bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
AIDS Task Force Fizzles Out
Authors: Cohen Jon
Published: October 2006

In November 1993, the Clinton Administration appointed with great fanfare a high-level task force to help identify and remove barriers to the development of anti-HIV drugs. The task force recently disbanded, and many of its own members acknowledge that it achieved few concrete results. Its history holds some lessons for the multitude of other efforts currently under way to reorganize the sprawling AIDS research enterprise.
Policy on DNA Research Troubles Tissue Bankers
Authors: Marshall Eliot
Published: October 2006

Scientists are worried that DNA samples and other biological specimens collected over the past decade may not be made available for research because of concerns that the donors did not give adequate informed consent. Government agencies are looking for ways to satisfy both their scientific and ethical responsibilities, but the solution is not obvious.
Researchers Feel Lure of the I-WAY
Authors: Glanz James
Published: October 2006

San Diego—A coalition of computer scientists has organized a large-scale demonstration of an alternative to the current Internet, consisting of a new set of protocols for sending data over fiber-optic lines and a physical network of switches to support those protocols. Like the Internet, the so-called I-WAY makes efficient use of the information-carrying capacity of the lines. But it also opens up uninterrupted pipelines for data, allowing voice, video, and data transmissions to take place without the delays due to rerouting and slow-footed switching that can scramble Internet transmissions. Further information on the I-WAY is available at
http://www.iway.org
. Computers/Math
Overhauling AIDS Research: Views From the Community
Authors: Cohen Jon
Published: October 2006

A massive review of the AIDS research conducted and funded by the National Institutes of Health is due to be published in March. Reports of three panels obtained by
Science
indicate that the final report is likely to call for some major changes in funding and direction, with more emphasis especially on investigator-initiated research.
Panel Would Close Princeton Reactor
Authors: Lawler Andrew
Published: October 2006

A panel of fusion experts, asked to come up with options for a financially strapped Department of Energy, has reluctantly concluded that DOE, if faced with a flat budget, should close a record-setting fusion reactor to preserve the U.S. role in a long-term international fusion experiment.
New Virus Variant Killed Serengeti Cats
Authors: Morell Virginia
Published: October 2006

Two years ago, canine distemper virus (CDV) felled a third of the lions in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park. How did a virus historically restricted to dogs and a few other carnivores suddenly jump to cats? Now a genetic analysis indicates the Serengeti organism is a new variant. Researchers have also been able to trace environmental changes that set the stage for the mutation: human settlements along the park's border that placed CDV-infected domestic dogs cheek-by-jowl with park animals.
Unscrambling Color Vision
Authors: Masland Richard H.
Published: October 2006

In the primate retina, three types of cone photoreceptors—red, blue, and green—code the color in the visual field. R. H. Masland describes what is known about how this information is processed in retinal cells and how new results in this issue of
Science
change our way of thinking about color vision.
NIH Clinical Center Gets a Boost
Authors: Marshall Eliot
Published: October 2006

The National Institutes of Health's clinical center—the place where intramural research is applied to patient care—got two pieces of good news this week. A review of the center's operations recommended a new structure that doesn't involve turning it over to private managers, as NIH leaders had feared. And Donna Shalala, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in an interview with
Science
that she will ask Congress for funds to construct a new building for the center.
On the Nature of Water Bound to a Solid Acid Catalyst
Authors: Smith L. , Cheetham A. K. , Morris R. E. , Marchese L. , Thomas J. M. , Wright P. A. , Chen J.
Published: October 2006

The nature of the species formed when water interacts with Brønsted acid sites in a microporous solid acid catalyst, HSAPO-34, was studied by powder neutron diffraction and infrared spectroscopy. Previous infrared and computational studies had failed to unambiguously establish whether water is protonated to form hydronium (H
3
O
+
) ions or is merely hydrogen-bonded to acid sites inside the zeolite. Our experiments clearly showed that both species are present: An H
3
O
+
ion is found in the eight-ring channel of the zeolite and a second water molecule is hydrogen-bonded to an acid site on the six-ring.
Identification of a Committed Precursor for the Mast Cell Lineage
Authors: Rodewald Hans-Reimer , Dessing Mark , Dvorak Ann M. , Galli Stephen J.
Published: October 2006

Mast cells originate from hematopoietic stem cells, but the mast cell-committed precursor has not been identified. In the study presented here, a cell population in murine fetal blood that fulfills the criteria of progenitor mastocytes was identified. It is defined by the phenotype Thy-1
lo
c-Kit
hi
, contains cytoplasmic granules, and expresses RNAs encoding mast cell-associated proteases but lacks expression of the high-affinity immunoglobulin E receptor. Thy-1
lo
c-Kit
hi
cells generated functionally competent mast cells at high frequencies in vitro but lacked developmental potential for other hematopoietic lineages. When transferred intraperitoneally, this population reconstituted the peritoneal mast cell compartment of genetically mast cell-deficient
W
/
W
v
mice to wild-type levels.
Britain's Big Science in a Bind
Authors: Williams Nigel
Published: October 2006

London—The United Kingdom spends the majority of its funds for particle physics and astronomy on subscriptions to international research centers, while support for domestic research in those fields has declined in the past 2 decades. High-energy physicists and astronomers believe that Britain's standing in these fields is in danger, but they are not getting much support from their colleagues in other disciplines.
New Clues to Brain Dopamine Control, Cocaine Addiction
Authors: Balter Michael
Published: October 2006

