Zinc in Biological News

Got zinc? New zinc research suggests novel therapeutic targets

... ( http://www.jleukbio.org ) suggests that zinc may be pointing the way to new therapeutic ... Specifically, scientists from Florida found that zinc not only supports healthy immune function, but ... viruses and bacteria. "It has been shown that zinc supplementation significantly reduces the ...

August LabBits: A media tip sheet from the MBL in Woods Hole

... was found that night blindness is associated with zinc deficiency, and recent studies have shown that a ... not much is known about the relationship between zinc and the eye. Richard Chappell, a professor of ... of Medicine in Chicago, to investigate how zinc may control the wily glutamate. Using the retina ...

W.M. Keck Foundation grant funds reproductive science research

... studies, the team hypothesizes that fluxes in zinc ions mediate the first definitive signal in ... molecules. The origin of the idea, that zinc in particular may play an important role in these ... with O'Halloran and Woodruff. She discovered that zinc was not uniformly distributed in eggs as they ...

Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, June 2008

... wallira@ornl.gov ] ELECTRONICS -- zinc oxide LEDs . . . Efficient yet inexpensive light-emitting diodes made of zinc oxide could one day replace today's ... charged carriers -- p-type doping -- in zinc oxide using rapid pulse thermal processing. "LEDs ...

Zinc may reduce pneumonia risk in nursing home elderly

... colleagues report that maintaining normal serum zinc concentration in the blood may help reduce the ... Based on our data, it appears that daily zinc intake can help nursing home residents who are ... to pneumonia, especially those with low serum zinc concentrations in their blood, says Meydani, ...

Iowa State University researchers develop process for 'surgical' genetic changes

... location in the plant genome through targeted DNA breaks generated by zinc finger nucleases. This occurs about 1 in 50 attempts and is very efficient ... it. Putting the break where you want it has always been the problem." zinc finger nucleases solve the problem and allows scientists to take greater ...

Omega-3 fatty acids appear to impact AMD progression

... The AREDS trial results suggest taking supplements of antioxidants plus zinc prevents progression of late-stage AMD. AREDS study participants were ... the antioxidants vitamins C and E and beta carotene, the minerals zinc and copper, or a combination of both. "In our study, we observed ...

Study shows transfer of heavy metals from water to fish in Huelva estuary

... (Pearson coefficient), the scientists found a link between the presence of zinc and cadmium in the water and in the tissues of the fish, above all in the ... sole, which tends to be a bottom dweller, although it also contained lead. zinc and cadmium appeared in the gills and muscles, but above all in the liver, ...

Pliable proteins keep photosynthesis on the light path

... and compared it to the mutant reaction center that was replaced with zinc bacteriochlorophylls. She found that, though the zinc-coordinated reaction ... through their interaction with the protein," said Lin. "In the case of the zinc reaction center, the driving force is regulated through the coordination ...

Canadian scientist mines drugs database for new diabetes treatment

... to a freely available database of 5 million existing compounds the zinc database. This means we cut out a hugely time consuming and financially ... NAADP was entered into the computer system and cross referenced with the zinc database. In collaboration with scientists at the University of ...

Scientists mine drugs database for new diabetes treatment

... to a freely available database of 5 million existing compounds the zinc database. This means we cut out a hugely time consuming and financially ... NAADP was entered into the computer system and cross referenced with the zinc database. In collaboration with scientists at the University of ...

'Strained' quantum dots show new optical properties

... Strain-tuned quantum dots can be made mostly of the less toxic elements zinc and selenium, although some cadmium remains at the core of the particle. ... particles can be between four and six nanometers wide. Adding layers of zinc and selenium on top of a cadmium and tellurium core increases the ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- May 28, 2008

... used in PVC plumbing systems. Corrosion of brass (made with copper, zinc and lead) releases those metals into water pipes and makes faucets prone ... plastic pipes, which could be expected to cause higher metal leaching of zinc and lead from brass faucets used in homes and buildings. AD ARTICLE ...

