Study Shows New Brains Connections Form Rapidly During Motor Learning

Researchers in California were viewing observations of mice that were strained to reach a seed through a hole. It showed a growth of structures that formed synapses between nerve cells.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2009/11/30/study_shows_new_brain_connections_form_rapidly_during_motor_learning.html

Wide Head Gives Hammerhead Shark Exceptional Stereo View

There are two schools of thought of why the Hammerhead shark's head was shaped the way it was. One being that their visual field is enhanced and another being they would have excellent depth perception due to their eyes being so wide apart. These theories were put to the test.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2009/11/30/wide_heads_give_hammerheads_exceptional_stereo_view.html

Worlds Largest Atom Smasher Breaks Power Record

The worlds largest atom smasher broke the record on Monday by firing particle beams at each other with twenty percent more power. This is essential to be help with breaking down atoms to the smallest building blocks of matter.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20091130/ap_on_hi_te/eu_big_bang_machine

Shape of Things to Come: Structure of HIV Coat Could Lead to New Drug

In the world of medicine, one of the biggest breakthroughs know in the medical world has recently been discovered at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The highly infectious sexually transmitted disease, HIV, has been the main focus of structural biologist and director Angela Gronenborn, PH.D., at the University of Pittsburgh. These structural biologist used nuclear magnetic resonance and cryoEM to see the complex proteins and to study structure of the virus. In their studies of the virus they have found vulnerable "seams" in the capsid protein which make a protective covering surrounding the genome of the virus. Knowing the structure and the weakness in the virus, scientist can start to create a therapeutic compound that will disturb the proteins. By changing the "seams"structure, "the resulting viruses are less infectious or even non-infectious," said Dr. Greenborn
The discovery of the structure of HIV could not have come at a better time in the medical world. The recent threats of the H1N1 virus has became a major concern for the people infected with HIV. Thousand of people are infected with HIV, falling ill to H1N1 could lead to death with these people. With further research, hopefully will lead to antidote. An antidote would save thousands of people.

Link: Http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091112121559.htm

Wasps take control over lady bugs

Brodyer a university of Montreal entomologist is condutcing research on a specific type of wasp known as Dinocampus coccinellaes. These wasps are unique in that they force lady bugs to carry thier larva and in doing partially paralyzes the lady bug intil the larva turns into a coccon and then is born. After this process is complete the lady bug is no longer paralyzed and returns to its normal rountine. Broduer is trying to determine whether or not lady bugs can refuse to being used like the dirty ladybugs that they are. http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2009/11/17/ladybugs_taken_hostage_by_wasps.html

Tobacco plants yield the first vaccine for the dreaded “cruise ship virus”

Scientists have used a new vaccine production technology to develop a vaccine for norovirus, a dreaded cause of diarrhea and vomiting that may be the second most common viral infection in the United States after the flu. Sometimes called the “cruise ship virus,” this microbe can spread like wildfire through passenger liners, schools, offices and military bases.

http://www.biology-online.org/articles/tobacco-plants-yield-first-vaccine.html

Ocean continues to process carbon dioxide more slowly

Yale geophysicist Jeffery Park had observation stations in Hawaii, Alaska and Antarctica. Over a period of time data was collected at each station based on environmental conditions, water temperature and Co2 levels. Data from the observations showed that there was a change in the Co2 levels during periods of time differing in water temperature. The observation showed colder water to hold more Co2 than warmer water would. Observations from twenty years ago showed a 5 month period between temperature changes and resulting Co2 level change. That was Twenty years ago, today we are seeing a 15 month time lapse between atmospheric Co2 change. The ocean is currently responsible for absorbing about forty percent of the carbon dioxide that humans emit. But since the time to process the carbon dioxide has grown longer it is going to make it more difficult for the ocean to handle. As a result it is projected that it will affect future climate change. With warmer weather comes warmer water, the warmer the water the less Co2 it is able to hold which is causing the warmer weather, it basically seems like a vicious cycle that cant be corrected all at once it is going to take a long time if not forever.

Pregnancy Protein May Slow Breast Cancer

If you are a female who wants to have children one day, there is great news for you. Pregnancy might protect you from breast cancer. New research could help explain how pregnancy protects against breast cancer, and the findings may one day lead to a novel way to treat the disease. Investigators from the University of Albany linked the pregnancy protein alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) to slowed growth of breast cancer in rats exposed to pregnancy hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, or human chorionic gonadotropin. These hormones were shown by the researchers to induce AFP during pregnancy. Even though the researchers still need to do more studies about this matter, there is a hope to decrease the number of female patients with breast cancer in our future.
Link: http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news20091124/pregnancy-protein-may-sslow-brea...