Researchers have long known that the membrane protein known as the dopamine transporter helps control brain concentrations of dopamine, a neurotransmitter essential in such functions as movement, cognition, and emotion. They also had evidence that it might be a target of addictive drugs, including cocaine and possibly amphetamines. But new work in which the dopamine transporter gene was inactivated in mice suggests that the protein is even more important than once thought. It may in fact be the key factor controlling dopamine levels, as well as the prime target of both cocaine and the amphetamines. The results open the door to improved drugs for treating addiction, and perhaps also Parkinson's disease, that are targeted at the dopamine transporter.
Analyzing Molecular Structure With Astronomical Speed
Authors: Roush Wade
Published: October 2006

X-ray crystallography has met the 1-hour photo shop. The technique used to take days or weeks to determine atomic identities and relationships in a reasonably sized molecule. But now there's a new generation of x-ray diffractometers with a difference: a chip called a charge-coupled device (CCD), whose two-dimensional array of pixels—each acting as an independent detector—allows hundreds of x-ray reflections to be gathered at once. The results: structure analysis in just a few hours.
Evolving Catalysts in Real Time
Authors: Davis Mark M.
Published: October 2006

During an immune response, the immunoglobulin M gene of B lymphocytes is subject to somatic hypermutation, ultimately resulting in higher affinity antibodies. In this issue of
Science
, the crystal structure of a catalytic antibody bound to a transition state analog (Patten
et al.
,
p. 1086
) sheds light on how this increase in affinity occurs. The mutations are found in areas of the protein that do not contact the antigen directly, but rather in areas that support and stabilize the binding surface in its optimal state for binding to the antigen.
Observations of Carbon Monoxide in Comet Hale-Bopp
Authors: Jewitt David , Senay Matthew , Matthews Henry
Published: October 2006

The recently discovered comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) sports a bright dust coma even though it is still far from the sun (presently 6 astronomical units). This feature has attracted considerable interest in the public and scientific arenas. The comet is headed toward perihelion at 0.92 astronomical unit in April 1997 and is widely expected to then become a spectacular naked-eye comet. With millimeter-wave observations, carbon monoxide (CO) has been identified as the driver for the early activity observed in Hale-Bopp.
The p21
RAS
Farnesyltransferase α Subunit in TGF-β and Activin Signaling
Authors: Wang Tongwen , Danielson Paul D. , Li Bi-yu , Shah Paresh C. , Kim Stephen D. , Donahoe Patricia K.
Published: October 2006

The α subunit of p21
RAS
farnesyltransferase (FNTA), which is also shared by geranylgeranyltransferase, was isolated as a specific cytoplasmic interactor of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and activin type I receptors with the use of the yeast two-hybrid system. FNTA interacts specifically with ligand-free TGF-β type I receptor but is phosphorylated and released upon ligand binding. Furthermore, the release is dependent on the kinase activity of the TGF-β type II receptor. Thus, the growth inhibitory and differentiative pathways activated by TGF-β and activin involve novel mechanisms of serine-threonine receptor phosphorylation-dependent release of cytoplasmic interactors and regulation of the activation of small G proteins, such as p21
RAS
.
IRAK: A Kinase Associated with the Interleukin-1 Receptor
Authors: Cao Zhaodan , Henzel William J. , Gao Xiong
Published: October 2006

The pleiotropic biological activities of interleukin-1 (IL-1) are mediated by its type I receptor (IL-1RI). When the ligand binds, IL-1RI initiates a signaling cascade that results in the activation of the transcription regulator nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). A protein kinase designated IRAK (IL-1 receptor-associated kinase) was purified, and its complementary DNA was molecularly cloned. When human embryonic kidney cells (cell line 293) overexpressing IL-1RI or HeLa cells were exposed to IL-1, IRAK rapidly associated with the IL-1RI complex and was phosphorylated. The primary amino acid sequence of IRAK shares similarity with that of Pelle, a protein kinase that is essential for the activation of a NF-κB homolog in
Drosophila
.
Somatic Mutation of Immunoglobulin V Genes in Vitro
Authors: Källberg Eva , Jainandunsing Sandra , Gray David , Leanderson Tomas
Published: October 2006

The molecular mechanism behind affinity maturation is the introduction of point mutations in immunoglobulin (Ig) V genes, followed by the selective proliferation of B cells expressing mutants with increased affinity for antigen. An in vitro culture system was developed in which somatic hypermutation of Ig V genes was sustained in primed B cells. Cognate T cell help and cross-linking of the surface Ig were required, whereas the addition of lipopolysaccharide or a CD40 ligand to drive proliferation was insufficient. This system should facilitate understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate somatic mutation and B cell selection.
Bidirectional Control of Quantal Size by Synaptic Activity in the Hippocampus
Authors: Oliet Stéphane H. R. , Malenka Robert C. , Nicoll Roger A.
Published: October 2006