Sydney harbors deadly diet for sea creatures

... from 3km to 11km from Sydney Heads. Concentrations of copper, lead and zinc in a species of brown seaweed found in Woolloomooloo Bay, Balls Head Bay ... metal-contaminated waterways. Heavy metals such as copper, lead and zinc find their way into Sydney Harbour from stormwater runoff, industrial ...

The key to unlocking the secret of highly specific DNAzyme catalysis

... DNAzyme uses the lock and key reaction mechanism. In the presence of zinc or magnesium, however, the same DNAzyme uses the induced fit reaction ... with nanometer precision. The researchers found that, in the presence of zinc or magnesium, a conformational change took place in the DNAzyme, followed ...

Highlights from the November 2007 Journal of the American Dietetic Association

... and Cost of Foods in a Rural Environment The Prevalence of Low Serum zinc and Copper and Dietary Habits Associated with Serum zinc and Copper in 12-36 Month Old Children at Risk of Iron Deficiency from ...

Cost-effective measures could stop child pneumonia deaths

... most efficient pneumonia control strategies. Programs to promote better community-based treatment of pneumonia, promotion of exclusive breastfeeding, zinc supplementation and vaccination for Hib and S. pneumoniae were found to be the most cost-effective interventions. The burning of solid fuels like ...

American Chemical Society Weekly PressPac -- April 1, 2009

... unprecedented ability to absorb gases that may help meet DOE's target. Called University of Michigan Crystalline Material-2 (UMCM-2), it consists of zinc oxide nanoclusters each about 1/50,000 the width of a human hair linked together by organic materials to generate a robust porous framework. The ...

Drug used to treat skin conditions is a marine pollutant

... lower blood pressure), triclosan (an anti-bacterial agent commonly found in soap and deodorants), fluoxetine (an anti-depressant pharmaceutical) and zinc pyrithione (found in anti-dandruff shampoos). The results that Tobias Porsbring presents show that a mixture of such compounds forms a "cocktail ...

Regular family meals result in better eating habits for adolescents

... meals and increased intakes of vegetables, calcium-rich food, dietary fiber, and several nutrients including calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, and zinc five years later. An important finding is that although adolescents with regular family meals at both Time 1 and Time 2 had better diet quality, on ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- Jan. 28, 2009

... Alvarez, Shaily Mahendra, and colleagues note that QDs are semiconductor nanocrystals composed of a metal core surrounded by a shell composed of zinc or cadmium sulfide. Scientists are increasingly concerned that these submicroscopic dots, about 1/50,000th the width of a human hair, could ...

Nature study demonstrates that bacterial clotting depends on clustering

... pathogen (using a safe strain that does not infect humans). It found that in the case of human blood, coagulation required the secretion of zinc metalloprotease InhA1, which activated prothrombin and factor X directlynot via factor XII or tissue-factor pathways. "We refer to this mechanism as ...

When particles are so small that they seep right through skin

... than usual, possibly giving nanoparticles an opportunity to pass through the barrier. In the future, DeLouise plans to study titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, two materials that are widely used in sunscreens and other cosmetic products to help block the damaging effects of ultraviolet light. In ...

Smoke smudges Mexico City's air, chemists identify sources

... building in a mixed industrial and residential area in the northern part of the city, they saw an influx of aerosols that were a combination of lead, zinc and chloride mixed with soot between midnight and 10:00 am. Although the source of these mixed-metal particles can't be determined with complete ...

Heavy metal link to mutations, low growth and fertility among crustaceans in Sydney Harbor tributary

... the amphipod feeds on organic material in sand and sediment. "These crustaceans are sensitive to heavy metals such as copper, cadmium and zinc and scientists use them as a 'test organisms' for assessing the toxicity of marine sediments, says Ms Chung. "They accumulate heavy metals inside ...

Consortium develops new method enabling routine targeted gene modification

... human genes and a plant gene. ZFNs made by the new OPEN method which utilizes a new archive of reagents that will be made publicly available by the zinc Finger Consortium were so efficient that they could modify as many as four copies of a gene in human cells and two copies in plant cells. "Our ...