Ancient Crocodile Species Fossils Found

If I had lived millions of years ago, I know for sure what animal I would not want to meet face to face - an ancient crocodile! To be exact, a 20-foot-long crocodile with three sets of fangs - like wild boar tusks. According to a recent researchers report, this beast had lived in northern Africa 100 million years ago. Kaprosuchus saharicus was a meat-eater with an armored snout for ramming and three sets of dagger-shaped fangs for slicing. One thing made this ancient crocodile unique and that was its tusks stuck out above and below the jaw like a modern warthog. This has never been seen before on any crocodile!
Link: http://www.app.com/article/20091119/NEWSO6/91119055/-1/SCIENCE

Hobbits to Humans

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091119101034.htm

Okay, so here is the basic rundown of this story. Researchers from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York have confirmed that Homo floresiensis is a genuine ancient human species and not a descendant of healthy humans dwarfed by disease.Using statistical analysis on skeletal remains of a well-preserved female specimen, researchers determined the "hobbit" to be a distinct species and not a genetically flawed version of modern humans. Scientists discovered small human-like fossils in Indonesia. These bones were more primitive looking and did not match up to modern human bone structures.When fully placed together it is suggested that these primitive humans grew to be about 3 ft 6 ins. Dr. Baab notes, "Attempts to dismiss the hobbits as pathological people have failed repeatedly because the medical diagnoses of dwarfing syndromes and microcephaly bear no resemblance to the unique anatomy of Homo floresiensis,".

Treatment for Ebola?

Historical outbreaks of the Ebola virus as well as its portrayal in popular culture has shown that the virus is almost always deadly with a mortality rate of almost ninety percent. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch attempted to study the virus by observing the biochemical pathways that it uses to infect a host cell. An artificially created virus was used as a means to experiment with, but it strongly resembled and behaved like the dangerous virus itself. Tests run by the researchers showed that the virus takes a minimum of two pathways to enter the cell; they are called the PI3 kinase pathway and the CAMK2 pathway. Pharmaceutical drugs do exist that block both biochemical pathways, so the drugs were tested on the synthesized Ebola virus. The created virus experienced death before infecting the cell as a result of the drugs used. In order to test the drugs in a more practical way, the maximum security "spacesuit" laboratory was used to experiment with the actual Ebola virus that resulted in the Zaire outbreak.
When the drugs were tested on the actual virus, it was found that the PI3 kinase drug lowered the rate of Ebola infection by sixty-five percent. The drugs that stopped the CAMK2 pathway completely killed the virus in all trials. This discovery has opened the possibility of developing drugs that may inhibit Ebola infection or a vaccination. It will certainly play a role in biological warfare, as Ebola has been identified as a likely virus due to its airborne properties. Scientists should expect to develop a drug for the prevention of the virus within the next decade.

Source: University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

Curry as a cure?

Scientists have been developing a capsulized suppliment which involves the use of the popular spice Curry. Tests have shown that curry actually contains a powerful anti-oxidant called Circumin. Scientists are testing the safety and effectiveness of the pill. Tumeric is the curry spice which contains the potent anti-oxidant. Through several tests scientists believe that increases levels in Circumin in the body it has been proven to treat including Colon Cancer, Psoriasis, and Alzheimers Disease.
If you think that you can just eat more curry and you wont be succeptable to these diseases you are sadly mistaken. The problem that scientists are running into is that digestive juices in the gastrointestinal tract actually destroy almost all traces of circumin before it makes its way into the blood stream. They hope that encapsulating the circumin will boost the level of the amount which makes its way into the blood stream. They used several lab rats and fed them the capsuls, results showed that the rats levels of circumin quadrupled and there was a higher level of anti-oxidant in the blood stream.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104122528.htm