Analysis of strontium-induced asynchronous release of quanta from stimulated synapses revealed that long-term potentiation and long-term depression in the CA1 region of the mammalian hippocampus are associated with an increase and a decrease, respectively, in quantal size. At a single set of synapses, the increase in quantal size seen with long-term potentiation was completely reversed by depotentiating stimuli. Long-term potentiation and depression are also associated with an increase and decrease, respectively, in the frequency of quantal events, consistent with an all-or-none regulation (up or down) of clusters of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors, a change in the release of transmitter, or both.
Electrophoretically Uniform Fluorescent Dyes for Automated DNA Sequencing
Authors: Metzker Michael L. , Lu Jing , Gibbs Richard A.
Published: October 2006

A class of dyes, BODIPY fluorophores, has been identified for automated DNA sequencing that has improved spectral characteristics compared with conventional fluorescein and rhodamine dyes. Single and double BODIPY dye primers were characterized in commercially available DNA sequencers and showed uniform electrophoretic mobilities and high fluorescence intensities. The improved physical properties of BODIPY dye primers were demonstrated by direct base-calling from the unprocessed fluorescent signals and improved heterozygote analyses of mixed-base populations. The high sensitivity of BODIPY dye primers requires at least 33 percent less reagent consumed per reaction than conventional dye primers, which should affect the costs of large genome-sequencing efforts.
Panel Urges NIH to Loosen Its Grip on AIDS Research
Authors: Cohen Jon
Published: October 2006

A massive, yearlong review of the U.S. AIDS research enterprise has recommended that it be given more independence from the National Institutes of Health. It says NIH should rely less on contracts, requests for proposals, and collaborations and more on investigator-initiated research, which should get approximately double its current level of funding. The flagging AIDS vaccine effort should be overseen by a panel of experts drawn mostly from outside NIH.
Misfolding the Way to Disease
Authors: Taubes Gary
Published: October 2006

Protein chemists have long been plagued by the tendency of proteins to aggregate in the test tube. But these aggregates, once considered to be worthless junk at best, are beginning to take on new meaning. Researchers are coming to realize that the test tube protein clumping is remarkably similar to the formation of the so-called “amyloid” protein deposits that are the pathological hallmarks of a dozen different diseases, including the common memory disorder Alzheimer's. Both apparently occur when normal protein folding goes awry, allowing incompletely folded protein molecules to grab onto each other and self-assemble into insoluble fibril aggregates. Work on this “junk” is not only leading to a better understanding of the amyloid diseases but also suggests some potential therapeutic strategies to combat them.
NSF Worries About Its Federal Partners
Authors: Mervis Jeffrey
Published: October 2006

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has worked hard in recent years to supplement its $3 billion budget by building ties with several federal agencies. But in an era of tight budgets, NSF is worried that many of its partners will break those cooperative ties as they fight to save programs more closely related to their own missions.
New NIMH Director Offers Institutional Stimulant
Authors: Marshall Eliot
Published: October 2006

After a 2-year search that went down several blind alleys, a new director of the National Institute of Mental Health was named last week: Steven Hyman, a Harvard psychiatrist and neuropharmacologist. In an exclusive interview with Science, Hyman outlined his goals and challenges as he takes over the reins of the nation's premier, but troubled, mental health research institute.
Gene Perplexes Epilepsy Researchers
Authors: O'Brien Claire
Published: October 2006

When researchers from Stanford University and the University of Helsinki finally hunted down the gene for a rare form of epilepsy, they ended up with a puzzle. Because epileptic seizures occur when neurons fire excessively, epilepsy research has focused on neurotransmitters and their cell-surface receptors. But as the teams report in this issue of
Science
, the mutated gene, identified in a set of Finnish families, normally codes for a protein called cystatin B, which blocks the action of protein—degrading enzymes in the cell. Now the challenge is to explain how the absence of this protein could cause epilepsy.
Noble Gas Atoms Inside Fullerenes
Authors: Saunders Martin , Cross R. James , Jiménez-Vázquez Hugo A. , Shimshi Rinat , Khong Anthony
Published: October 2006

Heating fullerenes at 650°C under 3000 atmospheres of the noble gases helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon introduces these atoms into the fullerene cages in about one in 1000 molecules. A "window" mechanism in which one or more of the carbon-carbon bonds of the cage is broken has been proposed to explain the process. The amount of gas inside the fullerenes can be measured by heating to 1000°C to expel the gases, which can then be measured by mass spectroscopy. Information obtained from the nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of helium-3-labeled fullerenes indicates that the magnetic field inside the cage is altered by aromatic ring current effects. Each higher fullerene isomer and each chemical derivative of a fullerene that has been studied so far has given a distinct helium nuclear magnetic resonance peak.
High-Temperature Study of Octahedral Cation Exchange in Olivine by Neutron Powder Diffraction
Authors: Henderson C. M. B. , Knight K. S. , Redfern S. A. T. , Wood B. J.
Published: October 2006

Time-of-flight, neutron powder diffraction to 1000°C provides precise octahedral site occupancies and intersite distribution coefficients for MnMgSiO
4
and MnFeSiO
4
olivines. Intersite exchange occurs in minutes down to 500°C. Equilibrium distribution coefficients show that manganese ordering into the larger octahedral site decreases with increasing temperature. Exchange energies are 15.7 and 10.1 kilojoules per mole for magnesium-manganese and iron-manganese, respectively. Distribution coefficients deduced for FeMgSiO
4
olivine suggest an exchange energy of 4.8 kilojoules per mole. Intersite exchange energies are consistent with diffusion coefficients in the order iron > magnesium > manganese. Geothermometry based on magnesium-manganese and iron-manganese exchange may be possible only for samples equilibrated below 500°C.
Animal Activists Target NASA Mission
Authors: Lawler Andrew
Published: October 2006

