Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have determined the molecular machinery that triggers normal cardiac muscle growth and survival, and have linked defects in this complex to an inherited form of human cardiomyopathy, a type of heart failure where an enlarged heart loses its ability to pump blood.
Published in the December 27, 2002 issue of the journal Cell, the study also identifies a subset of German cardiomyopathy patients with a specific gene mutation that disrupts the heart muscles normal stretch activity. This mutation has apparently been passed down through several generations of Northern Europeans.
Masahiko Hoshijima, M.D., Ph.D., a co-first author of the paper and a lead project scientist in UCSDs Institute of Molecular Medicine, explained that the normal heart contracts and relaxes with each cycle, stretching and then returning to an original size.
Sue Pondrom | EurekAlert!
Further information:
http://health.ucsd.edu/news/2002/12_26_Chien.html
http://health.ucsd.edu/news/2002/07_21_Chien.html
Safer viruses for vaccine research and diagnosis
12.12.2019 | University of Queensland
Illinois team develops first of a kind in-vitro 3D neural tissue model
11.12.2019 | University of Illinois College of Engineering
In a joint experimental and theoretical work performed at the Heidelberg Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, an international team of physicists detected for the first time an orbital crossing in the highly charged ion Pr⁹⁺. Optical spectra were recorded employing an electron beam ion trap and analysed with the aid of atomic structure calculations. A proposed nHz-wide transition has been identified and its energy was determined with high precision. Theory predicts a very high sensitivity to new physics and extremely low susceptibility to external perturbations for this “clock line” making it a unique candidate for proposed precision studies.
Laser spectroscopy of neutral atoms and singly charged ions has reached astonishing precision by merit of a chain of technological advances during the past...
The ability to investigate the dynamics of single particle at the nano-scale and femtosecond level remained an unfathomed dream for years. It was not until the dawn of the 21st century that nanotechnology and femtoscience gradually merged together and the first ultrafast microscopy of individual quantum dots (QDs) and molecules was accomplished.
Ultrafast microscopy studies entirely rely on detecting nanoparticles or single molecules with luminescence techniques, which require efficient emitters to...
Graphene, a two-dimensional structure made of carbon, is a material with excellent mechanical, electronic and optical properties. However, it did not seem suitable for magnetic applications. Together with international partners, Empa researchers have now succeeded in synthesizing a unique nanographene predicted in the 1970s, which conclusively demonstrates that carbon in very specific forms has magnetic properties that could permit future spintronic applications. The results have just been published in the renowned journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Depending on the shape and orientation of their edges, graphene nanostructures (also known as nanographenes) can have very different properties – for example,...
Using a clever technique that causes unruly crystals of iron selenide to snap into alignment, Rice University physicists have drawn a detailed map that reveals...
University of Texas and MIT researchers create virtual UAVs that can predict vehicle health, enable autonomous decision-making
In the not too distant future, we can expect to see our skies filled with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) delivering packages, maybe even people, from location...
Anzeige
Anzeige
03.12.2019 | Event News
First International Conference on Agrophotovoltaics in August 2020
15.11.2019 | Event News
Laser Symposium on Electromobility in Aachen: trends for the mobility revolution
15.11.2019 | Event News
Safer viruses for vaccine research and diagnosis
12.12.2019 | Health and Medicine
NTU Singapore scientists convert plastics into useful chemicals using su
12.12.2019 | Life Sciences
Studies show integrated strategies work best for buffelgrass control
12.12.2019 | Agricultural and Forestry Science