Proton in Biological News

Spallation Neutron Source sees first target replacement

... The mercury target is the first of its kind. A proton beam generated by the SNS's linear accelerator ... ring--two vital components that supply the proton beam pulses--are meeting and exceeding the 1.4 ... will be studied to gauge how three years of proton bombardment have affected its materials. ...

Two-day symposium in Baltimore to tackle the promises and perils of proton radiotherapy

... College Park, Maryland -- April 3, 2009 -- proton therapy has been hailed as a revolutionary cancer ... than traditional X-ray photon radiotherapy. proton therapy is the modality of choice for treating ... of the tissue surrounding a tumor to the dosage, proton therapy lowers the risk of secondary cancers ...

Biomass as a source of raw materials

... were able to demonstrate this with various model substances. As catalyst, they used palladium metal on a carbon support, with phosphoric acid as the proton source for the reaction. The reaction is a "one-pot" reaction, meaning a one-step reaction whose partial reactions (hydrogenation, hydrolysis, and ...

DOE to establish Energy Frontier Research Center at PNNL

... do. In previous work, PNNL scientists copied a feature called a "proton relay" from fast and efficient enzyme catalysts found in nature. The proton relay gave their synthetic catalyst speed comparable to natural catalysts. The new Center will help them better understand and control the reactions ...

Novel electric signals in plants

... cell membranes that causes the observed changes in voltage transmitted from leaf to shoot and then to the next leaf, but the activation of so-called proton pumps. "This is the reason why the "system potential" we measured cannot at all be compared to the classic action potential as present in nerves of ...

GUMC young scientist selected postdoc Fellow at National Space Biomedical Research Institute

... examine the acute effects of space radiation exposure to determine whether there are adverse as well as radioprotective changes in cells following proton exposure. Trani's research will investigate injury responses including inflammatory signaling induced by space radiation. The study will use a ...

AVS 55th International Symposium & Exhibition, Oct. 19-24

... symposium speakers are as follows: J. Gordon (IBM Almaden Research Center) on developing nano-circuits; J. Flanz (Massachusetts General Hospital) on proton cancer therapy; J. Ye (National Institute of Standards and Technology) on the best atomic clocks; and M. Lukin (Harvard University) on diamond ...

Save-the-date: Major nanotech, energy, and biomed meeting

... symposium speakers are as follows: J. Gordon (IBM Almaden Research Center) on developing nano-circuits; J. Flanz (Massachusetts General Hospital) on proton cancer therapy; J. Ye (National Institute of Standards and Technology) on the best atomic clocks; and M. Lukin (Harvard University) on diamond ...

US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute announces new genome sequencing projects

... experiencing an inhibition of growth. A comparative genomics investigation of Desulfurococcus species will resolve the finer details that distinguish proton reduction (producing hydrogen) from sulfur reduction in fermentative archaea and help to define the evolutionary and metabolic relationships of the ...

MIT creates new material for fuel cells

... with other approaches. The result is a thin film that is two orders of magnitude less permeable to methanol but compares favorably to Nafion in proton conductivity. To test their creation, the engineers coated a Nafion membrane with the new film and incorporated the whole into a direct methanol ...

Birth of an enzyme

... which fold into specific three-dimensional protein structures. The scientists aim was to create an enzyme for a specific chemical reaction whereby a proton (a positively charged hydrogen atom) is removed from carbon a highly demanding reaction and rate-determining step in numerous processes for which no ...

Microbial fuel cells turn on the juice

... the wire between electrodes to create a current. Oxygen is added to the cathode chamber, and on the electrode there is a reaction of electron plus proton plus oxygen to form water. Catalysts, such as platinum, are needed on both electrodes to promote the reactions. "We are doing basically the same ...

Building blocks of life

... are needed as radiation shielding for a tungsten target no bigger than a packet of digestive biscuits. The target will be struck by an 800 MeV proton beam this creates neutrons for use in one of seven scientific instruments. The beam travels in a stainless steel vacuum vessel in an area called the ...

