Science Letter articles from January 2009

Science Letter archives from January 2009

Cap Cana Announces Commencement of Consent Solicitation from Holders of its 9.625% Senior Secured Notes due 2013.
January 6, 2009... Cap Cana, S.A. ("Cap Cana") announced that it is soliciting consents (the "Consent Solicitation") from the holders of record as of December 19, 2008, of its outstanding 9.625% Senior Secured Notes due 2013 in the aggregate principal amount of...

Innophos Informed That the Department of Justice has Closed Its Investigation of Innophos' STPP Business.
January 6, 2009... Innophos Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPHS) announced that it has received notification from the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) announcing that the previously disclosed grand jury...

Knight Board of Directors Finalizes New Four-Year Contract Through 2012 With Chairman and CEO Thomas M. Joyce.
January 6, 2009... Knight Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NITE) announced that the Board of Directors finalized a new four-year employment contract for Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Thomas M. Joyce. The new contract begins December 31, 2008 and runs through...

Napo Pharmaceuticals Announces Publication of Paper on Crofelemer for Indication of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
January 6, 2009... Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (oNapoo) announces that a paper entitled oEvaluation of Crofelemer in the Treatment of Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patientso (D-IBS) has been published in the Digestion u International Journal of...

Group treatment may help children achieve healthier weights.
January 6, 2009... Group-based treatment programs may effectively combat childhood obesity in rural communities, according to a new University of Florida study (see also Obesity). Children who participated in one of two group programs u family-based or...

Masterful Coaching, 3rd Edition Is the Standard Resource for Anyone Who Is Curious About Being an Extraordinary Coach.(Report)
January 6, 2009... Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/02f629/masterful_coaching) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new report "Masterful Coaching, 3rd Edition" to their offering (see also Research and Markets)....

Landmark Nutrigenomic Study Suggests That 'Sun Chlorella A' Helps Promote Overall Health Through Influencing Gene Expression.
January 6, 2009... A small nutrigenomic open label pilot study, published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, tested whole food supplement "Sun Chlorella A" and the impact on gene expression. The study suggests that Sun Chlorella influenced gene expression related...

Data on anthropology published by K.A. Yelvington and colleagues.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from the United States, "This article presents an interview with Jack Sargent Harris (1912-2008), an anthropologist who earned his PhD at Columbia University in 1940 and was one of the first US anthropologists to do...

New findings from R. Loewe and co-authors describe advances in anthropology.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from the United States, "In this article I examine how commerce and the global economy are represented locally through the analysis of a popular Yucatecan tale. Way Kot depicts a veritable fantasy world in which...

Recent studies from University of Sussex add new data to anthropology.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research published in the journal Critique of Anthropology, "The argument of the article centres around three stereotypes of the development worker: mercenary, missionary and misfit. The origins of this tripartite...

Researchers at University of Manchester target anthropology.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research published in the journal Critique of Anthropology, "Over the past two decades, anthropological studies have highlighted the ways in which overtly progressive ideas of 'development' have been used, paradoxically, to...

Data on applied microbiology detailed by S.E. Denman and co-authors.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research published in the journal Letters in Applied Microbiology, "To develop an automated ribosomal intergenic spacer region analysis (ARISA) method for the detection of anaerobic rumen fungi and also to demonstrate...

Data on applied microbiology published by researchers at Madurai Kamaraj University.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from Madurai, India, "Enhancing production and characterization of a low-molecular-weight bacteriocin from Bacillus licheniformis MKU3. The culture supernatant of B. licheniformis MKU3 exhibited bacteriocin-like...

New applied microbiology data have been reported by M. Jiang and co-authors.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from Guangzhou, People's Republic of China, "To evaluate the effect of Acacia auriculaeformis-associated fungi on the growth of mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Coss. var. foliosa Bailey] in Cd- and Ni-contaminated...

Reports outline applied microbiology research from G.G. Matafonova and colleagues.
January 6, 2009... According to a study from Russia, "To examine the killing efficiency of UV KrCl excilamp against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Vegetative cells of Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Staphylococcus aureus...

Reports outline applied microbiology study findings from Premier University.
January 6, 2009... "A total of 274 bacterial strains were isolated from the root nodules of Prosopis juliflora, growing in two and soils of the eastern area of Morocco. A physiological plate screening allowed the selection of 15 strains that could tolerate NaCl...

Reports summarize applied microbiology study results from Yunnan University.
January 6, 2009... According to a study from Kunming, People's Republic of China, "A Gram-positive, aerobic, non-motile, non-acid-alcohol-fast strain, designated YlM 61095(T), was isolated from the root of Maytenus austroyunnanensis collected from a tropical...

