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Biology
Key: Meeting Journal Funder Dissertation
Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Science
Saving the single cysteine: New antioxidant system found
We've all read studies about the health benefits of having a life partner. The same thing is true at the molecular level, where amino acids known as cysteines are much more vulnerable to damage when single than when paired up with other cysteines.

Contact: Nancy Ross-Flanigan
rossflan@umich.edu
734-647-1853
University of Michigan

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Genetics
It's a gas: New discovery may lead to heartier, high-yielding plants
In a research report in the November 2009 journal Genetics, scientists show how a family of genes (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase, or ACS genes), in the weed Arabidopsis thaliana, are responsible for production of ethylene. This gas affects many aspects of plant development, and this information, which will be applicable to other plants, lays the foundation for future genetic manipulation that could make plants disease resistant, able to survive and thrive in difficult terrain, and increase yields.

Contact: Tracey DePellegrin Connelly
td2p@andrew.cmu.edu
412-268-1812
Genetics Society of America

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
International expedition investigates climate change, alternative fuels in Arctic
NRL marine biogeochemistry and geology and geophysics scientists return from Arctic expedition exploring methane hydrate deposits in the Beaufort Sea and spatial variation of sediment contribution to Arctic climate change.

Contact: Daniel Parry
nrlpao@nrl.navy.mil
202-767-2541
Naval Research Laboratory

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
PLoS Genetics
Genetic analysis helps dissect molecular basis of cardiovascular disease
Using highly precise measurements of plasma lipoprotein concentrations determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, researchers performed genetic association analysis across the whole genome among 17,296 women of European ancestry. This large scale analysis of the effects of common genetic variation on plasma lipoprotein profile, a critical component of cardiovascular risk, identified 43 genetic loci contributing to lipoprotein metabolism. The findings are published on Nov. 20 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.

Contact: Tamsin Milewicz
press@plos.org
44-122-346-3339
Public Library of Science

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Researchers identify role of gene in tumor development, growth and progression
Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine researchers have identified a gene that may play a pivotal role in two processes that are essential for tumor development, growth and progression to metastasis.

Contact: Sathya Achia Abraham
sbachia@vcu.edu
804-827-0890
Virginia Commonwealth University

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Just like old times: Generating RNA molecules in water
A key question in the origin of biological molecules like RNA and DNA is how they first came together billions of years ago from simple precursors. Now, in a study appearing in this week's JBC, researchers in Italy have reconstructed one of the earliest evolutionary steps yet: generating long chains of RNA from individual subunits using nothing but warm water.

Contact: Nick Zagorski
nzagorski@asbmb.org
301-634-7366
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Conference
From toxic dust and algae to ill winds from Africa
Media tipsheet on USGS scientific presentations at SETAC conference, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
US Geological Survey

Contact: Kara Capelli
kcapelli@usgs.gov
703-648-5086
United States Geological Survey

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Occupational Medicine
Barn personnel experience higher-than-average rates of respiratory symptoms
The estimated 4.6 million Americans involved in the equine industry may be at risk of developing respiratory symptoms due to poor air quality in horse barns, according to a questionnaire study undertaken earlier this year by investigators at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.
National Institutes of Health

Contact: Tom Keppeler
508-839-7910
Tufts University, Health Sciences

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Circulation Research
Carvedilol shown to have unique characteristics among beta blockers
In a new study, researchers report that a class of heart medications called beta-blockers can have a helpful, or harmful, effect on the heart, depending on their molecular activity.

Contact: William Gillespie
gillespi@illinois.edu
217-265-0722
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Flax and yellow flowers can produce bioethanol
Surplus biomass from the production of flax sheaves, and generated from Brassica carinata, a yellow-flowered plant related to those which engulf fields in spring, can be used to produce bioethanol. This has been suggested by two studies carried out by Spanish and Dutch researchers and published in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.

Contact: SINC
info@plataformasinc.es
34-914-251-820
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Science
Biologists discover bacterial defense mechanism against aggressive oxygen
Bacteria possess an ingenious mechanism for preventing oxygen from harming the building blocks of the cell. This is the new finding of a team of biologists that includes Joris Messens of VIB, a life sciences research institute in Flanders, Belgium, connected to the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Catholic University of Leuven

Contact: Joris Gansemans
joris.gansemans@vib.be
32-472-594-067
VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Journal of Clinical Investigation
Discovery of new type of immune cells regulating inflammation in chronic diseases
Scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen and the Center of Allergy and Environment of Technische Universitaet Muenchen have discovered a new type of immune cells -- the Th22 cells -- which can protect the body against inflammation and aid in tissue repair.

Contact: Sven Winkler
presse@helmholtz-muenchen.de
49-089-318-73946
Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Delft breakthrough in bioethanol production from agricultural waste
With the introduction of a single bacterial gene into yeast, researchers from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands achieved three improvements in bioethanol production from agricultural waste material: "More ethanol, less acetate and elimination of the major by-product glycerol." This week the invention was published in the scientific journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Contact: Ineke Boneschansker
i.boneschansker@tudelft.nl
31-152-788-499
Delft University of Technology

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Biological Psychiatry
Possible link studied between childhood abuse and early cellular aging
Researchers from Brown University and Butler Hospital have determined that children who suffer physical or emotional abuse may be faced with accelerated cellular aging as adults. The findings are published online in the journal Biological Psychiatry. A print version of the article is also expected.
NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders

Contact: Mark Hollmer
Mark_Hollmer@brown.edu
401-863-1862
Brown University

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Researchers begin to decipher metabolism of sexual assault drug
It's a naturally occurring brain chemical with an unwieldy name: 4-hydroxybutyrate (4-HB). Taken by mouth, it can be abused or used as a date-rape drug.