China's Weather Manipulation Brings Crippling Snowstorm to Beijing

Totally unrelated article, but thought it was pretty interesting

In The People's Republic of China, it's no secret that the Party controls just about everything. But as Beijing suffers through its second major snowstorm this season, residents are growing weary of their leadership's control-freak tendencies. After all, while the storm came as a surprise to residents, the government knew about it all along. In fact, the government caused it.
China has long tinkered with Mother Nature's waterworks, even establishing a state organ -- the Beijing Weather Modification Office -- whose sole purpose is to meddle with the weather. The purpose behind weather modification is less megalomaniacal than it sounds at first pass; a large swath of northeast China, including Beijing, has been mired in a drought for nearly a decade, and the party leadership would like to reverse that trend for both practical reasons and to show the Chinese people exactly who is in charge.
To do so, they've turned to cloud seeding, a controversial practice that involves launching (or dropping) chemicals into the atmosphere -- silver iodide in China, though dry ice and liquid propane also work -- that cause water vapor in the air to crystallize at temperatures it otherwise would not. Its effectiveness is dubious; while it's generally accepted that it works to some degree, it can only increase precipitation by 20 percent. Sometimes.
Weather manipulation is actually not as rare as one might think. Currently, 24 countries practice some kind of cloud seeding. Moscow's mayor keeps the Russian Air Force on cloud seeding duty to make sure it never rains on his parades (literally). The U.S. has dabbled with weather manipulation in attempts to curb the intensity of Gulf hurricanes back in the '60s, and the military seeded clouds over North Vietnam during the war there to extend the monsoon season. Oh, and the CIA seeded clouds in 1969 in an attempt to rain out the hippies gathering at Woodstock, but they partied right through it anyhow (that instance is unconfirmed, but groovy to think about).
China prefers to deliver its silver iodide to the sky via rockets or artillery. For the residents of Beijing, those armaments deliver all the headaches that go along with big snowstorms: traffic problems, flight delays, cancelled classes and various transportation issues. While the government claims the seeding is for the good of the country, that claim is about as dubious as the practice of seeding itself; in 2005, a snow melting agent killed 10,000 trees in Beijing, and experts worry it could be eroding the city's infrastructure. As of last night, highways in and around Beijing were closed and many roads were blocked, bringing day-to-day commerce to a grinding halt.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2009-11/chinas-weather-manipulation-brings-crippling-snowstorm-beijing

Josh Petty

Babies May Have Three Biological Parents Soon

Even though the combination of affluence and fertility drugs has raised the age at which many women give birth, children born to older women continue to suffer a disproportionately high rate of birth defects and genetic disease. Many of these problems result from the degradation of the area of the region of the egg around the nucleus.
To correct for those problems, a team of Japanese researchers has implanted the nucleus of an older woman's egg into the egg cell of a younger donor. This may fix the problem, but it also moves medicine closer to the ethically challenging creation of a person with three biological parents.
This isn't the first time the concept of the three-parent baby has confronted bioethicists in particular, and the public at large. In February of last year, British scientists created embryos with the regular DNA of one mother, and the mitochondrial DNA of another. Those embryos never matured into actual people, but in August of this year, researchers in Oregon created full-grown hybrid monkeys using the same technique.
So far, the Japanese eggs have not matured either, although 31 of the eggs were fertilized as part of the proof of concept.
This experiment also calls into question the nature of a parent, as in this case, the egg donor only pass on part of the cell, and not any genetic material.
Regardless of the outcome of this particular experiment, it is yet another step towards both a three parent child, and society's need to determine the ethical and legal implications of such a child.

Josh Petty

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2009-11/edging-closer-first-baby-three-biological-parents

Medical breakthrough

I read an amazing story in the November 12, 2009 issue of the New York Post, which I found on page 10. Scientists in Australia will soon perform tests that could help cancer victims who have had mastectomies regrow their breasts. If the experiment is a success, women could form a new breast in 4-6 months, as reported in the Herald Sun of Melbourne. The procedure uses stem cells of the patient’s own fat. According the article, surgeons implant a breast-shaped, biodegradable synthetic chamber under the skin of the patient’s chest as a scaffold for the breast to grow in. The articles further states that this procedure, if successful, can have an impact on cosmetic surgery by offering the availability for women to grow their breasts naturally, as apposed to breast implants. I truly consider this to be a remarkable breakthrough in the field of medicine. What will they think of next?

Cholesterol: Friend or Foe?

