Brain Protein "Rescues" Neurons From Atrophy
...y substances that cause the brain to "wire" itself into certain functional patterns as a result of experie... however, has been how such heavier use translates into stronger connections. The new study indicates that neurotrophins -- which are released from neurons ...Bacterial Toxin Surprises Scientists
...ins are normally moved across and inserted into membranes," said the study's lead scientis... harmless cluster of about 175 amino acids into a lethal structure that harpoons the inner membrane of its bacterial victim. The res...Duke Researchers Discover Central Role Of Nitric Oxide In Hemoglobin Action
...es a spritzof the NO it carries to help get oxygen into tissues. And NO helps hemoglobincarry away the tra...in-triotravels down arteries through the heart and into the rest of the body todeliver its load of oxygen. That process has to happen with open vesselsand i......he transmitting neuron releasesa flood of dopamine into the narrow space between neurons, called the synap...utions for common health care problems." Insights into the mechanism of amphetamine drugs derived from studying the"knockout" mice should yield new strateg...Enzyme's "Magic" May Hold Key to Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drugs
...nt is pushed through the severed first DNA segment into the central hole and the C' domains join t... type of drug does is to convert the normal enzyme into a DNA-damaging agent. Therefore, the more enzyme you have, the more potent the drug ...New Cancer Switch Discovered By Duke Medical Center Pharmacologists
...eagues found that the outlaw BCR-ABL protein plugs into an adaptor protein called GRB-2 to switch on a cha... They discovered a "safety key" molecule that fits into the normal cABL enzyme to keep it turned off. The protein molecule, called Abi-2, has structural fea...Key to Triplet Repeat Brain Diseases Open Door For New Way To Understand, Treat Genetic Diseases"
...understand." "This is at least an initial insight into the molecular genesis ofthese diseases," Burke said. "It is a novel interaction that mayexplain the increase in severity with increasing repeat size." The researchers point out that their theory of triplet repeat diseases wouldnot apply to those th...Researchers Pinpoint Site For Petit Mal Seizures In Brain
...e, the petit mal seizure is like a momentary lapse into sleep." To determine where in the neural signaling process the defect lies, Caddick measured the function of GABAb receptors at the junction between nerve cells where signals are transmitted from one nerve to the next. She showed that GABAb receptors...Tumor Suppressor Gene Located In Liver Cancer Cells
...ellular digestive system that breaks down proteins into simpler compounds. Because the receptor is involve...ed protein that lacks the ability to insert itself into the cell membrane," according to Zeneca's De Souza, who has spent three years at Duke University inv...New 'Twist' In Proteins Offers Possible Route To Improved Antibiotics
...ts of a long chain of amino acidsthat folds itself into the compact structure, which constitutes the funct...ical reaction. Any successful antibiotic must plug into the active site,blocking its action, to kill the bacteria. At Duke, Raetz and his colleagues......ties of dissolved uranium, which gets incorporated into the limestone crystals as they form. The most com...omic particles. The process transmutes U-238 first into another uranium isotope, U-234, and then into an isotope of the element thorium, Th-230. Thorium, un...Computer Program For Quicker, More Detailed Mapping
...epiece of DNA when scientists cut the long strands into small pieces. Usingstatistics to count how often particular pairs of markers remain together,computers can measure the distances between them and can determine theirorder on the DNA. Until now, generally available computer programs have had to test ...Duke Researchers Discover Candidate Susceptibility Gene For Autoimmune Disease
...k," 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'sgroup will soon begin a st...Children Become Gorillas In VR Zoo
...try out the virtual realitysystem, which puts them into a real gorilla habitat as a member of agorilla family. The demonstrations were in the Ford African RainForest's Gorillas of the Cameroon Interpretive Center, against thebackdrop of the home of Zoo Atlanta's most famous gorilla, Willie B. In the futu...From Corn Rootworms To Art, Cornell's Reactor Is At The Core
...l spills. "You can see the water and oil diffusing into the sand," Cady said. Neither X-rays nor neutrons can readily see the difference between water and oil, he explained. With neutron radiography, however, there is the potential for distinguishing between the oil and water by modifying the water phas...Duke Researchers Show "Editing" Can Fix Faulty Genes In New Approach To Gene Therapy
...diting genetic messages before they are translated into protein. The editing approach to gene therapy ign...ein. Such messages are copied from the chromosomes into a portable formcalled messenger RNA (mRNA). But mRNA copied from DNA is often full of superfluousinf...Duke Researchers Find Second Gene Linked To Blood Vessel Disorder
... for rare disorders, we are hoping to opena window into how the body's vascular system operates," Marchuk, assistantprofessor of genetics, said in an interview. "People often ask, whystudy genes for a rare disease? First, the disease may be rare, but thegenes aren't rare. Everyone has these genes, and we ...New Discovery About Genes Has Implications For Genetic Therapy
...o determining where new information is transferred into a gene. If true, the finding has important impl...py. Current techniques can insert new information into genes but exactly where that information is transferred is often left to chance. The new intron a...Transgenic Rice Plants Resist Insects, Drought And Salt Damage
...ional team that spliced other plant species' genes into rice. "Hundreds of millions of hungry people need this rice now, and the crop losses to insects, drought and increasing salinization of soils are devastating." According to Gary Toenniessen, deputy director for agricultural sciences at the Rockefell...Mutate Or Die: New Polymerase Gives Desperate Yeast An Option
... and to squelch geneticmishaps before they develop into full-blown disease. The enzyme, dubbed "zeta," is a member of the first neweukaryotic DNA polymerase family to be discovered in about a decade and is the first polymerase whose purpose is toallow an organism to tolerate , rather than fix or di...