iron

Growth in the sea comes down to a struggle for iron

Scientists know that injecting iron into some major regions of the oceans can stimulat...s happens is unclear, but the answer could be that iron sets off a kind of chemical warfare in the marine ecosystem, according to University of Maine oceano...

Imaging Lymph Nodes with Nanoparticles

...e nanoparticles contain a centralsuperparamagnetic iron oxide core and are covered by dextran, impartinglong circulation times and biocompatibility. When injectedintravenously, the nanoparticles localize to lymphoid tissue, and areinternalized into macrophages. There is then a decrease in signalintensity ...

Iron Deficiency Sparks Dramatic Changes In Gene Expression

...strated that iron-starved cellspreserve the little iron they possess by shutting down the major ironusers ...ly thetreatment of serious disorders caused by low iron levels.Results of his study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, arepublished in the Jan. 1...

Scientists find missing enzyme for tuberculosis iron scavenging pathway

...g enzyme" from the pathway for biosynthesis of the iron scavenging agent mycobactin," recalls Dr. Baker. "Mycobactin is a small molecule which binds iron very tightly. Bacteria synthesize it so that they can acquire the iron they need to grow ?it is secr...

A bacterial genome reveals new targets to combat infectious disease

...e synthetic pathway for heme - the oxygen-carrying iron component of hemoglobin. The nematode may require heme for synthesis of developmental hormones, so Wolbachia's heme pathway may be an inviting target for therapy against nematode infection. Since no new antifilarial has been developed in two decades,...

Carnegie Mellon scientists develop tool that uses MRI to visualize gene expression in living animals

...a form of ferritin, a protein that normally stores iron in a non-toxic form. This metalloprotein acts like a nano-magnet and a potent MRI "reporter." A typical MRI scan detects and analyzes signals given off by hydrogen protons in water molecules after they are exposed to a magnetic field and radiofreque...

Surprising findings reported about iron overload

...s and Pacific Islanders have the highest levels of iron in their blood of all racial/ethnic groups who wer...atosis/iron overload absorb an excessive amount of iron from food and supplements ingested. The abnormality affects many people worldwide, is prevalent in t...

Iron exporter revealed that may explain common human disorder

...ngle protein is critical in the cellular export of iron may help to explain human hemochromatosis, researc...protein ferroportin is the major, if not the only, iron exporter that functions in key sites of iron absorption and release in the body. The findings sugges...

Novel gene-silencing nanoparticles shown to inhibit Ewing's sarcoma

... protein called transferrin that normally delivers iron into cells is modified to also smuggle into tumor ...d to transferrin, a protein that typically carries iron molecules through the bloodstream until it meets up with a transferrin receptor on the surface of an...

Purdue researchers use enzyme to clip 'DNA wires'

... magnetic particles, which are made from a ceramic iron oxide material about 4 nanometers in diameter. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, or roughly 10 times the size of a hydrogen atom. The Purdue researchers sliced the DNA wires with an enzyme called BamH1, one of numerous restriction enzymes tha...

Life detection instrument passes key test on road to Mars

...c soil, which is similar to the rusty red oxidized iron surface of Mars. Skelley and colleagues Pascale Ehrenfreund, professor of astrochemistry at Leiden University in The Netherlands, and JPL scientist Frank Grunthaner visited the desert last year, but were not able to test the complete, integrated anal...

Recombinant DNA technology may enable oral, rather than injectable, delivery of protein drugs

...ays. "Humans naturally produce transferrin to move iron through the blood to the liver, spleen and bone marrow. It has been used to carry some protein-based drugs in a piggy-back fashion to their necessary site of action." The next step, Shen explains, was isolating the genetic code for G-CSF, a protein ...

Novel live reporting system to track cells

New findings show an iron storage molecule in the cell can serve as an advan...ease their numbers, thereby causing an increase in iron uptake within the tumor cells. The contrast between the iron content in these and in the normal surr...

Proteomics brings researchers closer to understanding microbes that produce acid mine drainage

...itrogen from the atmosphere and derive energy from iron that has been leached out of the iron sulfide rock, also known as pyrite or "fool's gold." In the process, they produce sulfuric acid that...

ORNL, UC Berkeley unravel real-world clues to Earth's mysteries

...cribe a bacterial community that flourishes in the iron sulfide-rich runoff of the Richmond Mine near Redding. A pH level of 7 is considered neutral and most proteins prefer pH levels between 5 and 7. The water trickling from the mine has a pH of about 0.8 and a temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit. "Th...