Shedding new light on proteorhodopsin

... that proteorhodopsin is a light-driven proton pump, able to transport protons across cellular ... E. coli and observed the response to light of the proton motive force (pmf), the electrochemical potential ... the coupling between light-driven and respiratory proton currents. At the highest azide concentrations, ...

'Pinball protons' created by ultraviolet rays and other causes can lead to DNA damage

... have discovered for the first time that when a proton is knocked off one of the pairs of bases that ... of Georgia studied how the removal of a proton from the Guanine-Cytosine (G-C) base pair is ... that the base pair minus its knocked-off proton can either break entirely or change its bonding ...

Smoking changes brain chemistry

... in Germany. Dr. Gür and colleagues used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to study 21 ... however, only 36 of the patients complied. proton MRS is able to measure brain metabolism at the ... compared the data collected from the smokers to proton MRS data collected from 35 age- and ...

Procedure predicts embryos most likely to result in pregnancy

... embryos, the team established a metabolic profile of embryos that resulted in pregnancies as well as ones that did not. "We found that proton NMR, a non-invasive nuclear magnetic resonance form of spectroscopy, will determine the metabolic profile of the embryo and accurately predict its ...

Brains can recover from alcoholic damage but patients should stop drinking as soon as possible

... of Siena’s Institute of Neurological and Behavioural Sciences. The patients?brains were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and proton MR-spectroscopy upon admission and after short-term sobriety. Only the patients that managed to abstain from alcohol without receiving any ...

Mars mission Risk 29: Scientists research ways to reduce radiation-induced brain damage

... neurochemical and behavioral effects of exposure to heavy particles John Redpath, University of California Irvine, Irvine, Calif., high energy proton dose-rate and mixed field effects on neoplastic transformation in vitro Jerry Shay, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, ...

One therapeutic dose of radiation causes 30 percent spongy bone loss in mice

... The loss of spongy connections in the four groups ranged from 46-64%, he said. Cancer patients typically receive either gamma or, less commonly, proton radiation. Astronauts on a Mars mission are expected to receive extended periods of low-dose radiation of multiple types, including protons and heavy ...

Chocolate, wine, spicy foods may be OK for heartburn, Stanford study finds

... a heartburn sufferer will generally put them on a medication, in addition to any lifestyle changes they recommend. These days that's usually a proton pump inhibitor, which reduces the amount of acid secreted in the stomach. Gerson said that for the most part, medication alone is adequate to ...

Stem cells can repair torn tendons or ligaments

... critical for creating strong yet flexible tendons and ligaments. Tendon tissue repair was detected using a special type of imaging known as proton DQF MRI, developed by Prof. Gil Navon at Tel Aviv University, which recognizes differences among collagen-containing tissue such as tendon, bone, ...

Polymer aids in blood clotting, pointing way to new treatment

... and bacteria -- long thought to be for storage -- was a fully operational organelle. It contained pyrophosphatase, a pump-like enzyme that allows proton transport. He named it the acidocalcisome for its acidic and calcium components. Docampo has since found virtually identical ...

A salty tale: New bacterial genome sequenced from ancient salterns

... of rhodopsin genes: one variety typical for bacteria, and another previously recognized in archaea. A photosynthetic protein, rhodopsin works as a proton pump, capturing light energy and using it to move protons across the membrane and out of the cell. In doing so, the protein maintains a balance of ...

New technique helps researchers determine amino-acid charge

... with basic amino-acid residues, which can acquire a positive charge upon binding protons and become neutral upon releasing them. "One thing is the proton affinity of an amino-acid residue when the amino acid is dissolved in a lot of water in, say, a glass beaker; another thing is the affinity for ...

Advancements In Genomics Foster Deep Sea Discoveries

... The scientists found other tantalizing discoveries in Photobacterium profundum, including a novel fermentative process, adaptations to electron, proton and nutrient transport across membranes and a large number of previously unknown genes. Scripps has been a pioneer in researching life in the deep ...