A lobbying campaign by animal activists could jeopardize the scheduled launch this fall of a multinational space project to examine the effects of weightlessness on rhesus monkeys. The controversy pits the political muscle of animal-rights activists and their allies—who have called the experiments “one giant leap backward for mankind”—against NASA life scientists eager to conduct the first comprehensive examination of the effects of weightlessness on muscles, bones, the immune system, and coordination. The Bion project is a joint effort involving U.S., French, and Russian scientists.
Earliest Complete Dentition of an Anthropoid Primate from the Late Middle Eocene of Shanxi Province, China
Authors: Beard K. Christopher , Tong Yongsheng , Dawson Mary R. , Wang Jingwen , Huang Xueshi
Published: October 2006

The complete lower dentition of a new species of the basal anthropoid genus
Eosimias
shows a combination of primitive and derived traits unknown in other living or fossil primates. Although certain dental traits are decidedly more primitive in
Eosimias
than in other basal anthropoids, numerous derived aspects of jaw and dental morphology support the anthropoid affinities of Eosimiidae. Eosimiids document an early structural phase in the evolution of higher primates. Phylogenies that derive early anthropoids from cercamoniine adapiforms are inconsistent with eosimiid anatomy. Because early fossil anthropoids are known from both Asia and Africa, the fossil record is presently insufficient to specify the continent on which this clade originated.
New York Courts Seek 'Neutral' Experts
Authors: Marshall Eliot
Published: October 2006

In an effort to provide an impartial source of scientific advice on a flood of suits involving alleged health effects from silicone breast implants, three New York courts have established a three-person panel of scientists. Their role will be to recruit other impartial experts to help judges weigh the admissibility of scientific evidence. Although judges have had the power to appoint such panels since the 1970s, few have done so. Some observers think this could be the wave of the future for scientifically complex legal issues.
New Data Help Toxicologists Home In on Assessing Risks
Authors: Kaiser Jocelyn
Published: October 2006

Anaheim, California—Last month's meeting of the Society of Toxicology provided new clues to how pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide may contribute to asthma and other respiratory diseases. Other findings may explain why an industrial compound, methylene chloride, seems to cause cancer in mice but not in people. The Environmental Protection Agency now labels methylene chloride a probable carcinogen, but the new result could alter the chemical's status under upcoming cancer assessment guidelines.
Orientation-On-Demand Thin Films: Curing of Liquid Crystalline Networks in ac Electric Fields
Authors: Körner Hilmar , Shiota Atsushi , Bunning Timothy J. , Ober Christopher K.
Published: October 2006

Electric fields have been used in the processing of thin film, liquid crystal thermosets to produce cured network structures selectively oriented either parallel or perpendicular to a film substrate. Orientation, which depends on both the liquid crystal nature of the thermosets and their dielectric anisotropy, is selected by varying the frequency of the alternating electric field and is locked into a robust network structure by a cross-linking reaction that takes place concurrent with orientation. Structural changes and orientation during the curing reaction were measured in real time with synchrotron x-ray diffraction. Diffraction studies show that, before curing in a modest electric field of 1 volt per micrometer, reorientation can be induced by changing, for example, from a high-frequency (>1000 hertz) to a low-frequency (<50 hertz) electric field, which causes a 90-degree flip in the molecular orientation.
First Americans: Not Mammoth Hunters, But Forest Dwellers?
Authors: Gibbons Ann
Published: October 2006

For archaeologists on the trail of the first Americans, fluted points found near the town of Clovis, New Mexico, in 1932 have been sharp indicators of their identity. The points—10,900 to 11,200 years old and long accepted as the continent's oldest known human artifacts—signified intrepid hunters who swept into the continent in pursuit of mammoth, bison, and other giant mammals. But recently, evidence has been accumulating that early Paleoindians were gathering fruits and fishing rather than felling mammoths. A new excavation of a Brazilian cave, described on page
373
, provides some of the strongest support yet for that notion. Stone tools, lumps of paint, and the remains of their meals—including fruits, nuts, and bones—indicate that these cave dwellers foraged for food in the Amazonian forest and river basin, had their own distinct tool kits, and painted art on their cave walls. And they may have arrived in America before the “Clovis people” did.
Children Become the First Victims of Fallout
Authors: Balter Michael
Published: October 2006

Paris--The most pronounced health impact on the general population of exposure to radiation from the Chernobyl accident is a sharp increase in childhood thyroid cancer in the most contaminated regions. The increase surprised many researchers because it began earlier and was much larger than expected. This has led some researchers to wonder whether some groups in the exposed population are genetically susceptible to radiation damage.
Requirement for α-CaMKII in Experience-Dependent Plasticity of the Barrel Cortex
Authors: Glazewski Stanislaw , Chen Chuan-Min , Silva Alcino , Fox Kevin
Published: October 2006

