Many chemicals in the occupational and non-occupational environment may be hazardous to skin and health. This will be the topic for an international scientific conference “Occupational and Environmental Exposures of Skin to Chemicals-2005” in Stockholm, Sweden 12-15 June 2005.
“Wet work and skin exposure to solvents, cement and pesticides are some of the important causes of disease. New chemical substances and products are developed, and it is important to know how they may affect
Method enables scientists to study all stages of virus’ life cycle
A team of researchers led by scientists at The Rockefeller University has produced for the first time an infectious form of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in laboratory cultures of human cells. The finding, reported in the June 9 issue of Science Express, will allow scientists to study every stage of the HCV life cycle and develop drugs to treat this life-threatening disease that affects more than 170 million people
University of Colorado at Boulder researchers have developed a new polymer that resists cracking and shrinking, paving the way for creative breakthroughs in fields ranging from dentistry and microelectronics to the auto industry.
CU-Boulder chemical and biological engineering department Chair Christopher Bowman said polymers, or plastics — which are made up of identical molecules linked by chemical bonds to form repeating chains or webs — generally show an increase in strain
Collaborative effort develops novel tool and discovers surprising correlation of microRNA expression and cancer type
Despite significant progress in understanding the genetic changes in many different cancers, diagnosis and classification of tumor type remain, at best, an imperfect art. This could change quickly, thanks to the findings of a group of researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, MIT, and St. Jude’s Children
Scientists discover how virus evades immune system in acute and chronic infections; new vaccines may result
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have uncovered how a majority of the genetic changes in the hepatic-C virus, the most common cause of liver disease, allow it to evade the body’s immune system during infection. Hepatitis C infection can lead to cirrhosis, cancer and even death. In a series of experiments that describe the virus’ transition from an acute to chronic inf
An international research team has discovered a new target molecule, Fbw7, for developing drugs with the potential to complement or replace statins in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The findings are being published in the new issue of the scientific journal Cell Metabolism.
Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that is needed for the formation of our cells and for the production of hormones. The amount needed can be provided by the body itself, but our eating habits o
Carolinas Medical Center is one of only 10 facilities nationwide offering this specialized procedure, which is still experimental but offers hope of dramatic lifestyle improvements for a huge number of Type 1 diabetics.
A Davidson woman has been successfully treated for her Type 1 diabetes through a procedure performed at Carolinas Medical Center. Paul F. Gores, M.D., has led a multi-disciplinary team through a series of three pancreatic islet cell transplants since the summer of 2
Amyloid fibers are best known as the plaque that gunks up neurons in people with neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease–the human analog of mad cow disease. But even though amyloids are common and implicated in a host of conditions, researchers haven’t been able to identify their precise molecular structures. Conventional techniques used to image proteins, such as X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, don’t work wit
Ribonucleic acid, or RNA, has long been thought to be important only to translate a gene’s DNA into the proteins that are cells’ workhorses. But new evidence shows that tiny bits of RNA not used to make proteins actually play central roles in normal biology and in the development of cancers.
“Scientists have known for a few years that production of these tiny RNAs, known as microRNAs, is only supposed to happen at certain times and in certain tissues, but no one had been able to
A prototype drug created by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago shows promise in slowing replication of the virus responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. Currently, there are no effective antiviral agents or vaccines for SARS, which killed almost 800 people in an epidemic in 2002-2003.
On the basis of their success, the researchers have received an $8 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop prot
Strategic mix to include gibbon, bats, sloth and mosquitoes
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today that the Large-Scale Sequencing Research Network will target 13 more organisms as part of its ongoing effort to produce genomic data that will expand biological knowledge and improve human health.
The National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research (NACHGR), which is a federally chartered
A senior scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital has developed Canada’s first two human embryonic stem cell lines, giving researchers across the country new potential and hope for eventually discovering treatments and cures for many chronic and fatal diseases.
“My hope – and the hope of my world-class laboratory team – is that our step of developing the first Canadian embryonic stem cell lines will ultimately bring Canada and the world closer to treating or curing diseases such as Multiple
An international team of chemists and molecular biologists has discovered a fundamental molecular mechanism that seems to play an important role in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, mad cow disease and two-dozen other degenerative and fatal diseases. The discovery is reported June 9 in the journal Nature, where it is featured on the cover.
Amyloid fibrils, rope-like structures formed by linked protein molecules, are the common feature of these diseases and ma
To ignite a life-threatening infection in the body, a virus such as HIV invades body cells by first merging, or fusing, with the cell’s outer membrane. Once inside the cell, the invading microbe’s genetic material takes over, turning the ’host’ cell into a factory to produce more copies of the virus, which then spill out to invade other cells in the body.
Scientists had assumed that once a virus begins fusing with a cell’s membrane, infection of the host
More effective and safer medicines will be possible if we understand how the body detoxifies itself. The cytochrome P450 enzymes are the molecular machines responsible for the disposal by the human body of 80% of all medicines. These enzymes are also needed for the body to remove poisons and to manufacture many important molecules such as the sex hormones progesterone and testosterone. Understanding how the cytochromes P450 function is of great importance for human health.
New ins
Confirming findings in a previous study, Yale researchers observed an altered availability of the dopamine transporter in healthy persons with a genetic variation linked to substance abuse and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
“Healthy people who carry a particular variant of the dopamine transporter gene, the nine repeat allele, have significantly higher levels of dopamine transporter in the brain,” said the lead author, Christopher van Dyck, M.D., associate professor of psych
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