acid in Biological News

Scientists report first remote, underwater detection of harmful algae, toxins

... Pseudo-nitzschia and their neurotoxin, domoic acid in Monterey Bay, Calif. Pseudo-nitzschia and domoic acid have been a concern in the Monterey Bay area for ... In 1991, the first U.S. outbreak of domoic acid poisoning was documented in Monterey Bay. This ...

Two dietary oils, two sets of benefits for older women with diabetes

... a common cooking oil, and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a compound naturally found in some meat ... the women participants. Conjugated linoleic acid supplementation for the same length of time, on ... grams of each oil's active fatty acid: linoleic acid in safflower oil and, in CLA, specific ...

Mice run faster on high-grade oil

... 2 second sprint, a mouse fed on a high n-6 fatty acid diet would have a 0.4m advantage. This ... in dietary n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake can have a biologically meaningful effect ... found that those with a relatively high n-6 fatty acid content in their skeletal muscles had a greater ...

Natural-born divers and the molecular traces of evolution

... also found a conspicuous increase of the amino acid histidine in the myoglobin of strong divers, ... to deal better with the accumulation of lactic acid that is frequent during long dives (the same ... and therefore it can be predicted if the amino acid sequence is known. Dr. Berenbrink's team have ...

Tummy troubles -- gastrin key in bacterial-induced stomach cancer

... protection from mucosal damages caused by gastric acid secretion induced by gastrin itself, and thus ... need to be more circumspect when prescribing with acid suppressive drugs, such as proton-pump ... bacteria that colonize the stomach when acid secretion is suppressed, since bacterial ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly Presspac -- June 17, 2009

... mice fed a high-fat diet and given acetic acid developed significantly less body fat (up to 10 ... research adds evidence to the belief that acetic acid fights fat by turning on genes for fatty acid oxidation enzymes. The genes churn out proteins ...

Trans fats hinder multiple steps in blood flow regulation pathways

... replace the essential fatty acids linoleic acid (omega-6) and linolenic acid (omega-3), which the body needs for a variety of ... with an enzyme that converts the essential fatty acid ...

Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona researchers first to clone mice in Spain

... Ibez are studying whether the use of valproic acid could contribute to an increase in the success ... for mice using standard procedures. Valproic acid is an inhibitor of the enzyme histone ... of cloned embryos in their research: valproic acid in the first group, trichostatin in the second ...

Embryology study offers clues to birth defects

... colleagues, have clarified the role that retinoic acid plays in limb development. The study showed that retinoic acid controls the development (or budding) of forelimbs, but not hindlimbs, and that retinoic acid is not responsible for patterning (or ...

Natural seed treatment could drastically cut pesticide use

... long understood that spraying crops with jasmonic acid - a chemical naturally produced by plant leaves ... that plants grown from seeds dipped in jasmonic acid are considerably more resistant to pests. The ... 'When we first set out to test jasmonic acid on seeds, it seemed unlikely it would work,' says ...

Changing climate likely to make 'super weed' even more powerful

... that Phragmites actively secretes gallic acid to kill off plants and take over new turf. Gallic ... research, the scientists found that the gallic acid released by Phragmites is degraded by ... seedlings with a double-whammy. The mesoxalic acid triggers a similar "cellular death cascade" in ...

Researchers engineer metabolic pathway in mice to prevent diet-induced obesity

... a non-native pathway in mice that increased fatty acid metabolism and resulted in resistance to ... Liao said. "One is the regulation; fatty acid metabolism is highly regulated. The other is ... the effects of the glyoxylate shunt on fatty acid metabolism in mammals, Liao's team cloned ...

Caffeic acid inhibits colitis in a mouse model -- is a drug-metabolizing gene crucial?

... model. The normalization of CYP4B1 by caffeic acid treatment was associated with significant ... with inflammation responses. But only caffeic acid protected against the dextran sulfate sodium ... Dr. Hendrich noted that "this study of caffeic acid will help us to advance studies of botanicals and ...

