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Studying Human Behavior May Be Key To Tackling Swine Flu
Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin will participate in a $3 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fight influenza and other diseases by creating models that simulate the complex interplay between human behavior and the spread of disease.

Link Between Specific Antibodies And Spina Bifida Ruled Out By Irish-Led Research Team
New research, publishedin the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that a woman"s risk of having a child with a neural tube defect (NTD), such as Spina Bifida, is not linked to folic acid related auto-antibodies. The findings refute a well publicised study in 2004, which had indicated a link between the presence of these auto-antibodies in the circulation of mothers who had children with Spina Bifida compared to those who did not.
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Identifiication Of Enzyme That Makes Survival Molecule For Key Vision Cells
Research lead by Dr. Nicolas Bazan, Boyd Professor and Director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, identifying an enzyme that makes neuroprotectin D1 which specifically and selectively protects retinal cells key for vision, was published in the June 26, 2009 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
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Secrets Of Scorpion Venom Revealed By Genetic Analysis

Transcriptomic tests have uncovered the protein composition of venom from the Scorpiops jendeki scorpion. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Genomics have carried out the first ever venom analysis in this arachnid, and discovered nine novel poison molecules, never before seen in any scorpion species. Yibao Ma worked with a team of researchers from Wuhan University, China, to study the sting of S. jendeki, a member of the family Euscorpiidae, which covers Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. He said, "Our work greatly expands the current knowledge of scorpion venoms. We found ten known types and nine novel venom peptides and proteins. These molecules provide a rich, hitherto-unexplored re for drug development as well as clues into the evolution of the scorpion venom arsenal". To humans, the sting of scorpions from the Euscorpiidae family tend to be quite mild - about as painful as a mosquito bite. S. jendeki venom has never been studied before. The researchers found that it contains ten known poisons, with markedly diverse modes of action and nine new types of venom peptide, whose biological effects are yet to be determined. The scorpion itself, however, is considered harmless - probably because it cannot deliver enough of the poison to cause any damage to a healthy human. Interestingly, neurotoxins, which are major poisons in the venom of another scorpion species that can kill humans, were not found in the S. jendeki venom. Ma concludes, "Many types of venom peptides and proteins have been obtained from diverse scorpion species. Some are widely distributed among scorpions from different families, while others, like some of those discovered in our study, appear to be restricted to particular scorpion lineages. The presence of these common and uncommon venom molecules among different lineages reflects the dynamic evolutionary process of the scorpion venom arsenal". Notes: Transcriptome analysis of the venom gland of the scorpion Scorpiops jendeki: implication for the evolution of the scorpion venom arsenal Yibao Ma, Ruiming Zhao, Yawen He, Songryong Li, Jun Liu, Yingliang Wu, Zhijian Cao and Wenxin Li. BMC Genomics (in press) http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcgenomics/ Contact: Graeme Baldwin BioMed Central


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