Bacterial Toxin Surprises Scientists
...in produced by some strains of E. coli bacteria to kill competing bacteria. From their previous work, the scientists knew that a portion of colicin Ia changes from a harmless cluster of about 175 amino acids into a lethal structure that harpoons the inner membrane of its ba...Duke Researchers Discover Central Role Of Nitric Oxide In Hemoglobin Action
...powerful forms of NO, he said. Forexample, SNO can kill invading bacteria or microbes. Free NO cannot, saidStamler. "We always knew that the hemoglobin complex had two reactive arms,a heme and a cysteine, to which other molecules could attach, but no oneknew what the cysteine's function was," he ...Enzyme's "Magic" May Hold Key to Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drugs
... initially recognized for their ability to kill cells, have turned out to target topoisomerases, Dr. Wang said. Among these are doxorubicin (Adriamycin), etoposide, and mitoxantrone. Because topoisomerase II is required during cell division, cancer cells, which di...New Cancer Switch Discovered By Duke Medical Center Pharmacologists
...re with the malignant machinery of cancer cells to kill them. In a second paper in the October issue of Mo...ells to survive chemotherapy treatments that would kill normal cells. Reporting the findings are assistant professor of pharmacology Ann Marie Pendergast, a...New 'Twist' In Proteins Offers Possible Route To Improved Antibiotics
...ecognize the unusual structure, jam the enzyme and kill bacteria. Bacteriawould find it extremely difficul... plug into the active site,blocking its action, to kill the bacteria. At Duke, Raetz and his colleagues are planning experiments in which theyselect...Water Recycling Project Tested in Turkey Plant
...into the cylindersto further clarify the water and kill microorganisms. Ozone kills bacteria3,000 times faster than chlorine. Depending upon the quality of incomingwater, the processors adjust the amount of ozone to maximize bacterial destruction,Baldwin said. AWPI personnel and UA Food Safety Consortium...Researchers Find Possible New Route to Making Cancer Cells Vulnerable
...e, expelling chemotherapydrugs that would normally kill a cancerous tumor and allowing runaway cellgrowth to continue. Physicians and researchers have been searching for waysto clog the MDR pump for many years. But many promising MDR blockers haveturned out to be toxic in the doses needed for them to be e...Siblicide In Nature: Study Of Galapagos Seabird Finds Death Can Ensure Species Survival
...they feed by making high-velocity dives. They also kill their own young. In a new study subjecting Darwin...e Forest University found a curious irony: boobies kill in order to thrive. "The common view of Darwinian natural selection is that it favors the evolution...New Sensor Provides First Instant Test For Toxic E. coli Organism
...k and juices -- a simple treatment withheat -- can kill the organism as can thorough cooking of meats. The bacteria strainis a potent health threat. Undoubtedly, numerous unreported outbreaks of E.coli related disease have occurred. Children and the elderly are particularlysusceptible to infections. S...Proteins Interacting With RNA And DNA Are Surprisingly Similar
...you can designdrugs totarget just bacteria and not kill the host," he said. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, is essential in the manufacture ofproteins rangingfrom vital enzymes and hormones to hemoglobin and structuralcomponents. DNA,or deoxyribonucleic acid, contains the huge library of geneticinformationorgan...New Nonviral Gene Therapy System Could Help Fight Cancer
...r divide at the same time. Current cancertherapies kill dividing cells, but dormant cells can divide aftertreatment, causing the tumor to come back. The T7 system would allow scientists to inject a correctivegene into a tumor that would begin working immediately ondividing cells, then lie in wait for...Ten Years of Progress For Superfund Basic Research Program
...mpounds can speed up degradation while others will kill off theorganisms needed to degrade the azo dyes. "We can now probe theblack box of the biofilm," said Loper, noting the significance ofBishop's work. Analytical chemist Joe Caruso, Dean of the College of Arts andSciences, is working on a separate pro...Molecular Imposter Rebuts Long
...elop new drugs that are better able to sneak inand kill sickly cells -- including deadly cancer cells. Kool and co-workers created a ring-like molecule that veryclosely mimics the shape of the base thymine in DNA.This thymine mimic lacks the slightly charged regions needed toform hydrogen bonds with ...Herpes-Based Gene Therapy Is Key To Promising Liver Tumor Vaccine
...mune system's ability tospecifically recognize and kill tumor cells," says Dr.Federoff. The physicians used a herpes simplex virus -- the same onethat causes blisters and cold sores in people and animals, onlymodified so that it can't replicate -- to send into rats genesthat code for substances known...Herpes-Based Gene Therapy Is Key To Promising Liver Tumor Vaccine
...une system's ability to specifically recognize and kill tumor cells," says Dr. Federoff. The physicians used a herpes simplex virus -- the same one that causes blisters and cold sores in people and animals, only modified so that it can't replicate -- to send into rats genes that code for substances known ...Purdue Researchers Prod Plants To Clean Up Pollution
...or normal growth and development, but too much can kill them. "Most plants have cells that serve as calcium dumps," Webb says. "Plants have a tremendous ability to store calcium oxalate." Some plants contain almost half as much calcium by weight as does an average human body, and all without a calcium-ric...Project Shows Native Bacteria Can Destroy Widespread Pollutant In Groundwater
...a little like adding chlorine to drinking water to kill bacteria. Chlorine is poisonous at a high enough concentration so you don't like to add it except when there is a significant benefit. We've tried a number of other compounds, but none of them is as effective as toluene," McCarty said. The Edwards si...Emory Researchers Advance Gene Therapy Studies For Metastatic Melanoma Treatment
...hey believe may direct the body's immune system to kill malignant melanoma tumor cells, the most dangerous, and potentially deadly, type of skin cancer. If large doses of this ingredient can be delivered to melanoma tumors directly, the researchers believe it might be used to effectively treat advanced...Duke researchers find existing drugs can stop fungus that attacks AIDS patients
...said. "Thus development of specificinhibitors that kill the fungus and not harm people will be necessary. Thatnow appears possible."......latively impermeable matrix unimpeded where it can kill the host, Granados explained. Granados and colleagues reported their findings, "An intestinal mucin is the target substrate for a baculovirus enhancin," in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (24 June 1997), authored by Granados and Ping ...