toxicity

Controversial drug shown to act on brain protein to cut alcohol use

... popular in the 1960s drugculture, and evidence of toxicity to certain nerve cells in rodentstudies have discouraged careful studies of its clinical potentialagainst drug and alcohol addiction. The FDA has not approved use ofIbogaine in the U.S.Scientists at UCSF's Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center have...

Clam embryo study shows pollutant mixture adversely affects nerve cell development

...k. They are currently examining the origins of BCE toxicity atthe single-neuron level to learn what genes are turned on and off bythe exposure to the chemical mixture. The research is focused on afamily of genes known as P53, which helps to regulate the cell cycle.They have also moved their studies to a new m...

Study identifies predictors of HIV drug resistance in patients beginning triple therapy

...k. They are currently examining the origins of BCE toxicity atthe single-neuron level to learn what genes are turned on and off bythe exposure to the chemical mixture. The research is focused on afamily of genes known as P53, which helps to regulate the cell cycle.They have also moved their studies to a new m...

First-ever Compounds To Target Only Metastatic Cells Are Highly Effective Against Breast, Prostate, And Colon Cancers

...ice used in our trial seemed to experience minimal toxicity -- a good sign that patients might tolerate these compounds, too," Dr. Huang said. "It's all very exciting," he said. "Metastatic disease is such a tough problem, and these compounds could provide patients with a brand new kind of hope." The resear...

Nanogen Issued Patent for Electronic Microarray With Memory

... develop tests to detect infectious diseases, drug toxicity and mutations associated with cancer, cardiovascular and genetic diseases. The next generation instrument system, the NanoChip(R) 400, is expected to be available in 2005. Nanogen's subsidiary SynX offers a line of point-of-care diagnostic tests and ...

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

...me cohort of animals. The research showed no overt toxicity in the mouse brain from the MRI reporter. ...

Transgenic plants remove more selenium from polluted soil than wild plants, new tests show

...comes toxic at high doses. The dangers of selenium toxicity came to light in the 1980s when biologists discovered that irrigation drain water held at the Kesterson Reservoir in the San Joaquin Valley was causing serious deformities in birds. The researchers say cleaning up the sediment in the San Luis Drain ...

Gene Therapy Cures Inherited Liver Disease In Rats

...se vectors, long-term correction with no long-term toxicity is possible. We need to find a way to avoid short term toxicity." ...

Products containing specific probes for detecting alternative splice forms protected

...agnostics, and compound screenings for efficacy or toxicity as well as screening patients for potential efficacy of therapeutics. Alternative RNA Splicing is a critical step in the expression of most genes, which can result in the expression of several mRNAs encoding proteins with different functions from a ...

Survey finds silver contamination in North Pacific waters

...ncern. But silver is second only to mercury in its toxicity to marine invertebrates," Flegal said. Sam Luoma, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist who has worked with Flegal to study heavy metal contamination in San Francisco Bay, said the elevated silver concentrations in the open ocean suggest there may be "...

Turning viruses into allies against cancer

...rus. The results confirmed widespread infectivity, toxicity and destruction among these cells, probably through apoptosis or programmed cell death. When the modified virus was injected directly into human liver cancer cells grafted onto laboratory mice, scientists observed significant prolongation of life; c...

Researchers find promising cancer-fighting power of synthetic cell-signaling molecule

...not in the whole animal, or have unacceptably high toxicity for normal tissues," said Georgia Tech Professor of Biology Al Merrill. "Finding that Enigmols are effective in three animal models leads us to hope these may be a new approach to treat cancer." However, human trials must still be done to determine s...

Study uncovers bacteria's worst enemy

...active. The study's results indicate that actinide toxicity is primarily chemical, rather than radiological, a...other types of metals. This suggests that actinide toxicity will not impede bioremediation using naturally occurring bacteria. "This study" said Neu, "is excit...

Gene therapy cures inherited liver disease in rats

...se vectors, long-term correction with no long-term toxicity is possible. We need to find a way to avoid short term toxicity." ### Others who participated in this research include: Drs. Gabriele Toietta, Viraj P. Mane, Milton J. Finegold, Philip Ng, and Arthur L. Beaudet of BCM and Drs. Wilma S. Norona and A...

Cousin of Asian super termite invades Florida

...stain underground colonies. The chemical has a low toxicity to humans and the environment. Less than one gram kills an entire colony containing millions of termites. The control is marketed worldwide as the Sentricon Termite Colony Elimination System by Dow AgroSciences. ...

