One way to save money in the coming year is to cut down on the amount of fuel you are purchasing. These fuel-efficient cars of 2012 can help you achieve this. If you are looking to buy a car in the next year, make sure to check these out!| QUEENSLAND INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH |
 "Platelets are important for wound healing and too high or too low platelet counts can lead to disease." Image: malerapaso/iStockphoto QIMR researchers, as part of an international study led by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute UK, have identified 68 regions in the genome that affect blood platelet formation, which is essential for blood clotting and wound healing. “We studied the genes of over 68,000 people from different backgrounds, making this the largest study of its kind,” said Dr Manuel Ferreira, senior study co-author from QIMR’s Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory. “The aim of this genome-wide study was to understand which genes control platelet count and volume, as this can provide important clues into the molecular mechanism underlying blood cell formation.” Dr Ferreira said that platelets are important for wound healing and too high or too low platelet counts can lead to disease - abnormally high platelets can increase the risk of thrombotic events, heart attacks and stroke; too few platelets and there is an increased risk of haemorrhage. “What is really exciting about this research is that we have used genetic techniques to find these regions of DNA and then to better understand their function we studied the specific genes in experimental model organisms, such as the fruit fly,” said Dr Ferreira. “By turning off some of these genes, we found that blood cell formation was significantly impaired. This indicated that these new genes do indeed play a crucial role in the differentiation of haematopoietic stem cells into more specialized blood cell types. “These genes could be used in the future as new targets to develop diagnostics or treatments for bleeding disorders in extreme cases.” The results of this study have been published in Nature on and can be downloaded at www.nature.com. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here. |
| THE ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES |
 "When one generation of damselfish experiences high temperatures their whole life, the next generation is better able to cope with warmer water." Image: NNehring/iStockphoto Australian scientists have discovered that some tropical fish have a greater capacity to cope with rising sea temperatures than previously thought – by adjusting over several generations. The discovery, by researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University and CSIRO sheds a ray of hope amid the rising concern over the future of coral reefs and their fish under the levels of global warming expected to occur by the end of the 21st century. Understanding the ability of species to acclimatise to rising temperatures over longer time periods is critical for predicting the biological consequences of global warming - yet it remains one of the least understood aspects of climate science. The scientists were seeking to discover how fish would cope with the elevated sea temperatures expected by 2050 and 2100. “When we exposed damsel fish to water temperatures 1.5 degrees and 3 degrees above today’s, there was a marked decline in their aerobic capacity as we’d expected,” explains lead researcher Jennifer Donelson. “This affects their ability to swim fast and avoid predators.” “However when we bred the fish for several generations at higher temperatures, we found that the second generation offspring had almost completely adjusted to the higher temperatures. We were amazed… stunned, even,” she says. “It shows that some species can adjust faster than the rate of climate change.” “When one generation of damselfish experiences high temperatures their whole life, the next generation is better able to cope with warmer water. We don’t yet fully understand the mechanisms involved, but it doesn’t seem to be simple Darwinian selection over a couple of generations,” explains team leader Professor Philip Munday. “Instead, there has been a transmission of information between the generations that enables damselfish to adjust to higher water temperatures.” The two temperatures used in the trial represent likely tropical ocean temperatures at the mid-century and by 2100, based on current trends in carbon dioxide emissions by humanity. A 3 degree increase in tropical ocean temperatures is the temperature predicted to occur if humanity’s carbon dioxide emissions continue on their current trajectory. The unusual finding suggests that some fish may have an innate ability to cope with increased sea temperatures greater than previously thought, the researchers say. However they caution it applies so far only to a single coral reef fish species, and does not address the more complex issue of the survival of the coral habitat itself, and the effects of warming on plankton in the food chains on which fish depend. Also, there are likely to be penalties for fish that successfully adapt to higher temperatures, Jennifer Donelson says. Initial observations suggest that the acclimatized offspring are on average smaller than their parents, and we still do not know if they are able to reproduce at the same rate as their predecessors. Although the experiment has yet to run its full course, the researchers also say they do not expect the fishes’ ability to adjust to higher temperatures to continue past 3 degrees. “At such a level of planetary warming there will be profound changes in Earth’s ecosystems, affecting all forms of life, including humans,” says Prof. Munday. However, assuming humans manage to gradually bring global warming under control, it is important to understand how well animals and plants can cope with higher temperatures, in order to manage ecosystems for optimum survival of their species and the services they provide. This research provides an early insight into the adaptive capacity of fish, the team says. This study reveals that transgenerational acclimation is a potentially important mechanism for coping with rapid climate change. Such acclimation could reduce the impact of warming temperatures and allow some fish populations to persist across their current range, instead of having to move away in search of cooler waters. Their paper “Rapid transgenerational acclimation of a tropical reef fish to climate change” by J. M. Donelson, P. L. Munday, M. I. McCormick and C. R. Pitcher, appears in the latest issue of the journal Nature Climate Change. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here. |
| THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA |
Protein and cell biology research at The University of Western Australia has contributed to a ground-breaking international study demonstrating a way to alter the survival of cancer cells. The work demonstrates for the first time that the active sarcoma (Src) gene product is differentially targeted in cancer cells to maintain the viability of the cancer cells. The research results. Autophagic targeting of Src promotes cancer cell survival following reduced FAK signalling led by Professor Margaret Frame at the Edinburgh Cancer Research UK Centre, which has been published on Nature Cell Biology's website. Research reagents prepared by Professor Wally Langdon from the UWA School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine were used to help determine the mechanism by which another cancer-causing protein called Cbl contributes to this process. Cbl was found to sequester active Src and direct its trafficking and degradation by a process known as autophagy. Importantly if autophagy was inhibited by deleting the Cbl protein, then cancer cell death occurred. Considerable evidence now links increased activity of Src to cancer development and this study has revealed new ways in which Src is regulated in cancer cells. This raises additional strategies for targeting signalling pathways in cancer cells, for example, by using autophagy inhibitors. Professor Langdon said the joint research represented a significant step in understanding the way cancer cells respond to high levels of activated Src. "The evidence suggests that Src influences the life or death decisions that cells make and so by affecting the localisation of this protein in cancer cells we can alter cell responses that are often found in cancer." The finding raises new possibilities for drugs that inhibit Src's kinase activity and determine where Src is localized in the cell, ultimately determining its fate as a functional protein. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here. |
| THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE |
 The researchers have formulated promising new heart disease preventatives based on sugar and selenium. Image: MarsBars/iStockphoto A new type of sugar could help prevent heart disease, according to latest research by Dr Corin Storkey and Professor Carl Schiesser from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Free Radical Chemistry and Biotechnology at The University of Melbourne. Together with Professor Michael Davies from the Heart Research Institute, Sydney, Dr Storkey and Professor Schiesser have formulated promising new heart disease preventatives based on sugar and selenium. Their initial findings have been published in The Royal Society of Chemistry journal, Chemical Communications, while the compounds themselves have been filed under an international patent with the hope of future clinical use. “Mary Poppins was right in saying - a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Although these compounds are not the kind of sugar most people would buy as a Valentine’s Day gift we are still very excited by their potential to maintain a healthy heart,” says Dr Storkey. Dr Storkey, a former contestant on the popular Channel 7 TV show, Beauty and the Geek, and now a scientist at the Heart Research Institute, made the discovery while working towards his PhD under the guidance of Professor Schiesser at the Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne. “Our seleno-sugar compounds work by scavenging hypohalous acids, a group of highly reactive chemicals that can damage tissues when produced in the wrong place, at the wrong time or at excessive levels,” says Professor Schiesser. “One predictor of future heart disease in patients is the raised level of the enzyme that produces these hypohalous acids.” Heart disease was the leading cause of death in Australia in 2009, accounting for 16% of all deaths and more than car accidents, HIV and cancer combined according to data released by the ABS earlier this year. The group discovered their seleno-sugar compounds are able to prevent hypohalous acids from damaging important amino acids in human plasma, a key step in stopping the development of disease. They are now working to optimise their compounds for future pharmaceutical use. “We are hoping that in the future our new chemicals will keep matters of the heart sweet,” says Dr Storkey. “Well, at least health-wise!” Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here. |
