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. A new study sheds light on a little understood biological process called quiescence, which enables blood-forming stem cells to exist in a dormant or inactive state in which they are not growing or dividing. According to the study's findings, researchers identified the genetic pathway used to maintain a cell's quiescence, a state that allows bone marrow cells to escape the lethal effects of standard cancer treatments. http://www.physorg.com/news150726406.html Biology Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:26:46 EST news150726406 Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have demonstrated a more effective treatment for bacterial pneumonia following influenza. They found that the antibiotics clindamycin and azithromycin, which kill bacteria by inhibiting their protein synthesis, are more effective than a standard first-line treatment with the "beta-lactam" antibiotic ampicillin, which causes the bacteria to lyse, or burst. http://www.physorg.com/news150653601.html Medicine & Health Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:13:21 EST news150653601 (PhysOrg.com) -- Using cancer cells that were originally isolated from an anaplastic large cell lymphoma patient, two researchers, including a faculty member of The University of Texas at Austin's College of Pharmacy, have identified a novel regulatory mechanism in inflammatory signaling of immune cells that may prove beneficial in treating cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news150652358.html Medicine & Health Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:52:38 EST news150652358 Researchers have found that a technique used to visualize amyloid fibers in the laboratory might have the potential to destroy them in the clinic. The technique involves zapping the fluorescently-tagged fibers with a laser, which can inhibit their growth and degrade them. http://www.physorg.com/news150560905.html Biology Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:28:25 EST news150560905 The enzyme machine that translates a cell's DNA code into the proteins of life is nothing if not an editorial perfectionist. http://www.physorg.com/news150559493.html Biology Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:04:53 EST news150559493 (PhysOrg.com) -- Stem cells are the body's primal cells, retaining the youthful ability to develop into more specialized types of cells over many cycles of cell division. How do they do it? Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have identified a gene, named scrawny, that appears to be a key factor in keeping a variety of stem cells in their undifferentiated state. Understanding how stem cells maintain their potency has implications both for our knowledge of basic biology and also for medical applications. The results will be published in the January 9, 2009 print edition of Science. http://www.physorg.com/news150557536.html Biology Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:32:16 EST news150557536 Human calmodulin-like protein (CLP) is found in many cell types including breast, thyroid, prostate, kidney, and skin. The protein can regulate many cell activities and has a highly specific expression. Gaining an understanding about the expression of CLP in oral epithelial cells and its possible downregulation (or lack of production) in cancer may be a potentially valuable marker in early detection of oral cancer. A new study in the Journal of Prosthodontics found that CLP is expressed in normal human oral muscosal cells and that downregulation of this protein may be an indicator of malignancy or cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news150557236.html Medicine & Health Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:27:16 EST news150557236 A pilot trial of an oral drug therapy called fenobam has shown promising initial results and could be a potential new treatment option for adult patients with Fragile X syndrome (FXS). Findings of the open label, single-dose study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center and the University of California, Davis, Medical Center are to be published in the upcoming January issue of the Journal of Medical Genetics. http://www.physorg.com/news150543311.html Medicine & Health Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:35:11 EST news150543311 In 2004 Lyncean Technologies announced the construction of the Compact Light Source (CLS), a miniature synchrotron which uses inverse Compton scattering to produce high-intensity, tunable, near-monochromatic x-ray beams. The CLS was designed to bring state-of-the-art protein structure determination to the home laboratory -- but it has also promised to have a broad impact across the spectrum of x-ray science. http://www.physorg.com/news150537938.html Physics Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:05:38 EST news150537938 During the past 20 years, researchers have identified thousands of cell protein interactions, with the ultimate goal of inventorying all that occur within cells of various organisms - a comprehensive catalogue known as the interactome. Such information will be critical to understanding the basic mechanics of cellular life, and how malfunctions in these processes contribute to cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news150482969.html Medicine & Health Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:49:29 EST news150482969 (PhysOrg.com) -- The discovery more than a decade ago of leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone secreted by fat tissue, generated headlines and great hopes for an effective treatment for obesity. But hopes dimmed when it was found that obese people are unresponsive to leptin due to development of leptin resistance in the brain. Now, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report the first agents demonstrated to sensitize the brain to leptin: oral drugs that are already FDA-approved and known to be safe. Findings were published January 7 by the journal Cell Metabolism. http://www.physorg.com/news150468469.html Biology Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:47:49 EST news150468469 UCLA scientists have used innovative brain-scan technology developed at UCLA, along with patient-specific information on Alzheimer's disease risk, to help diagnose brain aging, often before symptoms appear. Published in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, their study may offer a more accurate method for tracking brain aging. http://www.physorg.com/news150461594.html Medicine & Health Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:53:14 EST news150461594 Johns Hopkins and other researchers report what is believed to be the first direct evidence in lab animals that the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil amplifies the effects of a heart-protective protein. http://www.physorg.com/news150398115.