New research published today in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Genomics reveals that the Malaysian parasitic plant Rafflesia cantleyi, with its 50cm diameter flowers, has 'stolen' genes from its host Tetrastigma rafflesiae. Analysis of these genes shows that their functions range from respiration to metabolism, and that some of them have even replaced the parasites own gene activity. Vertical gene transfer is that between parents and their offspring, while horizontal gene transfer is the movement of genes between two different organisms. Bacteria use horizontal ...

A bioinspired robot has provided the first experimental evidence that live zebrafish can be influenced by engineered robots. Results published today, 8 June, in IOP Publishing's journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, provide a stepping stone on the path to using autonomous robots in an open environment to monitor and control fish behaviour. In the future, water-based robots could potentially contribute to the protection of endangered animals and the control of pest species. The robot, created by researchers from Polytechnic Institute of New York University and ...

In exploring how proteins interact with crucial DNA sequences to regulate gene activity, researchers have shed light on key biological events that may eventually be manipulated to provide new disease treatments. Within a cell's nucleus, regulatory elements in DNA called promoters and enhancers communicate with each other in carrying out gene activity, often over large genomic distances, hundreds of thousands of chemical bases apart from each other in chromosomes. As these elements physically contact each other, the intervening DNA sequences bend into loops made of chromatin ...

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute have, for the first time, determined the function of a series proteins within the mosquito that transduce a signal that enables the mosquito to fight off infection from the parasite that causes malaria in humans. Together, these proteins are known as immune deficiency (Imd) pathway signal transducing factors, are analogous to an electrical circuit. As each factor is switched on or off it triggers or inhibits the next, finally leading to the launch of an immune response against the malaria parasite. The study was ...

In a critical step that may lead to more effective HIV treatments, Harvard scientists have found that, in a small number of HIV patients, pre-existing mutations in the virus can cause it to develop resistance to the drugs used to slow the progression of the disease. The finding is particularly important because, while researchers have long known HIV can develop resistance to some drugs, it wasn't understood whether the virus relied on pre-existing mutations to develop the resistance, or if it has to wait for those mutations to occur. By shedding new light on how resistance ...

The effectiveness of spinal manipulation divides medical opinion. On bmj.com today, experts debate whether spinal manipulation for neck pain should be abandoned. Spinal manipulation is a technique that involves the application of various types of thrusts to the lumbar spine (lower back) or cervical spine (neck) to reduce back pain, neck pain and other musculoskeletal conditions. Neil O'Connell and colleagues argue that cervical spine manipulation "may carry the potential for serious neurovascular complications" and that the technique is "unnecessary and inadvisable." ...

Millions of people suffering from pre-diabetes may be at a higher risk of stroke, a study published on bmj.com today suggests. Pre-diabetes is characterised by higher than normal blood glucose levels that, if left untreated, develops into type 2 diabetes. The scale of the problem is enormous and growing, with an estimated 79 million people in the US and 7 million people in the UK affected. People with pre-diabetes also harbour the same vascular risk factors as people with type 2 diabetes, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity, but its effect on ...

GAITHERSBURG, MD, June 7 – As one of the few probiotics with medical food designation for specific illnesses, VSL#3® has been the subject of a collection of more than 80 studies that have demonstrated its use in the dietary management of IBS, ulcerative colitis, and an ileal pouch. Ulcerative colitis patients, in particular, have been shown to benefit from adding VSL#3 medical food to their prescription drug regimen. One particular study shows that the combination of VSL#3 and traditional drug therapy can improve remission rates over drug therapy alone by 10 to 17 percent, ...

Berlin, Germany, June 7 2012: Initial results from an international, investigator-initiated, open label phase III trial were presented at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism. Data indicate that haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) results in better long term survival than conventional treatment for patients with poor prognosis early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis. The ASTIS (Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation International Scleroderma) trial enrolled more than 150 patients between 2001 and 2009, and randomised ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Using a new and powerful approach to understand the origins of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida are building the case that these diseases are primarily caused by genes that are too active or not active enough, rather than by harmful gene mutations. In the June 7 online issue of PLoS Genetics, they report that several hundred genes within almost 800 brain samples of patients with Alzheimer's disease or other disorders had altered expression levels that did not result from neurodegeneration. ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (June 7, 2012) - For patients undergoing surgery for spinal stenosis, the risk of complications is higher when the surgeon performs very few such procedures—less than four per year, suggests a study in the June issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. In contrast, the complication rate is not significantly affected by the volume of spinal stenosis surgeries performed at the hospital, according to the new research. The senior ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Regular meditation could decrease the risk of developing cardiovascular disease in teens who are most at risk, according to Georgia Health Sciences University researchers. In a study of 62 black teens with high blood pressure, those who meditated twice a day for 15 minutes had lower left ventricular mass, an indicator of future cardiovascular disease, than a control group, said Dr. Vernon Barnes, a physiologist in the Medical College of Georgia and the Georgia Health Sciences University Institute of Public and Preventive Health. Barnes, Dr. Gaston Kapuku, ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) — Military body armor and vehicle and aircraft frames could be transformed by incorporating the unique structure of the club-like arm of a crustacean that looks like an armored caterpillar, according to findings by a team of researchers at the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering and elsewhere published online today, June 7, in the journal Science. The bright orange fist-like club of the mantis shrimp, or stomatopod, a 4-inch long crustacean found in tropical waters, accelerates underwater faster than a 22-caliber ...