The mammalian sensory neocortex exhibits experience-dependent plasticity such that neurons modify their response properties according to changes in sensory experience. The synaptic plasticity mechanism of long-term potentiation requiring calcium-calmodulin-dependent kinase type II (CaMKII) could underlie experience-dependent plasticity. Plasticity in adult mice can be induced by changes in the patterns of tactile input to the barrel cortex. This response is strongly depressed in adult mice that lack the gene encoding α-CaMKII, although adolescent animals are unaffected. Thus, α-CaMKII is necessary either for the induction or for the expression of plasticity in adult mice.
Materials Scientists View Hot Wires and Bends by the Bay
Authors: Service Robert F.
Published: October 2006

San Francisco—At the spring meeting of the Materials Research Society, held 8 to 12 April, 3000 scientists heard 2600 papers on topics ranging from semiconductors to solar cells. Highlights included a new and faster method of fabricating a powerful superconducting wire and the first atomic-scale images of a crystal caught in the act of bending.
Are Asteroids Flying Piles of Rubble?
Authors: Kerr Richard A.
Published: October 2006

The rough-and-tumble existence of asteroids has led many planetary scientists to wonder whether they might be heaps of rubble rather than solid bodies. Evidence presented at last month's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston suggests that may be the case. A survey of the rotation rates of small asteroids revealed a cutoff—a maximum rotation speed—implying that they are shattered bodies held together only by their own gravity. A rubble-heap asteroid that rotated any faster than the cutoff would simply fly apart.
Teleconnections Between the Subtropical Monsoons and High-Latitude Climates During the Last Deglaciation
Authors: Sirocko F. , Garbe-Schönberg D. , McIntyre A. , Molfino B.
Published: October 2006

The major deglacial intensification of the southwest monsoon occurred at 11,450 ± 150 calendar years before present, synchronous with a major climate transition as recorded in Greenland ice. An earlier event of monsoon intensification at 16,000 ± 150 calendar years before present occurred at the end of Heinrich layer 1 in the Atlantic and parallels the initial rise in global atmospheric methane concentrations and the first abrupt climate changes in the Antarctic; thus, the evolution of the monsoonal and high-latitude climates show teleconnections but hemispheric asymmetries. Superimposed on abrupt events, the monsoonal climate shows high-frequency variability of 1785-, 1450-, and 1150-year oscillations, and abrupt climate change seems to occur when at least two of these oscillations are in phase.
Two Versions of Holography Vie to Show Atoms in 3D
Authors: Nadis Steve
Published: October 2006

A new window on the microuniverse has opened with announcements by two research groups that they have created atom-scale holograms. To see individual atoms with holography, which makes images from the interference patterns produced when beams of radiation scatter from an object, the investigators needed atom-scale radiation sources or detectors. One group solves the problem by getting the atoms themselves to emit x-rays; the other uses atoms as detectors. Either way, the technique could be a valuable addition to x-ray crystallography, the standard way of discerning atomic arrangements, because it may be better for seeing local structures in a solid.
Strong Baby Limbs May Kick Image of Maternal Dinos
Authors: Morell Virginia
Published: October 2006

The notion of mothering dinosaurs has taken off since paleontologists argued that hatchlings seemed weak in the knees. Unable to walk very well, hatchling survival would depend on doting parents bringing back food, like mother pelicans regurgitating food for their young. But on (p
page 712
)of this issue, paleobiologists present data on baby dinosaur pelves and leg joints that suggest the creatures hit the ground running—the bones were robust at birth, implying self-sufficient creatures that didn't need hovering parents. Attacks on motherhood usually stir up controversy, however, and this one is no exception.
Molecular Genetic Insights into Cardiovascular Disease
Authors: Keating Mark T. , Sanguinetti Michael C.
Published: October 2006

The recent application of molecular genetic tools to inherited forms of cardiovascular disease has provided important insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac arrhythmias, cardiomyopathies, and vascular diseases. These studies point to defects in ion channels, contractile proteins, structural proteins, and signaling molecules as key players in disease pathogenesis. Genetic testing is now available for a subset of inherited cardiovascular diseases, and new mechanism-based therapies may be available in the near future. This remarkable progress and the implications it may have for more common forms of cardiovascular disease are reviewed here.
Field-Induced Layering of Colloidal Crystals
Authors: Trau M. , Saville D. A. , Aksay I. A.
Published: October 2006

An electrohydrodynamic methodology has been developed that makes possible the precise assembly of two- and three-dimensional colloidal crystals on electrode surfaces. Electrophoretically deposited colloidal particles were observed to move toward one another over very large distances (greater than five particle diameters) to form two-dimensional colloidal crystals for both micrometer- and nanometer-size particles. This coalescence of particles with the same charge is opposite to what is expected from electrostatic considerations and appears to result from electrohydrodynamic fluid flow arising from an ionic current flowing through the solution. The ability to modulate this “lateral attraction” between particles, by adjusting field strength or frequency, facilitates the reversible formation of two-dimensional fluid and crystalline colloidal states on the electrode surface. Further manipulation allows controlled structures to be assembled.
Concentrations of Tropospheric Ozone from 1979 to 1992 over Tropical Pacific South America from TOMS Data
Authors: Jiang Yibo , Yung Yuk L.
Published: October 2006

