http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. It's well known that the protein calmodulin specifically targets and steers the activities of hundreds of other proteins - mostly kinases - in our cells, thus playing a role in physiologically important processes ranging from gene transcription to nerve growth and muscle contraction But just how it distinguishes between target proteins is not well understood. Methods developed by biophysicists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM, Germany) have enabled them to manipulate and observe calmodulin in action, on the single-molecule scale. http://www.physorg.com/news169137245.html Chemistry Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:20:02 EST news169137245 (PhysOrg.com) -- In 1953, Stanley Miller filled two flasks with chemicals assumed to be present on the primitive Earth, connected the flasks with rubber tubes and introduced some electrical sparks as a stand-in for lightning. The now famous experiment showed what amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, could easily be generated from this primordial stew. But despite that seminal experiment, neither he nor others were able to take the next step: that of showing how life`s code could come from such humble beginnings. http://www.physorg.com/news168875229.html Biology Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:47:47 EST news168875229 As letters of the alphabet spell out words, when amino acids are linked to one another in a particular order they "spell out" proteins. But sometimes the cell machinery for building proteins in our bodies makes a mistake and the wrong amino acid is inserted. The consequences can be devastating, resulting in a garbled protein that no longer has the correct function, possibly leading to cancers and other diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news168787118.html Biology Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:19:19 EST news168787118 Predicting the infection patterns of influenzas requires tracking both the ecology and the evolution of the fast-morphing viruses that cause them, said a Duke University researcher who enlists computers to model such changes. http://www.physorg.com/news168700823.html Biology Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:21:49 EST news168700823 (PhysOrg.com) -- John Spence, a physicist at Arizona State University, is a longtime user of the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he has contributed to major advances in lensless imaging. It`s a particularly apt propensity for someone who works with x-rays, since they can`t be focused with ordinary lenses. http://www.physorg.com/news168620492.html Physics Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:20:01 EST news168620492 (PhysOrg.com) -- The weak tendons and fragile bones characteristic of osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, stem from a genetic mutation that causes the incorrect substitution of a single amino acid in the chain of thousands of amino acids making up a collagen molecule, the basic building block of bone and tendon. http://www.physorg.com/news168618876.html Medicine & Health Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:35:50 EST news168618876 The human eye lens consists of a highly concentrated mix of several proteins. Protective proteins prevent these proteins from aggregating and clumping. If this protective function fails, the lens blurs and the patient develops cataracts. http://www.physorg.com/news168253150.html Biology Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:10:01 EST news168253150 (July 29, 2009) - Recycling is a critical component in the process of transmitting information from one neuron to the next, and a large protein called Tweek plays a critical role, said an international consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine in a report in the current issue of the journal Neuron. http://www.physorg.com/news168092690.html Medicine & Health Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:40:02 EST news168092690 (PhysOrg.com) -- Selenium is a trace element crucial to life -- too little or too much of it is fatal. In the July 17 issue of the journal Science, researchers at Yale University and University of Illinois at Chicago detail the molecular mechanisms that govern its metabolism in the human body. http://www.physorg.com/news166972917.html Biology Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:22:24 EST news166972917 In a new study that could transform embryonic stem cell (ES cell) research, scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered why mouse ES cells can be easily grown in a laboratory while other mammalian ES cells are difficult, if not impossible, to maintain. http://www.physorg.com/news166367809.html Biology Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:17:35 EST news166367809 Chemists at the California Institute of Technology and the Scripps Research Institute have developed an innovative technique to create cheap but highly stable chemicals that have the potential to take the place of the antibodies used in many standard medical diagnostic tests. http://www.physorg.com/news166361266.html Chemistry Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:28:41 EST news166361266 Using a combination of sensory, genetic, and in vitro approaches, researchers from the Monell Center confirm that the T1R1-T1R3 taste receptor plays a role in human umami (amino acid) taste. http://www.physorg.com/news166271871.html Medicine & Health Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:38:46 EST news166271871 University of Minnesota Medical School researchers have discovered that a common anti-oxidant, widely available as a health food supplement, may help stop the urges of those with trichotillomania, a disorder characterized by compulsive hair-pulling. http://www.physorg.com/news166116740.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:32:52 EST news166116740 Scientists at UC Santa Barbara and several other institutions have found laboratory evidence that a cluster of peptides may be the toxic agent in Alzheimer's disease. Scientists say the discovery may lead to new drugs for the disease. http://www.physorg.com/news165687229.html Chemistry Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:15:02 EST news165687229 Researchers have found that the anti-malarial drug quinine can block a cell's ability to take up the essential amino acid tryptophan, a discovery that may explain many of the adverse side-effects associated with quinine. Once confirmed, these findings would suggest that dietary tryptophan supplements could be a simple and inexpensive way to improve the performance of this important drug. http://www.physorg.com/news165238691.html Chemistry Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:51:54 EST news165238691 A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, Katholeike Universiteit Leuven, and the University of Antwerp, Belgium, among other institutions, has created a genetically modified fruit fly that mimics key features of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a common neurodegenerative disorder that strikes about one out of every 2,500 people in the United States. http://www.physorg.com/news165067856.html Biology Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:10:01 EST news165067856 Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena and their colleagues from the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague have developed a new method to quickly and