Glutamine supplements show promise in treating stomach ulcers

... of Technology demonstrates that the amino acid glutamine, found in many foods as well as in ... Glutamine is a nonessential amino acid naturally found in certain foods, including beef, ... of L-glutamine," explains Hagen. "The amino acid stimulated ammonia detoxification in the stomach ...

Folic acid to prevent congenital heart defects

... policy of fortifying grain products with folic acid has already proved to be effective in preventing ... (MUHC) and McGill University, shows that folic acid also decreases the incidence of congenital heart ... sold in Canada have been fortified with folic acid with 0.15 mg of folate per 100 g of flour. Thanks ...

Caffeine appears to be beneficial in males -- but not females -- with Lou Gehrig's disease

... effects with coffee, caffeine, or chlorogenic acid supplementation in improving oxidative stress and ... the effect of coffee, caffeine and chlorogenic acid supplementation on markers of oxidative stress, ... caffeine (5 males, 8 females), chlrogenic acid (5 males, 7 females). The control groups were fed ...

Caffeine appears to be beneficial in males -- but not females -- with Lou Gehrig's disease

... effects with coffee, caffeine, or chlorogenic acid supplementation in improving oxidative stress and ... the effect of coffee, caffeine and chlorogenic acid supplementation on markers of oxidative stress, ... caffeine (5 males, 8 females), chlrogenic acid (5 males, 7 females). The control groups were fed ...

Immigrant women may be at higher risk of having a baby with a birth defect

... Immigrant women are less likely to use folic acid supplements before pregnancy to prevent spina ... provide national estimates of pre-pregnancy folic acid use in Canada. "Our study's findings report ... can be reduced by nearly 50 per cent with folic acid supplements taken just before and soon after ...

Frogs reveal clues about the effects of alcohol during development

... Under normal conditions, the levels of retinoic acid made in different areas of the embryo provide ... steals away the molecules that make retinoic acid and use them for its own process of ... key molecules in a pathway that produce retinoic acid from vitamin A. ...

Health benefits, consequences of folic acid dependent on circumstances

... cancerous tumors. Further, the intake of folic acid that results from consuming foods that are ... of flour means that supplementary intake of folic acid is unnecessary for many segments of the ... age seem to benefit from supplemental folic acid in regard to its protection against birth ....

New approach discovered to lowering triglycerides

... that supplementation of their diet with lipoic acid had a significant effect in lowering ... In the lab animals, supplements of lipoic acid lowered triglyceride levels up to 60 percent. If ... atherosclerosis. It's pretty exciting." Lipoic acid is a natural compound found at low levels in some ...

UW-Madison study reveals new options for people with PKU

... long," says Ney. "When he went back to the amino acid formula, he went back to drinking it all in one ... Core. In the study, subjects adhered to the amino acid formula diet for four days, and then switched to ... improved protein metabolism compared to the amino acid formula. Members of the PKU community have ...

AGU journal highlights -- March 25, 2009

... measurements yield meteorological clues Airborne acid may help soot turn into cloud seeds ... 4. Airborne acid may help soot turn into cloud seeds Carbon ... saturation, soot particles exposed to sulfuric acid increase in mass when relative humidity rises ...

Montana State team finds Yellowstone alga that detoxifies arsenic

... for the researchers. McDermott said the acid in the soil and water are strong enough that it ... research that may have implications someday for acid mine drainage and acid rock drainage remediation efforts. "Any time ...

Why 'lazy Susan' has a weak heart

... in an animal model. Just one "false" amino acid can give zebrafish a heart condition. Since the ... They discovered the crucial change in the amino acid Serine 195, which was lost through mutation. This ... patients. A targeted modification of the amino acid Serine could increase the activity of the ...

Low levels of vitamin B12 may increase risk for neural tube defects

... having a child with a neural tube defect. Folic acid is the synthetic form of the vitamin folate. In ... States, cereal grains are fortified with folic acid to reduce the occurrence of neural tube defects ... childbearing age consume 400 micrograms of folic acid each day. This amount assures that a woman will ...

Relationships in rank and file

... based on the sequence of their DNA or amino acid components. Genes with similar sequences ... When determining the similarity of an amino acid to the reference sequence, CS-BLAST includes the ... in proteins. In an unfolded region, the amino acid valine, for example, can usually mutate into any ...

