If you took a survey of life’s small annoyances, surely those unpopped kernels at the bottom of the popcorn bag would rank high on the list. But perhaps not for long.
“We think the secret to maximizing ‘pop-ability’ is found in the special chemistry of the corn kernel,” says food chemist Bruce Hamaker, Ph.D., of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Hamaker is part of a team of scientists at the school who have identified a key crystalline structure in popcorn that appears t
Study of unique reproductive-cell protein in mice could lead to new contraceptives for women and men
Mice lacking a special protein found only in germ-line cells results in infertility in both males and females, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Norman Hecht, PhD, Professor of Human Reproduction in Penn’s Center for Research in Reproduction and Women’s Health, and colleagues say that these investigations point
Finding could lead to treatments for viral hemorrhagic fevers
Ebola virus reproduction in laboratory-grown cells is severely hampered by enzyme-inhibiting chemicals, and these chemicals deserve further study as possible treatments for Ebola virus infections in humans, report scientists supported in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The researchers, whose paper is published o
Decreased activity within the Transforming Growth Factor Beta (TGF-beta) pathway is associated with increased breast cancer risk, according to a study published by researchers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University’s Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center in today’s Cancer Research journal. This is the first study aimed at determining whether various combinations of two naturally-occurring variants of the TGF-beta pathway may predict breast cancer risk. It is also the
We all know that a viral infection can be developed extremely quickly, but in fact it’s even more dramatic than that – the process is literally explosive.
The pressure inside a virus is 40 atmospheres, and it is just waiting for an opportunity to blow up. The virus is like a living DNA cannon. How this cannon functions has been mapped by Dr. Alex Evilevitch at the Department of Biochemistry at Lund University in Sweden. This is knowledge that will have applications in ge
Although not widely appreciated as a disease of the genes, cancer is always rooted in genetic errors or problems in gene regulation. Scientists have identified some of the first genetic triggers for cancer as mutations in specific oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. Full-blown tumors and metastatic cancers, however, often exhibit many genetic mutations, sometimes dozens in a given tumor. An important scientific question, and one with significant clinical implications, has been what happens afte
Finding could lead to new therapeutic strategies
Scientists have discovered the mechanism that enables some CD4 T cells — the main target of HIV — to thwart the virus. The discovery, reported on April 13 in the online version of Nature, could open the door to an entirely new strategy for preventing the spread of HIV infection in the body’s cells, according to the senior author of the study, Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology Director Warner C. Greene, MD, PhD.
Gene hunters at Johns Hopkins have discovered a common genetic mutation that increases the risk of inheriting a particular birth defect not by the usual route of disrupting the gene’s protein-making instructions, but by altering a regulatory region of the gene. Although the condition, called Hirschsprung disease, is rare, its complex genetics mimics that of more common diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.
“It’s a funny mutation in a funny place,” says study leader Aravinda
A group of Japanese scientists has used gene therapy to deliver three insulin transcription factors, MafA, PDX-1, and NeuroD, to the livers of diabetic mice. As a result, the mice experienced an increase in insulin gene expression and insulin production, raising the possibility that this could eventually be used to treat diabetes. The research appears as the “Paper of the Week” in the April 15 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biolo
Weizmann Institute Scientists Reveal the Shape of a Protein That Helps Retroviruses Break into Cells
Retroviruses are among the trickier and more malicious disease agents, causing AIDS and cancers such as leukemia. The viruses manage to sneak into cells with the help of special protein assemblies scattered all over their surfaces. These retrovirus surface proteins cause the membrane envelope of the virus to fuse with the membrane of the cell, spilling virus RNA into the cell to wr
Dutch-sponsored researcher Keshav Ruthiya has made considerable improvements to a so-called slurry bubble column. The chemical industry uses these bubble columns for reactions between gases and liquids, for example, for organic wastewater purification or the synthesis of hydrocarbons. Various companies are interested in using Ruthiya’s results in commercial reactors.
Ruthiya investigated how catalyst particles adhere to gas bubbles in a slurry bubble column. Slurry bubble columns ar
A team led by Dutch researcher Jan Boon from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (Royal NIOZ) has discovered that one isomer of the toxic substance HBCD accumulates in dolphins and porpoises. The animals metabolise the other two isomers. HBCD has partially replaced other flame retardants already banned in Europe. However, according to the researchers it is still questionable whether HBCD is also less environmentally harmful. The results have just been published in the scientific jour
Researchers at Stockholm University have, together with colleagues in England, discovered a new way of treating and preventing hereditary breast cancer. The article, published in Nature, describes how the use of a chemical inhibitor can specifically kill tumour cells, which have a defect in the gene causing hereditary breast cancer. This new treatment targets only the tumour cells and is not likely to affect other healthy cells in the body. The discovery could also lead to a prophylactic treatme
Two new 250 million year-old species of large, meat-eating amphibians have been discovered by researchers, including investigators from McGill University. Their findings published in today’s issue of Nature, describe the first and oldest amphibious carnivores from the Republic of Niger in West Africa.
“This the first evidence of carnivores in this area,” says McGill paleontologist, and co-author, Hans Larsson. “This find is particularly interesting because the animals we found are
Serious diseases have been shown to be related to unhealthy protein chains that occur when proteins fold ’incorrectly’. In an article in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, PNAS, a research team from Uppsala University have shown that similar protein chains in our environment may hasten the process.
Under certain conditions, incorrectly folded proteins can transmit diseases from one individual to another. This is the mechanism in disea
NationaUnconventional wiring of the brain circuits that govern sleep and waking might explain the prevalence of insomnia and the condition’s association with obesity, according to new work published in the April issue of Cell Metabolism. Characterized by a chronic inability to fall asleep or remain sleeping, insomnia is estimated to affect one in every eight Americans.
By finding ways to interfere with that unconventional wiring, scientists may advance on new treatments fo
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