Research from M.C. Quecine and co-researchers yields new findings on applied microbiology.
January 6, 2009... "Biological sources for the control of plant pathogenic fungi remain an important objective for sustainable agricultural practices. Actinomycetes are used extensively in the pharmaceutical industry and agriculture owing to their great diversity...

Research reports from M. Urdiain and co-authors provide new insights into applied microbiology.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from Spain, "The isolation of photoheterotrophic organism C3 from a saline microbial mat led to its taxonomic characterization. Strain C3 could be identified as a member of the species Rhodobium marinum due to the...

Researchers at University of Bristol release new data on applied microbiology.(Report)
January 6, 2009... "The purpose of this study was to identify an effective disinfectant for the inactivation of the bacteriophages (phages) being used in our laboratory, as published studies on phage inactivation are far from unanimous in their conclusions. The...

Scientists at University of Bordeaux publish new data on applied microbiology.
January 6, 2009... "To develop rapid methods allowing enumeration of lactic acid bacteria producing biogenic amines in wines and to analyse wine samples by the methods. Methods based on quantitative PCR targeting bacterial genes involved in histamine, tyramine...

Studies from A. Cochu and co-researchers in the area of applied microbiology published.
January 6, 2009... "To demonstrate the feasibility of growing lactobacilli and producing lactic acid using maple sap as a sugar source and to show the importance of oligosaccharides in the processes. Two maple sap samples (Cetta and Pinnacle) and purified sucrose...

Studies from C.C. Chien and colleagues provide new data on applied microbiology.
January 6, 2009... "To develop an Aeromonas strain able to utilize inexpensive carbon sources such as starch for the synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). A recombinant Aeromonas sp. (strain KC007-1) was constructed by introducing the PHB synthesis genes...

Studies from J.M. Young and co-researchers update current data on applied microbiology.
January 6, 2009... "A multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) of strains representing all validly published Xanthomonas spp. (119 strains) was conducted using four genes; dnaK, fyuA, gyrB and rpoD, a total of 440 sequences. Xanthomonas spp. were divided into two...

Study data from F.B. Rebah et al provide new insights into applied microbiology.(Report)
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from Switzerland, "The objective of this study was to demonstrate that fish-processing by-products could be used as sole raw material to sustain the growth of Staphylococcus xylosus for lipase production. Bacterial...

Research in the area of assessment research reported from M.A. Ruiz and colleagues.(Report)
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from the United States, "The authors examined the psychometric properties, factor structure, and construct validity of the Dissociative Experiences Scale ( DES) in a large offender sample (N = 1,515). Although the...

Investigators at Kansas State University have published new data on biology.
January 6, 2009... "Wingless (wg)/Wnt family are essential to development in virtually all metazoans. In short-germ insects, including the red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum), the segment-polarity function of wg is conserved [1]," researchers in the United...

New findings from T.T.J. Chong and co-researchers in the area of biology described.
January 6, 2009... According to a study from Fitzroy, Australia, "Mirror neurons, as originally described in the macaque, have two defining properties [1, 2]: They respond specifically to a particular action (e.g., bringing an object to the mouth), and they...

Study results from M.A. Aizen and colleagues update understanding of biology.
January 6, 2009... "There is evidence that pollinators are declining as a result of local and global environmental degradation [1-4]. Because a sizable proportion of the human diet depends directly or indirectly on animal pollination [5], the issue of how...

Study results from National Institutes of Health provide new insights into biology.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from the United States, "Ins(3,4,5,6)P-4 inhibits plasma membrane Cl- flux in secretory epithelia [1]. However, in most other mammalian cells, receptor-dependent elevation of Ins(3,4,5,6)P-4 levels is an ''orphan''...

New biophysics research reported from University of Nevada.
January 6, 2009... "Energetics of conformational changes experienced by an ATP-bound myosin head detached from actin was studied by all-atom explicit water umbrella sampling simulations. The statistics of coupling between large scale domain movements and smaller...

New biophysics study findings have been reported by C. Chimerel and colleagues.
January 6, 2009... "Temperature dependent ion conductance in nanopores is measured in a wide range of electrolyte concentrations and compared with molecular modeling. Single outer membrane protein F (OmpF) channels from E. coli are reconstituted into planar lipid...

Research on biophysics discussed by M. Beutler and co-researchers.
January 6, 2009... "We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally the quantification of Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) by direct and systematic saturation of the excited state of acceptor molecules. This version of acceptor depletion methods for FRET...