Gladstone scientists reveal that fat synthesizing enzyme is key to healthy skin and hair

... that lack of DGAT1 caused levels of retinoic acid (RA) to be greatly increased in skin and resulted ... of these enzymes is a major regulator of retinoic acid actions in the skin." RA, which comes from ... an important component for controlling retinoic acid levels in the skin of mice," said Michelle Shih, ...

Tailor-made recombinant proteins in mammals

... a long time; typically they make use of the amino acid residue lysine. But there are lots of kinds of ... an aldehyde group displayed as part of an amino acid side chain with chemical reactivity completely ... particular sulfatase, into the nonstandard amino acid residue formylglycine. "Formyl" is another name ...

Queen's chemist sheds light on health benefits of garlic

... allicin, they found that an acid produced when the compound decomposes rapidly ... Chemistry. "The reaction between the sulfenic acid and radicals is as fast as it can get, limited ... exists between the reactivity of the sulfenic acid and the medicinal benefits of garlic. "While ...

'Fishy' clue helps establish how proteins evolve

... Conn. Three billion years ago, a "new" amino acid was added to the alphabet of 20 that commonly ... of Tokyo have demonstrated how this rare amino acid and, by example, other amino acids made its way ... of the journal Nature . The rare amino acid the Yale researchers studied, pyrrolysine (Pyl), ...

Organic soils continue to acidify despite reduction in acidic deposition

... showing signs of chemical recovery (increases in acid neutralizing capacity and pH, decreases in ... expected based on the magnitude of the decline in acid deposition. Researchers have long suspected that ... historically has received the lowest inputs of acid deposition of any of the subregions, showed the ...

'Green' chemicals closer to market

... which can produce bio-based succinic acid from renewable resources via "green" chemistry. ... production was the only way to make succinic acid in industrial quantities. Under the agreement, ... bacteria that produce high yields of succinic acid through fermentation. "A lot of organisms can ...

Climate-change set-back for acidified rivers

... long-term recovery of rivers from the effects of acid rain, as wet weather counteracts improvements, ... year. The scientists measured concentrations of acid and other aspects of stream chemistry, and ... falling due to improvements in the levels of acid rain, the researchers expected that up to 29 ...

Calcium and vitamin D may not be the only protection against bone loss

... in protein and cereal grains produce an excess of acid in the body which may increase calcium excretion ... adults consume diets that, when metabolized, add acid to the body, said Dr. Dawson-Hughes. With aging, ... the acid. One way the body may counteract the acid from our diets is through bone resorption, a ...

Climate change setback for acidified rivers

... long-term recovery of rivers from the effects of acid rain, with wet weather offsetting improvements, ... present each year, measuring concentrations of acid and other aspects of stream chemistry, and ... falling due to improvements in the levels of acid rain, the researchers expected that up to 29 ...

Powerful online tool for protein analysis provided pro bono by Stanford geneticist

... protein, it may be crucial that a specific amino acid sequence be there in order for the protein to function; in other regions, the swapping of one amino acid for another has little effect. Over the course ... on the protein's function. A mutation in an amino acid that has changed a lot in evolution is much less ...

Hairspray is linked to common genital birth defect, says study

... The new research also reveals that taking folic acid supplements in the first three months of ... of Health already recommends that folic acid supplements are taken up until the twelfth week ... that our study showed that taking folic acid supplements in pregnancy may reduce the risk of a ...

Photonic crystal biosensors detect protein-DNA interactions

... identification of inhibitors of protein-nucleic acid and protein-protein interactions. "Protein-DNA ... and through this screen aurin tricarboxylic acid was identified as the first in vitro inhibitor of AIF. "Aurin tricarboxylic acid displayed about 80 percent inhibition of AIF-DNA ...

Enzyme detectives uncover new reactions, products

... They could have moved on and made different amino acid changes to accomplish the initial goal. But ... product called an allylic alcohol and a fatty acid containing two double bonds. "This was a profound ... case. Making small changes to the enzyme's amino acid sequence has unlocked the soluble desaturase's ...