Biologist Trying To Crack Communication Code Of Proteins:
"Proteins interact; they 'talk' to each other," the associate professor says. "It's how they know what to do, and it's how most of the things that need to happen for living organisms get done."
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"To begin understanding how proteins talk, we first made random mutations--we broke things and then asked what happened," Larsen says. "That strategy worked well and allowed us to identify the key 'words.' Now we want to know what the 'words' mean, and we are starting by asking what happens when we mix the 'dialects.'
"It's genetic tinker toys," and an area, he adds, in which BGSU doctoral student Kerry Brinkman is "breaking new ground."
Researchers Find Nicotine Withdrawal Begins Quickly:
Smokers who have tried to quit are well aware of the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal: cravings for cigarettes, mood disturbances, appetite increase and sleep problems. However, it had not previously been known when withdrawal symptoms first appear. Thomas H. Brandon, Ph.D., Director of H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute's Tobacco Research & Intervention Program and his research team from Moffitt and the University of South Florida study examined this and found that within 30 minutes, the abstaining smokers reported greater cravings for cigarettes.
Loss Of Just One Species Makes Big Difference In Freshwater Ecosystem, Study Finds
Researchers at Dartmouth, Cornell University, and the University of Wyoming have learned that the removal of just one important species in a freshwater ecosystem can seriously disrupt how that environment functions. This finding contradicts earlier notions that other species can jump in and compensate for the loss.
Study Provides New Insights Into Brain Organization:
A study by Newcastle University and the International University Bremen, Germany, debunked a prevailing theory that the nervous system should have mainly very short nerve fibre connections between nerve cells, or neurons, to function at its most effective.
Instead the study, which carried out a sophisticated computer analysis of public databases containing detailed information of worldwide anatomical studies on primate and worm brains, found that long nerve fibre connections were just as vital to overall brain function as short ones.
Alcohol Increases Sleep Intensity In Young Women
While numerous studies have linked alcohol abuse to sleep disruption, especially in males, there has been little research on alcohol and its effects on sleep in females. Now, a new study shows that a moderate amount of alcohol, taken before bed, can impact the quality of sleep for young women.
"We found that a moderate dose of alcohol consumed by a young woman an hour before bed is associated with increased sleep intensity in the first couple hours of the sleep episode," says author Mary A. Carskadon, PhD, with the Bradley Hospital Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory and Brown Medical School.
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"Whether this sleep pattern is beneficial or harmful is unknown at this point. Although it may signal an initial consolidation of sleep, it might also be associated with difficulty waking in the event of an emergent problem, such as a fire or medical emergency," says author Eliza Van Reen, a psychology graduate student at Brown University.
Human Version Of 'Mad Cow' Disease Might Be Spread Via The Reuse Of Surgical Instruments, Study Suggests:
A study published in the online edition of the Journal of the Royal Society Interface has been exploring the likelihood that variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease might be spread via the reuse of surgical instruments, and calls for more data in order to allay fears over the possible transmission of vCJD.
Completed Genome Set To Transform The Cow:
The ability of scientists to improve health and disease management of cattle and enhance the nutritional value of beef and dairy products has received a major boost with the release this week of the most complete sequence of the cow genome ever assembled.
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