capillaries

Protein offers way to stop microscopic parasites in their tracks

...ough damage to red blood cells and clogging of the capillaries that feed the brain and other organs. Cryptosporidium, which causes diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms, is one of the most common causes of water-borne disease in the world. "These other parasites are more devastating in terms of the number of pe...

Scientists show that tick-borne flaviviruses use a novel mechanism to evade host defenses

...Hemorrhagic fevers are viral infections that cause capillaries to burst, leading to unusual bleeding on or under the skin or in various organs. The study released this week online in the Journal of Virology describes how a single virus protein--NS5--from the tick-borne Langat flavivirus counteracts the natural ...

Beetle-inspired switch uses water for bonding

...toms, called ions, in the water through the minute capillaries of a thin disk of porous glass embedded in the plate. The water moves and wells up into a micrometer-sized droplet on the plate surface. The exposed droplet can then stick to another surface. To break the bond, electricity pulls the exposed water bac...

Gene therapy reverses genetic mutation responsible for heart failure in muscular dystrophy

... have not been very effective because blood vessel capillaries act much like a mosquito net, blocking the gene drugs from reaching the muscle cells. Fortunately, we found a virus that is just small and sneaky enough to get through this net and deliver the therapeutic gene to both skeletal and cardiac muscle cell...

Group proves it's possible to grow new lung alveoli by growing new blood vessels

... In a typically healthy lung, a complex network of capillaries encircles the alveoli. Oxygen flows from the lungs through ultra-fine epithelial and endothelial tissues into the blood; carbon dioxide diffuses from the blood into the alveoli. In an infant's underdeveloped lungs, the alveoli are larger and fewer an...

Potential heart benefit found in stem cells

...all thickness and the density of the corresponding capillaries in four areas: the damaged or infarct area, the healthy myocardium (cardiac muscle), and in two parts of the border zone. As predicted, the infarct areas of the heart walls in the ADSC group were thicker than in the animals not receiving the inje...

Triple threat polymer captures and releases

...ther domain. "We have these channels to serve as capillaries to take in guest molecules and hold them inside the material,," said Wooley, a member of Washington University's Center for Materials Innovation, (CMI) which enables collaborators from across the Washington University campus to make basic and applie...

New treatment for severe malaria

...n large amounts, blocking the flow of blood in the capillaries of the brain and other organs. The reason that the blood cells conglomerate and lodge in the blood vessels is that once in the blood cell the parasite produces proteins that project from the surface of the cell and bind with receptors on other bloo...

Common carp sheds new light on surviving in extreme environments

...ved in sustaining normal blood flow through tissue capillaries and oxygen delivery during difficult times." ...

Mutant gene causes severe kidney disease in infants

...n kidney. As blood flows through a network of tiny capillaries in the glomerulus, excess water, salts and toxic molecules are removed and flushed out in urine, while important blood proteins like albumin are retained in the bloodstream. If the kidney's filtering units don't work properly, nephrotic syndrome deve...

Researchers show that veins stiffen as we age

...blood through the 60,000-mile network of arteries, capillaries and veins in your body. The muscular arteries carr...eart and out to your organs and limbs. Microscopic capillaries connect the arteries to the veins. The veins then transport the blood back to the heart. The veins...