Transgenic milk shows promise

UC Davis scientists say an experiment using milk from transgenic goats altered the intestinal bacteria in young goats and pigs. The milk came from goats that carry the gene for lysozyme, an antibacterial enzyme found in human breast milk. The researchers hope their work will lead to milk that protects infants and children against diarrheal illnesses, which, according to the World Health Organization, kill more than 2 million children worldwide annually. A report on the research is due to appear in this month's issue of Transgenic Research. Professor Jim Murray led the study along with Professor Gary Anderson and animal scientist Elizabeth Maga.

Ovarian cancer markers ID'd

A UC Davis team has identified 15 biological markers that appear to be present in the blood of people with ovarian cancer, and say cancer cells produced the same markers in lab research. The work could lead to a much-needed early test for ovarian cancer. The study is published in the July 7 issue of the Journal of Proteome Research. Carlito Lebrilla, a professor in the departments of Chemistry, and Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, and Suzanne Miyamoto of the Division of Hematology and Oncology, UC Davis Cancer Center, led the research. Other authors: Hyun Joo An, Crystal Kirmiz, Katherine Lancaster and Bensheng Li, Department of Chemistry; Kit Lam, Department of Internal Medicine; and Gary Lieserowitz, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

HIV hides out in the intestine

The AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus is able to survive efforts to destroy it by hiding out in the mucosal tissues of the intestine, researchers say. They also found that HIV continues to replicate in the gut mucosa, suppressing immune function in people on antiretroviral therapy, even when blood samples indicated that the treatment was working. Results of the three-year study appear in this month's issue of the Journal of Virology. "This is the first longitudinal study to show that, while current HIV therapy is quite successful in reducing viral loads and increasing T-cells in peripheral blood, it is not so effective in gut mucosa," said Satya Dandekar, professor and chair of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at UC Davis Health System and senior author of the study.

Lake Tahoe clarity: 72.4 feet

The waters of Lake Tahoe were clear to an average depth of 72.4 feet in 2005, according to UC Davis scientists who have monitored the lake since 1968. At 72.4 feet, the clarity is in the range where it as been for the past five years — and where it was for other multi-year periods in the 1990s. Measurements involve lowering a white disk into the lake. The first year, observers saw the disk at an average depth of 102.4 feet. The clarity varies from year to year because precipitation varies. That affects the amount of soil particles and pollutants that are washed into the lake, said John Reuter, associate director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. UC Davis and other academic institutions and public agencies are working together to restore and preserve the Tahoe Basin ecosystem.

Bugs in produce? Suffocate 'em

UC Davis researchers have developed a new method for ridding harvested fruits and vegetables of insect pests and microorganisms without the use of ozone-depleting chemicals like methyl bromide. The new technique, called metabolic stress disinfection and disinfestation, effectively suffocates insects found in harvested produce. Forces produced by alternating vacuum and pressurized carbon dioxide applications cause irreversible changes in cell chemistry and damage to essential respiratory structures. Ethanol gas is applied briefly to accelerate killing of fungi and bacteria and to damage insect eggs. A patent is pending on the technology, which was reported in the July issue of the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. "All major fruits ... as well as vegetables and ornamental flowers retain their quality when treated with this technology," said Manuel Lagunas-Solar, a research chemist at UC Davis' Crocker Nuclear Laboratory.

MIND find in autistic males

Researchers at the MIND Institute have discovered that the brains of males with autism have fewer neurons in the amygdala, a part of the brain involved in emotion and memory. The study, published in the July 19 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, is the first neuroanatomical study to quantify a key difference in the autistic amygdala. "This is the first quantitative evidence of an abnormal number of neurons in the autistic amygdala and the first study to use modern unbiased sampling techniques for autism research," said David Amaral, research director at the institute, who worked on the study with former graduate student Cynthia Mills Schumann.