Brain Protein "Rescues" Neurons From Atrophy
... tissue culture. Such young brain tissue is in the process of rapidly sprouting dendrites. The scientists allowed the treated slices to grow for 36 hours, then introduced a tracer that allowed them to see in great detail the structure of the tree-like neurons in the layers of visual cortex. The scientists fo...Duke Researchers Discover Central Role Of Nitric Oxide In Hemoglobin Action
...est of the body todeliver its load of oxygen. That process has to happen with open vesselsand in a constant p...s also released and exhaled. Then, the oxygenation process isrepeated. "Once, we thought the primary job of hemoglobin was to carry oxygen,"said co-a...Researchers Pinpoint Site For Petit Mal Seizures In Brain
...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 that receive signals are normal in the mouse thalamus, sug...Tumor Suppressor Gene Located In Liver Cancer Cells
...l protein. Next, the researchers began the arduous process of screening the large gene for one or more mutations that might disable it. Using a method to detect mismatches in genetic material, they compared strands of DNA from tumor cells and surrounding normal tissue, and discovered mutations in the tumor...Second Breast Cancer Gene Located
...ses its ability to functionnormally." The process of mapping and cloning the gene was faster this ti...n molecular biology, we have managedto shorten the process for BRCA2 to half that time." The researchers do not yet know whether BRCA2 plays a role in......steady rate, it sends off subatomic 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, unlike uranium, does not dissolve in water. Therefore, scientists reason, all Th-230 found in limestone must be the product ...Heat-loving Microbe Repairs Its DNA With Light
...the University of Cincinnati, found thatthe repair process requires assistance from the environment, inthe fo...sts as "photoreactivation," is the first DNArepair process to be measured in a hyperthermophile. Grogan presented his findings May 19, 1996 at the 96th Genera...New Discovery About Genes Has Implications For Genetic Therapy
... site. Much more work will be required before the process could be used for any therapeutic purposes, he said. Lambowitz's team, along with researcher Phillip S. Perlman, a biochemist from the Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, was supported by grants from the National Institute of General Medical Sc...Transgenic Rice Plants Resist Insects, Drought And Salt Damage
... a protein that interferes with insects' digestive process whenever the plant is wounded by insects. Thus, insects such as the pink stem borer eat less, grow less quickly, and plant damage is reduced to tolerable levels. A barley gene enables rice plants to produce a protein that makes them salt- and droug...Mutate Or Die: New Polymerase Gives Desperate Yeast An Option
...ate than to die." Lawrence believes that this process accounts for 2/3 to 3/4 of all spontaneous mutatio... the time. "Ultraviolet damage to DNA is the process that leads to skin cancer," says Nelson."Sunlight is always causing DNA damage, and humans have a go...Cornell Researchers Precisely Date Wood From Ancient Tomb In Turkey
...onology work with radiocarbon "wiggle-matching," a process in which the radiocarbon profiles of the timbers a...What we announce in Nature is the beginning of the process of bringing some order to our understanding of the cultures and histories of our shared past."...Water Recycling Project Tested in Turkey Plant
...way to use the massive amounts of waterrequired to process turkeys. The new system uses ozone, a highly react...nitiesto grow. One gallon of water is required to process each turkey going through thechill water processing. With turkeys going through the process all day ...Photosystem I -- An Intermediate Step -- May Not Be Necessary For Plants
...have long held the view that photosynthesis -- the process by which cells in green plants convert the energy of sunlight into chemical energy and use carbon dioxide to produce sugars -- needs two intermediate light-dependent reactions for successful energy conversion: Photosystem II and Photosystem I. But a...Virginia Tech Researchers Receive Patent For Rapid Virus Detection Technology
...e test can be used at water treatmentplants and in process water used by food and pharmaceutical industriesto let engineers know whether they have to conduct further testsfor harmful viruses, Falkinham says. The test detects the presence orabsence of a virus indicator (coliphages). "The rapid virusdetectio...Nitric Oxide May Hold Key To First Treatment For Deadly Form Of Malaria, Duke Scientists Report
...Health. The researchers theorize that the process of flagging proteins with NOto activate them may prove to be as fundamental a biological process asflagging proteins with phosphate, a process now understood to be the primaryon-off switch for thou...Nitric Oxide Found To Control Cells By Turning On Genes; Suggests New Role In Health And Disease
...Health. The researchers theorize that the process of flagging proteins with NOto activate them may prove to be as fundamental a biological process asflagging proteins with phosphate, a process now understood to be the primaryon-off switch for thou...Newly Discovered Bacteria Produce Magnetic Material
...od to energy and waste through an electrontransfer process typical of respiration, rather than fermentation. Just ashumans get rid of electrons by forming and exhaling carbon dioxide, thesebacteria dump electrons on nearby electron-accepting metals, such as iron.In the process, they reduce iron hydroxide to ...Harvard, Duke Researchers Discover 'Off-switch' Inside Human Cells
...substances that trigger brain cells to fire in the process of propagatingnerve impulses. "This is the first ...to desensitization, all other ways toturn off this process in the past, have been drug molecules that acted onthe cell-surface receptor." However, said Casey, ...Duke Ecologist Says Logging Is Creating 'Mahogany Deserts'
...ings opened up by wind and fire. The regeneration process may be even more complicated. In a recent revisitto Quintana Roo, Snook found that mahogany seeds can actually successfullygerminate and begin growing in the shade. It's only after they run out oftheir own stored food -- perhaps a year after germinat...Researchers Identify A New Cellular Structure: The "Dumposome"
...n DNA elimination. Scientists had expected thatthe process would involve genetic markers that identify the doomed DNA, molecular scissors to snip it out, and enzymesto degrade it (all of which Allis suspects work in tandem with dumposomes), but they did not anticipate finding aseparate structure devoted to D...