Brain Protein "Rescues" Neurons From Atrophy
...als, reported in the Nov. 9 issue of Nature, shows that the proteins, called neurotrophins, can foster brain cell growth, and that they might offer treatment for diseases involving gain or loss of brain cell connections. These diso...Bacterial Toxin Surprises Scientists
...rtain toxins, but on diseases like cystic fibrosis that result from defects in natural membrane ch...Because it is relevant to all the proteins that end up inserted in the cell's membrane [such as hormone receptors] as well as to any...Duke Researchers Discover Central Role Of Nitric Oxide In Hemoglobin Action
...y many diseases are treated. "We now know that nitric oxide is involved in the blood's major func...logicalsystems. For example, scientists discovered that NO worked in the circulatorysystem to dilate blood vessels. "Free" NO is released by endothelialcell...Dangerous Chemical Combination Presents Possible Scenario For Gulf War Illnesses
...using chickens, the researchers specifically found that two pesticides,DEET and permethrin, and the anti-n...lityto neurotoxic chemicals more closely resembles that of humans, the scientistssaid. The findings were prepared for presentation Wednesday at the annual ......ntsfor psychiatric disorders. "We were astonished that a single genetic deletion would have sucha profoun... Bristol Myers Squibb. Caron said in an interview that while it may seem a stretch for one geneticallyengineered mouse to help answer fundamental questions...Enzyme's "Magic" May Hold Key to Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drugs
...everything getting tangled, we do not feel that this objection will be insuperable." ... and Francis H.C. Crick correctly predicted that double-stranded DNA must be locally untwisted to enable gene transcription and chrom...New Cancer Switch Discovered By Duke Medical Center Pharmacologists
DURHAM, N.C. -- A new way that cancers may be triggered in the body -- through damage to a molecular "safety key" that normally holds cell growth in check -- has been reported by Duke University Medical Center pharmacol...Key to Triplet Repeat Brain Diseases Open Door For New Way To Understand, Treat Genetic Diseases"
...es may produce disease. The scientists discovered that these "triplet repeat" diseasegenes produce proteins that errantly stick to an enzyme crucial to the productionof energy in brain cells. They believe that bec...Researchers Pinpoint Site For Petit Mal Seizures In Brain
... new clues about the precise location in the brain that causes the common childhood form of epilepsy. The ...e." Previously, the Duke researchers had reported that mice with petit mal seizures have an overabundance of a protein called a GABAb receptor in the brain...Tumor Suppressor Gene Located In Liver Cancer Cells
...euticals of Chesire, United Kingdom. The discovery that the gene -- mannose 6-phosphate/insulin-like growt...lysosomes, a part of the cellular digestive system that breaks down proteins into simpler compounds. Because the receptor is involved both in switching on a...New 'Twist' In Proteins Offers Possible Route To Improved Antibiotics
...ggests the possibility of a new kind of antibiotic that couldrecognize the unusual structure, jam the enzy...tics has become an important health problemand one that has defied solution, since bacteria can so readily adapt tothe current generation of antibiotics. ...Second Breast Cancer Gene Located
...atedon the discovery. "This finding means that we really are narrowing in on this dreadedcancer,"... at Duke. "Butit makes it more important than ever that we learn how to counsel womenabout their options and how to develop clinics to provide support servi...Duke Geologists Explore Alternative Way To Measure Ice Age Sea Bottom Temperatures
DURHAM, N.C. --A new study suggests that differing calcium-magnesium ratios in the shells o...ed the chemical analyses for the study, Dwyer said that more oxygen 16 is indeed present in warmer seawater, whereas oxygen 18 is more abundant in colder se......tant finds in human evolutionary history indicates that the fossils date from at least 100,000 years earli... Zhoukoudian, not far from Beijing. In excavations that began in 1921, archeologists and paleontologists have recovered the remains of at least 40 individua...Computer Program For Quicker, More Detailed Mapping
...nter have developeda powerful new computer program that can map thousands of genetic markersat once. Using...dress." Mapper produces high-quality genetic maps that will dramatically advancethe efforts of the Human Genome Project, whose goal is to map and sequencet...Duke Researchers Discover Candidate Susceptibility Gene For Autoimmune Disease
...ay provide a clue to the underlyinggenetic defects that can lead some people's immune systems to attack th...o understand therole of a gene of unknown function that seemed to be involved in the actionof insulin, a hormone involved in diabetes. Instead, they found t...Rosemary May Have Anti-Cancer Properties
...tions," according toMilner. "We have found a spice that offers protection against a classicmodel of breast...DNA in the rats' mammary cells. Scientists believe that that bindingprocess is a necessary event in the formation of tumors. The Penn State researchers fe...Heat-loving Microbe Repairs Its DNA With Light
...l for life and reproduction, it would seem logical that the S. acidocaldarius cell should have particular... environments?" On one hand, it would seem logical that S. acidocaldarius , likemany organisms, should use the energy of the abundant, visibleportion of th...Children Become Gorillas In VR Zoo
...n the future, researchers hope to create a program that can run onsmaller, less expensive computers, allow... we hope to work together to expand thisproject so that the 'virtual zoo' will one day be a reality." To make the project an effective teaching tool, resea...From Corn Rootworms To Art, Cornell's Reactor Is At The Core
...doctoral student in entomology, is looking at film that shows a thin white line branching off in different... to zoologists can use it to get detailed pictures that X-rays cannot produce. It is the first time neutron radiography has been used to study insects. "X-...