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Carbonic anhydrase and CO2 sensing during Cryptococcus neoformans growth, differentiation, and virulence

By using pathogenic fungi as model systems for understanding fungal diseases, two groups of researchers are reporting new work that offers insight into how carbon dioxide (CO2) governs the morphogenic changes that allow pathogenic fungi to survive in different environments and invade the human body

21 Nov 2005

First step in exploring the GnRH reproduction-related circuitry in the brain

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have discovered a vast network of neurons in the brain of mice that governs reproduction and controls the effects of reproductive status on other brain functions.

14 Nov 2005

Number of men interested in donating sperm has declined significantly

A study by a leading UK fertility centre has found that the numbers of men - especially students - coming forward as potential sperm donors fell sharply after 2000, almost certainly due to growing awareness that changes in the law would be removing the right to anonymity.

13 Nov 2005

Testicular cancer survivors can still have children

The overall rate of fatherhood after treatment for testicular cancer is high, but the ability to conceive and the time to conception are influenced by the type and intensity of treatment, according to a new study in the November 2 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

3 Nov 2005

Lack of sex could be a signpost to extinction

Researchers from Imperial College London believe that when species become asexual they could be on their way to extinction.

27 Oct 2005

Scientists have identified the gene which explains why eggs fail to produce a zygote

Scientists have identified the gene responsible for controlling a first key step in the creation of new life, according to new research published in the journal Nature.

27 Oct 2005

Natural selection has played an important role in patterning the human genome

The most detailed analysis to date of how humans differ from one another at the DNA level shows strong evidence that natural selection has shaped the recent evolution of our species, according to researchers from Cornell University, Celera Genomics and Celera Diagnostics.

23 Oct 2005

Significant step forward in the genome era

In what promises to be a significant step forward in the genome era, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) today announced plans to devote a portion of its large-scale sequencing capacity to efforts aimed at identifying the genetic roots of specific diseases that have long eluded gene hunters.

17 Oct 2005

PCBs found widely in the environment and absorbed in the diet - may damage sperm

Research by an European Union-supported international team of scientists has shown that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) - synthetic organic chemicals found widely in the environment and absorbed in the diet - may damage sperm.

13 Oct 2005

Microfluidics can be used successfully for IVF in mice

Technology that more closely mirrors the natural fertilization process is showing promise as a new method of in-vitro fertilization, researchers at the University of Michigan Health System have found.

12 Oct 2005

Dengue and other viruses may have developed tricks that let them reproduce inside macrophages

A monoclonal antibody that can effectively treat mice infected with West Nile virus has an intriguing secret: Contrary to scientists' expectations, it does not block the virus's ability to attach to host cells. Instead, the antibody somehow stops the infectious process at a later point.

28 Sep 2005

Israeli scientists successfully transplant ovaries in sheep and trigger early embryonic development

Israeli scientists report in Human Reproduction that they have successfully transplanted whole frozen and thawed ovaries in sheep, retrieved oocytes from these ovaries and triggered them in the laboratory into early embryonic development.

26 Sep 2005

Status and reproduction in humans: New evidence for the validity of evolutionary explanations

Men holding high positions within a hierarchical organisation have more offspring than those in other positions within the same organisation.

19 Sep 2005

Approximately 25 percent of how a person ages is inherited from parents

According to professor Thomas Kirkwood of the University of Newcastle, there is no single gene for ageing. Throughout time, Humans have used energy to get food, produce offspring and survive danger - not to repair and maintain cells. So the maintenance system in the body slowly breaks down.

19 Sep 2005

Workshop - stem cells in reproduction and in the brain

"Once we have found the factors by which body cells can be re-programmed into stem cells, then therapeutic cloning might become superfluous," said Hans R. Scholer, director of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Munster, Germany, at an international scientific symposium on stem cell research in Kobe, Japan.

10 Sep 2005

Putting the risk of breast cancer and postmenopausal Hormone Therapy (HT) into perspective

Two similar comprehensive literature reviews and an editorial about the varying risk with different postmenopausal hormone therapy regimens have been published this month in Human Reproduction Update.

7 Sep 2005

New key evidence supports claims that some types of cancer originate with defects in stem cells

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and the Institute of Biomedical Research of the Parc Científic de Barcelona (IRB-PCB) have now added key evidence to claims that some types of cancer originate with defects in stem cells.

4 Sep 2005

C. elegans worm provides clues to dealing with human disease

A step towards understanding cell mutations that cause a variety of human diseases, particularly in children -- including that which brings about premature aging and early death -- has been taken by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Silberman Institute of Life Sciences and the John Hopkins University School of Medicine.

1 Sep 2005

Human Y chromosome stays intact while chimp Y loses genes

The human and the chimpanzee Y chromosomes went their separate ways approximately 6 million years ago. But ever since this evolutionary parting, these two chromosomes have experienced different fates, new research indicates.