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Tag: "blocking" at biology news

Engineered mouse mimics cognitive aspects of schizophrenia

... believed to "dial down" the dopamine machinery by blocking receptors for dopamine on the surface of neurons. Also, amphetamines, which release dopamine, are known to aggravate schizophrenic symptoms. The researchers also based their experiments on evidence that abnormalities in the brain region known as the...

Waking a sleeping virus

...is essential to the first steps, waking the virus, blocking it would be much better." To identify weak points of ZEBRA as potential drug targets Morand and Carlo Petosa from Müller's group created a high-resolution map of the protein's structure. Using the unique technology "platforms" that EMBL and the IVMS...

Anthrax inhibitor counteracts toxin, may lead to new therapeutics

...g the assembly of toxic enzyme components, thereby blocking the formation of fully assembled anthrax toxin and neutralizing its activity. The inhibitor protected rats from anthrax toxin in the study. "Our eventual goal is to use the inhibitor as a human therapeutic for anthrax exposure, one that can stop th...

Enzyme inhibitors block replication of SARS virus

...g at other Liponavir-related compounds for similar blocking effects. During these experiments, they found that...s in the laboratory were actually more powerful in blocking the SARS protease than either the Lopinavir or any of the target compounds. These organic compoun...

Liver cancer linked to cellular repair pathway

...ath in the world. Laboratory experiments show that blocking the Hedgehog pathway kills cancer cells but leaves...opment. In test tube and cell culture experiments, blocking the Hedgehog pathway reduced growth of cancer cells by over 90 percent. Liver cancer, or hepatocell...

New evidence questions the simple link between prion proteins and madcow disease

...s clearly shows that resistance is not achieved by blocking uptake of abnormal proteins from the gut ?it must be achieved by some other mechanism," says lead author Dr Martin Jeffrey. Secondly, they looked in more detail at the route of absorption in the gut. Using surgically modified sheep, they loaded a sm...

Web model of influenza-host lifecycles will aid scientists in creating anti-viral drugs

...ts to promote their growth, while at the same time blocking the host reactions that recognize and respond to infection. Each year, for example, winter is marked by the outbreak of flu caused by new viruses that the human immune system doesn't recognize. The new Reactome influenza database outlines a typical ...

Mouse study: New muscle-building agent beats all previous ones

...f treatment. The researchers' expectation is that blocking myostatin might help maintain critical muscle strength in people whose muscles are wasting due to diseases like muscular dystrophy or side effects from cancer treatment or AIDS. "This new inhibitor of myostatin, known as ACVR2B, is very potent and ...

Scientists show how thinking can harm brain cells

...nsmission to reduce excitotoxic injury. "But just blocking glutamate doesn't seem to work efficiently in neurodegenerative diseases with inflammation," said Gelbard. "We reconsidered how excitotoxicity actually damages the nervous system in a functional way." The scientists focused on dendrites, the crooked...

UCLA discovery will aid in treatment of patients with a deadly brain cancer

...ies. Drugs such as Tarceva and Iressa target EGFR, blocking the cell signals that drive amplification of the p... either responded very well or very poorly to EGFR blocking drugs and developed a way to test their brain tumor tissue for the presence of both the mutant and P...

Recreating 'Flowers for Algernon' with a happy ending

...llion dollars." Statin drugs lower cholesterol by blocking the effects of certain fats. Because Ras requires fat to function, less fat results in less Ras. With reduced Ras activity, the brain cells are able to communicate properly in mice with NF1, allowing normal learning to take place. "NF1 interrupt...

Discovering the first steps in transcription-coupled repair

... Transcription-coupled repair normally removes the blocking damage and allows transcription to recover; in Cockayne Syndrome, however, transcription cannot resume, and the affected cells die. "It has been assumed that defects in transcription-coupled repair are the cause of Cockayne Syndrome, although the qu...

Limiting the damage in stroke

...l. Secondly, the same effects could be achieved by blocking IKK2 activity with a small artificial molecule. That's what a drug will have to do. Human cells have a very similar NF-kB signaling network, which means that there is a good chance IKK2 will do something similar in our own brain cells. As NF-kB passe...

Federal grant funds research on novel HIV therapy

... hope to achieve a triple benefit: fighting HIV by blocking the virus from immune cells, improving innate immune function and reducing symptoms of depression that are associated with the disease. Steven D. Douglas, M.D., professor of Pediatrics, chief of the Section of Immunology and director of Clinical Imm...

Synthetic Protein Eases Arthritis Symptoms in Mice

...ents the assembly of a cell surface receptor, thus blocking transmission of chemical signals that lead to arthritis symptoms. “This study opens a new research avenue to better understand and, perhaps, to treat rheumatoid arthritis, a condition that causes suffering in more than two million Americans,?says NI...

Blocking the nerve receptor EP1 in mouse models reduces brain damage caused by stroke

...ing to the EP1 receptor on nerve cells. Therefore, blocking PGE2 activity directly rather than inhibiting COX-...In addition, when the researchers injected the EP1 blocking drug ONO-8713 in mice lacking the gene for the EP1 receptor, the drug did not provide any additional...

Membrane research opens window to benefits for plants, humans

..., latch onto an intracellular loop of the protein, blocking the water channel when not phosphorylated. When the residues undergo phosphorylation and become charged, they release the loop, opening the channel for water to pass through. The researchers theorize the gating activity is universal in all plant aqu...

Machinery of the 'marijuana munchies'

...uitry has important practical implications because blocking the cannabinoid receptor, CB1, offers a promising approach to treating obesity. One such compound, rimonabant (trade name Acomplia TM ) is already undergoing clinical testing. In an article in the December 22, 2005, issue of Neuron, Young-Hwan Jo an...

Anti-cancer drugs may hold promise for premature aging disorder

... reasoned that they could prevent these defects by blocking farnesylation of progerin. The researchers' hunch proved correct. When they changed one amino acid within progerin's farnesylation tag to prevent the addition of a farnesyl group and tested the effect in cells grown in the laboratory, progerin did ...

Researchers identify molecular anchor that allows bacterial invasion of central nervous system

...go (UCSD) School of Medicine study has found. By blocking the molecule's anchoring ability, researchers may be able to find a way to stave off the most common serious infection of the central nervous system and a major cause of childhood death and disability. The researchers' findings appear in the Septembe...

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