Wisconsin scientists develop quick botox test
MADISON - Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a pair of rapid-fire tests for botulinum toxin, a feat that could underpin new technologies to thwart bioterrorism and spur the development of agents to blunt the toxic action of the world's most poisonous substance.... ...Writing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the Wisconsin grou...Duke study disputes idea that trees can 'relocate' quickly in response to climate change
PORTLAND, ORE. -- In a study with implications for how North American trees might respond to a changing climate, molecular information collected by Duke University researchers refutes a widely accepted theory that many of the continent's tree species migrated rapidly from the deep South as glaciers retreated at the end of the last Ice Age.... ..."When you put the molecular data together with othe...UIC researchers discover gene that causes liver cancer in animals
When the gene, called Foxm1b, was deleted from liver cells in laboratory mice, the animals failed to develop tumors. Even when the researchers attempted to induce the formation of these tumors artificially, using a standard laboratory technique, the mice remained cancer free. ......"To my knowledge, this is the first time a gene has been directly linked to the growth of cancer cells in live anima...Purdue engineers develop quick, inexpensive method to prototype microchips
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University researchers have developed a new method to quickly and inexpensively create microfluidic chips, analytic devices with potential applications in food safety, biosecurity, clinical diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and other industries.... ..."This development democratizes the preparation of microfluidic biochips," said Michael Ladisch, Distinguished Professor of...'Suicide proteins' contribute to sperm creation
You might say that caspases are obsessed with death. The primary agents of programmed cell death, or apoptosis, caspases kill cells by destroying proteins that sustain cellular processes. Apoptosis, a highly controlled sequence of events that eliminates dangerous or unnecessary cells, contributes to a wide variety of developmental and physiological processes--in a developing embryo, apoptosis cre...UIC researchers create tissue-engineered joint from stem cells
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have successfully turned adult stem cells into bone and cartilage, forming the ball structure of a joint found in the human jaw with its characteristic shape and tissue composition. ...... Tested so far only in animals, the tissue-engineering procedure to create a human-shaped articular condyle could be used one day to regenerate the ball struc...Scientists report on promising new approaches to induce cancer cell suicide
In cancer, the normal process by which cells die is defective. Researchers are reporting today on three new approaches to activate cancer cells' ability to commit suicide. In one set of studies, scientists employed a series of molecular and gene therapy tricks to convert an angiogenic protein used by tumors to promote their growth into a cancer cell killer. In separate study, scientists used a...Protein biomarkers accurately and quickly diagnose ALS, find Pittsburgh researchers
MILAN, Italy, Nov. 17 Detection of protein abnormalities in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) may allow physicians to more rapidly diagnose and better monitor drug efficacy in clinical trials for the disease, according to a novel study presented by a University of Pittsburgh researcher in Milan, Italy, today. ... ...These findings may lead to the firs...Clock cells, tumor suicide, tailored therapies among subjects of AACR-NCI-EORTC Conference
Critical innovations and new knowledge are now emerging from the laboratories of universities, medical centers and pharmaceutical companies worldwide, offering the prospect of a new generation of drugs capable of destroying cancer cells with pinpoint accuracy, without damaging adjacent normal cells. ... Each year, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), jointly with the National Canc...SARS virus can change quickly and unpredictably, analysis indicates
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---The SARS virus is capable of changing rapidly and unpredictably, which could present serious challenges for managing the disease and developing drugs and vaccines to combat it, research at the University of Michigan suggests. ... ...Ever since the SARS virus suddenly appeared in humans, scientists have been speculating about its origins and relationships to other, similar virus...Researchers try to determine why cancer cells don't commit suicide
WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center are using an innovative approach to study one of the fundamental aspects of how cancer develops. Normal cells are pre-programmed to kill themselves by a process called apoptosis if they grow too fast or at the wrong time or place -- cancer cells do not exhibit this same cell suicide response. ... This cell-suicide...Cyclacel's biomarker technology shows that CYC202 induces cancer cells to commit suicide
Washington, DC, 14 July 2003 - Cyclacel Limited, the UK-based biopharmaceutical company, reported today that it demonstrated through state-of-the-art biomarker technology that CYC202 (R-roscovitine), its lead CDK inhibitor drug candidate, appears to induce cancer cell suicide or apoptosis in patients receiving the drug. Details of the biomarker data obtained with CYC202 were reported today at an...Drinking concord grape juice may reduce blood pressure in hypertensive men
San Diego, CA (April 14, 2003)--Men with elevated blood pressure who drank Concord grape juice for twelve weeks experienced a significant drop in both their systolic and diastolic blood pressures, according to results from a preliminary study presented at Experimental Biology 2003. ...... "This is one of the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies to use a whole juice--in this...Gene that drives cells to commit suicide also plays key role in development of skeletal muscle
Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered that a protein causing mature cells to commit suicide also helps primitive muscle cells called myoblasts fuse together, allowing them to develop into muscles. The finding of this unexpected new role for the protein, called FKHR, suggests that future research might offer clues to how mutated forms of this molecule cause a form...Firefly molecule could quickly shed light on how well new drugs work
ANN ARBOR, MI The process that makes fireflies glow bright in the summer night can also shed light on how well new medicines work, showing immediately whether the drugs are effective at killing cells or causing other effects....... That's the conclusion of a team of scientists from the University of Michigan Health System, who report that they have inserted the gene for a firefly's glow-producin...Serotonergic dysfunction doesnt cause suicide
Several lines of evidence suggest that a partially genetically controlled serotonergic dysfunction is involved in the biological pathogenesis of suicide. To investigate the involvement of serotonergic dysfunction in suicide victims, Japanese scientists measured the protein level of tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH), the rate-limiting enzyme in serotonin biosynthesis, as a pre-synaptic maker. They als...Too much grape juice could cause iron deficiency
The same antioxidant compounds in dark grape juice that are noted for their health benefits in fighting heart disease may have a downside, according to new research in the . In cell studies, scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Cornell University found that polyphenols in purple (also called red) grape juice can inhibit the uptake of iron, which could increase the risk of iron...UIC scientists provide first images of HIV in living cells
In stunning color images using time-lapse microscopy, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have for the first time captured the very earliest stages of HIV infection in living cells.... ...The researchers filmed individual HIV particles as they traveled to the nucleus of a human cell and began taking over its genetic machinery -- the first step in the destruction of the body's imm...West Nile Virus capsid protein causes encephalitic inflammation by triggering cell suicide
(Philadelphia, PA) The protein that forms the protective capsid surrounding the West Nile virus genetic material may contribute to the deadly inflammation associated with the virus. West Nile virus, which has rapidly spread across the United States, causes neurological symptoms and encephalitis, which can result in paralysis or death. According to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Sc...UIC chemists identify compound that inhibits cell migration
A high-throughput assay developed by University of Illinois at Chicago chemists has led to discovery of a small organic compound that shows the unusual ability to inhibit cell migration. The new compound, identified as UIC-1005, may play a role in developing new kinds of cancer drugs. ......The findings are published in the November issue of the journal ChemBioChem. ......"We've been looking for...Additive that makes juices 'tart' quadruples yield of essential hemophilia treatment
Irvine, Calif. -- The common additive that gives "tartness" to orange juice, lemon juice and sodas also can dramatically boost the production of a protein critical for treating victims of hemophilia and other bleeding disorders, a UC Irvine study has found.... ...The findings indicate that citric acid, the juice additive, may help alleviate recurring shortages of a protein called Factor VIII, whi...Combining Rb2 gene with radiation therapy quickens tumor cell death, Temple researchers find
... The results of the study, "pRb2/p130 promotes radiation-induced death in glioblastoma cell line HJC12 by p73 upregulation and Bcl-2 downregulation," appear in the August 29 issue of Oncogene (Vol. 21, Issue 38). ... In the study, which was started at Thomas Jefferson University and completed at Temple's Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, the research...Technique to induce cancer cells to 'commit suicide' developed by Hebrew University scientists
Jerusalem, August 20, 2002 A new technique for tricking cancer cells into "committing suicide" and thus preventing their spread has been developed by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Their work is described in the September issue of Nature Biotechnology, which was published this week in its Internet version. ... ... The technique involves the engineering of a virus that will in...Cola soft drinks satisfy hunger as well as orange juice or 1% milk
(NEW ORLEANS, LA) A new study from the University of Washington presented today at the Experimental Biology 2002 Annual Meeting demonstrates that contrary to popular belief cola soft drinks have the same effect on satisfying hunger as orange juice and one percent milk. The study also found that milk, cola soft drinks, orange juice and sparkling water were exactly the same in their ability to que...Anticancer drug reveals alternate means of inducing cell suicide
Derivatives of the COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib can trigger cancer cell suicide, or apoptosis, but not necessarily through the recognized means of blocking COX-2 enzyme activity, a new study concludes. By separating COX-2 activity from apoptosis, researchers have a starting point for designing new classes of anticancer drugs, write Xueqin Song, Ching-Shih Chen, Ph.D., Ohio State University, and thei...Suicidal behavior among alcoholics
... Alcoholics have a much higher rate of death by suicide than do members of the general population.... Those alcoholics with a history of suicide attempts appear to have a significantly more severe course of alcohol dependence than other alcoholics.... The fathers, mothers and siblings of alcoholics who had attempted suicide also showed a significantly higher prevalence of suicide attempts.......Lean mice adjust to appetite suppressant quickly, fat mice don't