An estimate of tropospheric ozone concentrations was obtained from the difference in the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) data between the high Andes and the Pacific Ocean. From 1979 to 1992 the tropospheric ozone concentration apparently increased by 1.48 ± 0.40 percent per year or 0.21 ± 0.06 Dobson unit per year over South America and the surrounding oceans. An increase in biomass burning in the Southern Hemisphere can account for this trend in tropospheric ozone concentrations.
The Cytolytic P
2Z
Receptor for Extracellular ATP Identified as a P
2X
Receptor (P2X
7
)
Authors: Surprenant A. , Rassendren F. , Kawashima E. , North R. A. , Buell G.
Published: October 2006

The P
2Z
receptor is responsible for adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-dependent lysis of macrophages through the formation of membrane pores permeable to large molecules. Other ATP-gated channels, the P
2X
receptors, are permeable only to small cations. Here, an ATP receptor, the P2X
7
receptor, was cloned from rat brain and exhibited both these properties. This protein is homologous to other P
2X
receptors but has a unique carboxyl-terminal domain that was required for the lytic actions of ATP. Thus, the P2X
7
(or P
2Z
) receptor is a bifunctional molecule that could function in both fast synaptic transmission and the ATP-mediated lysis of antigen-presenting cells.
Role of Gene Interactions in Hybrid Speciation: Evidence from Ancient and Experimental Hybrids
Authors: Rieseberg Loren H. , Sinervo Barry , Linder C. Randal , Ungerer Mark C. , Arias Dulce M.
Published: October 2006

The origin of a new diploid species by means of hybridization requires the successful merger of differentiated parental species' genomes. To study this process, the genomic composition of three experimentally synthesized hybrid lineages was compared with that of an ancient hybrid species. The genomic composition of the synthesized and ancient hybrids was concordant (
r
s
= 0.68,
P
< 0.0001), indicating that selection to a large extent governs hybrid species formation. Further, nonrandom rates of introgression and significant associations among unlinked markers in each of the three synthesized hybrid lineages imply that interactions between coadapted parental species' genes constrain the genomic composition of hybrid species.
Five-Year Science Plan Under Debate
Authors: Normile Dennis
Published: October 2006

Tokyo—A 5-year plan that is expected to lay the groundwork for a major expansion of Japanese R&D spending is working its way through the upper echelons of the government. Even before the document is finished, however, some researchers are worrying that it will not do enough to bolster basic research.
Scientists Seek Allies in Fight Against Pseudoscience
Authors: Zhou Meiyue
Published: October 2006

Beijing—A midship propulsion system that won a patent and millions of dollars in government support but was never more than an idea in the mind of a untrained laborer is the latest celebrated case of pseudoscience in the world's most populous country. Now China's scientists are waging war on the popularity of such untested “solutions” to the country's technological problems, but they must overcome public ignorance of science as well as a self-serving bureaucracy.
Transcription Factor II: A Structure with Multiple Functions
Authors: Jacobson Raymond H. , Tjian Robert
Published: October 2006

The process of transcription, by which RNA is read from DNA, is executed by a large complex of 40 to 50 proteins. The crystal structure of three molecules at the core of this complex is presented by Geiger
et al.
(
p. 830
) in this issue of
Science
. In their Perspective, Jacobson and Tjian explain why the resolution of this structure is an important step on the road to understanding the entire transcription machinery.
Earth-Based Observations of the Galileo Probe Entry Site
Authors: Orton G. , Ortiz J. L. , Baines K. , Bjoraker G. , Carsenty U. , Colas F. , Dayal A. , Deming D. , Drossart P. , Frappa E. , Friedson J. , Goguen J. , Golisch W. , Griep D. , Hernandez C. , Hoffmann W. , Jennings D. , Kaminski C. , Kuhn J. , Laques P. , Limaye S. , Lin H. , Lecacheux J. , Martin T. , McCabe G. , Momary T. , Parker D. , Puetter R. , Ressler M. , Reyes G. , Sada P. , Spencer J. , Spitale J. , Stewart S. , Varsik J. , Warell J. , Wild W. , Yanamandra-Fisher P. , Fazio G. , Hora J. , Deutsch L.
Published: October 2006

Earth-based observations of Jupiter indicate that the Galileo probe probably entered Jupiter's atmosphere just inside a region that has less cloud cover and drier conditions than more than 99 percent of the rest of the planet. The visual appearance of the clouds at the site was generally dark at longer wavelengths. The tropospheric and stratospheric temperature fields have a strong longitudinal wave structure that is expected to manifest itself in the vertical temperature profile.
Genetically Engineered Resistance to Dengue-2 Virus Transmission in Mosquitoes
Authors: Olson K. E. , Higgs S. , Gaines P. J. , Powers A. M. , Davis B. S. , Kamrud K. I. , Carlson J. O. , Blair C. D. , Beaty B. J.
Published: October 2006

The control of arthropod-borne virus diseases such as dengue may ultimately require the genetic manipulation of mosquito vectors to disrupt virus transmission to human populations. To reduce the ability of mosquitoes to transmit dengue viruses, a recombinant Sindbis virus was used to transduce female
Aedes aegypti
with a 567-base antisense RNA targeted to the premembrane coding region of dengue type 2 (DEN-2) virus. The transduced mosquitoes were unable to support replication of DEN-2 virus in their salivary glands and therefore were not able to transmit the virus.
Binding of APC to the Human Homolog of the

