Carnegie Mellon scientists find key HIV protein makes cell membranes bend more easily
...in viral fusion, according to the researchers. One role already suspected is that FP-23 attaches to its T cell victim to facilitate a change in the shape of gp41, which in turn drives uptake of HIV RNA and proteins by the T cell. But the Carnegie Mellon work suggests that FP-23 plays another, equally impo...Study points to new way to predict death risk from torn aorta
... responses of the torn aortic wall, may all play a role in the higher death risk that appears to be associated with partial thrombosis. Data suggest that in a partially thrombosed false lumen, the systolic pressure is lower than the systolic pressure in the aorta, but that the diastolic pressure is higher...Air pollution link to clogged arteries
...s" Research now indicates that air pollution has a role to play in atherosclerosis (artery hardening), which can contribute to heart attacks or strokes. Findings published in the open access journal, Genome Biology, show how the fats that clog arteries work together with air pollution particles, triggeri...Females more prone to brain damage from alcohol abuse
..., including one funded by the VA, will examine the role that hormones play in response to alcohol withdrawal, include the possibility that the male hormone androgen exacerbates cell death in males. "What we're looking at now is the involvement of testosterone in mediating the cell death in females," Wir...Drug protects brain cells in Huntington's disease model, researchers find
... brain called the striatum, which plays a critical role in relaying signals concerning motion and higher thought and receives signals from several brain regions. The striatum is primarily made up of nerve cells called medium spiny neurons, which undergo widespread death in Huntingtons. One major input t...Enzyme discovery sheds light on vitamin D
... believe the hydroxylase enzyme plays an important role in human cell functions. When vitamin D drugs are used in an attempt to arrest certain types of cancer, for example, the tumour responds by making more of this enzyme. If we can block the tumour response, we should be able to successfully treat some...American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- July 18, 2007
...ing Nobel Laureate Robert H. Grubbs, on chemistrys role in working toward better medications, more nutritious food, sources of renewable energy, and other innovations. The newly published report is available for reading and downloading at: www.chemistry.org/2006annualreport.html ACS Updates: Hot re...UB scientist discovers novel iron-copper alliance
...Collins. We will concentrate on understanding the role of two key proteins encoded by these genes: an in...s to answer three specific questions regarding the role of copper in intestinal iron transport, Collins noted: 1) Are Atp7a and Dmt1 solely responsible for...... Dr. Evans and colleagues sought to determine the role of PPAR in the lactating mammary gland. They generated a strain of mice that, as adults, lacked PPAR only in hematopoietic and endothelial cells. When these PPAR-deficient animals became mothers, they appeared normal, but the milk they produced most ...Nicotine rush hinges on sugar in neurons
...ommentary in Nature Neuroscience online proposes a role for sugar as the hinge that opens a gate in the ce...between neurons. The results reveal an important role for the sugar molecules in such proteins. Our studies fill a major gap in the field and set a new ...Identified main genetic variants involved in response to HIV
...o deduct main genetic variations playing a central role in the control of viral infection. Results point to two gene variants related to the immune system. More precisely, these variations are in a genetic region responsible for the determination of immune response capacity against a number of infectiou...Genomic analysis uncovers new targets for HIV vaccine
...eukocyte antigen (HLA) system, which plays a major role in the immune system by identifying foreign invade...orphisms could ultimately be shown to play a major role when future analyses involving more patients are performed, the researchers said....New clue into how diet and exercise enhance longevity
...eriments, the researchers sought to understand the role of the insulin-like signaling pathway in extending lifespan. This pathway governs growth and metabolic processes in cells throughout the body. The pathway is activated when insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 switch on proteins inside the cell c...Mucins stand guard against gut infections
...ce of the gut, and while long regarded as having a role as a barrier to mucosal infection, data to support... that cell surface mucin 1 (Muc1) plays a critical role in protecting the mucosal lining of the gut from bacterial infection. These authors orally infecte...JCI table of contents: July 19, 2007
...ce of the gut, and while long regarded as having a role as a barrier to mucosal infection, data to support... that cell surface mucin 1 (Muc1) plays a critical role in protecting the mucosal lining of the gut from bacterial infection. These authors orally infecte...Obesity found to be a risk factor for multiple myeloma
...il of the BMI/multiple myeloma link, including the role of IL-6 and other chemical signals, energy metabolism, and other risk factors such as weight change or weight cycling....Restless legs genetics on the move
...have been looking for the genes which might play a role in RLS for years. A team of scientists from the...he extremities and the central nervous system. The role of these genes in adults will now have to be examined in greater detail. How soon the knowledge a...Protein pulling -- Learning how proteins fold by pulling them apart
...o the discovery that misfolded proteins play a key role in diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Rice's new findings, which were three years in the making, are available online and slated to appear in an upcoming issue of Physical Review Letters. The article describes a new method scientists can us...Measuring the unseeable: Penn researchers probe proteins' dark energy
...mportant examples. We are currently looking at the role of protein entropy in the control of critical signaling events in all three....UC Santa Barbara scientists clarify molecular basis of interferon action
...PKR or none at all. This allowed them to test the role of PKR in the cell. We found that with low PKR there is less apoptosis in response to some stimuli, said Zhang. (Apoptosis is cell death or suicide. It is a strategy, at the cellular level, to prevent growth of the virus.) The sci...