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:15:15 EST news150398115 Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have determined the structure of the interactions between proteins that form the heart of the death inducing signaling complex (DISC), which is responsible for triggering apoptosis (programmed cell death). http://www.physorg.com/news150393102.html Biology Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:51:42 EST news150393102 Cancer and cell biology experts at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have identified a new tumor suppressor that may help scientists develop more targeted drug therapies to combat lung cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news150389078.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:44:38 EST news150389078 Neurologists have observed for decades that Lewy bodies, clumps of aggregated proteins inside cells, appear in the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news150091261.html Medicine & Health Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:01:01 EST news150091261 UC Davis Cancer Center researchers report today the discovery of a molecule that targets glioblastoma, a highly deadly form of cancer. The finding, which is published in the January 2009 issue of the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, provides hope for effectively treating an incurable cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news149769509.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:38:29 EST news149769509 (PhysOrg.com) -- In higher organisms, the genetic material is confined and protected in the cell nucleus. In order for a healthy cell to function, the DNA must send manufacturing orders through the double membrane of the nucleus and into the cell`s cytoplasm, where the protein production factories are and where most cellular functions are carried out. The sole portals through which these instructions pass - nuclear pore complexes - have a say in what the orders are and how they are conveyed. But these conspicuously large structures have ironically proved all but inscrutable to researchers over the years. http://www.physorg.com/news149347711.html Biology Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:28:31 EST news149347711 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have discovered the atomic structure of a powerful "molecular motor" that packages DNA into the head segment of some viruses during their assembly, an essential step in their ability to multiply and infect new host organisms. http://www.physorg.com/news149344139.html Biology Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:28:59 EST news149344139 Sports drinks containing protein are better at improving athletes' performance. Research published in BioMed Central's open access Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition has shown that drinks containing a mix of carbohydrate and protein are superior to carbohydrate-only drinks in improving cyclists' recovery from exercise. http://www.physorg.com/news149312215.html Medicine & Health Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:36:55 EST news149312215 In this ongoing quest, a group of Scripps Research Institute scientists, along with colleagues from the University of California, San Diego, (UCSD) have borrowed from physics to deliver one of those research rarities -- an unmitigated success. The group has devised a computational method that, with remarkable accuracy, predicts how bacterial proteins fold and interact. http://www.physorg.com/news149276015.html Chemistry Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:33:35 EST news149276015 A research team at the Stowers Institute has discovered how the expression of one of the Hox master control genes is regulated in a specific segment of the developing brain. The findings provide important insight into how and where the brain develops some of its unique and important structures. http://www.physorg.com/news149258338.html Medicine & Health Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:38:58 EST news149258338 Bioinformatics researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Genentech have developed a new, quicker way to sequence monoclonal antibodies - a process that is many times faster than the sequencing technology typically used by academic and industry researchers today. http://www.physorg.com/news148907050.html Biology Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:04:10 EST news148907050 Transfer of information is a basic property of biological systems. Common examples include transfer of genetic information or nerve impulses. Transmission of signals occurs at an even more fundamental level between and within cells, including signaling molecules, which bear a phosphate or a sulfate group. The latter contain a sulfur atom. http://www.physorg.com/news148816290.html Chemistry Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:51:30 EST news148816290 (PhysOrg.com) -- To find its target, all a protein needs to do is give quick squeezes as it moves along the DNA strand, suggests new research from The University of Arizona in Tucson. http://www.physorg.com/news148662760.html Biology Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:12:40 EST news148662760 Flies expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) in their retina cells or other tissues can be tracked by specially modified video cameras, creating a real time computer record of movement and gene expression. The new technique, described in the open access journal BMC Biotechnology, will allow detailed analyses of correlations between behavior, gene expression and aging. http://www.physorg.com/news148624566.html Biology Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:36:06 EST news148624566 Whitehead Institute researchers have greatly simplified the creation of so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, cutting the number of viruses used in the reprogramming process from four to one. Scientists hope that these embryonic stem-cell-like cells could eventually be used to treat such ailments as Parkinson's disease and diabetes. http://www.physorg.com/news148583537.html Biology Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:12:17 EST news148583537 Infants and adults with the blood cancer mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) typically have a poor prognosis, and most infants die before their first birthdays. Although there are varying causes of MLL, most cases are caused by a fusion of two genes, the MLL and the AF4 genes. http://www.physorg.com/news148583213.html Medicine & Health Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:06:53 EST news148583213 Ovarian cancer cells are "addicted" to a family of proteins produced by the notorious oncogene, MYC, and blocking these Myc proteins halts cell proliferation in the deadliest cancer of the female reproductive system, according to a presentation by University of California, Berkeley scientists at the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) 48th Annual Meeting, Dec. 13-17, 2008 in San Francisco. http://www.physorg.com/news148571735.html Biology Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:55:35 EST news148571735 Expression of the microtubule-binding protein Tau is not a reliable means of selecting breast cancer patients for adjuvant paclitaxel chemotherapy, according to research led by The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. http://www.physorg.com/news148453038.html Medicine & Health Sun, 14 Dec 2008 04:57:18 EST news148453038