Futurity.org » University of Florida

Combo therapy reverses diabetes in mice

Czerne Reid-U. Florida — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:57:30 +0000

U. FLORIDA (US) — A combination therapy that reverses established Type 1 diabetes in mice sets the stages for development of a new human therapy.

“If our therapy is successfully translated to humans, patients will be able to have a life without Type 1 diabetes—that’s the exciting part,” says Defu Zeng, senior author of the study and an associate professor of hematology and hematopoietic cell transplantation at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California.

Mastodons, humans were Florida neighbors

Danielle Torrent-Florida — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:12:08 +0000

U. FLORIDA (US) — During the last ice age 13,000 years ago, modern humans in North America lived alongside large, now extinct mammals, including mammoths, mastodons, and giant sloths.

A new study published online in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology addresses the century-long debate about whether human and mammal remains found at Vero Beach in the early 1900s date to the same time period.

‘Math Fever’ game is prep for epidemics

Donna Hesterman-Florida — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:21:50 +0000

U. FLORIDA / UC BERKELEY (US) — What seems like a macabre game of tag is actually an innovative tool for understanding how infectious diseases move through a population.

University of Florida biologist Juliet Pulliam is among an international team of scientists who teach a workshop annually in South Africa that helps epidemiologists improve mathematical models they use to study outbreaks of diseases like cholera, AIDS, and malaria.

Pulliam and colleague Steve Bellan from the University of California Berkeley created the game in 2010 as a teaching aid for the workshop. The exercise has proven so effective in demonstrating concepts in epidemiology that a discussion of the game is presented in the April 3 edition of the journal PLoS Biology.

Toxic proteins inside 32 million Americans

Mina Radman-Florida — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:03:19 +0000

U. FLORIDA (US) — More than 32 million American adults and children harbor potentially toxic proteins that can attack body tissues and lead to autoimmune diseases.

A recent University of Florida study offers the first accurate estimate of the frequency of the proteins, called autoantibodies, the researchers say. The findings appear online and in an upcoming print edition of the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

As climate warmed, early horses shrank

Danielle Torrent-Florida — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:46:01 +0000

U. FLORIDA (US) — Past climate warming resulted in tiny horses, a finding that suggests mammals shrink when temperatures rise.

In a study appearing in the journal Science, researchers led by scientists from the University of Florida and the University of Nebraska found a correlation between temperature and body size in mammals by following the evolution of the earliest horses about 56 million years ago: As temperatures increased, their body size decreased.

Catch more flies with blue than yellow

Robert Wells-Florida — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:48:26 +0000

U. FLORIDA (US) — To limit the spread of disease, a new fly control device takes advantage of flies’ preference for the color blue.

Known as the Florida Fly-Baiter, the device is blue—in contrast to the yellow fly control devices on the market—and is far more effective, says Phil Koehler, a professor of urban entomology at the University of Florida.

Drug-free therapy limits epilepsy seizures

April Frawley Birdwell-Florida — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:26:14 +0000

FLORIDA (US) — Sparking production of a hormone that the brains of people with epilepsy often lack could prevent debilitating seizures.

The researchers used gene therapy in rats to stimulate production of somatostatin, a seizure-stopping chemical that naturally occurs in the brain. The study was published in the journal Neuroscience Letters.

U.S. shark attacks down, but more fatal abroad

Danielle Torrent-Florida — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:55:12 +0000

U. FLORIDA (US) — Shark attacks in the U.S. declined in 2011, but worldwide fatalities reached a two-decade high.

While the U.S. and Florida saw a five-year downturn in the number of reported unprovoked attacks, the 12 fatalities—which all occurred outside the U.S.—may show tourists are venturing to more remote places, says ichthyologist George Burgess, director of Florida’s International Shark Attack File report, produced at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida.

Finally! A fungus that fights fire ants

Mickie Anderson-Florida — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:31:20 +0000

U. FLORIDA (US) — After years of searching, scientists may have identified a fungus to control fire ant infestations.

The struggle has centered around the ants’ social behaviors—such as hauling their dead off to what entomologists call “bone yards” in isolated spots away from the nests—which have prevented commercial development of this method. The fungus can’t spread if infected ants are continually separated from healthy ones.

Like Lady Gaga, early primate favored claws

Ron Wayne-U. Florida — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:21:06 +0000

U. FLORIDA (US) — Our primate ancestors may have traded flat nails for raised claws in the name of function, much like pop icons Adele and Lady Gaga are doing today in the name of fashion.

New research, reported in the journal PLoS One, examines the first extinct North American primate with a toe bone showing features associated with the presence of both nails and a claw. The finding raises questions about a 2009 study documenting the lack of grooming claws in another primitive primate species said to be a link in the ancestry of apes, monkeys and humans.