Many television commercials and medical studies have argued that cholesterol is extremely harmful when present in large quantities and may lead to high blood pressure or clotting within the blood vessels; however, recent discoveries have been made demonstrating the positive effects of the substances on the body. The Swedish medical university, Karolinska Institutet, has made findings regarding the effect of cholesterol in brain development. A derivative of the substance must be present for brain cells to form.
Dopamine is known to cause happiness and pleasure in human beings; oxysterol is the oxidized form of cholesterol that is necessary for dopamine-producing nerve cells to exist. These nerve cells are the type that die as a result of Parkinson's disease, indicating that cholesterol may actually contribute to the prevention of the degenerating condition. It is hoped that future technology will allow doctors and scientists to replace the dead dopamine nerve cells in Parkinson's disease patients with transplanted dopamine-producing cells. Another indirect advantage to this discovery is the ability to test new drugs that claim to alleviate or prevent the condition from occurring.

Source: Karolinska Institutet

holy ravioli!

Swine flu death toll has reached 4,000. These deaths including complications related to the H1N1 virus. Such as pneumonia and bacterial infections. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) reported that "many millions" have caught the flu virus since it appeared in April. CRRAAZZZYYYY!



http://news.aol.com/health/article/cdc-4000-swine-flu-deaths/745560

Manipulating the Memory of Flies

Through modern biotechnology and an understanding of science, researchers from the University of Oxford have successfully altered the brains of flies to create memories that never actually occurred. According to a scientist from the university, it was common knowledge that flies had the ability to learn but it was unknown how the organisms kept memories. After several experiments, it was revealed that the researchers located twelve cells in the brain that could have been in control of the ability for flies to create a memory; a discovery called optogenetics was used, which basically stimulates the activities of certain neurons.
The optogenetics test proved that only the twelve neurons had to be stimulated to create an unpleasant memory for flies which never occurred. This particular science allows biologists to obtain evidence about brain function which never existed before. Gero Miesenbock, a researcher at the University of Oxford, argues that the understanding of a simple brain like that of a fly reveals much about how more complex brains, like that of humans, work. One should expect the same experiments will be performed on increasingly more complex animals, eventually to the level of creating or erasing memories of human beings.

Source: The Cell Press

Autism Behavioral Treatment Study Shows Positive Results

Autism is a developmental disorder that occurs in every 3 out of 1000 children across the US. Autism is a behavioral disorder, characteristics of Autism include impairments of communication skills, social interactions, show repetitive behavior and can inhibit the child's learning capabilities. Autism can be detected in children as early as 18 months old to 3 years of age. The earlier Autism is detected in a child the better the child's treatments options are.

A recent study of behavioral treatment in Autistic children was done at the University of Washington. The study concluded Autistic children that under go two years of behavioral therapy will show vast improvement and symptoms will be decreased, which will result in a milder diagnosis of Autism.

There has always been controversy over the age a child should undergo behavioral treatments for Autism. This study was small and evaluated only 48 children some as young as 18 months old. The study randomly selected Autistic children to receive behavioral treatment called the Early start Denver model from therapists, parents or others for less comprehensive care. The treatment focused on communication and social interaction. Therapists or parents would repeatably hold a toy or an object in front of the child's face trying to get the child to make eye contact on the object, ask for the object/toy. The children in the treatment group would undergo therapy four hours a day five days a week.

After, two years of undergoing the treatment the children in the specialized group's IQ's increased an average of 18 points verses an average of 7 points in the other group. 30 percent in the specialized group were then diagnosed with a less server case of Autism. Only 5 percent in the group were diagnosed with a less server case. One child who underwent the behavioral treatment for two years at the age of 2. He is now 6 and is in a normal kindergarten class, has a mild delay with communication skills but does not come off as being Autistic.

I found this article very interesting. Wanting to become a teacher I may have students that suffer from Autism, knowing that there is behavioral treatment that can improve the child's learning capabilities, experience, and communication skills can possibly incorporated into my teaching lessons. Being able to help my students learn to the best of their ability would be satisfying.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091130/ap_on_he_me/us_med_autism_improvement

Learning How Animals Regenerate Body Parts

Scientists are trying to learn how to get the human body to use repressed genes to regenerate what is needed like deers regrow antlers, or lizards regrow tails. The researchers at the Salk Institute are using zebra fish as the subject to learn from. The researchers looked at master genes that controlled an eggs development into th embryo. The genes are controlled by a "dual-switch", which repress the genes but prepares them for activity. These switches are now being noticed in adult cells. The switches contain modifications to chromatin. Genes are controlled by nearby regions of DNA turned on by regulatory proteins. Second layer is built into the chromatin which has to be unpacked. They tested their theory by cutting off the tail of the zebra fish, and then the genes were turned on and the tail regenerated itself. In order for this happens is because the presence of an enzyme called methylase. The enyzme removes chemical attachments from one half of the switch.

