Bacterial Toxin Surprises Scientists
...er-soluble amino acids to cross a membrane made up of water-repelling lipids. "This resu...t unlikely--that the channel walls are not made exclusively of protein, but contain parts of the membrane. Despite their efforts, ...Duke Researchers Discover Central Role Of Nitric Oxide In Hemoglobin Action
...form in the blood,apart from the "free" NO that is made in the vessel and destroyedby hemoglobin. So he and Jia worked with the Bonaventuras, who are expertson hemoglobin, designing investigations using blood from humans and rats. After a series of experiments, the team discovered that a NO-conta...Dangerous Chemical Combination Presents Possible Scenario For Gulf War Illnesses
...erssaid. "The decision to use these chemicals was made to protect soldiers fromindigenous diseases in the gulf, such as malaria and leishmaniasis,"said Abou-Donia, lead investigator of the study. "Without protection,there may have been thousands of deaths. But it appears that, for some veterans,the preca...New Cancer Switch Discovered By Duke Medical Center Pharmacologists
...tment of molecular cancer biology. The researchers made their discoveries studying an abnormal gene called BCR-ABL, which produces two forms of leukemia -- chronic myelogenous leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The BCR-ABL gene forms when a genetic mistake occurs in bone marrow cells destined to b...Key to Triplet Repeat Brain Diseases Open Door For New Way To Understand, Treat Genetic Diseases"
...ease protein. To test that theory, the Duke team made artificial strings of glutamines,either 20 glutamines, found in normal proteins, or 60 glutamines, foundin the mutant proteins. They then mixed these glutamine strings with brainproteins to see what proteins bound. They found that one brain protein,g...Computer Program For Quicker, More Detailed Mapping
...rs that make up the human genome. "The maps we've made using this program are among the highest-resolutionmaps that have been made to date, but they're not detailed enough to allowsequencing the whole genome. Next, we'll do more of...Duke Researchers Discover Candidate Susceptibility Gene For Autoimmune Disease
...velopautoimmune disorders. The Duke researchers made the discovery while trying to understand therole of a gene of unknown function that seemed to be involved in the actionof insulin, a hormone involved in diabetes. Instead, they found they hadactually located what may be a key gene involved in autoimm...Children Become Gorillas In VR Zoo
...could have gone in that direction. They could have made a cartoongorilla. But the whole point was to make it realistic." Students using the virtual reality system will be transported intothe zoo's Habitat 3 with a typical gorilla family. In reality, thishabitat is the home of Willie B, a 439-lb silverbac...Freshwater Sponges May Pose Threat To Zebra Mussels
...ch could also be caused by zebra mussels, may have made the water more hospitable, Kelch said. The researchers studied the growth of freshwater sponges on the artificial reef in Lorain and on the surface of a shipwreck off Kelly's Island, in Lake Erie's western basin. Their observations indicated ...Duke Researchers Find Second Gene Linked To Blood Vessel Disorder
...The protein encoded by the ALK1 gene appears to be made almost exclusivelyin the cells that line blood vessels. While researchers aren't sure of itsfunction, it appears to interact with the potent growth factor, transforminggrowth factor beta (TGF-_). Researchers are only beginning to unravel howTGF-_ wor...Transgenic Rice Plants Resist Insects, Drought And Salt Damage
...ockefeller Foundation, Wu and his colleagues "have made a significant contribution toward meeting world fo...and wheat. The genes from other plant species that made the transgenic rice were first introduced to cells of three Japonica rice varieties with the Biolist...NEW YORK, N.Y., June 20 -- Is the body made of minature samurais? In theJuly/August issue of T...on mechanism is disrupted, though,cancerous tumors made up of rapidly reproducing cells can result....Cornell Researchers Precisely Date Wood From Ancient Tomb In Turkey
...down in 1316 B.C. The jewelry would not have been made until Nefertiti was queen, so the timber confirms that she held the throne by then -- which supports earlier historical findings. Elsewhere, juniper and cedar logs from the walls of the Middle-Bronze-Age palace at Acemhyk were determined to have been......tween Joannes Seyve 23-416 and GewŸrztraminer made by Herb Barrett of the University of Illinois. Se...on the vine. The cross which produced Marquis was made in 1964 by George Remaily. Seventeen seedling vines were planted in experimental grape breeding plo...Honeybees In The Wild Nearly Gone In North America
...the larger varroa mite -- are invader species that made theirway into the United States in the mid- to late '80s. Trachealmites do their damage by infesting the breathing tubes of thehoneybee, puncturing the tracheal wall and sucking the bee's blood.Varroa mites, on the other hand, attach themselves to th...NADC Examines TB In Cattle and Swine
Food Safety Consortium researchers have made some advances in researchingtuberculosis in cattle...d to standardize the tuberculins. Plans are being made to use swine in studies by the NADC team to researchthe risk of M. bovis infection caused by the c...Core Spins Faster Than Earth, Scientists Find
...thedrift of continents, they noted. The scientists made their findingby measuring changes in the speed of earthquake-generated seismicwaves that pass through the inner core. Theresearch was conducted by Xiaodong Songand Paul G. Richards,seismologists at Lamont-Doherty, Columbia's earth sciences research...Bee Sting Treatment Should Emphasize Speed, Not Method Of Removal
...s UCR colleague, research entomologistRick Vetter, made bees sting them on their own forearms, and measured thesize of the resulting welts after scraping and pinching the stings out atvarious time intervals. Visscher and Scott Camazine, assistant professorat Pennsylvania State University, also showed that...Hawaiian Whales Show 'No Overt Response' To Sounds Of ATOC Simulation
... hundreds of hours of underwater sound recordings made during the ATOC session. They are listening for more subtle whale reactions to the simulated sound, such as changes in breathing rates and unusual vocalizations. One analysis tool is "Canary," a computer program originally developed at Cornell fo...Nitric Oxide May Hold Key To First Treatment For Deadly Form Of Malaria, Duke Scientists Report
...ife processes. Although the discovery was made in bacteria, the team believes that humancells als... This is the second recent discovery Stamler has made in NO research. Earlierthis year, he found that an NO compound, combined with hemoglobin, is amajor ...