Brain Protein "Rescues" Neurons From Atrophy
...ared to the neurons serving the open eye. However, when the "closed-eye" neurons were treated with the neu...t neurotrophins -- which are released from neurons when they are triggered to fire by their neighbors -- are the substances in strengthening preferred conne...Bacterial Toxin Surprises Scientists
...tein that lie on each side of the membrane when colicin Ia is in its innocuous, closed-channel state and when it is in its harmful, open-channel state (see images). ...Duke Researchers Discover Central Role Of Nitric Oxide In Hemoglobin Action
...ibed before, Stamler said. Allosteric regulationis when one molecule causes a protein to change its shape and, thereby,its function. Hemoglobin is "a classic allosteric protein" becauseits function depends on whether or not oxygen is bound to it,Stamler said.Now, the Duke researchers said, NO is also invo...Dangerous Chemical Combination Presents Possible Scenario For Gulf War Illnesses
...gas agent pyridostigmine bromide(PB) were harmless when used alone, even at three times the doses soldierslikely received. But when used in combination, the chemicals caused neurologicaldeficits in the test animals similar to those ......nd promote the release of dopamine. "What happens when amphetamines break dopamine vesicles has been amat...t role each of the components play andwhat happens when one crucial component is missing or malfunctioning."...New Cancer Switch Discovered By Duke Medical Center Pharmacologists
...ute lymphoblastic leukemia. The BCR-ABL gene forms when a genetic mistake occurs in bone marrow cells dest...dering tumor cells vulnerable to normal cell death when treated with anti-cancer drugs. In the paper in Genes and Development, Pendergast and postdoctoral f...Key to Triplet Repeat Brain Diseases Open Door For New Way To Understand, Treat Genetic Diseases"
...eated gene sequencesin brain tissue two years ago, when they discovered Haw River Syndrome (alsoknown as DRPLA), an inherited neurological disorder that affects residentsof a rural North Carolina community. The scientists found that the syndrome was like Huntington's disease inthat it was attributed to g...Tumor Suppressor Gene Located In Liver Cancer Cells
...ving a handle on how one could detect these tumors when they're much smaller could have a significant impa...ikelihood of this genetic loss occurring in humans when determining whether to pursue the testing of a promising new drug. Jirtle and his colleagues are co...New 'Twist' In Proteins Offers Possible Route To Improved Antibiotics
...nown examples of which are "right-handed." Thatis, when viewed end on, the helix spirals away in a clockwise direction. In earlier research, Raetz and his colleagues had discovered that the aminoacid sequence of the LpxA enzyme contained sequences similar to severalother enzymes with similar funct...Duke Geologists Explore Alternative Way To Measure Ice Age Sea Bottom Temperatures
... 16 tends to get preferentially stored in glaciers when seawater evaporates and later precipitates as snow or ice. Since foraminifera also reside in seawater, and preserve an isotopic record of its composition, those that lived during glacial times should have higher ratios of oxygen 18 than those that di...Computer Program For Quicker, More Detailed Mapping
... are close together remain on the samepiece 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 availabl...Duke Researchers Discover Candidate Susceptibility Gene For Autoimmune Disease
...Medical Center have identifieda gene in mice that, when malfunctioning, causes a joint-destroying, arthrit...esearchers believethere may be several genes that, when defective, predispose people to developautoimmune disorders. The Duke researchers made the discov...From Corn Rootworms To Art, Cornell's Reactor Is At The Core
... the plant root. "Here you can see where they were when we started. In this picture you can see where they were 24 hours later. The dark lines show the path of the rootworm," she says. No ordinary pictures, these. Allee is making use of a Cornell resource to study, along with Paula Davis, assistant pro...Duke Researchers Find Second Gene Linked To Blood Vessel Disorder
... in the cells lining blood vessels. "We realized when we found the first gene that some families werenot linked to this gene, meaning HHT really has several forms," Marchuksaid in the interview. "Now we have identified a second gene, and webelieve there may be a third gene that can cause this disorder."...Mutate Or Die: New Polymerase Gives Desperate Yeast An Option
...imer,a very common and well studied lesion created when sunlight hits an organism, causing two bases to li..., and humans have a good system for fixing it. But when there's a lot of damage,the repair system is just overwhelmed, and the body tries other ways to cope......e showing just how resourceful male insects can be when they seek a mate. In one species, the fire-colore...ridin, which causes severe irritation of the skin when touched -- and of the urogenital tract when swallowed. Because of its purported stimulative effect,...DNA Techniques Allow Scientists To Become Pollution Detectives.
GAINESVILLE---Just when you thought you'd heard enough aboutDNA testing from the so-called "Trial of the Century," University ofFlorida researchers are using the same science to police polluters. With the oft-mentioned DNA "fingerprint" test, scientists at UF'sInstitute of ...International Research Team Clones New Skin Cancer Gene
...it1s not unreasonable to imagine an ointment that, when applied to the skin, may control the growth of the cancer,2 Leffell said. 3Because skin cancers occur externally rather than in internal organs, a dose of a medication that can replace the function of the faulty gene could be applied directly to the......s away for extreme emergencies,releasing them only when neighboring cells drop out of communication. "Cellularneighborhoods seem to be more conformist than any middle-class suburb,"Raff writes. "As long as the cells reproduce and behave according to localnorms, they are allowed to go on living." One foot...Southern Pine Beetle Reaching Outbreak Levels In North Florida
...as30 years ago and at a higher level than in 1949, when Florida's firstforest inventory was conducted, Foltz and Meeker said. That means plenty offood for the beetle, which is partial to the taste of loblolly, and morefrequent, widespread and destructive outbreaks for forest managers. "We will probably se...