New miniaturised chip dramatically reduces time taken for DNA analysis

...strains in foodborne illnesses and testing genetic toxicity in new drugs. Once mass production of the sensors ...ions or to find criminal evidence; and testing the toxicity of different drugs to establish what damage they may cause to the DNA molecule of disease-causing mi...

Critical step traced in anthrax infection

... cell to set off a chain of events leading to cell toxicity and death. Protective antigen (PA) is one of these proteins, and after binding to the cell, seven copies of it assemble into a specific complex that is capable of forming a pore in a cellular membrane. The pore permits the other two proteins, lethal ...

MIT engineers an anti-cancer smart bomb

...damental challenges in cancer chemotherapy are its toxicity to healthy cells and drug resistance by cancer cel...e tumor, stopped angiogenesis and avoided systemic toxicity much better than other treatment and delivery variations. But it is patient survival and quality of...

Purdue scientists may have found key to halting spinal cord damage

...es much longer, for several days at least, and its toxicity is well documented." For example, acrolein has long been known to cause cancer when its concentration in the body rises, and not much is needed to be dangerous. When a person inhales smog or tobacco smoke, for example, the fluids lining the respirat...

Pinpointing the cause of a neurodegenerative disorder

...e beyond the glutamine that's really mediating the toxicity of the protein." Those conclusions were based, in part, on experiments in mice that showed that increased levels of normal Ataxin-1 can cause the pathology of SCA1. Turning to the fruit fly, Drosophila, a favorite of geneticists, Zoghbi and her coll...

New Scripps Oceanography project to study sediments and ecosystem restoration in Venice lagoon

...nclude: * Dimitri Deheyn: bioavailability and toxicity of contaminants * Joris Gieskes and Anthony Rathburn: geochemistry and benthic foraminifera ecology * Lisa Levin: biodiversity of benthic communities * Bradley Tebo: sediment microbial communities and metal biogeochemistry * Douglas B...

Plant pathologists evaluate eco-friendly alternatives to methyl bromide

...cals undergo intense scrutiny with regard to human toxicity and environmental impact. It is critical that research in these areas continues to move forward so that the next phase-out does not result in decreased vegetable or ornamental production in Florida and the rest of the U.S.," Rosskopf said. Attempts ...

Treatments have same target, different responses for lung cancer patients with genetic mutation

... not in humans, issues such as which drug has more toxicity or negative side effects are still unanswered. However, they did examine the outcomes of four patients with EGFR mutations in their tumors who had been treated with gefitinib and then cetuximab, or vice versa. They found that all patients displayed...

Clear rules needed to govern deep sea bioprospecting: UNU

...in extreme conditions of pressure, temperature and toxicity is drawing enormous interest from scientists and companies bioprospecting for possible pharmaceutical or industrial applications. Already several valuable products have been created and there is growing recognition of the potential of deep sea genes ...

A Father’s Day Gift: Free DNA Paternity Testing

...in extreme conditions of pressure, temperature and toxicity is drawing enormous interest from scientists and companies bioprospecting for possible pharmaceutical or industrial applications. Already several valuable products have been created and there is growing recognition of the potential of deep sea genes ...

Metal-containing compounds show promise as HIV weapon

...e in infected cultured human cells with no obvious toxicity toward the cells. The 12-pointed, cagelike molecule of boron bound to carbon, called carborane, has been known for more than 50 years but just recently came to the attention of researchers in the Czech Republic as a possible AIDS drug, Dr. Otwinowsk...

Modifications render carbon nanotubes nontoxic

...ical changes." Research has been conducted on the toxicity of carbon nanotubes, but CBEN's is the first to ex... concentrations of toxins. In order to compare the toxicity of different compounds, scientists look for the concentration -- typically measured in parts per mil...

Anti-cancer Compound In Beer Gaining Interest

...erspective - its anti-cancer properties. It showed toxicity to human breast, colon and ovarian cancer cells, and most recently has shown some activity against prostate cancer in OSU studies. Xanthohumol appears to have several mechanisms of action that relate to its cancer preventive properties, scientists s...

Polymer gel can block toxic leakage problem in gene therapy

...left in the tumor. And that may cause all kinds of toxicity problems. "In our first new paper we demonstrated the mechanism of this dissemination. And in the second paper we developed a solution to block it." ...

Katrina floodwaters not as toxic to humans as previously thought, study says

... of many of the chemicals, he adds. While serious toxicity to human life was largely avoided, the floodwater may pose a chemical risk to aquatic life in the area, Pardue says. He believes that low oxygen levels in the water that is being pumped back into Lake Pontchartrain could result in fish kills. He also...

