LA JOLLA, Calif., September 11, 2009 – Dieter Wolf, M.D., and colleagues at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have illuminated how competition between proteins enhances combinatorial diversity during ubiquitination (the process that marks proteins for destruction). Using S. pombe fission yeast as a model, the Wolf laboratory uncovered an intricate relationship, in which an array of Fbox proteins alternately attach to and are kicked off of a cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase (CRL1) containing CUL1 and Skp1.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich.---The growth of cancerous tumors is fueled, at least in part, by the buildup of free radicals---highly reactive oxygen-containing molecules.
It stands to reason, then, that cancer should respond to treatment with antioxidants, which inhibit the rogue radicals, or with pro-oxidants, which go the opposite direction, increasing "oxidative stress" on cancer cells to the point of vanquishing them.
PHILADELPHIA – Best known as the oxygen-carrying component of hemoglobin, the protein that makes blood red, heme also plays a role in chemical detoxification and energy metabolism within the cell. Heme levels are tightly maintained, and with good reason: Too little heme prevents cell growth and division; excessive amounts of heme are toxic.
Have you ever noticed that people have thinner arms and legs as they get older? As we age it becomes harder to keep our muscles healthy. They get smaller, which decreases strength and increases the likelihood of falls and fractures. New research is showing how this happens — and what to do about it.
A team of Nottingham researchers has already shown that when older people eat, they cannot make muscle as fast as the young. Now they've found that the suppression of muscle breakdown, which also happens during feeding, is blunted with age.
In Arctic areas, climate change is progressing faster than in any other location on Earth. Researchers at the University of Helsinki have participated in two new studies indicating that the changes are astonishingly fast. Many original species of Arctic areas are in jeopardy, as global warming causes species from southern areas to migrate north, where they occupy the living space of the original species.
Spain is one of the leading European countries, along with Sweden, in terms of wood production for paper paste, but this uses large amounts of energy. Spanish and Swedish scientists have compared the environmental load stemming from forestry operations, and have concluded that the Spanish sector uses more energy than the Swedish one. They are proposing improvements, such as the use of biofuels, in order to make forestry production more sustainable.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Children with more fat around their midsections could be at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life, researchers say.
"While general obesity certainly has its own set of risks for the heart, we now know that all fat is not created equally," says Dr. Reda Bassali, an associate professor of pediatrics in the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine and co-author of a study published online in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity.
FINDINGS: Some budding yeast species have the ability to silence genes using RNA interference (RNAi). Until now, most researchers thought that no budding yeasts possess the RNAi pathway because Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the protoypical model budding yeast does not.
WASHINGTON, DC – New World Health Organization data to be published in this week's edition of the Lancet will shed new light on two leading causes of pneumonia, the world's leading killer of children under age 5, both globally and within specific countries. The results, which are the first ever available at the country level, are expected to serve as a clarion call to developing country governments to invest in pneumonia prevention programs.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Overblown fears about surgical risk and lack of awareness about the risk of not operating are among the reasons only half of eligible patients were referred for mitral valve repair, according to a study by doctors at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center.
A leaking mitral valve, known as mitral regurgitation or mitral insuffiency, can lead to fatigue, abnormal heart rhythms with irregular heart beats, and congestive heart failure. The longer the leak continues, the more likely there will be permanent heart damage.
The world faces a compounding series of crises driven by human activity, which existing governments and institutions are increasingly powerless to cope with, a group of eminent environmental scientists and economists has warned.
In today's issue of the leading international journal Science, the researchers say that nations alone are unable to resolve the sorts of planet-wide challenges now arising.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A Mayo Clinic study has found that two genes in mice were associated with good central nervous system repair in multiple sclerosis (MS). These findings give researchers new hope for developing more effective therapies for patients with MS and for predicting MS patients' outcomes. This study will be presented at the Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis in Dusseldorf, Germany, on Sept. 11, 2009.
Lisbon, Portugal 11 September, 2009 – The first results of the first European survey of cancer patients’ experience of breakthrough pain were presented today at the 6th congress of the European Federation of Chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain (EFIC).
A new study lays the groundwork for development of a cost-effective tool for studying the population structure and spread of Mycobacterium ulcerans, the causative agent of Buruli ulcer. Researchers at the Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel, Switzerland, and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Legon, Ghana, developed SNP typing assays to systematically profile genetic diversity among M. ulcerans isolates by sequencing and comparing the genomes of selected strains.
ALEPPO, SYRIA (11 September 2009)—Wheat experts from 26 countries warn that rapidly-moving, wind-borne transboundary wheat diseases continue to threaten food security and wheat genetic diversity worldwide — particularly in the ancient breadbasket stretching from the Middle East to India — as they vowed new action to isolate and interrupt the steady march of dangerous wheat rust diseases.