Tag: "carriers" at biology news

'Lucky 13' as new gene discovery offers further hope for childhood blindness

...ere protein function has been lost completely, but carriers of just one copy of the mutation, who will almost certainly have reduced protein levels, nevertheless function perfectly normally," explains Professor Inglehearn. "This being the case, restoration of even a tenth of the missing protein may be enough ...

Male-killing bacteria makes female butterflies more promiscuous

...nto a caterpillar. Only female offspring of female carriers of the bacteria can survive, which can lead to the male population being as low as one male to every hundred females in some areas. Dr Greg Hurst, of the UCL Department of Biology and a senior author of the study, said: "It's amazing that the numb...

Study examines risk of soft tissue sarcomas in hereditary retinoblastoma survivors

...n leiomyosarcoma, a tumor that occurs in RB-1 gene carriers whether or not they were treated with radiation and that can be expected to continue to occur in older survivors, who will require more careful follow-up." ...

Researchers find gene mutation that causes infertility in male mice

...tation on to future generations. However, female carriers show higher rates of abnormalities during meiosis, which can potentially cause chromosome imbalances and birth defects, the researchers discovered. In addition, the researchers found that female mice with the Dmc1 mutation are born with fewer egg cel...

Researchers create artificial enzyme that mimics the body's internal engine

...t chain. It receives four electrons from the other carriers and transfers the electrons to the molecule of oxygen, converting it into two molecules of water. "CcO has to behave perfectly," Collman said. "If it adds less than four electrons, it can produce partially reduced oxygen molecules, and these are k...

Severe mental retardation gene mutation identified

...lies and are able to tell whether or not women are carriers of the condition," Dr. Raymond comments. "Consequ...carriers, and we can offer prenatal testing to the carriers who want it." In the broader picture, this research is not only benefiting families with X-link...

Can engineered immune cells stop AIDS?

...rather than harm cells." Viruses are efficient carriers or transport vehicles in the body because they are naturally able to penetrate cells, inserting the genetic material they contain into their new host. By itself, a virus cannot reproduce; it must infect a cell and take control of the host's machinery...

Coated nanoparticles solve sticky drug-delivery problem

...ther tests to see how large their microscopic drug carriers could be before they got trapped in the mesh. Larger nanoparticles are more desirable because they can release greater amounts of medicine over a longer period of time. "We wanted to make the particles as large as possible," said Hanes, who also serv...

Transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria linked to previous intensive care unit room occupants

...ore intensive cleaning of 94 rooms vacated by MRSA carriers and of 59 rooms vacated by VRE carriers." Though the number of cases attributed to previous room occupants was small, this type of transmission could become more common as the prevalence of treatment-resistant bacteria continues to rise. "Additio...

Stanford discovery may help predict when toxoplasma can be deadly

...drinking contaminated water. Cats are the primary carriers of Toxoplasma, though they rarely exhibit symptoms. The significance of these newly discovered proteins is also highlighted in the same issue of Science by another paper with similar findings from a different group of researchers. Additional e...

Embryonic selection of sex avoids conceiving blind children

...f sufferers is over 15,000, with some 60,000 being carriers of the defective gene and, thereby, possible transmitters of the condition. ...

Plague proteome reveals proteins linked to infection

Recreating growth conditions in flea carriers and mammal hosts, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists have uncovered 176 proteins and likely proteins in the plague-bacterium Yersinia pestis whose numbers rise and fall according to the disease’s virulence. The team, led by the Depart...

Different strategies underlie the ecology of microbial invasions

...ore parasites. Amplification therefore makes phage carriers able to successfully compete with phage-susceptible bacteria even faster when the carriers are rare, whereas chemical killers can only win in a well-mixed environment when chemical carriers a...

Liquorice cancer care

...rugs, they are more effective tissue-specific drug carriers than the traditionally used antibodies and oligopeptides (Polymer International DOI 10.1002/pi.2051). 'Our primary results show that they are effective as liver targeting carriers,' says Yuan. Clinical trials are planned for the near future. In addit...

New strategy developed to combat West Nile Virus

...many species of wild birds, which act as hosts and carriers for the diseases. While confined in the hammocks, the mosquitoes feed almost exclusively on the nesting birds and as a result, each bird is bitten by numerous mosquitoes. A single infected bird can thus infect many more mosquitoes than if conditions ...

Gene therapy injected into the brains' of mice with Huntington's disease

...isease. Genetic testing can identify mutated gene carriers destined to suffer from HD. Unlike other neurodege...disease process–only a small fraction of potential carriers get tested. But, if there was a treatment, especially one that altered the natural course of disease...

Nicotine exposure during development leads to hearing problems

...hemicals known as neurotransmitters act as message carriers between cells and bind with receptors on the cells' surfaces, much like a key fits into the lock. If the receptors are damaged, they can no longer bind properly with the neurotransmitter. Nicotine shares a receptor with the neurotransmitter acetylcho...

Breast stem cells have features similar to 'basal' tumors

...monly seen in tumoursthat develop in women who are carriers of the breast cancer predisposing gene BRCA1. These findings support previous speculation that breast stem cells, or very early descendents, are the cells from which basal tumours arise. Dr Visvader, who led the team effort with Dr Lindeman at WEHI...

Weighting cancer drugs to make them hit tumors harder

...ystemic dose," said Chilkoti. "Macromolecular drug carriers are an attractive drug delivery system, because th...sues." Of additional benefit, macromolecular drug carriers can be substituted for the toxic substances routinely mixed with chemotherapy to make it more solubl...

UCSB researchers discover shape matters to macrophages

...for example could allow researchers to design drug carriers that can be purposefully retained by the body for a longer period of time, or could help researchers create vaccines that would be quickly removed to stimulate a rapid immune response. ...

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