www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/science/09fish.html

Brittany K

A Hunt for Seeds to Save Species, Perhaps by Helping Them Move

Scientists are trying to preserve plants, and to help some species that live near one another migrate to a new location. The pitcher's thistle is pretty much extinct from the shores of Lake Michigan. Seeds were collected and grown at the Chicago Botanic Garden then planted along the lake in Illinois State. Some of the planted seeds from the south are doing well where as others from the north are failing. Scientists are collecting seeds from several different species in the Midwest, West, near the Rocky Mountains and Great Basin. They want to see if the plants will thrive, by moving the thistle to colder territories. But the assisted migration is being debated, because some scientist feel that "tinkering with the complexity of habitats is courting with disaster." This effort is part of a Bureau of Land Management project called "Seeds of Success."

www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/science
Brittany Kohler

Falklands Wolf First Appeared in North America, Researchers Say

According to Henry Fountain, the Falklands wolf has puzzled evolutionary biologists since Charles Darwin. They knew that it was the only native land mammal on the Falkland Islands, located 300 miles off the cost of Argentina, but nobody knew how it got there or what mainland animal it was descended from. By using genetic analysis, Graham J. Slater, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angels, and colleagues came to a conclusion and partly answered the question of how the wolves got to the Falklands. They could not have been brought to the islands by ancient peoples because the most recent common ancestor of the five samples studies lived at least 70,000 years ago, long before humans arrived. Instead, he said, the wolves must have floated over on vegetation or ice floes.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/10obwolf.html?ref=science

Paul C.Zamecnik, Biologist Who Helped Discover an RNA Molecule, Dies at 96

Since we are learning quite a lot about DNA and RNA molecules in our biology class, I thought that this could be a good article for everybody to read. Paul C. Zamecnik died at the age of 96 due to cancer on October 27. So why is this molecular biologist so important? Well, according to the writer of this article, in 1956, Dr. Zamecnik and his colleagues Dr. Mahlon Hoagland and Dr. Mary Stepheson discovered a critical element of the protein synthesis pathway: the molecule that shuttles amino acids to the cell's protein factory, called the ribosome. There they are linked to create a chain that folds to form a protein. This newfound molecule was called transfer RNA, or tRNA. The discovery was a milestone in molecular biology. In 1996, Dr. Zamecnik received the Albert Lasker Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science and in 1991 he was also awarded the National Medal of Science. The article can be found on www.nytimes.com (under the science, posted on November 7 by Vicky Glaser).

A picture is worth a thousand words.

The adage a picture is worth a thousand words could not be more true then in a photograph by Monica Szczupider that ran with a story in the November 1^st issue of the N.Y. Post and appears in the November issue of National Geographic. The story deals with the life, and more amazing, the death of a chimpanzee named Dorothy who was rescued from horrific living conditions at a hotel, and brought to a Chimpanzee rescue center in West Africa. A story and photograph such as this makes you wonder why we as human beings, think we have carte blanche on emotion and feelings. Dorothy was brought to the sanctuary in 2000 at the age of 41. After a couple of years of being bullied and trying to adjust, an orphaned male chimpanzee named Bouboule began clinging to Dorothy, who quickly adopted him as her own. By taking on the task as Bouboule’s mother, Dorothy gained a new status in the group of Chimpanzees. Soon, Bouboule and another alpha male were respected as the top males, gaining Dorothy more status. On Sept. 22, 2008, Dorothy died at the age of 49. According to the story, the other chimps began touching Dorothy, smelling her, not wanting to leave her side, but what was most moving was the photograph. Sheri Speede, an American vet who founded the center is seen holding Dorothy’s head, while a center worker slowly pushes a wheel barrel containing Dorothy’s body, covered from the neck down past a large group of Chimpanzee’s huddled together, motionless as they peer through a fence watching Dorothy pass. The story goes on to say that the Chimpanzees were incredibly silent, arms around each other as Dorothy’s body past by. The story was very moving. The photograph told you everything you needed to know about the moment without reading a word.

