Brain Protein "Rescues" Neurons From Atrophy
...h and interconnections of developing cells. In the experiments reported in Nature, the Duke scientists used newbo...Regeneron Pharmaceuticals of Tarrytown, N.Y. These experiments would not have been possible, the scientists said, without this kind of interaction and collaboratio...Dangerous Chemical Combination Presents Possible Scenario For Gulf War Illnesses
WASHINGTON -- Animal experiments at Duke University Medical Center showthat harmless doses of three chemicals used to protect Gulf War soldiersfrom insect-borne diseases and nerve-gas poisoning are highly toxic whenused in combination, researchers reported Wednesday. They said the f...Key to Triplet Repeat Brain Diseases Open Door For New Way To Understand, Treat Genetic Diseases"
...directorof the Deane Laboratory at Duke, where the experiments were conducted. "Weare beginning to cross the difficult area between gene discovery and abnormalfunctions of the brain, and to open the door to target drugs," he said. The primary researchers involved in the discovery are Duke neurologistsStrittmatt...New 'Twist' In Proteins Offers Possible Route To Improved Antibiotics
... At Duke, Raetz and his colleagues are planning experiments in which theyselectively alter various amino acids in the enzyme and then study the effectsof those alterations, to understand how the natural enzyme works. Roderickis currently attempting to locate the active site by determining the X-raystructure o...New Discovery About Genes Has Implications For Genetic Therapy
...d that they could use this mechanism." In a few experiments so far, the researchers have been able to modify some of the information carried by the introns and transfer it to the genes at a very specific site. Much more work will be required before the process could be used for any therapeutic purposes, he s...NADC Examines TB In Cattle and Swine
...n tuberculosis. The researchersfound through their experiments that swine are susceptible to infectionwith M. bovis when inoculated. Lesions characteristic of tuberculosiswere visible as early as two weeks following high doses of the inoculationsand in 30 days following low dosages....Hawaiian Whales Show 'No Overt Response' To Sounds Of ATOC Simulation
...entical, Frankel's group reported. The simulation experiments were conducted in mornings and afternoons. First, shore observers monitored normal whale behavior for at least 25 minutes. Then a 25-minute session of ATOC sound (or no-sound, for experimental "controls") commenced. Next, observers watched th...Study Shows Songbirds Switch From Bugs To Berries To Fuel Fall Migration
...nsect-rich diets. Parrish also conducted feeding experiments with five species of migratingbirds to test the hy...t to fruit aided birds' abilityto gain mass. These experiments demonstrated that a mixed diet of fruit andinsects led to a significantly greater weight gain for bi...Human-Like Ability, Categorical Perception, Found In Insects
...p their minds would be tricky. His flight chamber experiments were showing that playback sounds mimicking cricket calls made the tethered insects "fly" toward the speaker. And sounds in the bat's ultrasound range made the crickets veer away from the speaker. Still, he couldn't very well ask the crickets: "Do...Harvard, Duke Researchers Discover 'Off-switch' Inside Human Cells
...f activated G proteins in theseorganisms. Further experiments by the Harvard-Duke team also detected RGS10 in li.... The Harvard-Duke team is now performing further experiments to understandhow the action of RGS10 itself is regulated within the cell. "While this discovery is ...PET Project Helps Reduce Pollution Threat From Heavy Metals
...ds onto heavy metalsin the storm runoff. Lab-scale experiments demonstrated thespecial sand can dramatically reduce the concentrations ofpollutants such as lead, cadmium, copper and zinc. This componenttakes care of the dissolved metals. The second part of the system, a layer of porous pavementconcrete block, ac...New Software Provides Quick Analysis of ion-Channel Activity
...andwriting to text. It analyzes data obtained from experiments in which the electrical current produced by the ion channel in a cell is monitored and amplified. That information is then fed to the computer. The program then allows the researcher to develop accurate models of ion-channel behavior based on the ex...Study Examines How Mechanisms Evolve To Regulate Bee Development
...llinois. The research, which involved a series of experiments using honey bees ( Apismellifera ), was published Oct. 15 in the Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences. Co-authors were Robinson, an internationally recognizedhoney-bee expert, and Tugrul Giray, a doctoral student at the U. of I. inentomolog...Medicinal Leech May Offer Clues To Neural Regeneration
... beyond the site of injury. Sahley now has several experiments under way to test whether NOS acts as a "stop sign" to hold microglia at the site of injury. She also is working to identify other molecules within cells that may play a role in the regeneration process. The research is funded by the National Institu......fMRI), Cohen and his colleagues do "brain-mapping" experiments that produce high- resolution images showing what brain sites are active during different kinds of mental activity. fMRI generates a great deal of information quickly (half a gigabyte or more per experiment). In the past, computing couldn't keep up w......d Judd, a Cornell undergraduate at the time of the experiments and now a biology doctoral student in Colorado, wondered. And how do other mole rats, in colonies that average 75-80 closely-related kin, find their way through pitch-black tunnels to the newest food source? As soon as a mole-rat scout located the b...Fast Measurement Technique Reveals Early Steps In Protein Folding
... light on the early stages of protein folding. In experiments conducted on the small, oxygen-carrying protein apomyoglobin,U. of I. researchers have found that the initial steps of helix formationcan occur within several hundred nanoseconds. (A nanosecond is one billionthof a second.) The entire collapse to a c...Bottom-up Ecological Processes Better For Clear Waters, Study Finds
... a meta-analysis ofeight lake studies involving 11 experiments in Canada, Czechslovakia, Norwayand the United Sta... upon the number of levels inthe food web. In the experiments summarized in the UC Davis analysis in Science, the responseof phytoplankton and zooplankton to addi...The CIA Would Like To Know What Scientists Are Seeing Over The Rainbow
...ryotyping is a new way to interpret data from FISH experiments and has distinct advantages over conventional microscopy. Ried and his coworkers applied spectral imaging, a technology used in remote sensing devices, to chromosomes isolated from cells. First, they applied different molecular "paints" to the ch...... uniform in size and fixed in space makes many new experiments possible. "We started out looking for better ways to study cell membranes. By applying micro-patterning to membranes, we've come up with something completely new and we're still coming to grips with the implications," said graduate student Jay T. Gro...