing a patient, even within the same facility

Firearm and motor vehicle pediatric deaths— intersections of age, sex, race, and ethnicity

[Press-News.org] Research breakthrough on male infertility
Monash researchers have discovered a small set of genes responsible for unravelling the secrets of male infertility