Compound from marine bacteria shows potential as multiple myeloma therapy

... multiple myeloma cells, and potentially with less toxicity than current treatments, report Dana-Farber Cancer...ion than either compound alone ?without additional toxicity to normal cells. "This is a laboratory advance that shows clinical promise," says Dr. Chauhan. "We ...

Synthetic Protein Eases Arthritis Symptoms in Mice

...thritis. The scientists did not detect any obvious toxicity in the PLAD-treated mice. “We’re very hopeful that this could be good news for arthritis sufferers,?says Dr. Lenardo. In particular, the researchers are intrigued by P60 PLAD’s apparent specificity: it seems to block the binding of TNF-alpha to TNFR...

Sangamo BioSciences demonstrates its ZFP treatment protects cells from HIV infection

...ials have been halted, one due to reports of liver toxicity of the candidate drug. We believe that using ZFNs to permanently modify the CCR5 gene specifically in T-cells and thus directly block the expression of the protein on the surface of these cells may have several advantages over the systemic effects o...

Recreating 'Flowers for Algernon' with a happy ending

... We don't have to do extensive clinical trials for toxicity or safety ?these were already completed for other uses." ...

HIV-infected adults in Botswana respond positively to ARV therapy public treatment program

...nical outcomes, but also ARV drug tolerability and toxicity as well," said William Wester, M.D., lead author o...ially early on in their ARV treatment course, drug toxicity may significantly affect ones' quality of life and drug adherence rates." Results from the study hav...

New Therapeutic Target Identified In Inherited Brain Tumor Disorder

...nical outcomes, but also ARV drug tolerability and toxicity as well," said William Wester, M.D., lead author o...ially early on in their ARV treatment course, drug toxicity may significantly affect ones' quality of life and drug adherence rates." Results from the study hav...

Largest computational biology simulation mimics life’s most essential nanomachine

...nical outcomes, but also ARV drug tolerability and toxicity as well," said William Wester, M.D., lead author o...ially early on in their ARV treatment course, drug toxicity may significantly affect ones' quality of life and drug adherence rates." Results from the study hav...

New male contraceptive clears hurdle

...o, we didn't have access to the more sophisticated toxicity tests available today," says Dr. H. C. Das, one of the lead investigators. "Last year we sent RISUG to an FDA-registered laboratory in the United States for more tests, and the results came back clean. We've also done more studies at the Industrial T...

Rice bioengineers pioneer techniques for knee repair

... for new growth, but they always present a risk of toxicity due to the fact that they are made of materials that aren't naturally found in the body. In the newly reported findings, Athanasiou and postdoctoral researcher Jerry Hu, using nothing but donor cells, grew dime-sized disks of cartilage with properti...

Low-cost drug gaining favor for use in HIV-infected children in poor countries

...e recommendations include guidelines on monitoring toxicity and when to begin cotrimoxazole treatment given the child's age, whether the patient has symptoms of HIV disease and the strength of the patient's immune system. ...

Melanoma vaccine strategy shows promise in laboratory experiments

...elanoma cells, not normal cells ?suggests that the toxicity of any vaccine based on the peptide would be minimal. Killer T cells sparked into action by the vaccine would target only the cancer cells, sparing healthy cells entirely. Looking ahead to possible human clinical trials, another member of the scient...

Driver of anthrax toxicity could lead to late-stage therapy

...ls. "Our discovery of the role of LRP6 in anthrax toxicity and the demonstration that antibodies directed against the extracellular domain of LRP6 can protect cells grown in culture against killing by anthrax toxin suggest that the immunological targeting of LRP6 may prove useful in protecting against the ef...

Clock molecule's sensitivity to lithium sheds light on bipolar disorder

...Some patients taking lithium have developed kidney toxicity and other problems. Lazar surmises that new treatments that lead to the destruction of Rev-erb would have the potential of providing another point of entry into the circadian pathway. Noting that Rev-erb is present in metabolically active tissues,...

Botox could help target resistant tumors for treatment

... to offer the advantage of selectivity, absence of toxicity and persistence for a longer time than other agents that act on tumor vasculature. Further research may help us determine whether this approach would be useful to treating cancer in humans." The Gallez study was conducted by Réginald Ansiaux, Christ...

Alternatives to the use of nitrate as a fertiliser

...ars favours ?in most plants ?a sensitivity or even toxicity to ammonium. However, the tolerance shown by some crop species such as the pea is of great interest due to the studies of the physiological, metabolic and molecular mechanisms that the ability to tolerate ammonia confers on these plants. In this stu...