A new study finds that Caribbean seaweeds are far better competitors than their equivalents in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. But this triumph is bad news for Caribbean coral reefs. The picture-postcard beauty of Caribbean reefs owes much to the living corals that build reefs and contribute startling white sand to beaches. Coral reefs might seem to be tranquil environment but in fact a battle is constantly waged between corals and seaweeds that fight over space. Scientists have known for some time that seaweeds can gain the upper hand if corals are damaged by hurricanes ...

Not only in the Dolomites, but throughout the world dolomite is quite common. More than 90 percent of dolomite is made up of the mineral dolomite. It was first described scientifically in the 18th century. But who would have thought that the formation of this mineral is still not fully understood, although geologists are aware of large deposits of directly formed (primary) dolomite from the past 600 million years. The process of recent primary dolomite formation is restricted to extreme ecosystems such as bacterial mats in highly saline lakes and lagoons. "As these systems ...

With simple arguments, researchers show that nature is complicated! Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have made a simple experiment that demonstrates that nature violates common sense – the world is different than most people believe. The experiment illustrates that light does not behave according to the principles of classical physics, but that light has quantum mechanical properties. The new method could be used to study whether other systems behave quantum mechanically. The results have been published in the scientific journal, Physical Review Letters. In physics ...

Western economies displayed the same kind of manic behaviour as psychologically disturbed individuals in the run up to the 2008 credit crisis -- and it could happen again, according to a new study. Bankers, economists and politicians shared a "manic culture" of denial, omnipotence and triumphalism as they threw caution to the wind, says Professor Mark Stein, the award-winning academic from the University of Leicester School of Management. Observing - but not heeding - the warning signs from the collapse of the Japanese economy in 1991 and the 1998 crisis in south-east ...

A study led by Karolinska Institutet in Sweden reports for the first time the positive effects of an active vaccine against Alzheimer's disease. The new vaccine, CAD106, can prove a breakthrough in the search for a cure for this seriously debilitating dementia disease. The study is published in the distinguished scientific journal Lancet Neurology. Alzheimer's disease is a complex neurological dementia disease that is the cause of much human suffering and a great cost to society. According to the World Health Organisation, dementia is the fastest growing global health ...

WASHINGTON -- Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Electronics Science and Technology Division, dive into underwater photovoltaic research to develop high bandgap solar cells capable of producing sufficient power to operate electronic sensor systems at depths of 9 meters. Underwater autonomous systems and sensor platforms are severely limited by the lack of long endurance power sources. To date, these systems must rely on on-shore power, batteries or solar power supplied by an above water platform. Attempts to use photovoltaics have had limited success, ...

A synthetic compound long known to exhibit interesting transition properties may hold the key to new, non-magnetic forms of information storage, say researchers at the RIKEN SPring-8 Center and their collaborators. The team's latest findings shed light on the complex relationship between a compound's electron spin arrangement and its transport properties, an area researchers have long struggled to understand. The metal-insulator transition (MIT) is a phenomenon in which certain (electricity-conducting) metals make a sudden transition to become a (non-conducting) insulator ...

Dr. Allen Castle, Lexington dentist, is now offering a mobile version of his practice's comprehensive dental website. The new site is designed specifically to function smoothly on mobile and tablet devices. "Today, more and more people are using their phones to access the Internet. I am happy that our practice has gone along with this trend and made it easy for patients to access our site on their mobile devices. I hope all of our patients will take some time to check out our mobile site," said Dr. Castle, Lexington cosmetic dentist. Within the past few ...

Dr. John Sexton, Delaware dentist, is excited to offer an incentive for his patients to refer new patients to his practice. For every new patient that gets referred, Dr. Sexton will provide a $25 gift card to a local establishment. "I am always excited about welcoming new patients to our practice. I believe we offer a tremendous level of service here and new patients will decide to stay with us for a long time. I hope this incentive helps us to bring many new patients into our practice," said Dr. Sexton, dentist in Delaware, OH. New patients can find a ...

In today's competitive, high tech world, businesses rely on technology to facilitate their daily operations. Communications, storage of information, security functions, and more are all controlled through high-tech networks. It is therefore essential that businesses have their phone systems, voice data networks, and other communications infrastructure installed by a professional, qualified company. Telmart's new website is designed to address these needs. Their website provides information regarding the company's many services, all of which are related to the safety ...

With the installation of a new, state-of-the-art i-CAT Precise imaging machine, Dr. Michael Hrankowski and Edmonds Woodway Dental Care are offering, to the first eight people who call, a free CAT Scan and Dental Implant Consultation, a $350 value, on Friday, June 22. With the installation of a new, state-of-the-art i-CAT Precise imaging machine, Dr. Michael Hrankowski and Edmonds Woodway Dental Care are offering to the first eight people who call a free CAT Scan and Dental Implant Consultation, a $350 value, on Friday, June 22. "It is rare that a general dental ...

Crazy Vegas Casino prides itself on its generous assortment of games on offer for players to choose from. This June, they are adding flavour to the game pot with three exciting new games. With two Instant Play games, and one available on download, players can get caught up in the gaming adventure with mouth watering graphics, fantastic features and captivating themes. Untamed- Giant Panda - Following on from the Untamed - Bengal Tiger series, this game tracks the endangered Giant Panda through his bamboo laden habitat. The secret to the majesty of this beautiful beast ...