Consortium develops new method to manipulate genetic material

... human genes and a plant gene. ZFNs made by the new OPEN method which utilizes a new archive of reagents that will be made publicly available by the zinc Finger Consortium were so efficient that they could modify as many as four copies of a gene in human cells and two copies in plant cells. "Our ...

UNH researchers test sediment-scrubbing technology in NH river

... a UNH-patented technology based on a natural form of phosphorus treats toxic heavy metals associated with industrial pollution such as lead, copper, zinc and cadmium. "But you don't just find one pollutant at a site," says Melton. "Everything is all mixed up in the sediment." So he and his ...

New technique allows targeted inactivation of genes in research model

... important advances at the interface of their interests: the Wolfe laboratorys focus on understanding and engineering protein-DNA recognition in zinc finger proteins and the Lawson laboratorys interest in developing new technologies that facilitate biological studies in zebrafish to better ...

Sangamo BioSciences to Present at the Bank of America 2008 Healthcare Conference

... Parkinson's disease and monogenic diseases. Sangamo's core competencies enable the engineering of a class of DNA-binding proteins known as zinc finger DNA-binding proteins (ZFPs). By engineering ZFPs that recognize a specific DNA sequence Sangamo has created ZFP transcription factors (ZFP ...

Popcorn-ball design doubles efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells

... "The most significant finding is the amount of increase using this unique approach," Cao said. The experiments were performed using zinc oxide, which is less stable chemically than the more commonly used titanium oxide but easier to work with. "We first wanted to prove the concept ...

'Nanominerals' influence Earth systems from ocean to atmosphere to biosphere

... at the Clark Fork River Superfund Complex in Montana, Hochella discovered a nanomineral involved in the movement of lead, arsenic, copper, and zinc through hundred of miles of Clark River drainage basin. Nanominerals can also move radioactive substances. Research at one of the most ...

JILA solves problem of quantum dot 'blinking'

... through nanoscale materials). The quantum dots used in the JILA experiments were made of cadmium-selenide cores just 4 nanometers wide coated with zinc sulfide. When a dot is excited by a brief laser pulse, one electron is separated from the hole it normally occupies. A few nanoseconds later, the ...

Biophysical Society announces 2008 International Travel Awards

... University, Annamalai Nagar, India, The Heart as a Learning Machine. Xing Liu, University of Leeds, United Kingdom, Key Residues Involved in zinc and Copper Inhibition of P2x7 Receptors. R. Malathi, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India, Arrhythmia Studies using Computational ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- Nov. 7, 2007

... of millions of nanowires on a surface in order to produce the components of electronic circuits. The study describes a new method in which zinc oxide nanowires are grown in the exact positions where nanodevices later will be fabricated, in a way that involves a minimum number of fabrication ...

Opium and marijuana research go underground

... Council and the University of Saskatchewan to create and study mutant varieties of opium poppy and cannabis in an unused portion of a copper and zinc mine near Flin Flon, Manitoba. Prairie Plant Systems produces medicinal marijuana under contract with Health Canada in this state-of-the-art ....

Microbes at work cleaning up the environment

... bacteria can cause heavy metals such as zinc (Zn) to precipitate and form nanoparticles. ... formation of densely aggregated nanoparticulate zinc sulfide spheroids. They also studied whether ... known bacterial metal-binding proteins that bind zinc and other potentially toxic metals at cysteine ...

In nature, proteins sweep up nanoparticles

... The research team analyzed a biofilm rich in zinc sulfide that was collected from the water-filled ... material at the nanoscale. They found that the zinc sulfide nanoparticles were arranged in dense ... infrared spectroscopy, the team analyzed the zinc sulfide aggregates and detected the ...

Elucidation of the genome for diabetics with DNA chips

... to DT2 have been identified. They include the zinc transporter of pancreatic insulin-secreting cells ... encodes the ZnT8 protein, which is involved in zinc transport. This protein is involved in insulin ... the insulin-secreting beta cells of the pancreas. zinc is a trace element present in very small amounts ...