A new twist on an age-old problem: Making knee replacements last
... enable them to predict the surgical parameters or modifications to an implant that will produce the best outcome. They would then track patients' long-term progress to assess the model's predictions. "Just as suits can be fitted to business executives, orthopedic surgeries will be custom tailored to the patient,"...New role for tamoxifen as fertility drug for breast cancer patients?
...control group, but a larger study was planned with modifications to the protocol to include low amounts of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) in addition to tamoxifen. "I am optimistic," he said. "Many of my patients tell me that just doing something to address the issue of loss of reproductive function makes it e...UNC studies target molecular defects implicated in cancer, genetic diseases
... a platform to compare the various oligonucleotide modifications that could lead to improvements in the stability, uptake and binding of the oligonucleotides to the target," said Kole. "These improvements will allow the oligonucleotides to modify splicing in patients in the not-too-distant future." Besides these ...Expanding the genetic code--TSRI scientists synthesize 21-amino-acid bacterium
...s inside proteins is nothing new, in the past such modifications had to be carried out in the test tube, with the scientist doing all the manipulations by hand. Now, the 21-amino-acid bacterium uses its own "hands" to make the modified proteins. The Basis of the Technology Schultz and his colleagues succeeded i...Too little attention is paid to the side effects of emission-limiting measures
...ient use of artificial fertilisers and manure, and modifications to the feed to increase the productivity of the animals. In his doctoral research, Brink concentrated on the emission of ammonia (NH3), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) in European agriculture. These substances contribute to various environmenta...Backstage with a command performer
...s Allis. "It is now becoming clear that chromatin modifications influence gene expression, genomic stability, recombination and repair. Ultimately, all of this must influence cellular differentiation, development, and cell-type specificity." If life is a symphony of biochemical signaling, Allis and Jenuwein's im...Scientists develop 'super peptide' that kills Candida albicans
...esting of novel peptide analogues in which several modifications were made. Because previous data suggested that antimicrobial effects of a-MSH were receptor-mediated, the research team chose to focus on the a-MSH amino acid sequence (6-13), which contains the invariant core sequence His-Phe-Arg-Trp (6-9) that is...Study pinpoints regulator of imprinted gene expression
... active all of the time. Like switches, epigenetic modifications to proteins surrounding the DNA regulate a given g...d on each time a cell divides. If these epigenetic modifications do not occur properly, the result can cause some genes to become switched on or off incorrectly, the...Potential blood test for colon cancer risk
...NA building blocks themselves, but in other subtle modifications made to the genetic code. "We hope these findings will have the ability to identify people at increased risk for colon cancer, follow them closely and prevent disease or at least catch it early, similar to the approach doctors use in identifying pati......ands or other cultural influences.""Making dietary modifications slowly may allow these changes to be incorporated into an individual's lifestyle and be better retained," Gonzalez said. Researchers suggest that strategies for women to reduce added fats in their diets should be based on reducing portion sizes, awar...Italian study finds traffic pollution affects male fertility
...esearch will be necessary to identify the specific modifications induced by each pollutant, we hope that our results will prompt clinical and epidemiological studies of male infertility in other work categories exposed to similar levels of environmental pollution. Meanwhile, given our findings, health authorities ...In potentially important discovery, scientists find two forms of genetic material chromatin
...singly clear that specific combinations of histone modifications are linked to underlying gene activity." Based on ...ance, the information stored in histones and their modifications has been dubbed the "histone code," he said. Packaging DNA serves not only to compact it but also ha...Chemists create unusual lariat RNA, a key intermediate in biological splicing
...th defects, for example. By incorporating chemical modifications into these key structural intermediates, we can more thoroughly examine the fundamental splicing process."...Study suggests genetically modifying sunflowers for white mold resistance
...ment of the relative risks and benefits of genetic modifications on a case by case basis."...Islet cells from swine reverse insulin dependency in diabetic non-human primates
...lants between species. In addition to the genetic modifications and the size of the animal, which is appropriate for human transplant, our safety research shows that cells from this line of pigs, in contrast to most other cells tested, don't have the capacity to spread porcine endogenous retrovirus to human cells...Researchers find new way to trigger self-destruction of certain cancer cells
... drugs that are rapamycin analogs (slight chemical modifications of rapamycin). The drugs, CCI779 (Wyeth-Ayerst) and RAD001 (Novartis), will be investigated for safety. Clinical trials will investigate their effectiveness in treating neuroblastoma, a cancer of specialized nerve cells involved in the development of...Purdue genetic discovery may aid plants and human medicine
...lly enhanced in some mdr mutants, so the same gene modifications may alter root structures to make plants more adaptable to different soil types. In addition, discovery that MDR-like genes play an integral role in transport of auxin could impact human cancer chemotherapy treatments, Murphy said. Researchers alread...New mechanism for gene silencing identified
...a precise multi-step process that involves histone modifications that result in gene silencing. First, a type of protein called a zinc-finger protein binds to the gene that is to be silenced. Then, sequentially, enzymes are recruited to the gene: First a histone deacetylase and then a histone methylase make specif...Researchers identify protein modules that 'read' distinct gene 'silencing codes'
... in unlocking its secrets. "Understanding chemical modifications to histones is becoming increasingly important for...cientists, including Allis, believe these chemical modifications are responsible for passing on inherited traits without changing the sequence of DNA, an emerging fi...Army awards up to $50 million to establish Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies
...thesis machinery can be tricked to overlook subtle modifications introduced in the laboratory. The techniques have enabled his research group to engineer proteins with new structures and functions. The resultant semi-synthetic proteins and their newly incorporated atoms provide new functionality including contro...