China Sends Panda Expert to Taiwan to Aid Breeding

This article was published on November 8, 2009. A panda expert send by China to Taiwan to encourage mating by a pair of pandas. After inspecting the pandas at the Taipei Zoo on Sunday Zhang Hemin, the panda expert suggested a month or two separation between the two pandas might increased the feeling of attraction which will result in reproduction. Zhang suggested to the zoo that they set up wooden racks for the male panda so he can climb and strengthen his hind legs for the mating process. This is important because the pandas are threatened by a low reproduction rate and only about 1,600 pandas live in the wild. 120 pandas are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos, and around 20 pandas live in zoos outside China.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=9026506

High PCB levels found in striped bass, bluefish caught off East Coast

Once a highly sought after natural resource flourishing on our coastlines, certain fish species are now unable to be eaten by most of our population due to the large amounts of the man-made organic chemicals known as PCB's that have made their way into our environment. These chemicals were mass produced and widely utilized from 1929 to 1979 in a variety of electrical equipment, oils, appliances and even household products. PCB's were so popular due to their desirable qualities such as non-flammability, chemical stability, high boiling point and electrical insulating properties. PCB's were banned in 1979 after they have been demonstrated to cause cancer, as well as a variety of other adverse health effects on the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system and endocrine system.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/high_pcb_levels_found_in_strip.html

Engineers Strive To Make Algae Oil Production More Feasible

Two Kansas State University engineers are assessing systematic production methods that could make the costs of algae oil production more reasonable, helping move the U.S. from fossil fuel dependency to renewable energy replacements. This is a huge step, considering the fact that algae produces 120 times the amount that soybeans do.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091103144822.htm

Quadruplexes the Cure for Cancer?

Designers of anti-cancer drugs are aiming their arrows at mysterious chunks of the genetic material DNA that may play a key role in preventing the growth and spread of cancer cells, according to an article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

Bacteria 'launch a shield' to resist attack

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark along with other collaborators in Denmark and the US found that the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa can 'switch on' production of molecules that kill white blood cells – preventing the bacteria being eliminated by the body's immune system.
P. aeruginosa is responsible for many hospital-acquired infections and also causes chronic infections in those with pre-existing medical conditions such as cystic fibrosis (CF). The bacteria cause persistent lung infections by clumping together to form a biofilm, which spreads over the lungs like a slime. Such biofilms are generally resistant to antibiotics as well as the host immune response.
The study showed that P. aeruginosa uses a well-studied communication system called quorum sensing (QS) to detect approaching white blood cells and warn other bacteria in the biofilm. In response to this signal, the bacteria increase their production of molecules called rhamnolipids. These molecules sit on the biofilm surface to form a shield that destroys any white blood cells that encounter it. Interrupting quorum sensing to halt the "launch a shield" response could be a way of treating these bacteria that can resist antibiotics as well as the host immune system.

Pancreatic Cancer: Discovery Offers Potential New Treatment

New research to be presented in November at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting in Los Angeles reveals that tumor-penetrating microparticles (TPM) have been specifically designed to break through hard-to-infiltrate barriers and deliver drugs more effectively and efficiently than the standard form of chemotherapy such as those injected through a vein. TPM are designed to treat cancer in the peritoneal cavity. The peritoneal cavity contains organs, including the pancreas, that are home to more than 250,000 new cases of cancer a year in the United States alone. "Pancreatic cancer cells are surrounded by specialized cells that protect them from chemotherapy," explains Dr. Au. "Our goal is to use TPM to pass this barrier and successfully deliver drugs to the tumor cells, which is currently the biggest hurdle a physician faces in pancreatic cancer treatment."
With just one TPM dose of drugs proving to be equally as effective as multiple injections of chemotherapy, TPM delivers less toxicity to patients, making it a safer option than the standard form of other therapies. "Based on the encouraging results in mice carrying implants of human pancreatic cancer, we are cautiously optimistic that TPM may provide benefits to patients with this disease," says Ze Lu, Ph.D., principal scientist and project leader. "TPM may prove to be especially helpful to patients with late stages of the disease." According to Dr. Lu, the researchers have been working on TPM for more than 10 years and look forward to receiving FDA approval for testing TPM in patients in 2010.

"Moonlighting" molecules discovered

At the Johns Hopkins School of medicine has uncovered more than 300 proteins that have appeared to control genes. This article provides some explanation for human complexity and also changes what we previously knew about the protein functions. the study also explores which proteins are linked to certain DNA sequences.

The team found 367 new unconventional DNA binding proteins, which is almost double the number of known protein and DNA interactions.  one of the factors discovered was the protein MAP Kinase which is a "protein long studied for its ability to control cell growth and development via its ability to add phosphate groups to other molecules. 

 \'Moonlighting\' molecules discovered