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Tag: "blocks" at biology news

New bird flu drug promises to beat the problem of resistance

...ed by the University of Bath and CSIRO researchers blocks the action of the neuraminidase in a very different manner, by undergoing a chemical reaction with protein. Furthermore, this chemical reaction only takes place at one specific part of the neuraminidase, a part that is essential for the neuraminidase...

New study reveals signaling pathways required for expansion of pancreas stem cells

...The group's results indicate that BMP4 stimulation blocks the differentiation of endocrine progenitor cells through induction of Id, which, in its dual role, promotes their expansion, revealing a novel paradigm of signaling that explains the balance between expansion and differentiation of pancreatic epithe...

Genetic snooze button governs timing of spring flowers

...n the fall season because they possess a gene that blocks flowering," Amasino explains. "The meristem is where the repressor (gene) is expressed and is where it is shut off." The key to initiating flowering, according to the Wisconsin group's studies, is the ability of plants to switch those flower-blocki...

Study details hepatitis C ability to block immune system response

...ochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS). HCV blocks the production of type1 interferon by using its protease activity to destroy MAVS. By preventing infected cells from producing interferon, the virus inhibits the body's immune response against HCV, enabling it to persist. "Our new work shows that ...

HIV infection requires an accomplice: B cells with special protein direct HIV to T cells

...ture. Pretreating the B cells with a molecule that blocks DC-SIGN before culturing them with both T cells and HIV was a deterrent against T cell infection as well, further proof that to invade T cells, HIV requires DC-SIGN to be expressed on B cells. ...

Stanford doctors advance in bid to turn mice stem cells into blood vessels

... the stem cells into myocytes, one of the building blocks of blood vessels, after placing them in a life-like growth environment that the research team had created. The scientists hope to be able to eventually grow whole blood vessels that can be transplanted back into mice. The work is being performed in ...

Rehydrate -- your RNA needs it

...cal structure slightly," Walter said. The building blocks making up the ribozyme wiggle into different positions and in the process must let go of some hydrogen bonds and form others, just as partygoers shift position and engage with other guests. "As a consequence, their hydrogen bonding partners---some...

Protein clue to tailor-made antibiotics

...e makes its way into an unsuspecting bacterium and blocks a key process that lowers the cell's defences and allows the toxin to enter. Professor Kleanthous said: "Antibiotic resistance is on the increase throughout the world. Understanding how bacteria have evolved to kill each other with protein toxins ...

Research reveals control of potent immune regulator

...off the IFNg gene itself. The indirectly mechanism blocks a protein that normally turns up IFNg production. "Our findings provide important details about the fine balance between positive and negative regulators of IFNg production in NK cells," says principal investigator Michael A. Caligiuri, director of...

Computational model simulates AZT metabolism in mitochondria

...naturally occurring deoxynucleosides, the building blocks used to make DNA. However, modified AZT molecules lack a specific chemical group (a hydroxyl group) that would allow DNA replication to continue. This results in premature termination of DNA synthesis. It is thought that the triphosphorylated form of...

Genetic tug of war determines sexual differentiation

... the Sox9 gene. Sox9 activates the Fgf9 gene which blocks Wnt4 and initiates a cascade of events leading to the development of a testis," said Blanche Capel, Ph.D., senior member of the international research team. "If XY mice lose Fgf9, they develop ovaries, while XX mice that lose Wnt4 develop incomplete ...

Mechanism identified for promising neurological drug

...in cell culture, the team determined that the drug blocks the action of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-...anson, "but as far as we can tell, the only way it blocks inflammation is by blocking PARP-1." Swanson says the results have implications beyond the general ...

Brain enzyme treatment relieves memory lapse in Alzheimer's mice

...earchers treated brain slices with a chemical that blocks Uch-L1 function. The treated brain tissue displayed a decline in "long-term potentiation" (LTP), a process whereby nerve connections are strengthened. LTP is regarded as the cellular basis for learning and memory. Treatments that restored Uch-L1 le...

Revolution in the fight against cancer & viruses

...utic tool. "The process, called RNA interference, blocks the production of proteins that create cancer and viruses," said research leader and Director of the Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR), Professor Bryan Williams. "We've exploited this process by creating short interfering RNA, or siRNA, th...

In-home sensors spot dementia signs in elderly

...times the sensors fired each minute during 24-hour blocks of time to create an overall activity level score for each participant. Researchers found "the impaired subjects had more variability in their walking times than the healthy elderly group," and this variability was greater in the afternoon than in ...

Bacteria beat the heat

...hat a switch in just two amino acids (the building blocks of protein) can make a difference between functioning best at moderate temperatures and being adapted to living in extreme heat. The results of their research, which recently appeared in Nature, might have implications for future attempts to adjust c...

In a technical tour de force, Salk scientists take a global view of the epigenome

... our DNA. Adding a bulky methyl group to a C often blocks interaction with proteins required to activate gene expression, effectively silencing the methylated gene. Ecker and Jacobsen were funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), which launched a public consortium known as ENCODE, ...

Scientists find Antarctic ozone hole to recover later than expected

...le. The upper ozone layer is important because it blocks 90-99 percent of the sun's ultraviolet radiation from making contact with Earth. This solar radiation can cause skin cancer, genetic damage, eye damage and can impact marine life. "My job is to track ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons around the gl...

Epidemic of unneeded amputations

...ascular disease (PVD), common in diabetics, plaque blocks arteries, resulting in rest pain, development of foot ulcers and onset of limb loss. The CLiRpath procedure, using a "cool" excimer laser and catheter system developed by Spectranetics Corp. (NASDAQ: SPNC), vaporizes arterial blockages, restores bloo...

Genetically altered mice no longer like cocaine

...loping drugs to fight cocaine addiction. "Cocaine blocks dopamine transporters, and this action ultimately ...ces it flows into and out of neurons. But cocaine blocks dopamine transporters from taking up dopamine, leaving it outside the cells, which excites the nervo...

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