Enzyme's "Magic" May Hold Key to Anticancer and Antimicrobial Drugs
...ions, knowledge of these conformations has significant implications in drug design. "Topoisomerase is like several enzymes in one because its various conformations are so different," Dr. Wang said. "Each one is a potential drug target." Many anticancer d...Tumor Suppressor Gene Located In Liver Cancer Cells
...hese tumors when they're much smaller could have a significant impact on survival," he said. The protein receptor produced by M6P/IGF2r is an attractive target because it is present on the cell surface and in the plasma, Jirtle said, making it readily accessible for use in both liver tumor therapy and diagnosis...Heat-loving Microbe Repairs Its DNA With Light
...For example, are we to infer thatUV radiation is a significant threat to survival in these high-temperature environments?" On one hand, it would seem logical that S. acidocaldarius , likemany organisms, should use the energy of the abundant, visibleportion of the sun's spectrum to reverse the harmful effects of...Transgenic Rice Plants Resist Insects, Drought And Salt Damage
...ler Foundation, Wu and his colleagues "have made a significant contribution toward meeting world food requirements by demonstrating that biotechnology can be used to enhance the rice plant's ability to defend itself against pests and stresses, without the use of expensive and sometimes detrimental inputs such as...Race Plus Roaches: A Breathtaking Link
...ace of residence, were studied. But none proved as significant as race and family income level. According to Eggleston, the researchers hope to use this information to perform further studies that better their understanding of the root causes of cockroach allergen. The study was funded by the National Institute ...DNA Techniques Allow Scientists To Become Pollution Detectives.
...n and animals were polluting, but wildlifecauses a significant amount of pollution in Apalachicola Bay,"Tamplin said. From their testing in the bay, UF scientists have developed adatabase of more than 1,000 E. coli strains that will serve as amodel for testing in other water bodies. "E. coli is a very convenient...Florida Researchers Discover Gene For Fatal Childhood Disease
...ng againstcertain autoimmune disorders. "This is significant for several reasons. Nobody knew what caused thisfatal disease," Kingsmore said. "Now we can design a diagnostic test. Andhopefully by understanding the gene we can forge better treatments forChediak-Higashi syndrome, and in the long run offer genet...Protein Glitch May Be Early Problem In Inherited Alzheimer's
...important change for a protein--it probably has a significant effect on what the protein does. If researchers can find where presenilin cleaves and the enzyme that cleaves it, intervening at this point with drugs or other treatments might be ideal, according to Sangram Sisodia, Ph.D., an associate professor of...Component In Soy Products May Be Substitute For Estrogen Treatment
...ligrams. The higher level of isoflavones produced significant improvements in thebone densities in the women's lumbar spines -- a key location for assessingosteoporosis, a common disorder of aging women that is marked by a progressiveloss of bone tissue because of a loss of bone calcium and protein. The group ...An Equal Opportunity Extinction? Cincinnati Geologists Find Global Impact from Permian Die
... a specific environmental zone. Again,there was no significant difference among zones. The Late Permianextinction event affected them all equally. As a continuation of his research, Ebersole will extend hisanalysis to do a latitude by latitude comparison. He expects thatwill provide additional evidence in favor ......ears prior to the interview -- appeared to be more significant than duration of smoking. Among slow acetylators,...ent past. Among rapid acetylators, there were no significant associations between breast-cancer risk and total years smoked, packs per average year or pack-years...Cornell Scientists Find Way To Boost Rice Crop Yield -- They'll Walk On The Wild Side
...netics." In the case of rice, there has not been a significant yield increase in two decades. Yet the world's agriculturists are using only 25 percent of the genetic diversity available. In other words, the same types of rice have been cultivated over and over again, effectively reducing rice's natural diversi...Two Long-sought Diabetes Gene Found
...lleagues mapped NIDDM1, the gene responsible for a significant proportion of diabetes in Mexican-Americans, to one end of chromosome 2. In September, a Scandinavian study indicated that MODY3 may be the same gene as NIDDM2; different forms of the gene, the researchers suggested, may contribute to both early- and...Optical Microscopy Shines Light On Biology
... design avoids many of those problems and opens up significant applications in the biological sciences. "The cantilevered near-field tip brings less force onto the sample, making it much gentler," Dunn said. "The way we sense when the probe is near the sample is by vibrating the probe back and forth and watching...Methane Deep In Ocean Crust Could Feed Chemical-Hungry Microorganisms
...cal Society meeting in San Francisco saying that a significant reservoir of methane and hydrocarbons may be found...only minute bubbles of methane, the amount becomes significant when considered over such a vast area. This considerable reservoir of methane is unlikely to be ex...Christmas Bird Count: Another Holiday Tradition
... mere partridge in a pear tree, you can sing about significant increases among eastern bluebirds, American crows, and American goldfinches and declines of bobwhites, loggerhead shrikes, field sparrows, and mockingbirds. Come Christmas morning, when you have finished setting up that new computer, you can...A Sensor, A Switch, A Zipper: Protein Engineers Design Potential Tool
...a small molecule. The designed property is significant because many biological processes depend on a protein's ability to change its shape in response to outside signals. The scientists predict that with further refinements, their protein may one day be used to detect envi...Selenium Supplements Can Reduce Cancer Rates
.... Ironically, 10 years later, the results were not significant for skin cancer. However, they were "compelling" ...sh and cereals; dairy products and eggs contribute significant amounts. Some nuts can also be high in selenium if they were grown in high-selenium areas. Of the 40...Bottom-up Ecological Processes Better For Clear Waters, Study Finds
...s of tallying all studiesthat detect statistically significant effects and nonsignificant effectsand inferring the generality of the phenomenon, Brett explains. Vote countingis likely to find only large effects -- especially given the nature of ecologicalstudies, which typically use small samples sizes -- and ec......y and its workforce will suffer as a result of any significant reductions." During the past several years, congressional and White House proposals have called for reductions in civilian R&D spending of as much as 25 to 33 percent by the year 2002. The President's most recent (FY 1998) proposal calls for more ...