Researchers Discover That Microbes Can Produce Miniature Electrical Wires

...bility to transfer electrons outside the cell onto iron minerals, which are natural constituents of most soils. However, prior to the discovery of its conductive pili it was unknown how this electron transfer might take place. The conductive pili that Geobacter produces may have a variety of applications...

New imaging technology shown to detect pancreatic inflammation in type 1 diabetes

...enously, these MNPs, which are minute particles of iron oxide, travel through the blood vessels of the body including the pancreas. If pancreatic vessels have become leaky from inflammation, the magnetic particles spill into nearby tissues, where they are "eaten" by scavenger cells called macrophages. Thu...

Scientists characterize proteome of human cornea

...oteins involved in antimicrobial defense, heme and iron transport, tissue protection against UV-radiation and oxidative stress. Several other proteins were known antiangiogenic factors, which prevent the formation of blood vessels. The results from this research may open the door to future therapeutics f...

Bacteria which sense the Earth's magnetic field

...etosomes are made of tiny crystals of the magnetic iron mineral magnetite (Fe3O4) -- only about 50 nanomet...cells do not only have to take up large amounts of iron from their surroundings and, from it, produce special iron oxide. The crystals also have to have a e...

Geoscientists follow arsenic from chicken feed to streambeds

...ng the adsorption potential for organic arsenic to iron oxides and clay minerals. Although much of the organic arsenic is biotransformed to inorganic arsenic before it reaches the aquifer, rapid flushing of organic arsenic in to the subsurface during storm events introduces organic arsenic to the subsurf...

New class of antibiotics effective against drug-resistant bacteria discovered in fungi

...ng the adsorption potential for organic arsenic to iron oxides and clay minerals. Although much of the organic arsenic is biotransformed to inorganic arsenic before it reaches the aquifer, rapid flushing of organic arsenic in to the subsurface during storm events introduces organic arsenic to the subsurf...

Magnetic probe successfully tracks implanted cells in cancer patients

By using MRI to detect magnetic probes of tiny iron oxide particles, an international research team fo...optimally label cells with the clinically approved iron oxide particles. This new application of the probes -- already clinically approved for MRI scannin...

Study finds that nutritionally enhanced rice reduces iron deficiency

Breeding rice with higher levels of iron can have an important impact on reducing micronutr...tes, is a major step forward in the battle against iron deficiency, one of the developing world's most debilitating and intractable public health problems a...

Alleged 40,000-year-old human footprints in Mexico much, much older than thought

...orientation at the moment they cool in the form of iron oxide grains magnetized in a direction parallel to the Earth's magnetic field at the time of cooling. Because the Earth's field has repeatedly flipped throughout the planet's history, it is possible to date rock based on its magnetic polarity. Feinb...

Carnegie Mellon develops non-invasive technique to detect transplant rejection at cellular level

...r (USPIO)- or micrometer (MPIO)-sized paramagnetic iron oxide particles, which are very sensitive to the magnetic fields used during MRI. Wu injected the MPIO or USPIO particles into rats that had received heart transplants three days earlier. Macrophages, which typically ingest foreign materials inside t...

Carbon nanotubes that detect disease-causing mutations developed by Pitt researcher

...itary hemochromatosis, a disease in which too much iron accumulates in body tissues. "The size compatibility between the detector and the detected species-DNA molecules in this case-makes this approach very attractive for further development of label-free electronic methods," said Star, who is an assista...

MIT chemist discovers secret behind nature's medicines

... agent syringomycin, he discovered it had a single iron atom in the protein's active site, the part respon...ining enzymes have three amino acids that hold the iron in the active site. In this enzyme, however, one of the typical amino acids was substituted with a m...

Anthrax spores may survive water treatment

... of pipe made of either copper, CPVC or galvanized iron (a material no longer used for home plumbing but e... copper and CPVC pipes, 95 percent attached to the iron pipes. When biofilms were present on the interior of copper pipes attachment increased to 80 perce...

A bathroom that cleans itself

... dioxide nanoparticles with other elements such as iron and nitrogen so they can absorb light at longer wavelengths. Lab trials show that glass coated with the new nanoparticles can be activated by visible light from a lamp to kill Escherchia coli. "If you've got this on tiles or shower screens you don'...

U of MN uses robotic surgery techniques in cardiac cell therapy research

... the damaged hearts. The cells were "labeled" with iron particles so that researchers would be able to see if they engrafted in the pig hearts. The cells were successfully transplanted in six of seven cases. Subsequent MRI studies showed that the cells took hold in the heart and function improved. Th...

NASA study solves ocean plant mystery

...hern portion of the tropical Pacific, while it was iron that was most lacking everywhere else," said Micha...ts are growing faster than less green plants. When iron is lacking, enhanced greenness does not mean phytoplankton are growing better. They are actually und...

Iron critical to ocean productivity, carbon uptake

...arge segments of the Pacific Ocean lack sufficient iron to trigger healthy phytoplankton growth and the ab...important because it looked at the availability of iron throughout the tropical Pacific Ocean instead of small portions of it. Behrenfeld and his colleagues...

DOE JGI finishes 100th microbial genome

...kable progress in understanding sulfur and ferrous iron oxidation, carotenoid and chlorophyll biosynthesis...duces sulfate, uranium, and toxic metals; corrodes iron piping; "sours" petroleum with hydrogen sulfide. Geobacter metallireducens. Derek Lovley, Universi...

Metal homeostasis research in plants will lead to nutrient-rich food and higher yielding crops

...e engineered allele allows these plants to take up iron and renders them resistant to Cadmium. Transgenic seedlings have Cadmium levels similar to that of IRT1 loss of function plants, demonstrating that Cadmium transport through IRT1 has been eliminated. Furthermore, these plants have twice as much Iron...

Methane-belching bugs inspire a new theory of the origin of life on Earth

...orms themselves, perhaps associated with catalytic iron and sulfur minerals, gave rise to the first simple...lized that, in the presence of minerals containing iron sulfides, acetate could have been catalytically converted to a sulfur-containing derivative called a...

MRSA vaccine shows promise in mouse study

...ns, IsdA and IsdB, help the microbe acquire needed iron from the host's red blood cells. The other two, SdrD and SdrE, are thought to be involved in bacterial adhesion to host tissues. When tested alone as a vaccine, each of the four proteins provided only partial or no protection. Fifty to 70 percent...

New finding points way to foiling anthrax's tricks

...ick while studying how these deadly bacteria steal iron from their human hosts to grow and reproduce. "...y the human immune system that disrupts bacteria's iron scavenging system," said Ken Raymond, UC Berkeley professor of chemistry and faculty scientist at La...

MIT nanoparticles may help detect, treat tumors

...oparticles (billionths of a meter in size) made of iron oxide into the body, where they flow through the bloodstream and enter tumors. Solid tumors must form new blood vessels to grow. But because this growth is so rapid in cancerous tumors, there are gaps in the endothelial cells that line the inside of...

New evidence of early horse domestication

...ther hand, can be locked into place by calcium and iron and is more likely to be preserved in the soils for millennia. As it turned out, the soil from inside the alleged corral had up to ten times the phosphorus concentration as the soils from outside the settlement. Lots of phosphorus can also indicate...

Living laboratory found on shoreline statues

...ng colonisation. The installation of the cast iron figures - each a replica of the artist's own body, and identical in size, shape and material - offer a perfectly replicated study environment to test for the effects of different levels of exposure to the environment, currents and sea level on marine...

Wheat gene may boost foods' nutrient content

...om wild wheat that increases the protein, zinc and iron content in the grain, potentially offering a solution to nutritional deficiencies affecting hundreds of millions of children around the world. Results from the study will be reported in the Nov. 24 issue of the journal Science. "Wheat is one of th...

Researchers examine why food tastes bad to chemotherapy recipients

...tional levels, and adverse health effect levels of iron and copper in water, and their relationship to hea...n drinking water contains metal ions, specifically iron and copper. Their research will also evaluate the use of antioxidants to prevent the metallic flavor...

Particle size matters to bacteria ability to immobilize heavy metals

...ella influence the mobility and bioavailability of iron and environmental contaminants like lead, cobalt, ... Laboratory (PNNL), are looking at how the size of iron oxide nano particles influences the bacteria's ability to breathe. This is the first study by any gr...

U-M researchers use nanoparticles to target brain cancer

...rs incorporated a drug called Photofrin along with iron oxide into nanoparticles that would target cancerous brain tumors. Photofrin is a type of photodynamic therapy, in which the drug is drawn through the blood stream to tumor cells; a special type of laser light activates the drug to attack the tumor. ...

Finding an answer to Darwin's Dilemma

...Drs. Canfield and Poulton included measurements of iron speciation and sulphur isotopes to determine the oxygen levels in the world’s oceans at the time these sediments accumulated in Avalon. The close connection between the first appearance of oxygenated conditions in the world’s oceans and the first ...

New sunscreen ingredient to heal sunburn and help prevent skin cancer

...t releases an active ingredient which mops up free iron that is released when the skin burns. This reduc...hat goes with sunburn ?which is exacerbated by the iron - and also prevents the build up of harmful sunlight-generated free radicals, which can lead to the ...

Underweight women at greater risk of miscarriage

...g most pronounced among those taking folic acid or iron and multivitamins, which contain these. Eating fresh fruit and vegetables daily or on most days was also found to halve the odds of miscarriage and, in a finding that will delight pregnant women everywhere, the consumption of chocolate was also found...

Plant studies reveal how, where seeds store iron

...le discovery for scientists working to improve the iron content of plants. Their research helps address the worldwide problem of iron deficiency and malnutrition in humans. The team found that iron is stored in the developing vascula...

Genetically engineered blood protein can be used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen

...d in their natural state in the blood they have an iron atom at their centre. The scientists modified the porphyrin molecule to swap the iron for a zinc atom in the middle, which completely changed the chemistry and characteristics of the mol...

Plant studies reveal how, where seeds store iron

...le discovery for scientists working to improve the iron content of plants. Their research helps address the worldwide problem of iron deficiency and malnutrition in humans. The team found that iron is stored in the developing vascula...

A sweet step toward new cancer therapies

...en exploring the use of metals such as calcium and iron to carry the necessary positive charges. In a series of recently published papers, they first showed that their method can be used to selectively cleave different bonds and then demonstrated that it can be used to identify sulfate-laden proteins and ...

New UD technology removes viruses from drinking water

...llege of Engineering, incorporates highly reactive iron in the filtering process to deliver a chemical "kn... be the size of a ballpark. "By using elemental iron in the filtration process, we were able to remove viral agents from drinking water at very high effi...

Widely used iron nanoparticles exhibit toxic effects on neuronal cells

...ntial nutrient for mammals and most life forms and iron oxide nanoparticles were generally assumed to be s...oñes began their laboratory experiments by coating iron oxide nanoparticles with DMSA (dimercaptosuccinic acid), a metal binding agent that polymerizes on t...

Moonlighting enzyme linked to neurodegenerative disease

... a deficiency of frataxin, a protein that balances iron in mitochondria, which are the structures that convert nutrients into energy for cells. A new Mayo Clinic study published in the April issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows that mutations in a moonlighting enzyme, ...

Researchers uncover protection mechanism of radiation-resistant bacterium

...ions, pointing to high levels of manganese and low iron levels as possible influences on cellular recovery...tely 300 times more manganese and three times less iron than the most sensitive species. In the new study, which examined the functional consequences of thi...

Scientists create dual-modality microbeads to improve identification of disease biomarkers

...es embedding fluorescent quantum dots and magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles inside the beads to create dual-modality magneto-optical beads. Nie and Sathe synthesize the quantum dots in different colors by varying their size, giving the beads a unique optical signature. Having different color beads allows ...

Gallium: A new antibacterial agent?

... of Washington, Seattle, is to limit the amount of iron (Fe), which is critical for bacterial growth, to which bacteria have access. In the study, which appears online on March 15 in advance of publication in the April print issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Pradeep Singh and colleagues sho...

Trojan horse strategy defeats drug-resistant bacteria

...s own defense mechanisms. "The competition for iron is critical in the struggle between bacteria and h...W. "The body has potent defense mechanisms to keep iron away from infecting organisms, and invaders must steal some if they are to survive." Iron is cri...

Researchers create artificial enzyme that mimics the body's internal engine

...ring enzyme: an organic molecule called phenol, an iron atom and a copper atom. Working together, these th...y removed each of the three active centers-phenol, iron and copper-one at a time, as if the enzyme had been damaged and a specific active center was missing...

Homing pigeons get their bearings from their beaks

...h’s magnetic field. The meaning of these minute iron oxide crystals goes farther than their amazing ability to help pigeons home. Research into how they work has caught the interest of nanotechnologists concerning their potential application for accurate drug targeting and even as a data storage devic...