Latest Hypoxia Stories
Research could help treatments for retinoblastoma and breast cancerWhat began as research into how diabetics could possibly preserve their eyesight has led to findings that could prolong the vision of children afflicted with retinoblastoma.Dolores Takemoto, a Kansas State University professor of biochemistry who was researching protein kinase C gamma in the lens of the human eye, found her work taking a fascinating turn when she discovered a correlation between the protein Coonexin46 and...
A new study of Pacific Ocean sediments off the coast of Chile has found that offshore waters experienced systematic oxygen depletion during the rapid warming of the Antarctic following the last "glacial maximum" period 20,000 years ago.The findings are intriguing as scientists are exploring whether climate change may be contributing to outbreaks of hypoxia "“ or extremely low oxygen levels "“ along the near-shore regions of South America and the Pacific Northwest of the United...
Scientists work to explain why massive "dead zones" have been invading the Pacific Northwest's near-shore waters since 2002Yet another ecological scourge may earn a place on the ever-lengthening list of problems potentially caused by climate change: the formation of some so-called "dead zones""”huge expanses of ocean that lose virtually all of their marine life at depth during the summer.Possible connections between climate change and the relatively recent formation of...
Scientists in Pennsylvania report that boosting production of crops used to make biofuels could make a difficult task to shrink a vast, oxygen-depleted "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico more difficult. The zone, which reached the size of Massachusetts in 2008, forms in summer and threatens marine life and jobs in the region. Their study is scheduled for the Oct. 1 issue of ACS' semi-monthly journal Environmental Science & Technology.Christine Costello and W. Michael Griffin and...
Biologists have long known how adaptive evolution works. New mutations arise within a population and those that confer some benefits to the organism increase in frequency and eventually become fixed in the population.A significant challenge for evolutionary biologists, however, has been to identify the specific mutations that are responsible for adaptive change. But new research by an international team led by Jay Storz of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has succeeded in identifying the...
A new material developed at the University of Virginia "“ an oxygen nanosensor that couples a light-emitting dye with a biopolymer "“ simplifies the imaging of oxygen-deficient regions of tumors. Such tumors are associated with increased cancer aggressiveness and are particularly difficult to treat.Oxygen nanosensors are powerful new research tools that one day may also be used for the diagnosis and detection of diseases and for planning treatment strategies.The new material is based on...
Jessica Meir goes to extreme environments to learn how birds and mammals thrive in conditions that humans cannot tolerate, and she tells readers all about itMy main research interest is physiology in extreme environments, particularly those with low levels of oxygen.Animals that thrive in such "hypoxic" environments are ideal species to investigate for how their physiology responds. In addition, studying adaptations to hypoxia in animals at high altitude, during hibernation, or in...
UCD Conway researchers have characterized epigenetic signature changes in prostate cells under conditions of low oxygen levels that may lead to tumor development. The results of the study published this month in the scientific journal, Human Molecular Genetics may provide important targets for the early detection and manipulation of prostate cancer.Chronic hypoxia, or low tissue oxygen levels, is a natural feature of the aging prostate either due to declining blood flow to the area or local...
Inhibiting an enzyme in the brains of newborns suffering from oxygen and blood flow deprivation stops a type of brain damage that is a leading cause of cerebral palsy, mental retardation and death, according to researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.Reporting their results in the Journal of Neuroscience, the scientists show blocking the brain enzyme, tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA), prevents progressive brain damage triggered by the lack of oxygen and blood...
A scientist reported Friday that the Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone," where low amounts of oxygen in the water make it hard for anything to live there, is less than half the size as predicted earlier this year. Every year in the gulf bacteria, Which feed on algae blooms from the flow of farming runoff and other nutrients from the Mississippi River, cause the notorious hypoxic area to form in the Gulf. According to Nancy Rabalais, a researcher that specializes in the problem for the...
