Scientists decipher structure of toxin responsible for botulism
...drop ingested can paralyze the body, including the muscles responsible for breathing, leading to death by asp... minute quantities of the toxin into the spasmodic muscles that cause facial twitches, writer's cramp or stuttering, for example, doctors have been able to cal......y in their leg muscles, the researchers found that muscles naturally tighten to help dampen vibrations in the surrounding tissue. "The muscles retune the natural frequency of the leg," says Wakeling. And this stops the leg resonating when the ...Virginia Tech teams with US Army on exercise research
...egrees of high but controlled force loading of the muscles and bones during training, and may promote the kind of bone strengthening that the investigators believe may help protect long bones from stress fracture. A variety of measurements will be taken four times over the course of the study. A Mechanical R...New mouse marks latest stride in muscular dystrophy research
...s patients first notice something's wrong when the muscles in their hands become stiff; sometimes they have a...ng go when they shake another person's hand. Their muscles become steadily weaker and waste away, and eventually many patients have difficulty walking, swallow...Artificial muscles release medicine from tiny implants
...l implants with the development of tiny artificial muscles at Ohio State University. Researchers here have d... -- such as insulin to diabetics -- the artificial muscles could power tiny pumps for other micro-sized medical devices, or separate chemicals in the lab, Mado...Study appears to show why muscle decays mysteriously in cancer, AIDS, other illnesses
...ts believe they have discovered a major reason why muscles often decay in patients with cancer, AIDS, late-stage heart disease, severe burns and numerous chronic diseases. Their research focuses on cachexia, an important syndrome they say doctors know well but which is largely unfamiliar to lay people, and c...Researchers prevent obesity and diabetes in mice
...ical energy used by cells. That energy powers your muscles during exercise. But without exercise, ATP is used to make and store fat. This strategy was useful during times of famine, but it now sets the stage for dangerous levels of obesity in Western society, where food is plentiful and exercise is scarce. A...Bio-X grant recipient explores link between molecular chaperones and serious diseases
...n - a rod-shaped protein that helps cells move and muscles contract. ``Actin has to change shapes regularly,`` says Frydman, ``and it can only acquire its unique structure with the assistance of TRiC.`` Frydman`s research team recently discovered that TRiC also plays an essential role in activating a pro...Target cells found to play active role in synapse formation
...e-synaptic axons were doing all the searching, and muscles were just sitting there very passively," said Akir...erentiate the newly found thread-like processes of muscles from the neuronal filopodia, Chiba and co-authors Sarah Ritzenthaler, a UI doctoral student, and Emi...Stem cells graft in spinal cord, restore movement in paralyzed mice
... limbs, as neurons leading from the spinal cord to muscles deteriorate. They drag legs and feet behind them....sease, nerve cells leading from the spinal cord to muscles deteriorate. Children are born weak and have trouble swallowing, breathing and walking. Most die in...Researchers identify gene common to many autism cases
...evelopment of brain regions that later control the muscles of the eyes, face, tongue, jaw, and throat. Because mice engineered to lack the HOXA1 gene show similar patterns of brain and ear abnormalities, the researchers tested autism patients for abnormalities of the corresponding human gene. "One by one, ......ociated virus, or AAV. When injected into the calf muscles of mice unable to naturally produce the dystrophin...xists for the disease. In boys lacking dystrophin, muscles function abnormally, at first enlarging, then degenerating so that fat and scar tissue take over. Bo...Job stress may lead to back injury for some people, study finds
...ts who were distressed by the criticism used their muscles in ways that might lead to inj...roups responded by using their muscles differently -- those who were rated as either "introverts" or "intuitors" by the...Scientists bypass major hurdle to hemophilia gene therapy
...ects males, results in bleeding principally in the muscles and joints. However, internal bleeding, especially in the brain, can lead to death. Treatment for the disease involves intravenous injections of blood products or, more recently, purified factor IX. Traditional transfusion treatment improves symptom......e they have such short legs that require their leg muscles to generate force very quickly when they walk," sa... center of mass," said Griffin. "Without it, their muscles would have to make up that work." The idea that the penguin's waddling gait was inefficient arose af...University of Illinois at Chicago expert tinkers with evolution to create human 'Built-to-Last'
...of urine, and in females, bladder and pelvic-floor muscles and ligaments that weaken with time and multiple pregnancies, which may lead to incontinence. Emphasizing the positive message of the article, Butler observes, Despite the limitations and flaws about which we write, there is so much power we as i...UC Davis science newstips Feb 01
...ss for more than a short time, bones lose calcium, muscles wither, and blood moves from the legs to the face and head. The heart becomes weaker, because it has less resistance to push against. There are also changes in circadian rhythms, temperature regulation and body composition. Scientists study the effe...Genetic therapies for aging will face many challenges
...idneys, the immune system, skin, endocrine organs, muscles and more. People vary widely in where, when and if they develop these deposits. Again, these mutations that show up late in life will escape the force of natural selection. "While these mutations are individually rare, they are collectively num...Treatment in mice proves effective against Duchenne muscular dystrophy
...fail to produce another protein, dystrophin, which muscles also require for structural and functional integrity. This discovery led to the idea that excess integrin may compensate for the lack of dystrophin and another similar protein, utrophin. To test their hypothesis, Kaufmans team used mice that did not......he coronary arteries that carry blood to the heart muscles become blocked. The interruption in the blood supply suffocates the heart muscle cells below the blockage, substantially reducing the heart's ability to pump blood. Typically, if more than 40 percent of the left ventricle (the main pumping chamber o...