reliably detect metabolites, such as sugars, fatty acids, amino acids and other organic substances from plant or animal tissue samples. One drop of blood -- less than one micro liter -- is sufficient to identify certain blood related metabolites. http://www.physorg.com/news164539160.html Chemistry Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:30:01 EST news164539160 For many years scientists have known that the numerous biological functions of an organism are not regulated solely by the DNA sequence of its genes: Superordinate regulatory mechanisms exist that contribute to determining the fate of genes. Although they are not anchored in the DNA, they can even be passed on to subsequent generations to a certain extent. Intensive research in recent years has shown that these mechanisms - bundled under the term epigenetics, are very multifaceted and complex. http://www.physorg.com/news164376644.html Biology Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:11:00 EST news164376644 Mayo Clinic cardiology researchers have found a peptide that helps preserve and improve kidney function during heart failure, without affecting blood pressure. Earlier variations of this peptide caused blood pressure to drop limiting the potential benefits to the kidneys. The findings appear in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news164363094.html Medicine & Health Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:25:14 EST news164363094 A team of Scripps Research scientists has created a new analog to DNA that assembles and disassembles itself without the need for enzymes. Because the new system comprises components that might reasonably be expected in a primordial world, the new chemical system could answer questions about how life could emerge. http://www.physorg.com/news163988697.html Chemistry Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:40:02 EST news163988697 Researchers have known for more than half a century that sperm is able to fertilize an egg only after it has resided for a period of time in the female reproductive tract. Without this specific interaction with the female body, the sperm is incapable of producing offspring. But until now there was very little understanding of what changes occur within the sperm that suddenly allows it to fertilize an egg. http://www.physorg.com/news163780913.html Medicine & Health Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:42:12 EST news163780913 During desperate times, such as fasting, or muscle wasting that afflicts cancer or AIDS patients, the body cannibalizes itself, atrophying and breaking down skeletal muscle proteins to liberate amino acids. In a new study published online June 8 and in the June 15, 2009 print issue of the Journal of Cell Biology, Shenhav Cohen, Alfred Goldberg, and colleagues show that muscle atrophy is a more ordered process than was previously thought. These researchers find evidence that enzyme MuRF1 selectively degrades the thick filaments in muscle, while bypassing the thin filaments. http://www.physorg.com/news163677022.html Medicine & Health Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:50:57 EST news163677022 A drug derived from the hydrangea root, used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine, shows promise in treating autoimmune disorders, report researchers from the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the Immune Disease Institute at Children's Hospital Boston (PCMM/IDI), along with the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. In the June 5 edition of Science, they show that a small-molecule compound known as halofuginone inhibits the development of Th17 cells, immune cells recently recognized as important players in autoimmune disease, without altering other kinds of T cells involved in normal immune function. They further demonstrate that halofuginone reduces disease pathology in a mouse model of autoimmunity. http://www.physorg.com/news163344064.html Medicine & Health Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:21:32 EST news163344064 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Arkansas researchers have characterized a membrane receptor protein and its binding mechanism from chloroplasts in plants and determined that it shares a commonly shaped binding site and mechanism with a similar protein found in E. coli. http://www.physorg.com/news163172312.html Chemistry Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:39:32 EST news163172312 Sections of proteins previously thought to be disordered may in fact have an unexpected biological role - providing certain proteins room to move -- according to a study published by researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in this month's issue of the journal Structure. http://www.physorg.com/news162565171.html Biology Tue, 26 May 2009 13:59:57 EST news162565171 A new tool will help researchers identify the minute changes in DNA patterns that lead to cancer, Huntington's disease and a host of other genetic disorders. The tool was developed at North Carolina State University and translates DNA sequences into graphic images, which allows researchers to distinguish genetic patterns more quickly and efficiently than was historically possible using computers. http://www.physorg.com/news161935232.html Biology Tue, 19 May 2009 07:01:07 EST news161935232 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the Japanese art of paper folding, a series of folds can make the same sheet of paper into a ballerina or baby elephant. But try unfolding the baby elephant and making it into a ballerina. It`s like trying to make a neuron from a kidney cell. Epigenetics, it turns out, isn`t much different from this old Japanese art: Each fold, or epigenetic crease, both limits and permits further potential folds in a way that mirrors how epigenetic changes seal a cell`s fate. http://www.physorg.com/news161533380.html Biology Thu, 14 May 2009 15:23:34 EST news161533380 (PhysOrg.com) -- To say our genes are resourceful is a gross understatement. Through ingenious combinations of a paltry 20 amino acids, the basic building blocks of life, genes engineer all of the tissues and organs that are the marvel of our working bodies. Now scientists are adding to the parsimonious genetic repertoire to good effect: With careful targeting using genetic engineering, so-called unnatural amino acids can effectively tag proteins that scientists want to study, because, like a lighthouse beacon in a soupy fog, they stand out from the ones the body already produces. http://www.physorg.com/news160934244.html Chemistry Thu, 07 May 2009 16:59:17 EST news160934244 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ten years ago, William Fenical of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography isolated from an ocean-living fungus a compound that has since shown the ability to kill cancer cells in the lab. Now, for the first time, MIT chemists have synthesized the compound, an advance that could open the door to new drug treatments for cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news159974241.html Chemistry Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:18:00 EST news159974241 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn, Germany, Cornell University, USA, and the University of Cologne, Germany, have detected two of the most complex molecules yet discovered in interstellar space: ethyl formate and n-propyl cyanide. http://www.physorg.com/news159548933.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:20:56 EST news159548933