Brain Protein "Rescues" Neurons From Atrophy
...student Kimberley McAllister, Lo and Katz reported finding that different regions of the brain's visual cortex sprout connections, called dendrites, in response to different neurotrophins. Understanding this chemical language is a first step in learning to manipulate the growth of brain cells, the scientists...Duke Researchers Discover Central Role Of Nitric Oxide In Hemoglobin Action
... as blood pressure, in the circulatory system. The finding appearsto have solved the long-standing mystery of how blood carries oxygen tobody tissues and extracts waste carbon dioxide while keeping vessels openand blood pressure steady. Scientists say the discovery, detailed in the March 21 issue o...New Cancer Switch Discovered By Duke Medical Center Pharmacologists
...cells to become cancerous, or "transformed." "This finding offers us two lessons," Pendergast said. "One is that there are multiple pathways to activate ras. And the other is that we can separate the pathways for anti-apoptotic and transforming activity. Ras appears to be necessary, but not sufficient for t...Key to Triplet Repeat Brain Diseases Open Door For New Way To Understand, Treat Genetic Diseases"
...linked to Alzheimer's disease. In many ways, "this finding may be morepivotal than our earlier work," said Dr. Allen Roses, scientific directorof the Deane Laboratory at Duke, where the experiments were conducted. "Weare beginning to cross the difficult area between gene discovery and abnormalfunctions of th...Researchers Pinpoint Site For Petit Mal Seizures In Brain
... at Duke University Medical Center reported Monday finding new clues about the precise location in the brain that causes the common childhood form of epilepsy. The findings may lead to more specific drugs for the disorder with fewer side effects, said Dr. David Hosford, assistant professor of neurology at Du...New 'Twist' In Proteins Offers Possible Route To Improved Antibiotics
...ded" spiral structure in the molecule. The finding suggests the possibility of a new kind of antibiot..., or hexapeptide, sequence. Accordingto Raetz, the finding of the unusual structure suggests that other enzymeswith similar sequences also form the left-handed...Second Breast Cancer Gene Located
...ories collaboratedon the discovery. "This finding means that we really are narrowing in on this drea...ck the gene to a regionon chromosome 13. A recent finding of a pancreatic cancer with a deletionof genetic material in the precise region of BRCA2 also aided ...Duke Researchers Discover Candidate Susceptibility Gene For Autoimmune Disease
...disorders and septic shock," Blackshear said."This finding provides insight into a new gene that appears to regulateTNFa. It is possible that defects in this gene may cause people to be susceptibleto developing autoimmune diseases." The corresponding gene has been identified in people, and Blackshear'sgrou...Duke Researchers Find Second Gene Linked To Blood Vessel Disorder
...essels form and heal in response to injury. The finding links a previously identified human gene called ac...d from six other research institutions reportedthe finding in the June issue of Nature Genetics. The study was funded bythe National Institutes of Health, the ...New Discovery About Genes Has Implications For Genetic Therapy
...mation is transferred into a gene. If true, the finding has important implications for potential future use in guiding genetic therapy. Current techniques can insert new information into genes but exactly where that information is transferred is often left to chance. The new intron approach could allo...... females checked their heads for the compound and, finding none, curled their abdomens and rebuffed their advances. "Isn't it ironic that a compound with a misplaced reputation in human sexual behavior is actually used for a sexual purpose by insects?" said Eisner. "The male Neopyrochroa beetle is borrowin...Cornell Researchers Precisely Date Wood From Ancient Tomb In Turkey
...gs were cut at an archaeological site in Turkey, a finding that has major implications for understanding the history of the Greeks, Egyptians and other ancient civilizations. Reporting in the journal Nature (June 27), Peter I. Kuniholm, Cornell professor of the history of art and archaeology, with other rese...Bee Sting Treatment Should Emphasize Speed, Not Method Of Removal
...thesting be removed as quickly as possible." The finding goes against conventional advice that bee stings should be scrapedout -- using a knife blade, credit card or fingernail -- and never pluckedout by pinching with tweezers or fingernails. Visscher was skeptical ofthis advice because, although the sting...Nitric Oxide May Hold Key To First Treatment For Deadly Form Of Malaria, Duke Scientists Report
...chers led by Duke University Medical Centerreports finding that the chemical nitric oxide is a universal sign...earch and possible therapeutic uses." The finding ties together the mountains of scientific studies in recentyears linking NO with everything from blo...There is a new new methodfor finding a human gene ifan analogous gene fromany other life form isalready known. While other techniques alreadyexist to find cross-species geneanalogs, this method is far moreaccurate. The new method --devised through the collaborativeefforts of U.S. and Ru...Nitric Oxide Found To Control Cells By Turning On Genes; Suggests New Role In Health And Disease
...chers led by Duke University Medical Centerreports finding that the chemical nitric oxide is a universal sign...earch and possible therapeutic uses." The finding ties together the mountains of scientific studies in recentyears linking NO with everything from blo...Harvard, Duke Researchers Discover 'Off-switch' Inside Human Cells
..." cancer cells, whose growth is out of control.The finding also may offer a fundamentally new route to regulating cellactivity to treat heart disease, neurological disorders and other medicalproblems, say the researchers. In a report in the Sept. 12 Nature, the researchers reported discoveringa protein call...In a new finding with implications to human learning, memory and speech acquisition, researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center have correlated the simple notes and more complex passages of a bird's song to activity in different areas of the brain. The r...Researchers Identify A New Cellular Structure: The "Dumposome"
...ndem with dumposomes), but they did not anticipate finding aseparate structure devoted to DNA degradation. Dumposomes seem to target heterochromatin, a distinct form of highly repetitive DNA that contains few active genes."It's been said that heterochromatin is a bad neighborhood for good genes," Smothe...Newly Discovered Gene Halts Cell Division and May Have Cancer Link
...ad to the development of cancer. They reported the finding in the Oct. 11 issue of the journal Science . ...wn as MAD2. The new discovery may open the door to finding more effective ways to treat such tumors. "We think the MAD2 gene stops cells from dividing when do...