Drosophila

Discs Large Tumor Suppressor Protein
Authors: Matsumine Akihiko , Ogai Akiko , Senda Takao , Okumura Nobuaki , Satoh Kiyotoshi , Baeg Gyeong-Hun , Kawahara Takeo , Kobayashi Shigeru , Okada Masato , Toyoshima Kumao , Akiyama Tetsu
Published: October 2006

The adenomatous polyposis coli gene (
APC
) is mutated in familial adenomatous polyposis and in sporadic colorectal tumors, and its product binds to the adherens junction protein β-catenin. Overexpression of APC blocks cell cycle progression. The APC-β-catenin complex was shown to bind to DLG, the human homolog of the
Drosophila
discs large tumor suppressor protein. This interaction required the carboxyl-terminal region of APC and the DLG homology repeat region of DLG. APC colocalized with DLG at the lateral cytoplasm in rat colon epithelial cells and at the synapse in cultured hippocampal neurons. These results suggest that the APC-DLG complex may participate in regulation of both cell cycle progression and neuronal function.
UCSF, Stanford Hospitals to Merge
Authors: Marshall Eliot
Published: October 2006

Officials at the teaching hospitals of the University of California, San Francisco, and Stanford University are planning a merger, which could be finalized this year. The two large hospitals will unite their medical services while keeping their teaching functions separate. The merger is part of a growing trend, as the demand for greater efficiency in medical care spurs teaching hospitals to streamline, downsize, and forge alliances with old competitors in order to cut costs. Research may get caught in the squeeze, because hospital charges and faculty fees for medical services have traditionally contributed to research funding.
Unique Protein Database Imperiled
Authors: Williams Nigel
Published: October 2006

Molecular biologists around the globe received e-mails last week, urging them to send messages of support for one of their most important databases: SWISS-PROT, a database of amino-acid sequences of naturally occurring proteins, pioneered by Amos Bairoch of the University of Geneva. The database, and others associated with it, has been plunged into crisis by the failure to win a development grant from the European Union. Bairoch and his colleagues are seeking emergency funding to keep the publicly accessible database from being sold to a private company, and they are warning that if no funds are forthcoming, SWISS-PROT could be shut down by the end of June.
Another Twist to MHC-Peptide Recognition
Authors: Wilson Ian A.
Published: October 2006

Foreign peptides are displayed on the cell surface in the binding grooves of MHC Class I and II molecules. A new structure of MHC Class II reported in this issue of
Science
[Fremont
et al.
(
p. 1001
)] reveals how these molecules are loaded into their grooves inside the cell. In his Perspective, Wilson describes the picture that this structure and previous structures of MHC molecules is painting about peptide presentation by cells.
Regulating Cell Proliferation—As Easy as APC
Authors: Peifer Mark
Published: October 2006

A report in this week's issue of
Science
[Rubinfeld
et al.
(
p. 1023
)] places the tumor suppressor APC firmly in the signal transduction pathway triggered by WINGLESS (in the fruit fly
Drosophila
) and WNT (in the mouse). This pathway is a supremely important one for control of cell fate. A second report [Matsumine
et al.
(p. 1020)] identifies a new downstream target of APC, another tumor suppressor
Drosophila discs large
(
dlg
). In his Perspective, Peifer discusses what these findings may mean for how APC participates in cell fate control.
Pre-Main-Sequence Star Candidates in the Bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud
Authors: Beaulieu J. P. , Lamers H. J. G. L. M. , Grison P. , Julien R. , Lanciaux C. , Ferlet R. , Vidal-Madjar A. , Bertin E. , Maurice E. , Prévot L. , Gry C. , Guibert J. , Moreau O. , Tajhmady F. , Aubourg E. , Bareyre P. , de Kat J. , Gros M. , Laurent B. , Lachièze-Rey M. , Lesquoy E. , Magneville C. , Milsztajn A. , Moscoso L. , Queinnec F. , Renault C. , Rich J. , Spiro M. , Vigroux L. , Zylberajch S. , Ansari R. , Cavalier F. , Moniez M.
Published: October 2006

Candidate pre-main-sequence stars were observed in the bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud during the search for dark matter in the galactic halo. Seven blue stars of apparent visual magnitude 15 to 17 had irregular photometric variations and hydrogen emission lines in their optical spectra, which suggested that these stars are pre-main-sequence stars of about 10 solar masses. These stars are slightly more massive and definitely more luminous than are Herbig AeBe pre-main-sequence stars in our own galaxy. Continued observations of these very young stars from another galaxy, which are probably at the pre-hydrogen-burning stage, should provide important clues about early stages of star formation.
Surgery Confounds Mission Review
Authors: Lawler Andrew
Published: October 2006

An independent panel being set up to review the value of a controversial U.S.-Russian project that involves sending monkeys into space hasn't even met, but a September launch date is forcing researchers to begin surgical procedures on the two animals. As a result, the panel has become another rallying point for critics of the $33 million Bion program, which seeks to gather a wealth of data on how microgravity affects humans.
Studly Sheep By Non-Mendelian Means
Authors: Pennisi Elizabeth
Published: October 2006

