Enzyme's "Magic" May Hold Key to Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drugs
... antibiotic, antifungal, and antiparasitic agents that act specifically on the non-human forms of the enzymes. Although he acknowledges that determining the structure of an enzyme is a far cry from marketing an acceptable human drug that efficiently targets that enz...Scientists Identify Retrovirus-Like Components In Corn Genome
...al diseases," Bennetzen says. "If these retrovirus agents are there, but don't succeed in making the plants sick, there's a possibility that maize has developed a mechanism to defeat them in some way." His group now is initiating studies to determine whether any of these mobile DNA segments are in fact frag...Duke Study Shows Early Marrow Transplant Key To 'Bubble Boy' Disease Cure
...o reject the transplants.Our approach avoids toxic agents and their possible complications,"she said. Moreover, Buckley has found a way to reduce a potentially fatal complicationof transplants called graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). By removing thedonor's T-cells before the transplant, the donor's ma...Duke researchers find existing drugs can stop fungus that attacks AIDS patients
... "There is a pressing need for new anti-fungal agents against Cryptococcusand other fungi because we are identifying an increase both in the numberof cases of serious fungal infection and in strains of fungus resistantto current treatments," Perfect said. "Ironically, our successeswith antibiotics have ...Bacterium gobbles up chlorinated pollutants
...en dry-cleaning solvents and industrial degreasing agents were flushed down the drain. An anaerobic bacterium, Strain 195, "uses tetrachloroethene much like we use oxygen," Zinder said, describing the reduction process that leaves little more than ethene, also known as ethylene, the natural gas that caus...Newly Discovered Human Protein Provides Important Target For Cancer Therapy
...panies have screenedthousands of compounds to find agents capable of blocking telomerase. Now thatwe know the identity of the catalytic subunit, drug development should move muchfaster." Dr. Weinberg, principal authors Drs. Matthew Meyerson and ChristopherCounter, and their colleagues from the Whit...Researchers Discover First Animal Strain Of Hepatitis E Virus
...ies to hepatitis E virus or related agents in their blood. Similar evidence of...ure to hepatitis E virus or related agents <font color="#FF00FF" size="3" face="Arial"> also has been d...Discovery Of Genetic Pathways May Provide New Ways To Combat Candida Infections
...r to humans than are bacteria, and few anti-fungal agents can kill fungi without harming normal human cells. The drug fluconazole is one of the few antibiotics that works without severe side effects, but increasingly, physicians are encountering fungal strains that are resistant to fluconazole. Scientist...Molecular Piracy Turns Protein Into Traitor
...tion. It may also lead to useful anti-inflammatory agents for asthma and rheumatoid arthritis....Trojan Horse Virus Controls Hiv Infection
...ncept could be used todevelop a whole new class of agents that are useful for controlling disease." "Although additional in vitro and animal studies need to be performed beforethis novel virus can be tested in humans," comments NIAID Director Anthony S.Fauci, M.D., "this concept of cell-targeted delivery ...Lethal Parasite Prime Suspect In Fish Kills At Salton Sea
...ronmental stressors and other disease-causing agents identified in fish and birds, Amyloodinium represents another threat to the overall health of the Salton Sea ecosystem. The USGS-managed Wildlife Health Center is the foremost wildlife diagnostic and investigative facility o......drugs.Glucocorticoids are used as chemotherapeutic agents against some cancers andautoimmune disorders, but are also known to inhibit cytokine production and toinduce cell death in lymphocytes, the category of immune cells to whichmacrophages and T cells are belong. To test this possibility, the re...First Selenium-Based Orally-Active Antihypertensive May Lead To New Family Of Therapeutic Agents
...int the way towardother selenium-based therapeutic agents -- and help expand knowledge ofthe role this trace...w how we might make selenium-containingtherapeutic agents for other diseases." Recent studies suggest a selenium deficiency can play a role indetermining the...Duke Lemurs Are Released In Madagascar
...gh the forest. "Two of the project's conservation agents then led a traditionalceremony in which they explained the lemur release project to the ancestorsand asked the ancestors for their blessing," wrote Welch in an e-mailedreport. "Short speeches were made and everyone took a sip of the localhome-made ru...Herpes Virus Strain Identified As A Trigger In Multiple Sclerosis
... cornerstone for clinicaltrials using antiherpetic agents as a treatment. This is the first publishedlarge-scale study suggesting an association of a human herpes virus in thedisease process of MS. In the study, more than 70 percent of patients with the relapsing-remitting formof MS showed an increased imm......fe disease specialist at the Center. Other disease agents known to affect birds, including bacteria, viruses or parasites, have been ruled out, and while microscopic evidence suggests that a neurotoxin may be the cause, tests for natural and man-made toxins that can cause this type of disease have so far be......ne alga. Polysaccharides can be used as thickening agents in a variety of products. Other highlights from this period included the section's entry into the emergingareas of genetic engineering and food irradiation. Early 1980s and beyond Late in its existence, the section devoted much of its energy to che...UPCI Researchers Find Drug Improves Cancer-Fighting Ability Of Vitamin D
...ong the first to demonstrate the efficacy of these agents against solid tumors such as prostate cancer and head and neck cancers. Currently, the UPCI team is conducting a clinical protocol combining a steroid with 1,25-D3 for advanced cancer. Dexamethasone appears to enhance 1,25-D3 activity by 'te...Experimental Trial Combines DNA Vaccine With Triple-Drug Therapy To Stop HIV
... The drug regimen, in which three different agents that block HIVreplication are given concurrently, has been shown to lower levels of the virusin many patients to levels undetectable by all but the most sensitive assays.Immune system function is often restored in individuals receiving this therapy,r......ngs should encourage the development oftherapeutic agents acting on drugs targeting HIV coreceptors. The French Pediatric Cohort : Founded in 1986 and coordinated by Stéphane Blanche (INSERM 429, NeckerHospital), Marie-Jeanne Mayaux (INSERM 292), and Christine Rouzioux (NeckerHospital), the French Pedi...