The relationship between lawns and allergies and asthma
...Augustine supports fewer of the fungal spores that trigger allergic or asthmatic reactions." Should grass clippings be left on a lawn or removed after mowing? Colbaugh and Williams advise leaving them. "They are a great source of nutrients, including nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, reducing the need for...Finding may explain link between alcohol and certain cancers
...ential for cell growth react with acetaldehyde to trigger a series of reactions that damage DNA, an event that can lead to the formation of cancer. "We've long suspected acetaldehyde's role in the carcinogenicity of alcohol beverage consumption, but this study gives us important new clues about its involvem...Molecular partners required for appropriate neuronal gene repression
...l groups from histones to modify them in ways that trigger gene repression. Eight histones comprise a nucleosome, and long strings of nucleosomes coil in turn into chromatin, the basic material of chromosomes. In the body's scheme for safely storing genes away until needed, DNA is tightly looped around the h...Grasshopper love songs give insight into sensory tuning
...ndings show that "optimal stimulus ensembles" that trigger the neurons differ from those the grasshopper hears in the natural environment but largely overlap with components of natural sounds found in mating and mate-location calls. In their experiments, the researchers first played various snippets of white...Complex gene interactions account for autism risk
...one neuron fires at receptors on another neuron to trigger a response in this case an inhibitory response. GABA receptors are protein switches nestled in nerve cell membranes that are triggered by GABA to cause such inhibition. Importantly, the study found that the GABA brain system most likely exerts its i...Firefly protein lets researchers monitor molecule linked to cancer
... (for IKappa kinase), regulates processes that can trigger dramatic changes in cellular physiology. Scientists have linked these changes to many different disorders. "Our new system allows researchers to monitor whether drugs for these conditions are hitting this exact molecular target in cell culture and l...Protein linked to growth of organs and cancer
...es, whose protein products act as accelerators and trigger abnormal cell growth," said Duojia Pan, Ph.D., who carried out most of the study at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas before coming to the Johns Hopkins Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences. "YAP seems to be another on...Scientists find cell surface enzyme matriptase causes cancer
...protease, on the cell surface that can efficiently trigger the formation of tumor cells. The authors also note that matriptase is the first known cell-surface protease that can act as an oncogene, an umbrella term for mutated genes and their proteins that prompt cells to divide too rapidly, a hallmark of tu...Slipping past the blood brain barrier: Research shows potential treatment for brain cancer
...ic growth hormone-releasing hormone usually are to trigger the hormone that makes children grow and affect how glucose is used in adults. Researchers found that the P-gp system, an extra guardian located at the blood brain barrier that usually keeps anticancer drugs out of the brain, intercepted some of th...Climate model links higher temperatures to prehistoric extinction
... in the world's oceans and land surfaces enough to trigger a massive extinction hundreds of millions of years ago."...New role for gene that counteracts formation of tumors
...n damaged or if other problems arise, p53 can also trigger programmed cell death. Because p53 can halt the further growth of cells, this protein plays an essential role in suppressing the development of tumors and blocking the onset of cancer. When cancer appears, the p53 protein is deactivated - either thro...Cellular power plants also fend off viruses
...nergy for the cell, as well as to sense damage and trigger apoptosis. Now, I think our discovery reveals another important function of the mitochondria, and that is in immunity," he said. Understanding how boosting MAVS function causes cells to resist viral infection could have important clinical implication...Unusual antibiotics show promise against deadly 'superbugs'
...he cell wall components, the antibiotics appear to trigger the enzyme to open. Once open, the antibiotics deactivate the enzyme, setting in motion a chain of events that eventually kills the bacteria, the researcher says. More studies are needed to verify the details of this unique mechanism and to determine...Acupuncture versus acid reflux: 40% cut in sphincter relaxations brings hope for relief
...oted that "because gastric distension is the major trigger for TLESRs, Neiguan appeared to be a more relevant site for affecting triggering of TLESRs than did Hukoau," another gastrointestinal-related acupuncture site. Mechanisms of action elusive; role of opioids discounted Addressing the mechanisms of a...Tobacco-related cancer: How does it happen?
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 How does tobacco trigger the more than 170,000 cases of lung cancer that have already been diagnosed this year? While nearly 90 percent of them involved smokers, according to research estimates, only about 25 percent of all smokers are said to develop lung cancer. Why? What ...Scientists discover scaramanga gene's bond with breast cancer
...named after the James Bond villain Scaramanga can trigger the development of breasts. This has important implications for breast cancer, as reported in the journal Genes and Development. During the development of an embryo, formation of organs is tightly controlled by specific genes. In the case of breast...Study reveals genomics of inflammation from severe injury
... cells, which help fight infection and disease and trigger inflammation. The scientists analyzed the activity of tens of thousands of genes from these cells, which were taken from the volunteers at regular intervals over 24 hours. Because this research plots the course of the inflammatory response over time,...Prostate cancer uses Wnt signaling proteins to promote growth of bone tumors
... bone. Prostate cancer is unique in its ability to trigger increased bone production, which creates what's called an osteoblastic lesion. "In metastatic prostate cancer, we think that both processes are going on," Keller says. "Our hypothesis is that prostate cancer cells first induce more bone resorption to......"That suggests that something about depression may trigger the production of TNF-alpha." The researchers measured cytokine levels in picograms, or trillionths of a gram. Patients with scores of 10 or higher on the BDI had levels of TNF-alpha nearly twice that of patients with a score less than 10 (4.9 pg/ml ......vestigating the molecular biological switches that trigger germ cell formation in the body. Yuichi Niikura of the Harvard Medical School in Boston then refuted the belief that women cannot generate new egg cells because there is no self-renewal of stem cells in mature ovaries: "We believe that germ stem cell...