The neural activity signaled by calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV plays an important role in maintaining long-term memories.

The mechanism that keeps track of time in our body is based on a perpetual secretion of clock proteins in a 24-hour feedback loop. But the signaling molecules that control this clock are largely unknown. In September 21 Science Julie Williams and colleagues from Howard Hughes Medical Institute, show that that the protein produced by Drosophila version of the neurofibromatosis-1 (Nf1) gene controls the circadian machinery via the Ras/MAPK signaling pathway.Williams et al. studied Drosophila with

Malignant cells secrete vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) that then binds to specific receptors on endothelial cells to induce tumor angiogenesis. In September 15 Blood, Rizwan Masood and colleagues from Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California show that VEGF has an additional role in tumor development because it is also a direct growth factor for many tumor cells.Working on tumor cell lines in vitro, Masood et al. found that several tumor types (Kaposi's sarcomas

Many bacterial species recognize the amino acid tryptophan and its transfer RNA as a regulatory signal responsible for tryptophan biosynthesis. In September 14 Science, Angela Valbuzzi and Charles Yanofsky from the Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University determined that, in addition to sensing the amount of tryptophan present, Bacillus subtilis also has a mechanism for detecting the concentration of tryptophan-specific tRNA.Valbuzzi & Yanofsky discovered that if the amount of

Heart failure is characterised by contractile dysfunction caused by a decreased sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA2a) activity. In September 18 Circulation, Federica del Monte and colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital show that gene transfer of SERCA2a can improve survival and the energy potential in failing hearts.del Monte et al. tested the effects of adenoviral cardiac gene transfer of SERCA2a on survival, left ventricular (LV) volumes and metabolism in a rat model of heart fa

Anti-angiogenic therapy alone can suppress the growth of established tumors but it can also potentiate the effects of radiation and chemotherapy through unknown mechanisms. In September Nature Medicine Rakesh Jain from Harvard Medical School suggests that anti-angiogenic therapy can also 'normalize' tumor vasculature before its destruction and this mechanism could be exploited to improve the anti-tumor effects of radio- and chemotherapy (Nat Med 2001, 7:987-989).Jain observed that the tumor vasc

Neural stem cells survive within the pyloric wall following transplantation, possibly by responding to the enteric neurotrophin GDNF.

In the absence of antigen, dendritic cells still interact with T cells to induce cytokine gene expression and maintain protective immunity.

derived toxins has a negligible impact on monarch larvae populations.

The characteristic pain crises and organ failure seen in sickle cell disease results from the abnormal red blood cells adhesion to the endothelium of small vessels and subsequent blood flow cessation. In September 15 Blood, Neil Matsui and colleagues from University of California at San Francisco describe a new cell adhesion mechanism involving the P-selectin molecule that could lead to improved treatments for sickle cell disease.P-selectin is an adhesion protein present on activated endothelial

Despite the knowledge on insulin, the molecular mechanisms in the liver that maintain blood glucose levels within tight limits are not fully understood. Two papers in September 13 Nature show that the transcriptional coactivator PGC-1 is a key molecule in the mechanism of liver glucose response to fasting and suggest that this pathway may be defective in type 1 and type 2 diabetes.Yoon and colleagues from Dana-Farber Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts found that PGC-1 i

signal the brain ventilatory response to hypoxia.