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. (PhysOrg.com) -- MIT chemists have developed a new platinum compound that is as powerful as the commonly used anticancer drug cisplatin but better able to destroy tumor cells. http://www.physorg.com/news179426472.html Chemistry Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:00:03 EST news179426472 In order to maintain muscle strength with age, cells must rid themselves of the garbage that accumulates in them over time, just as it does in any household, according to a new study in the December issue of Cell Metabolism. In the case of cells, that waste material includes spent organelles, toxic clumps of proteins, and pathogens. http://www.physorg.com/news178892532.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:00:02 EST news178892532 All of life is founded on the interactions of millions of proteins. These are the building blocks for cells and form the molecular mechanisms of life. The problem is that proteins are extremely difficult to study, particularly because there are so many of them and they appear in all sizes and weights. http://www.physorg.com/news174833488.html Biology Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:59:41 EST news174833488 If a little vitamin A is good, more must be better, right? Wrong! New research published online in the FASEB Journal shows that vitamin A plays a crucial role in energy production within cells, explaining why too much or too little has a complex negative effect on our bodies. This is particularly important as combinations of foods, drinks, creams, and nutritional supplements containing added vitamin A make an overdose more possible than ever before. http://www.physorg.com/news174219736.html Medicine & Health Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:10:03 EST news174219736 Researchers have fresh insight into an evolutionarily ancient way that cells cope when oxygen levels decline, according to a new study in the October 7th issue of Cell Metabolism. In studies of cells taken from the lining of human pulmonary arteries, they show that a microRNA - a tiny bit of RNA that regulates the activity of particular genes and thus the availability of certain proteins - allows cells to shift their metabolic gears, in a process known as the Pasteur effect. http://www.physorg.com/news174050396.html Medicine & Health Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:40:01 EST news174050396 Flies fed an "anti-Atkins" low protein diet live longer because their mitochondria function better. The research, done at the Buck Institute for Age Research, shows that the molecular mechanisms responsible for the lifespan extension in the flies have important implications for human aging and diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news173618983.html Biology Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:50:06 EST news173618983 Researchers are delving into abnormal gene function in mitochondria, structures within cells that power our lives. Mitochondria are the place where energy is generated from the most basic molecules of food. Because this function is essential to life, defects in mitochondria may affect a wide range of organ systems in humans and animals. http://www.physorg.com/news173012799.html Medicine & Health Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:07:55 EST news173012799 Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed an experimental technique with the potential to prevent a class of hereditary disorders passed on from mother to child. The technique, as yet conducted only in nonhuman primates, involves transferring the hereditary material from one female's egg into another female's egg from which the hereditary material has been removed. http://www.physorg.com/news170512137.html Medicine & Health Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:29:30 EST news170512137 (PhysOrg.com) -- The normal ageing process has long been linked to problems with cell respiration, the process through which the cells extract energy from nutrients. Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now shown how certain proteins that are synthesised in the cellular mitochondria - popularly known as the cells' power plants - become unstable and disintegrate, which in turn can impair cell respiration and cause premature ageing. http://www.physorg.com/news168770330.html Medicine & Health Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:39:22 EST news168770330 Mice with a defective mitochondrial protein called MCLK1 produce elevated amounts of reactive oxygen when young; that should spell disaster, yet according to a study in this week's JBC these mice actually age at a slower rate and live longer than normal mice. http://www.physorg.com/news167491616.html Chemistry Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:10:01 EST news167491616 Estrogen can halt stroke damage by inactivating a tumor-suppressing protein known to prevent many cancers, Medical College of Georgia researchers say. http://www.physorg.com/news166966878.html Medicine & Health Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:41:34 EST news166966878 A protein found in cells has been shown to play a pivotal role in determining whether a cell lives or dies. http://www.physorg.com/news166719345.html Biology Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:56:09 EST news166719345 Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have discovered that gene mutations that once helped humans survive may increase the possibility for diseases, including cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news165754102.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:49:10 EST news165754102 Burrowing frogs can survive buried for several years without food or water. Scientists have discovered that the metabolism of their cells changes radically during the dormancy period allowing the frogs to maximize the use of their limited energy resources. This discovery could prove to have important applications in the long term for treating energy-related disorders such as obesity. The results will be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting on Monday, June 29. http://www.physorg.com/news165475339.html Biology Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:30:01 EST news165475339 Scientists have identified a protein in the brain that plays a key role in the function of mitochondria - the part of the cell that supplies energy, supports cellular activity, and potentially wards off threats from disease. The discovery, which was reported in the Journal of Cell Biology, may shed new light on how the brain recovers from stroke. http://www.physorg.com/news164279293.html Medicine & Health Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:08:51 EST news164279293 A new study on old rats by a Penn State researcher will shed light on the connection between estrogen deficiency, heart disease and aging in women. http://www.physorg.com/news160653607.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 May 2009 11:02:02 EST news160653607 (PhysOrg.com) -- Understanding how living cells originated and evolved into their present forms remains a fundamental research area in biology, one boosted in recent years by the introduction of new tools for genomic analysis. Now, researchers at MIT and Boston University have used such tools to put what they say is "the last nail in the coffin" for one theory about the origin of a basic structure in the cell. http://www.physorg.com/news159635938.html Biology Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:19:47 EST news159635938 Many diseases derive from problems with cellular respiration, the process through which cells extract energy from nutrients. Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now discovered a new function for a protein in the mitochondrion - popularly called the cell's power station - that plays a key part in cell respiration. http://www.physorg.com/news158405697.html Biology Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:35:13 EST news158405697 A new study reveals the mechanism by which a genetic mutation linked with Parkinson's disease (PD) renders dopamine neurons particularly vulnerable to cell injury and death. The research is published by Cell Press in the March 13th issue of the journal Molecular Cell. http://www.physorg.com/news156085299.html Medicine & Health Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:02:12 EST news156085299 (PhysOrg.com) -- Cannabis has been used recreationally and for medicinal purposes for centuries, yet its 60 plus active components are only partly understood. Now scientists have discovered how a compound in cannabis can help cells to function in our bodies, and aid recovery after a damaging event. http://www.physorg.com/news154280470.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:41:49 EST news154280470 Cancer cells need a lot of nutrients to multiply and survive. While much is understood about how cancer cells use blood sugar to make energy, not much is known about how they get other nutrients. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered how the Myc cancer-promoting gene uses microRNAs to control the use of glutamine, a major energy source. The results, which shed light on a new angle of cancer that might help scientists figure out a way to stop the disease, appear Feb. 15 online at Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news154016792.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:27:10 EST news154016792 A new study by Narendra et al. suggests that Parkin, the product of the Parkinson's disease-related gene Park2, prompts neuronal survival by clearing the cell of its damaged mitochondria. http://www.physorg.com/news146742726.html Medicine & Health Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:52:06 EST news146742726 Chemical concoctions can smooth over wrinkles and hide those pesky grays, but what about the signs of aging that aren't so easy to fix, such as losing muscle mass? Cutting calories early could help, say University of Florida researchers who studied the phenomenon in rats. http://www.physorg.com/news140800853.html Medicine & Health Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:20:53 EST news140800853