St. Jude projects 90 percent cure rate for ALL

...plete eradication of leukemic cells with the least toxicity to the children." The continued improvement in diagnosis and treatment made possible by MRD, pharmacogenomics and new drug therapies has shifted the focus in ALL therapy toward reduction of both the immediate and long-term side effects of treatment....

Poison dart frog mimics gain when birds learn to stay away

...irection of mimicry in evolution. In studying the toxicity and abundance of all three species, Darst found that the harmless frog mimics either toxic frog where they live separately. In the north, the mimic looks like the less toxic species; in the south, it looks like the more toxic species. Where all thr...

Data published in PNAS show antibodies can be made 10 times more toxic to cancer cells

...on of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) increases their toxicity to cancer cells, potentially improving the utility of targeted cancer therapies, according to research conducted at Xencor, which will be published in the March 14 print issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Monoclona...

Pesticides in the nation's streams and ground water

...ting wildlife are still poorly understood and most toxicity information, as well as the water-quality benchmar...icularly in streams, means that the total combined toxicity of pesticides in water, sediment, and fish may be greater than that of any single pesticide compound...

Proteins stop blood-vessel and tumor growth in mice

...doses of the fibulins, which makes us hopeful that toxicity will not be a problem." The researchers have not yet discovered what receptors the fibulins interact with to produce their anti-angiogenic effect. But in the current paper, they report that the fibulins alter levels of extracellular proteins involve...

Weighting cancer drugs to make them hit tumors harder

...nti-cancer drugs' effectiveness and lowering their toxicity by attaching the equivalent of a lead sinker onto ...reater molecular weight also reduce chemotherapy's toxicity to healthy tissue because the large molecules cannot easily permeate normal blood vessels. As a resu...

Tramiprosate (Alzhemed? preclinical results published in Neurobiology of Aging

...blood-brain-barrier to exert its activity with low toxicity in various animal species that were tested. The presence of amyloid in the brain is one of the major histopathological characteristics of AD. The amyloid cascade hypothesis proposes that certain forms of Aβ peptide are toxic and causally related...

Mosquito spray increases toxicity of pyrethroids in creek, study finds

...roup of insecticides can mix with and increase the toxicity of existing pesticides in the environment, accordi...y of California, Berkeley. While the increase in toxicity was relatively modest, the effects from the interaction of chemicals were unexpected, the researcher...

Microscopic scaffolding offers a 'simple' solution to treating skin injuries

...chnology also offers possibilities for testing the toxicity of cosmetic and similar products, using materials grown in the laboratory that closely resemble natural skin. "Ultimately, we can envisage treatment of burns victims and the undertaking of reconstructive surgery using the scaffold and the patient'...

Stanford snake venom study shows that certain cells may eliminate poison

...o the four venoms "is to enhance resistance to the toxicity and reduce mortality induced by the venom," said G...ht also act to degrade sarafotoxins and reduce the toxicity of the Israeli mole viper venom. Galli and Metz first did experiments in vitro using isolated sara...

For Stanford scientists, RNAi gene therapy takes two steps forward, one step back

...y not on trial - mice in that study suffered liver toxicity from the treatment and some died. Despite that ini... effective as gene therapy but low enough to avoid toxicity in humans. Kay said that cancer and viral diseases such as AIDS or hepatitis B and C are likely tar...

Many cleaners, air fresheners may pose health risks when used indoors

...minants by California's Air Resources Board. Their toxicity varies with their chemical structure. Terpenes are a class of chemicals found in pine, lemon and orange oils that are used in many consumer products either as solvents or to provide a distinctive scent. Although terpenes themselves are not considere...

RNA interference stops colon cancer spread in mice

...e killed," Evers said. "Since we have not seen any toxicity with these siRNAs in our mice, we think we can potentially also use them as a way to sensitize tumors and launch a combined attack that will allow us to achieve much better results with reduced side effects." ...

Parkinson's disease mechanism discovered

...east to discover genes whose activity affected the toxicity of alpha-synuclein. That study showed that genes e...ld also be switched on to suppress alpha-synuclein toxicity in yeast cells. "Our findings indicated that this ER-to-Golgi trafficking pathway is intimately cou...

Computational model simulates AZT metabolism in mitochondria

...scientists to better understand the metabolism and toxicity of the HIV/AIDS drug zidovudine (azidothymidine, A... side-effects. Our job is to model these proposed toxicity mechanisms to see which ones could actually lead to the mitochondrial defects found in AIDS patients...