Unusual microbial xylanases from insect guts.

Recombinant DNA technologies enable the direct isolation and expression of novel genes from biotopes containing complex consortia of uncultured microorganisms. In this study, genomic libraries were constructed from microbial DNA isolated from insect intestinal tracts from the orders Isoptera (termites) and Lepidoptera (moths). Using a targeted functional assay, these environmental DNA libraries were screened for genes that encode proteins with xylanase activity.

Evaluation of a meridian-based intervention, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), for reducing specific phobias of small animals.

This study explored whether a meridian-based procedure, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), can reduce specific phobias of small animals under laboratory-controlled conditions. Randomly assigned participants were treated individually for 30 min with EFT (n = 18) or a comparison condition, diaphragmatic breathing (DB) (n = 17). ANOVAS revealed that EFT produced significantly greater improvement than did DB behaviorally and on three self-report measures, but not on pulse rate.