Monthly Archives:: August 2012

Early menopause: A genetic mouse model of human primary ovarian insufficiency

Posted by & filed under Biology, News.

Scientists have established a genetic mouse model for primary ovarian insufficiency (POI), a human condition in which women experience irregular menstrual cycles and reduced fertility, and early exposure to estrogen deficiency. POI affects approximately one in a hundred women. In most cases of primary ovarian insufficiency, the cause is mysterious, although genetics is known to play a causative role.

Keep your distance: Why cells and organelles don’t get stuck

Posted by & filed under Biology, News.

Biomembranes enclose biological cells like a skin. They also surround organelles that carry out important functions in metabolism and cell division. Scientists have long known in principle how biomembranes are built up, and also that water molecules play a role in maintaining the optimal distance between neighboring membranes -- otherwise they could not fulfill their vital functions. Now, with the help of computer simulations, scientists have discovered two different mechanisms that prevent neighboring membrane surfaces from sticking together.

What babies eat after birth likely determines lifetime risk of metabolic mischief and obesity, rat studies suggest

Posted by & filed under Health Sciences.

Rats born to mothers fed high-fat diets but who get normal levels of fat in their diets right after birth avoid obesity and its related disorders as adults, according to new research. Meanwhile, rat babies exposed to a normal-fat diet in the womb but nursed by rat mothers on high-fat diets become obese by the time they are weaned.

Corrosion protection for metal artifacts

Posted by & filed under Chemistry.

The Mediterranean region is home to numerous museums and historical sites housing metal objects that provide an invaluable window into the past. EU funding enabled development of state-of-the-art corrosion protection and monitoring.

Keep your distance: Why cells and organelles don’t get stuck

Posted by & filed under Chemistry.

Biomembranes enclose biological cells like a skin. They also surround organelles that carry out important functions in metabolism and cell division. Scientists have long known in principle how biomembranes are built up, and also that water molecules play a role in maintaining the optimal distance between neighboring membranes—otherwise they could not fulfill their vital functions. Now, with the help of computer simulations, scientists of the Technische Universität München (TUM) and the Freie Universität Berlin have discovered two different mechanisms that prevent neighboring membrane surfaces from sticking together. Their results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Conservation scientists call policy-makers to be scale-aware

Posted by & filed under Biology, News.

Conservation is concerned with the preservation of biological diversity at all levels, from genes to species, communities and ecosystems.  Yet conserving this biological richness is made difficult because it varies in complex ways at different scales of space and time. The problem of scale emerges as a critical new theme in conservation practice.
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