Expanding their studies of an experimental compound that causes dramatic weight loss and appetite suppression in mice, Johns Hopkins researchers now report that lean mice rapidly adjust to daily doses of the drug and get their appetites back, while their obese counterparts do not.... ... Reporting in the Feb. 19 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists show th...... ...A developing cell in the human body sits on the edge of death. Proteins called Grim, Reaper and Hid stand poised, ready to unleash other toxic proteins. Only if a protein messenger from another cell arrives in time to call off the killing, will the cell then mature into any one of the various types of body cells, such as skin, liver and brain. ... ...But how these protein messengers comma...Evolutionary 'speed limit' governs how quickly life bounces back after extinction
...... The 500-million-year history of life on Earth is a series of...booms and busts. But while the busts, or extinctions, can be...either sudden or gradual, the booms, or diversifications, of new...organisms rarely occur quickly, according to a new study by a...National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded scientist at the...University of California at Berkeley. A paper on the subject...appe...The 500-million-year history of life on Earth is a series of booms and busts. But while the busts, or extinctions, can be either sudden or gradual, the booms of diversification of new organisms rarely happen quickly, according to a new study by a University of California, Berkeley, scientist.... ...A statistical analysis of the rates of extinction and origination in the fossil record shows that l...Method quickly surveys yeast genome by gene function, not sequence
Combining a decade of research advances, scientists have implemented a new method that essentially searches the entire yeast genome in an instant, looking for what the genes do rather than what they look like, say the researchers from Johns Hopkins and Rosetta Inpharmatics, Inc.... ... The scientists mixed more than 4,600 yeast mutants, each lacking a different gene, and put the pooled mutants in...Study: tree coring seems to be quicker, cheaper method of measuring radiation
CHAPEL HILL Monitoring uranium contamination by drilling wells costs a lot, but a new study suggests it may be possible to do the same monitoring far more cheaply by coring trees on potentially radioactive sites.... ...Dr. Drew Coleman, assistant professor of geologic sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his graduate student Michael Bulleri conducted the study. They p...Penn researchers explore the role of cell suicide in the development and treatment of cancer
. . . Philadelphia, PA Within the workings of a human cell there is an innate mechanism for self-destruction a carefully choreographed act called apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Without apoptosis, diseased cells, especially cancerous cells, are not eliminated from the body and can continue to threaten other cells. Not surprisingly, cancer researchers are trying to piece together the me...UIC biologist awarded cancer research grant
.University of Illinois at Chicago assistant professor of biological sciences Jennifer Schmidt is among 15 national recipients of this years Kimmel Scholar Award Program, which supports cancer research. . .As a Kimmel Scholar, Schmidt will receive $100,000 grants in each of the next two years to help further her research and establish a laboratory at UIC. .The Kimmel program, now in its fifth ye...Genetic contributions to suicide
.ARTICLES: . .(1) "Suicide attempts and the tryptophan hydroxylase gene". .Authors: M Abbar, P Courtet, F Bellivier, M Leboyer, JP Boulenger, D Castelnau, M Ferreira, C Lambercy, D Mouthon, A Paoloni-Giacobino, M Vessuz, A Malafosse, C Buresi. .Department of Psychiatry, Carmeau Hospital, Nimes, France; Department of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry, Lapeyronie Hospital and University Depart.... On a cold, snowy Sunday in late March, a University of Illinois at Chicago biologist, backed by a volunteer crew, set fire to dry vegetation on one of the last surviving patches of virgin prairie in the state.. . "If we didnt do it, in the long run, the prairie wouldnt survive," says Dennis Nyberg, associate professor of biological sciences and director of the UIC-owned-and-operated James Woo....Squirrels. We see the frisky, playful animals almost everywhere, but how much do scientists know about them? Apparently not enough. That's why a University of Illinois at Chicago professor hopes you'll give him some of your time to help him learn more.. .Joel Brown, a UIC biologist and squirrel expert, says many questions about squirrel life and behavior remain unanswered. That's where the...Quick, easy, color-coded technique will speed identification of drugs for diseases
. . . . . John Hopkins researchers have developed the first color-coded tracking system to see how receptors on the surface of a living cell transmit signals to the cell's interior and regulate a wide range of biological processes. The technology, described in the March 23 issue of Science, should significantly speed up the search for drugs needed to treat heart disease, cancer, asthma and o...UC Davis study finds heart benefits from apples & juice
. .SACRAMENTO, Calif. Researchers at UC Davis School of Medicine have determined that drinking apple juice and eating apples has a beneficial effect on risk factors for heart disease. Results of the pioneering clinical study appear in the winter edition of Journal of Medicinal Food. .The study shows that compounds in apples and apple juice act in much the same way that red wine and tea do to...Want to get rid of trash quickly? Just add water, study suggests
. COLUMBUS, Ohio - Trash in a municipal landfill could. decompose nearly 10 to 20 times faster than it normally does. through a system that keeps the trash continuously wet, new. research suggests.. . Landfills are normally dry environments, and the lack of. adequat...