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Tag: "chemicals" at biology news

Cigarette smoke alters DNA in sperm, genetic damage could pass to offspring

... are sensitive to damage from radiation, mutagenic chemicals and intense industrial air particulate pollution. While the researchers did not specifically study the protein-coding regions of DNA where genes reside, Yauk notes that previous studies correlate mutations in non-coding regions with those in coding r...

How sneaky HIV escapes cells

...s. In one experiment, Gould and his team added chemicals to normal human cells that force nearby proteins together into a clump, and this was enough to get them sent out of the cell in exosomes. If they added a tether to force naturally-clumping proteins inside the cell to the membrane, the proteins met a ...

Pesticides choke pathway for nature to produce nitrogen for crops

...ants, a team of scientists reports that artificial chemicals in pesticides – through application or exposure to...tic bacteria. This is the mechanism by which these chemicals reduce symbiosis and nitrogen fixation." Fox began the project as a doctoral student with John A....

Researchers shed light on shrinking of chromosomes

...ier phases of division. When the researchers added chemicals to the cell to block the late condensation, more separation defects appeared. “Sometimes chromosomes get stuck and cannot be fully separated by the spindle that normally distributes them into the daughter cells,” says Felipe Mora-Bermúdez, who carr...

ASU research shows connection between testosterone, dietary antioxidants and bird coloration

..., who studies the functions of naturally occurring chemicals in birds and their relationship to the birds’ colors and health. “In the case of the zebra finch, the cost is in the pigments – having enough of them to develop a red beak and enough to combat testosterone, which you also need to be red.” McGr...

Plastic that grows on trees

...fuels and scores of other industrial and household chemicals with inexpensive, nonpolluting renewable plant matter. Scientists took a giant step closer to the biorefinery this week, reporting in the June 15 issue of the journal Science that they have directly converted sugars ubiquitous in nature to an alte...

Children of smokers have more than 5 times higher levels of a nicotine toxin

...king father doubled the amount of cotinine, one of chemicals produced when the body breaks down nicotine from inhaled smoke to get rid of it. Sleeping with parents and lower temperature rooms were also associated with increased amounts of cotinine. Cotinine was measured in 100 urine samples taken from...

Helping chlorine-eating bacteria clean up toxic waste

... are now in wide use to detoxify such carcinogenic chemicals as perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE). They do this by removing chlorine atoms from molecules and leaving less-toxic compounds behind. But D. ethenogenes strains work well at some sites and not so well at others, and nobody knows ...

An 'elegant' idea proves its worth 25 years later

...s of sodium phenylacetate and sodium benzoate, two chemicals the body already makes to carry nitrogen for dispo...e says. "His elegant idea was to give patients chemicals they already make in small amounts in large doses to make up for the missing urea cycle enzyme they ...

Mice with a migraine show signs of brain damage

...tion efficiently. This change in the proportion of chemicals gradually sweeps across the brain like a slowly spreading wave. The brain, in turn, is under tremendous stress, developing a voracious appetite for oxygen as it works frantically to restore the proper chemical balance. Oxygen-rich blood pours into...

Slowing the racing heart

...on in the action of adrenaline and adrenaline-like chemicals on the pacemaker cell, playing an important role in slowing down the heart rate. "The enzyme works through calcium and potassium channels that we know to be key players in the generation and regulation of the pacemaker activity," said Ke. "Alth...

Chemical maps hint at drug's effects on schizophrenia

...e behind in the bloodstream a trail of hundreds of chemicals that may be used in the future to direct better treatment for schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions, say Duke University Medical Center researchers. The study is among the first to use metabolomics -- the measurement of thousands of chemica...

Iowa State scientists demonstrate first use of nanotechnology to enter plant cells

...e a gene into a plant cell. In a separate process, chemicals are used to activate the gene’s function. The process is imprecise and the chemicals could be toxic to the plant. "With the mesoporous nanoparticles, we can deliver two biogenic spe...

Hives ferment a yeasty brew, attract beetle pest

...ted by honeybees. The beetles associate the alarm chemicals with a good food source and head for the hive. In Africa, where the small hive beetle is a minor honeybee pest, bees quickly isolate an invading beetle, but domesticated European honeybees are not as diligent in cleaning their hives. The beetles are ...

Leeches ferry infection among newts

...nical action of the probe or the anti-inflammatory chemicals injected by the leech, could be used by the parasite as a cue to release its packet of spores. The spores could then latch on to the leech's proboscis, and the infection would be passed along to the next newt the leech bites." The researchers poin...

Super-fermenting fungus genome sequenced

...e expensive and energy-intensive pretreatment with chemicals and/or heat to loosen up this complex. Enzymes are then employed to break down complex carbohydrate into sugars, such as glucose and xylose, which can then be fermented to produce ethanol. Additional energy is required for the distillation process ...

NIH researchers discover protein that appears to regulate bone mass loss, the cause of osteoporosis

...CD40 ligand appears to regulate cells that secrete chemicals that block bone metabolism, and the loss of this protein in people with X-linked Hyper IgM Syndrome appears to accelerate bone loss. The next step, say the researchers, is to determine whether experimental treatments designed to correct the immune de...

Woven scaffolds could improve cartilage repair

...ed scaffolds with cartilage-forming stem cells and chemicals that stimulate their growth and then implant them into patients during a single procedure, the researchers said. "By taking a synthetic material that already has the properties of cartilage and combining it with living cells, we can build a human ...

Enhancing activity of marijuana-like chemicals in brain helps treat

Marijuana-like chemicals in the brain may point to a treatment for the deb...report that endocannabinoids, naturally occurring chemicals found in the brain that are similar to the active compounds in marijuana and hashish, helped trigg...

Soft-cell approach cuts animal tests

... play a significant role in the screening of toxic chemicals and the replacement of animals," Dr Hayes says. ...al animal toxicity testing of this large number of chemicals is simply unachievable from a scientific and economic standpoint," says Dr Hayes. "It's also unethic...

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