New cell biology data have been reported by scientists at RIKEN.
January 6, 2009... "Neuronal activity has an impact on beta cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) by BACE1 to generate amyloid-beta peptide (A beta). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this effect remain to be elucidated," scientists in Wako,...

New cell biology study findings reported from University of Wurzburg.
January 6, 2009... "Spliceosomal small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) are essential components of the nuclear pre-mRNA processing machinery. A hallmark of these particles is a ring-shaped core domain generated by the binding of Sm proteins onto snRNA,"...

New research on cell biology from University of Bologna summarized.
January 6, 2009... "Activity-dependent secretion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is thought to enhance synaptic plasticity, but the mechanisms controlling extracellular availability and clearance of secreted BDNF are poorly understood. We show that...

Reports summarize cell biology research from University of North Carolina.
January 6, 2009... "The highly polarized architecture of neurons is important for their function. Experimental data based on dominant-negative approaches suggest that the tumor suppressor adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), a regulator of Wnt signaling and the...

Research on cell biology discussed by scientists at Duke University.
January 6, 2009... "Learning-related plasticity at excitatory synapses in the mammalian brain requires the trafficking of AMPA receptors and the growth of dendritic spines. However, the mechanisms that couple plasticity stimuli to the trafficking of postsynaptic...

Research results from N.T. Ahmed and co-authors update knowledge of cell biology.
January 6, 2009... "Formation of flagellar outer dynein arms in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii requires the ODA16 protein at a previously uncharacterized assembly step. Here, we show that dynein extracted from wild-type axonemes can rebind to oda16 axonemes in vitro,...

Research results from University of Cambridge update understanding of cell biology.
January 6, 2009... According to a study from Cambridge, the United Kingdom, "Interactions between cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and Ca2+ are widespread, and for both intracellular messengers, their spatial organization is important. Parathyroid hormone...

Scientists at Kobe University, Medical Department publish new data on cell biology.(Report)
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from Kobe, Japan, "Neurotransmitter release from presynaptic nerve terminals is regulated by soluble NSF attachment protein receptor (SNARE) complex-mediated synaptic vesicle fusion. Tomosyn inhibits SNARE complex...

Scientists at Medical University of Vienna publish new data on cell biology.
January 6, 2009... "tRNAs are synthesized as immature precursors, and on their way to functional maturity, extra nucleotides at their 50 ends are removed by an endonuclease called RNase P. All RNase P enzymes characterized so far are composed of an RNA plus one...

Scientists at University of California discuss research in cell biology.
January 6, 2009... According to a study from the United States, "We uncovered a role for ERK signaling in GABA release, long-term potentiation (LTP), and learning, and show that disruption of this mechanism accounts for the learning deficits in a mouse model for...

Studies from National Institutes of Health yield new data on cell biology.
January 6, 2009... "G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) comprise the largest family of transmembrane signaling molecules and regulate a host of physiological and disease processes. To better understand the functions of GPCRs in vivo, we quantified transcript...

Studies from R. Mercier and colleagues provide new data on cell biology.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research published in the journal Cell, "The organization of the Escherichia coli chromosome into insulated macrodomains influences the segregation of sister chromatids and the mobility of chromosomal DNA. Here, we report...

Studies from V. Sanzmoreno and colleagues provide new data on cell biology.
January 6, 2009... "Tumor cells exhibit two different modes of individual cell movement. Mesenchymal-type movement is characterized by an elongated cellular morphology and requires extracellular proteolysis," scientists in London, the United Kingdom report (see...

Study results from National University in the area of Chagas disease published.(Report)
January 6, 2009... "Among the vectors of Chagas disease, Triatoma patagonica is a species in the process of adaptation to the human environment. However, its vector competence is not well known," investigators in Cordoba, Argentina report (see also Chagas...

Findings from J. Rubes et al in chromosome research reported.
January 6, 2009... "Chromosomal homologies have been established between cattle (Bos taurus, 2n=60) and eight species of spiral-horned antelope, Tribe Tragelaphini: Nyala (Tragelaphus angasii, 2n=55 male/56 female), Lesser kudu (T. imberbis, 2n=38 male, female),...

Findings from T. Cermak and co-authors provide new insights into chromosome research.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research published in the journal Chromosome Research, "We carried out a global survey of all major types of transposable elements in Silene latifolia, a model species with sex chromosomes that are in the early stages of...

