Tips from the journals of the American Society for Microbiology
...ontic microbes must gain access while evading host defense mechanisms, both of which are features displayed by pathogens. In the study researchers analyzed samples from 20 different endodontic patients that had not undergone prior treatment, but had been previously screened for bacteria. Of those 20 sample...Keck Futures Initiative announces grant recipients
...e blood cell function in the pathogenesis and host defense of infectious and inflammatory processes. BABAK PARVIZ, University of Washington, Seattle DIRECT ELECTRONIC DETECTION OF MOLECULAR RECOGNITION AND BINDING EVENTS WITH ENGINEERED NANO-SCALE STRUCTURES - $75,000 Two nano-scale sensing mechanisms based ...A large step forward in the fight against African sleeping sickness
...sed by the pathogenic parasites, against which our defense mechanism is powerless. Tests on mice are already ...es that the body produces. Parasite eludes human defense mechanism Fortunately, our body has a special defense mechanism that can help us in the fight again...Enzyme crystal structure reveals 'unexpected' genome repair functions
...nd protection against mutations. NER is a critical defense mechanism that removes DNA lesions caused by the mutating effects of sunlight (ultraviolet light) and toxic chemicals. In addition, NER is critical to the success of the anticancer drug cisplatin, since cisplatin works by initiating the process of D...Lung surfactant: Host defense/surface tension, and linking innate/adaptive immune systems
...ecture, "Wisdom of lung surfactant: Balancing host defense and surface tension reducing functions," was the k... Award: "Wisdom of lung surfactant: Balancing host defense and surface tension reducing functions" Saturday, April 1, 5:45 p.m., Convention Center Room 134, Mo...Oxidation defense in mosquitoes benefits malaria parasite
...rial parasite reproduce. So stopping the oxidative defense could stop the parasite as well as make the insect a victim of oxidative stress. Rizzi's group at the University of Piemonte Orientale focuses on the structural characterization of enzymes involved in tryptophan degradation in mosquitoes, which resul...Researches discover gene critical for protection against septic-shock-induced death
...provide a better understanding of the human body's defense mechanisms to sepsis and septic shock, and may provide clues to designing novel therapies that could minimize mortality. The researchers are now trying to find if activation of Nrf2 by a small-molecule drug can minimize pathological damage and improv...Plants give pests sock in the gut
...eptides in the insects' gut. It is a unique active defense against herbivory," says Dawn Luthe, professor of plant stress biology at Penn State. Luthe and researchers at Mississippi State University have since developed several lines of corn resistant to multiple pests, using conventional plant breeding an...New human retrovirus originated in mice
... have flourished as a result of the failure of the defense mechanism; and other factors such as chronic infla...ggests strongly RNASEL is an important part of the defense against retroviral infection. This is the first evidence in humans of findings that were previously ...Discovery of new molecular tools for biosynthesis could lead to advances in use of pectin
...nctions including plant growth and development and defense against disease. Despite the importance of pectin as a major component in the primary walls of plants, scientists have known relatively little about how this family of complex polysaccharides is made. Especially perplexing has been how the synthesis ...Novel vaccine approach stimulates protective immunity against listeria
... vaccine-induced antibodies can mount a formidable defense and fend off the bad bugs. The trouble comes when ...idden, growing inside the cell's wall. To mount a defense against these cloaked attackers, Darren Higgins, Associate Professor of Microbiology at Harvard Medi...Animals can change genes quickly to keep up with viral ingenuity
...lass of genes thought to have evolved in part as a defense system against viruses, researchers have found evidence that these genes are indeed among the fastest-evolving in the genome of the fruit fly, Drosophila. The work is reported by University of Edinburgh researchers Dr. Darren Obbard and Dr. Tom Littl...International award honors discoveries in cellular and molecular immunology
... we will continue to gain new insights into immune defense mechanisms, and I look forward to the day when our global and interdisciplinary efforts make the deadliest and most debilitating diseases a distant memory." Taniguchi began the study of cytokines--proteins that regulate the intensity and duration of ...U of MN research shows how infection-fighting cells interact
... T-cells, or lymphocytes, are the body's natural defense mechanism against infection, directly attacking foreign bodies such as bacteria and viruses. The body contains millions of different lymphocytes that fight specific infectious microbes.Research published in the March 3, 2006 issue of Science Express ...'Virus chip' detects new virus in prostate tumors
...ase was RNASEL, a gene that serves as an important defense against viruses. Given the anti-viral role of this...ith mutations in both copies of their RNASEL viral defense gene, eight of them, or 40 percent, contained the virus, while the virus was found in only one of 66...Scientists discuss evolutionary roots of social behavior
...rdependency - might have arisen as a kind of group defense mechanism against predators. The "social-living prey" hypothesis will be the focus of a symposium entitled "Man the Hunted: The Origin and Nature of Human Sociality," on February 19. Featuring two prominent primate researchers from the University of...Prestigious 2005 AAAS Philip Hauge Abelson Prize honors Norman R. Augustine
...e Secretary of Defense as an assistant director of defense research and engineering. Later he was an assistant secretary of the U.S. Army, then under secretary, then acting secretary of the Army. Today he is a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the U.S. Department of ...New compound may protect against liver cancer
...Nrf2 directs certain genes to stimulate the cell's defense mechanisms," he said. "The protein also stimulates key enzymes that can detoxify harmful agents like aflatoxin and remove them from the cell." Like other compounds derived from oleanolic acid, CDDO-Im also has strong anti-inflammatory properties that...Study with smokers shows vitamins combine for benefits
...er people." Vitamin E is one of the first lines of defense in human lung tissue against the ravages of cigarette smoke, Traber said, which creates destructive free radicals. If the body has adequate levels of vitamin E, this protective antioxidant can interact with the peroxyl radicals created by cigarette s...UCLA engineering and Mattel Children's Hospital collaborate to develop children's heart valve
...th. Thin film nitinol originally was developed for defense applications with support from both the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency....