Leak in Biological News

While focusing on heart disease, researchers discover new tactic against fatal muscular dystrophy

... in both diseases have sprung the same microscopic leak that ultimately weakens skeletal muscle in Duchenne and cardiac muscle in heart failure. The leak lets calcium slowly seep into the skeletal muscle ... with chronic heart failure, a similar calcium leak continuously weakens the force produced by the ...

Robotic surgery lowers risk of a rare but serious complication of gastric bypass

... that stood out was the gastrointestinal leak rate. None of the patients in the ... believe that the improved outcome and decreased leak rates may offset the cost to some extent," said ... these advantages may play a role in the reduced leak rate. "The most important advantage is that ...

Blood vessel protein reverses macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy in mice

... destabilizes blood vessels, allowing fluids to leak into the lungs. Tumors hijack blood vessel growth ... destabilizing blood vessels and causing them to leak fluid into adjacent tissues as well, said Li, ... are often unstable and weak, which causes them to leak and potentially lead to diseases such as macular ...

Bleeding, not inflammation, is major cause of early lung infection death

... the competing tendencies of blood to either become thinner (more likely to leak bleed out of vessels) or thicker (more likely form blood clots that choke ... increases the permeability of the lungs blood vessels and causes them to leak blood. They also found that pneumolysin directly increases the ...

A crystal ball for brain cancer?

... death. This process launches a chain of events that is detectable by MRI. Oxygen-starved cells produce more VEGF, which causes blood vessels to leak fluids into the tumor and surrounding tissue. This results in swelling, which boosts water's ability to move freely in the tumor and brain tissue. ...

Common allergy drug reduces obesity and diabetes in mice

... mast cells build up to levels far beyond what the body needs. As a result these cells become unstable and eventually, like punctured trash bags, leak molecular "garbage" into the tissue. This can result in chronic inflammation that causes asthma and certain allergies. As Shi and postdoctoral ...

Natural compound stops retinopathy

... blood vessels of the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. In some people with diabetic retinopathy, blood vessels may swell and leak fluid. In other people, abnormal new blood vessels grow on the surface of the retina. Over time, diabetic retinopathy can get worse and cause some ...

Energy-saving method checks refrigerant level in air conditioners

... units from working overtime. The new "virtual refrigerant charge sensor" is particularly practical for automotive air conditioners, which tend to leak refrigerant more than other types of units, and also for household central air conditioning units, said James Braun, a professor of mechanical ...

Enzyme doesn't act alone in atrial fibrillation

... in mouse models that if this enzyme is inhibited, calcium channels normalize and atrial fibrillation is prevented. To determine if the calcium leak alone was enough to set off atrial fibrillation, researchers bred a mouse with a specific genetic mutation in the calcium channel, making it prone to ...

Researchers create freestanding nanoparticle films without fillers

... As transistors have shrunk, however, they have been forced to make this layer thinner and thinner until they reached the point where electrons leak through and sap the power from the device. This has led semiconductor manufacturers to retool their process to use "high-k" dielectric materials, ...

Covering the bases: Quantum effect may hold promise for low-cost DNA sequencing, sensor applications

... explains, "when you start to get two electrodes so close to one another that they are within a few atomic diameters, then the electrons can actually leak from one electrode to the other, because in quantum mechanics, they're not confined." These electrons, which violate classical mechanics as they hop ...

Microscope reveals how bacteria 'breathe' toxic metals

... one way to clean up these sites that are contaminated," he said. The danger at such waste sites is that the toxic metals are soluble, and so can leak into the local water supply. But these bacteria naturally convert the metals into an insoluble form. Though the metals would remain in place, they ...

New technique images tumor vessel leakiness to predict breast cancer chemotherapy outcome

... blood vessels using a simple digital mammography unit. The researchers designed nanometer-sized capsules containing a contrast agent that could only leak into tumors with blood vessels that were growing and therefore leaky. The digital mammography-based quantification of "leakiness" is closely ...

Statins may treat blood vessel disorder that can lead to fatal strokes

... diagnosed with CCM to join a pilot trial of statins. CCM is a disorder in which blood vessels in the brain become dilated and weakened, and leak blood, causing strokes, headaches, seizures or other problems. Diagnosing CCM can be problematic. Some people are diagnosed after experiencing ...

Researchers describe protease inhibitor that may aid in diabetic retinopathy treatment

... or proliferative stage, and fragile new blood vessels grow along the retina. However, these fragile vessels can hemorrhage easily, and blood may leak into the retina and the clear, gel-like vitreous that fills inside of the eye. Unless quickly treated, this can result in spots, floaters, flashes, ...

Peering inside the skull of a mouse to solve meningitis mystery

... The wrong cells in the wrong place at the wrong time This observation provided the first clue that T-cells could not be causing fluid to leak from the blood vessels into the meninges. If T-cells weren't the culprit, what was? Another series of experiments revealed that the real villains ...

Jupiter's shrinking red spot

... brine and become mineralized. But what happens in the short term? If you pump carbon dioxide into saline aquifers, will it stay put and mineralize or leak away completely? Neufeld and his colleagues have created a simple tool to predict the fate of carbon dioxide "plumes" rising though aquifers after ...

New method identifies meth hot spots

... or dump site was discovered, it was 11.5 times more likely to be in Umatilla County than in any other part of the state. When a meth-related spill, leak or other hazardous substance release was reported, it was 8.3 times more likely to be in Umatilla County, which is in a wheat-growing belt in ...

OU researchers isolate microorganisms that convert hydrocarbons to natural gas

... Biodeterioration and biocorrosion are fundamental microbiological processes that can cause pipelines, storage facilities and tankers to leak and contaminate the environment. "First, we have to understand how Mother Nature cleans up these spills and we can do this by studying the way ...

ID Analytics Study Reveals Employees' Criminal Misuse of Stolen Identities

... from the study include: -- In the analysis of the eight internal data breaches where harm was found, organized misuse ranged from 3 percent (data leak caused by mishandling data) to 36 percent (targeted employee data theft) of the identities stolen. -- The identities associated with these internal ...

'Small' research at MSU leads to advances in energy, electronics

... ion batteries and could be used to make transparent conductive coatings for solar cells and displays. Can make gasoline tanks lightweight and leak tight and plastic containers that keep food fresh for weeks. Drzal and his partners (former students Hiroyuki Fukushima, Inhwan Do and XG ...

Growing use of nanomaterials spurs research to investigate possible downsides

... the protective membranes that wrap around the body's cells. There is concern that the particles could weaken the membrane, causing it, in effect, to leak and harm or even kill cells. It is also not well understood how, or if, nanoparticles enter cells. Studies of such possible effects have so far ...

American Chemical Society’s Weekly PressPac -- May 7, 2008

... damage to blood vessels in the retina, the light sensitive tissue in the back of the eye. Physicians know that vessels grow abnormally, swell, and leak in DR. However, they have little understanding of the biochemical changes underlying those damaging events. The researchers studied eye fluid from ...

A new gene trigger for pregnancy disorder identified

... 2-ME. At 14 weeks gestation the presumable equivalent of the beginning of the third trimester in human pregnancy the animals developed protein leak in the urine, high blood pressure and problems with placental blood vessels associated with decreased oxygen levels. In addition, the animals ...

Heavy metals in the Peak District -- evidence from bugs in blanket bogs

... some of the most contaminated parts of the Peak District in the Southern Pennines and may be changing the pollutants into more toxic forms that could leak out into reservoirs, scientists will hear tomorrow (Monday 31 March 2008) at the Society for General Microbiologys 162nd meeting being held at the ...

Into the abyss: Deep-sixing carbon

... intense pressure and cold temperatures make it negatively buoyant. This negative buoyancy is the key, explains Keith. It means the CO 2 wants to leak downwards rather than moving up to the biosphere. The use of containment is necessary because CO 2 will tend to dissolve in the ocean, which ...

Hinode: new insights on the origin of solar wind

... images from Hinode's Solar Optical Telescope, De Pontieu's team found that the chromosphere is riddled with Alfvn waves. When the waves leak into the corona, they are strong enough to power the solar wind. "We find that most of these Alfvn waves have periods of several minutes, much ...

New treatment for age-related macular degeneration within sight

... leads to total blindness. Abnormal blood vessel growth, also known as angiogenesis, is a hallmark of advanced AMD. These faulty blood vessels leak fluids and blood, causing catastrophic vision loss. As the name implies, risk for age-related macular degeneration increases with age, and 8 million ...

Planting carbon deep in the earth -- rather than the greenhouse

... found that sandstone reacts with injected fluids more quickly than had been predicted - such reactions are essential if the captured CO2 is not to leak back to the surface. The study looked at data from the Miller oilfield in the North Sea, where BP had been pumping seawater into the oil reservoir ...

Toxic releases down from North American industry leaders, increasing from other facilities

... demonstrates that facilities from Canada and the United States that reported pollution prevention activitiesproduct and process redesign, spill and leak detection, and substituting raw materialsshowed reductions from 20022004. Facilities not engaged in these activities did not show similar progress. ...

MIT: blood may help us think

... makes fMRI an even more useful tool than it already is. How could blood flow affect brain activity? Blood contains diffusible factors that could leak out of vessels to affect neural activity, and changes to blood volume could affect the concentration of these factors. Also, neurons and support ...

Scientists decipher mechanism behind antimicrobial 'hole punchers'

... U. of I., and a corresponding author of the paper. Its a little like shooting them with a hail of nanometer-sized bullets the perforated membranes leak and the bacteria consequently die. The researchers also determined why some compounds punch holes only in bacteria, while others kill everything ...

50-year-old Mystery Solved: Protein Tags Regulate Key Ion Channel

... in yeast cells in 1995 and in fruit flies in 1996. Although potassium leak was first described in the 1950s when it was recognized to control excitation of nerves, the reason for leak had not previously been understood. The first human clone of this ...

Cells re-energize to come back from the brink of death

... including gene mutations that can make the cell become cancerous. During apoptosis, the membrane covering the cell’s mitochondria develop holes and leak a molecule called cytochrome c, which triggers the activity of enzymes called caspases. In turn, caspases trigger a series of events that kills the ...

Ocean seep mollusks may share evolutionary history with other deep-sea creatures

... home environment or to their status as deep-sea creatures, he noted. Cold seeps are places where fluids rich in hydrogen sulfide and methane leak up through the ocean floor, creating a unique chemical environment where hardy bacteria process the sulfide and methane. Seep fluids are about the ...

A new understanding of how cells defend themselves against bacterial pore-forming toxins

... protein toxins that increase the infectivity and severity of bacterial diseases. Once the toxin perforates the host membrane, ions begin to leak out of the cell. Sensing a drop in its potassium concentration, the cell reacts by forming a multi-protein complex known as an inflammasome. ...

UBC researchers find stroke death channel

... therapies and reinforces the value of investing in basic science research." When stroke occurs, hemichannels can form outside the junction and leak chemicals. The process drastically disrupts levels of critical brain cell ingredients such as calcium and potassium, and is associated with rapid ...

Transgenic goat's milk offers hope for tackling children's intestinal disease

... much lysozyme as does human milk. Lysozyme inhibits the growth of bacteria by destroying the bacterial cell wall, causing the contents of the cell to leak out. Because lysozyme limits the growth of bacteria that cause intestinal infections and diarrhea, and encourages the growth of beneficial ...

Plants used to detect gas leaks, from outer space!

... quantified from the spectral quality of light reflected from the leaves, even before the plant looks to be stressed. In the area surrounding a gas leak the escaping methane means the plant roots cannot get enough oxygen and so aerial parts of the plant appear stressed in satellite images detecting ...