Duke Researchers Discover Central Role Of Nitric Oxide In Hemoglobin Action
...rs believe.Still, the hemoglobin-SNO molecules are very abundant, so there is stillplenty of SNO still available as the hemoglobin complex enters tissues. In tissue, the hemoglobin undergoes a major structural change to releaseits load of oxygen. This same "conformational" change also releasesSNO, pres......svery little of it. The researchers realized this very dopamine-conservation strategy couldbe used to treat Parkinson's patients. Because Parkinson's patients makevery little dopamine, the trick is to keep what little dopamine they havein the synapse longer, significantly increasing neurotransmission, Ca...Tumor Suppressor Gene Located In Liver Cancer Cells
...cell, said Jirtle. It is involved in activating a very potent growth inhibitor, called transforming growth factor beta. It disables a positive growth factor, insulin-like growth factor II. The receptor also works inside the cell as a shuttle craft, moving proteolytic enzymes to the lysosomes, a part of ...Second Breast Cancer Gene Located
... "The Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center is very pleased to have beena part of the international efforts that discovered both of the breast cancergenes," said Dr. O. Michael Colvin, director of the cancer center. "We look forward to helping put this discovery to use as we developbetter therapies an...Duke Geologists Explore Alternative Way To Measure Ice Age Sea Bottom Temperatures
..."The temperature of the deep water through time is very poorly understood because there hasn't been any unambiguous paleothermometer developed." The researchers cautioned that more work needs to be done before the calcium-magnesium method is thoroughly tested. Among other things, the calcium-magnesium rat...Computer Program For Quicker, More Detailed Mapping
.... To create Mapper, the scientists started with a very thorough program developedby Michael Boehnke at th... original program in steps, graduallyreplacing the very precise, but time-consuming and expensive parts. At everypoint, they evaluated its success to make s...From Corn Rootworms To Art, Cornell's Reactor Is At The Core
...ew way of looking at things and has proved to be a very useful non-destructive evaluation tool," said Howa...final work," he said. "X-rays only make visible a very few number of elements. Using neutrons, we can see a broader range of elements. It's extremely use...Freshwater Sponges May Pose Threat To Zebra Mussels
...sides of the reef and shipwreck. The sponges were very competitive on these surfaces, jockeying the mussels for the best position to gain access to food. Researchers also examined 290 sponge-covered mussels attached to surfaces in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system for the study. Of that numbe...Duke Researchers Find Second Gene Linked To Blood Vessel Disorder
...cond, whenit's your family with the disease, it is very important. We would like tobe able to offer some hope to these families." 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 in...New Discovery About Genes Has Implications For Genetic Therapy
...illions of years ago since the introns function as very primitive genetic elements. Alan Lambowitz, Ohi...rmation in the process. "This is really a very, very interesting finding," he said. "Previously, no one believed that it was possible." This ability ...Mutate Or Die: New Polymerase Gives Desperate Yeast An Option
...n, in DNA. The defect is a thymine-thymine dimer,a very common and well studied lesion created when sunlight hits an organism, causing two bases to link up unnaturally.The abnormality almost always stops other polymerases dead in their tracks, but zeta went past the dimer about 10percent of the time. ...DNA Techniques Allow Scientists To Become Pollution Detectives.
...l for testing in other water bodies. "E. coli is a very convenient organism to test for," Tamplinsaid. "We use E. coli to measure the probability of other harmfulbacteria in the water. We hope to be able to have folks send uswater samples and to run these tests on it for them. We thinkthis type of test co...Southern Pine Beetle Reaching Outbreak Levels In North Florida
...ested trees, Meeker said it would have been "very, very costly." "During outbreaks, the Southern Pine Beetle is going to run the show andwill overwhelm all the pines in its path, including the more resistantslash and longleaf pines," Meeker said. "It will not stop until it runs outof pines." Trees success......at the Lawrence Farm in the Hudson Valley has been very successful. Semi-commercial trials are being prepared in southwest Michigan. Because there is international interest in large-berried seedless table grapes, Cornell has applied for a plant patent for Marquis. Patenting a grape carries an expensive ...Researchers Use Hydrated Lime To Reduce Toxic Selenium Emissions
... said. "Some plants may find iteasier to install a very expensive wet scrubber to remove allof the harmful byproducts from flue gas and fly ash." But dry sorbent injection technology could be more cost efficientfor the removal of selenium, and possibly arsenic. Another advantageto the technology is the ab...Water Recycling Project Tested in Turkey Plant
...ozone in the future is something that's goingto be very big," Baldwin said. "They're using it in Canada andAustralia right now. We're going to be in the process of setting up sometest sites for that." The direct application process would do away with the need to use chlorinein the chillers. Canada prohib...Core Spins Faster Than Earth, Scientists Find
...rth in about 400 years. TheEarth's core was formed very early in Earth's history as heaviermolten iron sank toward the center of the planet. As the Earthcooled and dissipated its internal heat toward the surface, somemolten iron began to solidify to create the dense, solid innercore at the center of the p...Photosystem I -- An Intermediate Step -- May Not Be Necessary For Plants
...green alga to find this new life process. "It is a very important discovery; I didn't believe any of this stuff when it was first reported. I thought it was impossible, but cooperation between the two labs showed it was possible," Owens said. Owens does not know how this discovery will fit into the large...Protein Glitch May Be Early Problem In Inherited Alzheimer's
...te 50s. Because presenilin is present only at very low levels, Sisodia notes, it's unlikely to be directly causing the widespread damage to nerve cells seen in FAD, but it may interfere with other proteins that could. Like dominoes falling, a change in presenilin sets off a chain reaction. "Think of ...Hawaiian Whales Show 'No Overt Response' To Sounds Of ATOC Simulation
...in at least one case, a humpback continued singing very close to the speaker." Previous observations of ...ing ships -- produces loud sounds. "We're getting very site-specific information on ambient noise and human-generated noise in the Hawaiian environment," ...