Anthrax stops body from fighting back, study shows
...the white blood cells that act as the body's first defense against infection, by impairing how they build tiny filaments that allow them to crawl throughout the body and eat invading bacteria. Just two hours of exposure to the lethal toxin blocks the neutrophils' ability to produce these filaments by nearly...Cancer drug target Chk1 may also be source of drug resistance
...e. In cancer cells, Chk1 is responds as a natural defense to the therapeutic damage done by radiation and chemotherapy and attempts to effect repair to DNA damage caused by the cancer therapy, thus makes the drug therapy less effective. The researchers also found that the chemotherapy agent campthothecin ...Human Y chromosome preserves itself better than the chimp Y
...e themselves. "At that time, we were coming to the defense of the Y chromosome," Page said. "But it turns out that the human Y chromosome is far more able to defend itself because it carries spares -- back-up copies -- of these testis-expressing genes." As part of the mating game, chimpanzees make much more ...Unusual antibiotics show promise against deadly 'superbugs'
...tivate an enzyme that functions as a key bacterial defense mechanism, the researchers say. In preliminary lab...unique strategy, which could provide a new line of defense against the growing problem of antibiotic resistance," says study leader Shahriar Mobashery, Ph.D., ...VCU research: Magnetic nanoparticles for potential cancer treatment
...in biotechnology, nanoscience, nanotechnology, and defense and homeland security. "Eventually, our goal is to use the scientific understanding of the growth mechanisms of these nanoparticles to develop materials for biomedical applications," said Carpenter. "By engineering the magnetic properties of enhanced...JCI table of contents September 1, 2005
...plement activation products are important for host defense and regulation of the immune system, and thus comp...y inhibiting complement, complement-dependent host defense is not compromised. The targeting strategy involved a novel technique and provided protection from i...New protein vital for immune response is found in surprise location
...tochondrial protein known to be involved in immune defense against any microbial infection," said Dr. Zhijian "James" Chen, associate professor of molecular biology at UT Southwestern and the study's senior author. "This discovery puts mitochondria on the map in terms of immunity, and it opens up a new avenu...Key process in gene regulation occurs in blood platelets, Univeristy of Utah researchers find
...lar system that plays major roles in inflammation, defense against infection, organ development, and disease. When blood platelets are activated through biochemical signals in response to injury, the IL-1 pre-mRNA is processed into the mature mRNA and then directs production of the critical inflammatory prot...Immune system's distress signal tells bacteria when to strike back
...ect a threat, they have a remarkably sophisticated defense plan, based, unfortunately, on the notion that the best defense is an overwhelming offense." Pseudomonas aeruginosa is ubiquitous. It lives in all sorts of moist p...Studies reveal how plague disables immune system, and how to exploit the process to make a vaccine
...s show how Y. pestis annihilates the first line of defense in the host's immune system before it can generate a full response. The researchers infected mice with Y. pestis. Two to three days later they harvested cells from organs where the bacteria tend to cluster. They used a dye to stain those cells gree...Specialized immune-system B cells play double-barreled role
...ecades," said Tedder. "They appear to be a primary defense mechanism for innate immunity in infections. In particular, however, the B-1b cells have been largely ignored because they're present in relatively small numbers and are difficult to work with." In the studies, Haas and her colleagues used two geneti...Study separates behavioral and physiological mechanisms in testosterone mediated trade-offs
...d that the action of testosterone on host parasite defense was most likely indirect, via cascading effects mediated by other hormones....Toxins drove evolution of human taste sense, global study reveals
...glucopyranosides, comprise a wide class of natural defense compounds synthesized by over 2,500 plant and insect species. Glucopyranosides are present in various foods items, including cassava, almonds, green tea and some beans. The researchers identified six common variants of the TAS2R16 bitter receptor, tw...Enlisting genomics to understand flu evolution
...otein that must be recognized by the host's immune defense system) to a virus common during the previous year. The reassorted virus suddenly became capable of infecting thousands. "The key thing here is that the general notion of epidemic flu is that there's a series of successions by variants of the flu we ...A new molecule discovered in the battle between plants and disease
...A novel peptide signal, AtPep1, regulates pathogen defense in Arabidopsis AtPep1 is a 23 amino acid pepti...lves the octadecanoid pathway. AtPep1 induction of defense genes in excised Arabidopsis leaves was inhibited by DPI, implicating the generation of H2O2 in the ...New Scripps Oceanography project to study sediments and ecosystem restoration in Venice lagoon
...ures--including the Mose floodgates system for the defense against high tides--are considered some of the most ambitious projects of the 21st century. So being part of this lagoon preservation effort is being part of history." "Scripps has a long history of collaboration with the scientists and citizens of V...Study in Royal Society journal on world's only horned rodent
...of the horns are best explained as adaptations for defense against predation. Increasing body size and the appearance of new predators 17 million years ago drove Ceratogaulus to evolve these defensive weapons. Contacts : Ms. SSB Hopkins, Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 3060 VLSB, BE...Deep-sea jelly uses glowing red lures to catch fish
...ehavior. Jellies that use bioluminescence for self defense tend to have lights distributed all around their body, which flash brightly when disturbed (the "burglar alarm effect"). In contrast, the Erenna siphonophores kept their bioluminescence very localized and under tight control, suggesting that their li...Technique provides new look on response of diseased canine heart
... were down regulated, while those tied to cellular defense and stress responses were up regulated. Among the 167 genes they identified were several that may play a significant role in DCM. The miniaturization of technology, Oyama said, has made it possible to look at thousands of genes at once, rather than t...Researchers discover gene that determines asthma susceptibility by regulating inflammation
...provide a better understanding of the human body's defense mechanisms to stress, which may hold clues to better control the inflammation process and improve control over asthma and its symptoms. Study coauthor Tirumalai Rangasamy, PhD said that the next step for researchers will be to look for molecular mech...