Research from University of Jaen has provided new data on chromosome research.
January 6, 2009... "The chromosomal distribution of mobile genetic elements is scarcely known in Arvicolinae species, but could be of relevance to understand the origin and complex evolution of the sex chromosome heterochromatin. In this work we cloned two...

Studies from D. Kopecky and co-researchers update current data on chromosome research.(Report)
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from Olomouc, Czech Republic, "Intergeneric hybrids of fescues (Festuca spp.) and ryegrasses (Lolium spp.) are unique for the ability of their chromosomes to pair essentially freely in meiotic metaphase I (MI). At...

Studies from Wageningen University update current data on chromosome research.
January 6, 2009... "This paper presents a bird's-eye view of the major repeats and chromatin types of tomato. Using fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) with Cot-1, Cot-10 and Cot-100 DNA as probes we mapped repetitive sequences of different complexity on...

Study results from University of Bari update understanding of chromosome research.
January 6, 2009... "We have compared the synteny block organization of the official macaque genome sequence assembly (Jan. 2006; rheMac2) with an independent assembly that used a molecular cytogenetic approach," investigators in Bari, Italy report (see also...

Scientists at University of Milan target cytometry.(Report)
January 6, 2009... "Flow cytometric analysis of peripheral blood dendritic cells (PBDCs) and their myeloid (mDCs) and plasmacytoid (pDCs) subsets is a less invasive procedure that is acquiring growing clinical relevance. Because dendritic cells (DCs) lack unique...

Research conducted at A. Puur and co-authors has provided new information about demographics.
January 6, 2009... "The development of modern family patterns of the past decades has been accompanied by substantial changes in social norms, values and gender relations. There is theoretical support for the assumption that the persistence of low fertility...

Researchers at China Agricultural University target electron microscopy.
January 6, 2009... According to a study from Beijing, People's Republic of China, "Some aspects of the cellular responses to cadmium were extensively investigated in the yeast Rhodotorula sp. Y11. Scanning electron microscopy indicated that accumulation of...

Research conducted at University of Wisconsin has provided new information about ethnography.
January 6, 2009... "The ''supercrip'' athlete is often derided as a figure that is antithetical to the interests of people with disabilities. But few researchers have questioned the assumptions of this complaint or examined it empirically," scientists in the...

Research from York University yields new findings on ethnography.
January 6, 2009... "In this article, we examine processes of identity and community building in Asante death rituals where participants metaphorically consume the dead. ''Consuming the Dead'' refers to how the living makes meaning of death and its associated...

Scientists at Loyola Marymount University release new data on ethnography.
January 6, 2009... "In an attempt to involve drug-related defendants in treatment, California's Proposition 36 constrains judges' discretion to restrict access to treatment and to revoke treatment. Despite its formal rule scheme, judges nevertheless develop and...

Studies in the area of ethnography reported from University of Minnesota.
January 6, 2009... "Since at least the 1960s, scholars have argued that public ceremonies serve important practical functions for groups and social movements: bolstering internal cohesion; expressing messages about power, group identity, etc.; and fortifying...

New data from University of Oklahoma illuminate research in ethology.(Report)
January 6, 2009... "In many animals, body size plays an important role in determining both ecological success and mating success. Thus, the expression of body size within a population is often the result of the interaction between natural selection and sexual...

New ethology research from McMaster University described.
January 6, 2009... According to a study from Hamilton, Canada, "Learning is probably a major contributor to fitness in most animals yet it has not been well integrated into life history research. To quantify the role of learning in shaping lifetime patterns of...

New ethology study findings recently were published by P. Prokop and co-researchers.(Report)
January 6, 2009... According to a study from the United States, "Nuptial feeding is widespread in insects, with many species showing one form of feeding. In the wood cricket Nemobius sylvestris, the male may provide multiple forms of feeding during an encounter:...

Recent findings from University of Bonn highlight research in ethology.(Report)
January 6, 2009... According to a study from Bonn, Germany, "In this study, we examined which sex controls sperm transfer during copulation in scorpionflies. Therefore male scorpionflies were doubly mated to females of high and low fecundity to explore whether...

Research from S. Querouil and co-authors reveals new findings on ethology.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from Montpellier, France, "Mixed-species associations are temporary associations between individuals of different species that are often observed in birds, primates and cetaceans. They have been interpreted as a...

Researchers from University of Groningen report details of new studies and findings in the area of ethology.
January 6, 2009... "Quantifying signal repertoire size is a critical first step towards understanding the evolution of signal complexity. However, counting signal types can be so complicated and time consuming when repertoire size is large, that this trait is...

