Gene chip technology shows potential for identifying life-threatening blood infection
... These cells are the immune system's first line of defense against invading organisms. "At one level, we've found a suite of genes that are informative with regard to making a diagnosis," Cobb says. "But as biologists, we can also say these genes are major clues to the biology of infection and the host's r...Study: Living coral reefs provide better protection from tsunami waves
...ory regarding the value of living coral reefs as a defense against tsunami waves, which are often generated by powerful undersea earthquakes. Princeton professor Michael Oppenheimer said his team's work will give scientists the ability to quantify how much any given reef will benefit its particular stretch......l health benefits. Glutathione is the body's key defense for detoxifying harmful compounds implicated in cancer, diabetes, aging along with other diseases and degenerative conditions. After nine years in development, researchers Dr Wallace Bridge and Dr Martin Zarka, of the University of New Sotuh Wales ...Worms produce surprise insight into human fever
...ated that HSF-1 is part of a broad, multi-pathogen defense pathway. And it also suggested something new about fever, says Aballay. Fever is an ancient immune mechanism used by metazoans in response to microbial infections. Warm-blooded homeotherms like rats (and people) can increase their internal body te...Preventing graft-versus-host disease disease after bone marrow transplant -- without toxicity
...nsplants," says Levy. "Replenishing a natural host defense factor that is deficient due to chemotherapy makes...rch at Dana-Farber. "If we can replenish this host defense factor, we might be able to moderate the damaging effects of GVHD." The multicenter clinical trial...New technology makes clinical research more precise
...nts of our immune system The immune system is our defense against foreign intruders, such as viruses and bacteria. It reacts against everything that it recognizes as foreign to the body - but, therefore, it might also react against certain substances that researchers want to develop into therapeutic drugs. ...Glucocorticoid plays key role in skin abnormalities induced by psychological stress
...on of antimicrobial peptides, which play a role in defense against infection. They hypothesize that psychological stress might also reduce the ability of the skin to protect from infections....Invasive ants territorial when neighbors are not kin
...s to breeding rather than competing. "Territory defense is expensive both in time and workers," explained Thomas, now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Western Australia. "If nests invest this time and workforce into collecting resources and raising larvae instead of defending territories, then ...New finding points way to foiling anthrax's tricks
...on scavenger, petrobactin, to get around the human defense against the first scavenger. Petrobactin is not bound by siderocalin. As far as is known, the human immune system has yet to launch a successful counterattack against the stealth siderophore, but that doesn't mean humans can't design one of their o...Newly discovered immune defense may be impaired in CF airways
...cent University of Iowa study reveals a new immune defense mechanism in normal airways and may help explain w...atory and Critical Care Medicine. "Among the host defense systems that we know of in the airway, at least in cell culture and tissue explants, this is one of ...Counter defense strategy of virus
RNA silencing evolved as a means of defense against viral pathogens. In turn, viruses have evolved a counter-defense mechanism to inhibit RNA silencing. In the December 1st issue of G&D, a team of NYC scientists, led by Dr. Nam-Hai Chua at the Rockefeller University, lend new insight into how ...Got cotton? Texas researchers' discovery could yield protein to feed millions
...e rest of the plant where the compound serves as a defense against insects and disease. The team used RNAi, or technology that can "silence" a gene. This enabled them to target the gossypol gene only in the cottonseed but let the gene express itself in the rest of the plant. The discovery of RNAi is what la...Cincinnnati scientists pursue new target for asthma treatment
...ytokines. Involved in triggering the body's immune defense mechanism to take action against infection, cytokines are responsible for almost all the characteristics of asthma. "If cytokines are produced in the lungs, you'll end up with asthma," says Fulkerson. "But we found in eosinophil-free models that the...Winners of the 2006 AAAS Science Journalism Awards
... Quite by accident, the researchers found a secret defense system in living cells, a gene-silencing mechanism called RNA interference. It has become one of the hottest topics in biology and was the subject of the recently awarded 2006 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology. In addition to the RNAi segment, t...Insight into evolution of adaptive immunity boosted by sea urchin genome sequencing
...road implications for understanding primitive host defense and the genetic underpinnings of immunity in verte...d in natural or innate immunity, the first line of defense against microorganisms. Innate immunity is preformed and directly inherited. Surprisingly, the in...Boston University biologists discover amphibian eggs use defenses against water molds
... discovered that several species of amphibians use defense mechanisms to protect themselves against deadly wa...m from or survive infections by water molds. These defense mechanisms are carried out either by the adult females when laying eggs or by the developing embryos...HIV exploits competition among T cells
... the immune system recognizes the threat, mounts a defense and destroys most of the invading viruses. The second phase is a long period of clinical latency that can last up to 10 years. In this phase, a small amount of virus mutates fast enough to escape initial detection and continues to mutate over time. T...Everybody dance: The energy you use won't shorten your life
...energy also produced more antioxidants, the body's defense against oxidative stress, Vaanholt said. However, the study found no difference in antioxidant levels among the groups, at least in the heart and the liver, regardless of energy expenditure. "We would have expected additional antioxidants among the ...Natural anti-viral enzyme helps keep cancer cells alive, researchers find
...ion is part of an immune reaction called the "host defense response," which is distinct from the "adaptive" i...ite said, but a cancer-promoting role for the host defense response has not been previously seen. It's a straightforward matter to block the action of TBK-1, s......iral drugs are considered to be a critical line of defense in the event of an influenza epidemic or pandemic. Vaccines are the most important defense, but new vaccines must be customized in response to an outbreak of disease and it can take as long as a year to formulate and manufacture vaccine in quantity. ...