Thanks to new screening tools, and some luck, researchers at the University of Chicago have discovered three unrelated compounds that inhibit the two toxins – edema factor and lethal factor — that have made anthrax one of the most feared of potential bioterror agents.
In the August 2004 issue of the journal Chemistry and Biology, the researchers report that they used a novel screening technique, developed at the University, to find a small molecule that prevents edema factor from
In this issue of Chemistry & Biology, Lazar and colleagues report an unexpected finding about pheromone transport in the Asian elephant, an endangered species of which only a few thousand individuals remain.
Female elephants communicate their readiness to mate by excreting a sex pheromone in their urine. Male elephants exhibit a range of responses to this pheromone, beginning with sniffing and “check and place” responses, where the male touches his trunk tip to the pheromone-loaded
Readings done by a Canadian-Austrian team present a puzzle for astronomers. Expected surface phenomena, which provide information about stellar structures, could not be evidenced from readings obtained by means of a Canadian microsatellite. The precise satellite readings leave no doubt on the data published in NATURE. The project, organised in co-operation with the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Vienna and supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), challenges the existing unders
InterBioScreen (IBS), global provider of unique chemical compound libraries, and Quantum Pharmaceuticals, high-tech drug discovery company, announced a new project to create a revolutionary product for the drug discovery market.
The joint project, QuantumLead, combines the industry leading in silico lead optimization technology of Quantum Pharmaceuticals with the unique synthetic and natural compound libraries and network of scientists of IBS to create Q-Lead-Libraries.
A recent study of 81 cases, published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research is the first to show that correction of upper neck injuries may reverse the progression of both Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson’s disease (PD).
The research was performed by Erin Elster, D.C., an Upper Cervical Chiropractor in Boulder, Colorado, who compiled data from 44 MS patients and 37 PD patients treated over the past five years. After treating upper neck injuries in 81 patients, 91% of
Researchers at the University of Arkansas who have been studying the effects of stress on caregivers’ health have found a surprising link between the type of assistance caregivers provide and the amount of stress they report.
“It came as no surprise to us that caregivers are under stress,” remarked Barbara Shadden, director of the program in communication disorders, who, with fellow researcher Ro DiBrezzo, director of the UA Human Performance Lab, serves as co-director of the UA O
Automotive manufacturers may soon benefit from a new breed of metals – known as functionally gradient materials – that can withstand the high temperatures of die casting without cracking under pressure, according to a researcher at the University of Missouri-Rolla.
UMR researchers, led by Dr. Frank Liou, director of the manufacturing engineering program and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, hope to build better die-casting molds by developing materials that are both
There’s nothing quite like going into the deep freeze to learn more about planet Earth.
That’s where Jihong Cole-Dai, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at South Dakota State University, and graduate students Drew Budner and Dave Ferris will find themselves when they head to Antarctica in December.
In a collaborative research project with the University of California-San Diego and funded by the National Science Foundation, they will collect ice cores from the
New research on the wolves of Isle Royale may shed light on a mystery that has long puzzled biologists: Why do some predators band together to hunt?
“Most species of predators live solitary lives,” says John Vucetich, a research assistant professor of wildlife ecology at Michigan Technological University. “Biologists have always wanted to know why the few exceptions live in groups.”
In his observations of wolves and ravens, Vucetich may have found the answer: Predators th
With hundreds of thousands of the nation’s bridges nearing the end of their design lives, cash-strapped states are searching for innovative solutions to repair and replace their decaying structures. One answer may lie in the same material that delivered the stealth aircraft, according to two researchers at the University of Missouri-Rolla.
Composite fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP), first developed for use in the aerospace and automotive industries, may be able to help nurse the rapi
A new generation of high surface-area porous materials for removing atrazine from water supplies has been developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The low-cost and wear-resistant fibers also can remove the hazardous contaminants chloroform and trichloroethylene, both byproducts of the commonly used chlorine disinfection process.
“We’ve shown that we can remove all these impurities to well below the maximum contaminant levels established by the Env
The International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) announced at a scientific conference in Beijing that the planned International Linear Collider (ILC) is to be realized in superconducting technology. This decision is of great importance for DESY and its international partners, since they developed this technology together and successfully tested it at the TESLA Test Facility (TTF) in Hamburg. The ILC is the next major project of particle physics. No decision has yet been taken on the r
A study from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) Affiliate Center at the University of Helsinki in Finland has shed light on the development of lymphatic vasculature and valves, and may help to develop better treatments for lymphedema.
The disease, which results from damaged or absent lymphatic vessels, may be inherited or may be a side-effect of the surgical removal of tumors. Lymphatic vessels normally remove fluid and proteins escaping from blood capillaries into sur
Invasive species may cause severe economic losses. Thus the hot debate regarding the ecological mechanisms determining the outcome of biological invasions is of equal interest to scientific and business communities. Do invaders bump residents out by competing with them for scarce resources, or do they merely move in without causing harm to their neighbors?
In one of the first environmental impact studies ever, the Smithsonian Institution’s 1910 Panama Biological Survey provided ba
People are just as likely to be killed, or property damaged, by the shock wave from an exploding bomb as from flying debris or flames. The rush of gases emanating from a bomb can travel more than 10 times the speed of sound, destroying everything in its path.
Two University of Rhode Island engineers have constructed a “shock tube” to simulate this rush of gas so they can test the ability of various new composite materials to withstand these extreme forces.
“What we’re
Bacteriophages – the friendly viruses that can wreak havoc on harmful bacteria – are being harnessed to beat back Salmonella in livestock. A phage invented and recently patented by food safety researchers at Iowa State University is the first phage to control the spread of Salmonella in swine and to prevent the bacterium from developing into a vehicle of foodborne illness.
“The pen isn’t the only place pigs get Salmonella,” said D.L. (Hank) Harris, an animal science researcher at ISU.
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