Now, a team of Ohio and Michigan scientists have determined new routes by which 4-HB is metabolized by the body. "This is new and important information," said K. Michael Gibson, professor and chair of biological sciences at Michigan Technological University and a member of the research team.
National Institutes of Health, Cleveland Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation

Contact: Jennifer Donovan
jdonovan@mtu.edu
906-487-4521
Michigan Technological University

Public Release: 20-Nov-2009
American Journal of Medicine
Projections of savings from health IT are baseless, Harvard researchers say
The increased computerization in US hospitals hasn't made them cheaper or more efficient, Harvard researchers say, although it may have modestly improved the quality of care for heart attacks. The findings contradict claims by President Obama and many lawmakers that health information technology, including electronic medical records, will save billions and help make reform affordable. The study uses data from the most extensive survey ever undertaken of hospital computerization.

Contact: Mark Almberg
mark@pnhp.org
312-782-6006
Physicians for a National Health Program

Public Release: 19-Nov-2009
Science
Sweet corn story begins in UW-Madison lab
This week, scientists are revealing the genetic instructions inside corn, one of the big three cereal crops. Corn, or maize, has one of the most complex sequences of DNA ever analyzed, says University of Wisconsin-Madison genomicist David Schwartz, who was one of more than 100 authors in the article in the journal Science.

Contact: David C. Schwartz
dcschwartz@wisc.edu
608-265-0546
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Public Release: 19-Nov-2009
Science
Like humans, ants use bacteria to make their gardens grow
Leaf-cutter ants, which cultivate fungus for food, have many remarkable qualities.
US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation

Contact: Cameron Currie
currie@bact.wisc.edu
608-265-8034
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Public Release: 19-Nov-2009
Science
After mastodons and mammoths, a transformed landscape
Roughly 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, North America's vast assemblage of large animals -- including such iconic creatures as mammoths, mastodons, camels, horses, ground sloths and giant beavers -- began their precipitous slide to extinction.
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, National Science Foundation

Contact: John Williams
jww@geography.wisc.edu
608-265-5537
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Public Release: 19-Nov-2009
PLoS Pathogens
Researchers find new piece of BSE puzzle
A new treatment route for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and its human form Creutzfeldt Jakob disease could be a step closer based on new results from scientists at the University of Leeds. The team has found that a protein called Glypican-1 plays a key role in the development of BSE. Details are published Nov. 20 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.

Contact: Jo Kelly
jokelly@campuspr.co.uk
44-113-258-9880
Public Library of Science

Public Release: 19-Nov-2009
Science
Amaizing: Corn genome decoded
In recent years, scientists have decoded the DNA of humans and a menagerie of creatures but none with genes as complex as a stalk of corn, the latest genome to be unraveled. A team of scientists led by the Genome Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis published the completed corn genome in the Nov. 20 journal Science, an accomplishment that will speed efforts to develop better crop varieties to meet the world's growing demands for food, livestock feed and fuel.
National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture, US Department of Energy

Contact: Caroline Arbanas
arbanasc@wustl.edu
314-286-0109
Washington University School of Medicine

Public Release: 19-Nov-2009
Science
ISU's Plant Sciences Institute researchers provide understanding to maize genome sequence
Iowa State University Plant Sciences Institute researchers contributed to the raw data assembly and much of the ongoing functional analysis work for this multi-institutional, $32 million, National Science Foundation-funded effort to sequence the maize genome.
National Science Foundation

Contact: Meg Gordon
mbgordon@iastate.edu
515-294-3945
Iowa State University

Public Release: 19-Nov-2009
Science
Waking up memories while you sleep
They were in a deep sleep, yet sounds, such as a teakettle whistle, somehow penetrated their slumber. The 25 sounds were reminders of earlier spatial learning, though the Northwestern University research participants were unaware of the sounds as they slept. Yet, upon waking, memory tests showed that spatial memories had changed. "We are beginning to see that deep sleep actually is a key time for memory processing," said Ken Paller, professor of psychology at Northwestern.

Contact: Pat Vaughan Tremmel
p-tremmel@northwestern.edu
847-491-4892
Northwestern University

Public Release: 19-Nov-2009
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
An intervention that can reduce hostile perceptions in children with prenatal alcohol exposure
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) has been linked to significant impairments in social skills. Researchers have found that a social- skills intervention called Children's Friendship Training can lead to a decrease in hostile attributions or perceptions of children with PAE.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Contact: Vivien Keil, Ph.D.
vkeil29@gmail.com
949-837-3358
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research

Public Release: 19-Nov-2009
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
Examining mathematical abilities in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) have a number of cognitive deficits. Mathematical ability seems particularly damaged in children with FASD. A new study supports the importance of the left parietal area for mathematical abilities in children with FASD.
Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network

Contact: Catherine Lebel, B.Sc.
catherine.lebel@ualberta.ca
780-492-8098
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research