Caterpillars and other invertebrates are helping to provide a cheap, easy and safe way to identify the genes which help bacteria cause infections in humans. Researchers from the University of Bath have discovered a way to sort through large numbers of bacterial gene sequences by testing them in caterpillars to see how their immune systems respond. This new technique known as Rapid Virulence Annotation (RVA) allows them to pinpoint the genes which code for virulence.

Researchers at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development (J&JPRD) today announced that they have discovered a new molecular mechanism that may underlie neuropathic pain. The clearer understanding of the root-cause of chronic neuropathic pain, and the preclinical validation of new targets for pharmaceutical therapies shown in this research, together present an opportunity for the development of new ways to treat the severe pain associated with such common conditions or diseases as sciatica, diabetic neuropathy and shingles.

Human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) researchers at the University of Utah have created a prototype device that could make it possible for anyone – even those with no emergency medical training – to perform life-saving actions for victims of sudden cardiac arrest. The just-in-time support, or JITS, device provides bystanders with guidance and information on how to administer CPR and assess the state and needs of the victim. The researchers will present their work at the HFES 50th Annual Meeting at the Hilton San Francisco Hotel on Wednesday, October 18. The meeting dates are October 16–20, 2006.

Levels of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an antioxidant that protects against reactive oxygen species (damaging oxygen molecules that cause direct tissue injury), become elevated in the lungs of chronic silicosis patients and could represent a new treatment approach for the disease.

A new HIV study shows how competition among the human immune system's T cells allows the virus to escape destruction and eventually develop into full-blown AIDS. The study, which employs a computer model of simultaneous virus and immune system evolution, also suggests a new strategy for vaccinating against the virus – a strategy that the computer simulations suggest may prevent the final onset of AIDS.

The researchers found that waxed and inactive frogs had about the same metabolic rate as unwaxed, dehydrating frogs. This suggests that waxed frogs are not in a hibernation-like dormant state. In a fascinating new study from the November/December 2006 issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, researchers from the University of Florida explore wiping behaviours in a tree frog that waxes itself, and test whether these frogs become dormant to conserve energy during dehydration. Many amphibians have skin that offers little resistance to evaporative water loss. To compensate, these and some other arboreal frogs secrete lipids and then use an elaborate series of wiping motions to rub the waxy secretions over their entire bodies.

After all these years, mom was right. She knew broccoli was good for you, she just didn't know it was this good.

How do you tell if a fish is fit and well? This is a question which has troubled farmers and biologists for years, but now scientists may have come up with the answer - using DNA chips. By studying the genes of Atlantic salmon scientists from three UK universities are developing a DNA chip to monitor the health and performance of salmon, a tool which could both save the salmon industry thousands and also help conserve dwindling wild salmon populations.

A microfluidic chip. Microfluidics is the science of manipulating fluids on the micron scale, a unit of measurement much narrower than the diameter of a human hair. University of Chicago chemists have demonstrated for the first time how to use a simple laboratory model consisting of only a few chemical reactions to predict when and where blood clotting will occur. The scientists used microfluidics, a technique that allowed them to probe blood clotting on surfaces that mimic vascular damage on the micron scale, a unit of measurement much narrower than the diameter of a human hair.

Researchers in the Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Caribbean Primate Research Center have discovered a key mechanism by which the Filoviruses, Ebola and Marburg, cause disease. The identification of an amino acid sequence in Filoviruses that results in the rapid depression of immunological response is described in the December 2006 issue of The FASEB Journal. Using this information, researchers can begin to develop new drugs to stop these devastating diseases.