Cold Spring Harbor, New York—An unusual gene called
callipyge
, or “beautiful buttocks,” causes sheep to add muscle in their hindquarters. New work presented at the genome meeting shows that this gene has an unusual, non-Mendelian pattern of inheritance, and understanding its expression may one day help explain non-Mendelian patterns in human genetic diseases.
Schizophrenic Atom Doubles as Schrödinger's Cat—or Kitten
Authors: Taubes Gary
Published: October 2006

Schrödinger's cat has always been an elusive beast, but physicists may have finally trapped one in the laboratory. In the great Austrian physicist's thought experiment, the fate of a cat was linked to the quantum indeterminacy of a radioactive atom—half decayed, half undecayed. The cat, as a result, was both alive and dead. Now physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, report in this issue (
p. 1131
) that they have created what one observer calls a “Schrödinger's kitten,” in which they excite an atom into a superposition of quantum states, then ease those two states apart so that the atom appears to be in two distinct physical locations simultaneously.
U.S. Beefs Up CDC's Capabilities
Authors: Pennisi Elizabeth
Published: October 2006

Infectious diseases once under control have resurfaced with a vengeance and, along with AIDS and new food- and water-borne infections, have caused deaths from infectious disease to increase by 58% between 1980 and 1992 in the United States alone. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta 2 years ago drew up an ambitious $125-million-a-year plan that called for increased monitoring for emerging infections, improvements in local and state public health facilities, and enhancement of international efforts to control the spread of these pathogens and to watch out for the development of infectious agents resistant to existing treatments. The U.S. Congress responded by allocating $6.7 million in 1995 and $10.7 million this year, a sum President Clinton wants to increase to $27 million in 1997. New links are also being forged with Europe and Japan to combat emerging infections.
Panel Strikes Balance for NASA, NSF
Authors: Lawler Andrew
Published: October 2006

In the midst of a long and bitter debate on the House floor over a bill to authorize programs for several science agencies, legislators on a key spending panel quickly and quietly approved small increases for NASA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and research at the Environmental Protection Agency. Fortunately for researchers, the overheated rhetoric was directed toward an authorization bill that is unlikely to become law, while the middle ground carved out by legislators suggests that this year's budget process may actually be much shorter and sweeter than last year's debacle.
Malaria Hideout Found in New Mothers
Authors: Williams Nigel
Published: October 2006

Malaria has many dangerous and lethal tricks, but one is especially grim and puzzling: attacking first-time mothers. Although repeated exposure to the disease brings some measure of immunity to people who live in malaria-infested areas, women often lose part of those defenses during their first pregnancy. Why those defenses drop has been a mystery. Now a possible answer is emerging. On
page 1502
, Michal Fried and Patrick Duffy report that a specialized subgroup of parasite-infected red blood cells can hide out on the placental walls. Because cells bearing the receptor protein needed to bind to the placenta are an uncommon phenotype that occurs only in large numbers during pregnancy, even women who are normally immune to malaria lack the immune defenses needed to attack them.
New Yeast Study Finds Strength in Numbers
Authors: Kaiser Jocelyn
Published: October 2006

A team of researchers from Tulane University, using a novel screening system based on genetically engineered yeast cells, reports on
page 1489
of this issue that a mixture of two weakly estrogenic chemicals can be far more potent than the individual compounds. The findings are causing some scientists to take a fresh look at a controversy that has become a hot topic in the media and within Congress: Do estrogenlike pollutants pose a threat to human health? But the key question is still whether these hormonelike pollutants, much weaker than natural estrogens in the body, have enough clout to harm humans.
Transition-State Spectroscopy of Cyclooctatetraene
Authors: Wenthold Paul G. , Hrovat David A. , Borden Weston Thatcher , Lineberger W. Carl
Published: October 2006

The 351-nanometer photoelectron spectrum of the planar cyclooctatetraene radical anion (COT
⋅−
) shows transitions to two electronic states of cyclooctatetraene (COT). These states correspond to the
D

4
h

1
A

1
g

state, which is the transition state for COT ring inversion, and the
D

8
h

3
A

2
u

state. The electron binding energy of the
1
A

1
g

transition state is 1.099 ± 0.010 electron volts, which is lower by 12.1 ± 0.3 kilocalories per mole than that of the
3
A

2
u

state. The photoelectron spectrum shows that the singlet lies well below the triplet in
D

8
h

COT and confirms ab initio predictions that the molecule violates Hund's rule. Vibrational structure is observed for both features and is readily assigned by use of a simple potential energy surface.
Galileo Suggests Deep Roots to Jupiter's Fierce Winds
Authors: Kerr Richard A.
Published: October 2006

What drives Jupiter's howling winds—the distant heat of the sun, or the planet's own internal heat? Planetary scientists finally got an answer, thanks to the latest results from the Galileo probe, which plunged beneath Jupiter's cloud tops in December. The probe found that the winds penetrate deeply into the fluid planet—below the level of sunlight—and so are probably spawned by Jupiter itself.
Molybdenum Bolsters the Bioinorganic Brigade
Authors: Stiefel Edward I.
Published: October 2006

The crystal structure of the simplest known molybdenum-requiring enzyme, the dimethyl sulfoxide reductase of
Rhodobacter sphaeroides
, is reported on in this issue of
Science
by Schindelin
et al
. (
p. 1615
). In his Perspective, Stiefel discusses the chemistry performed by this enzyme and how it contributes to “the smell of the sea.”