Studies conducted at N.J. Hobbs et al on ethology recently published.(Report)
January 6, 2009... According to a study from the United States, "Many animals self-groom when they encounter the scent marks of opposite-sex conspecifics. Self-grooming transmits odiferous substances that contain information about the groomer's condition, which...

Studies from University of Nevada reveal new findings on ethology.
January 6, 2009... "Several studies in behavior have focused in some way on how groups of prey gather and use information about predation risk. Although asymmetries in information about risk exist among members of real groups, we know little about how such uneven...

Report summarizes evaluation research study findings from Tel-Aviv University.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from Tel Aviv, Israel, "The article reports on the findings of a comparative case study of six projects that operated in Israel between 1980 and 2000." "The study findings identify characteristics of the...

Reports from University of Illinois advance knowledge in evaluation research.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research published in the American Journal of Evaluation, "The authors present an approach for educating future evaluators by connecting evaluation theory and practice, organizational development, and grant making through...

Reports outline evaluation research study results from University of South Carolina.
January 6, 2009... "The Student Evaluation Standards call for student evaluations to be ethical, fair, useful, feasible, and accurate. However, little is known about educators' perceptions about the ethics of student evaluation practices," scientists writing in...

Research on evaluation research described by J. Cartland and colleagues.(Report)
January 6, 2009... "In the past three decades, program evaluation has sought to more fully engage stakeholders in the evaluative process. But little information has been gathered from stakeholders about how they share in evaluation tasks and whether role sharing...

Studies conducted at C.E. Hanssen et al on evaluation research recently published.
January 6, 2009... "Meta-evaluations reported in the literature, although rare, often have focused on retrospective assessment of completed evaluations. Conducting a meta-evaluation concurrently with the evaluation modifies this approach," scientists writing in...

Studies from Claremont Graduate University yield new data on evaluation research.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from the United States, "Evaluation capacity building (ECB) has become a hot topic of conversation, activity, and study within the evaluation field. Seeking to enhance stakeholders' understanding of evaluation...

Studies from University of Montreal reveal new findings on evaluation research.
January 6, 2009... "This article is concerned with the underpinnings of practical participatory evaluation (PPE). Evaluation approaches have long been criticized because their results are often not used," researchers in Montreal, Canada report (see also...

New experimental biology study results reported from J. Aydin et al.
January 6, 2009... "When acutely exposed to a cold environment, mammals shiver to generate heat. During prolonged cold exposure, shivering is replaced by adaptive adrenergic nonshivering thermogenesis with increased heat production in brown adipose tissue due to...

New findings in experimental biology described from University of Calabria.
January 6, 2009... According to a study from Italy, "Chromogranin A (CGA), produced by human and rat myocardium, generates several biologically active peptides processed at specific proteolytic cleavage sites. A highly conserved cleavage N-terminal site is the...

Research on experimental biology reported by S.R. Khetani et al.
January 6, 2009... According to a study from the United States, "Primary hepatocytes from several different species rapidly lose viability and phenotypic functions on isolation from their native microenvironment of the liver. Stromal cells derived from both...

Research results from Columbia University update understanding of experimental biology.
January 6, 2009... "Axin is a scaffold protein for the beta-catenin destruction complex, and a negative regulator of canonical Wnt signaling. Previous studies implicated the six C-terminal amino acids (C6 motif) in the ability of Axin to activate c-Jun N-terminal...

Researchers from University of Technology report recent findings in experimental biology.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research published in the Faseb Journal, "During helminth infections, alternatively activated macrophages (AAMacs) are key to promoting Th2 responses and suppressing Th1-driven inflammatory pathology. Th2 cytokines IL-4...

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University describe research in experimental biology.
January 6, 2009... "Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent enzymes that play a role in the inflammatory response. These enzymes have been well studied in the context of cancer biology and inflammation," scientists in the United States report (see...

Studies conducted at University of Bourgogne on experimental biology recently published.
January 6, 2009... According to a study from Dijon, France, "Involvement of sterols in membrane structural properties has been extensively studied in model systems but rarely assessed in natural membranes and never investigated for the plant plasma membrane (PM)....

Data on genome research described by G.H. Perry et al.
January 6, 2009... "Copy number variants (CNVs) underlie many aspects of human phenotypic diversity and provide the raw material for gene duplication and gene family expansion. However, our understanding of their evolutionary significance remains limited,"...

Studies from University of California have provided new data on genome research.
January 6, 2009... According to recent research from the United States, "Pairwise whole-genome alignment involves the creation of a homology map, capable of performing a near complete transformation of one genome into another. For multiple genomes this problem is...