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Tag: "toxins" at biology news

Tetanus toxin found to have therapeutic properties

... anal contractions and torticollis. Recently these toxins have been used even in cosmetics against wrinkles. For these therapeutic and cosmetic applications, the scientists are working with sublethal doses of toxins. Led by José Aguilera, scientists from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology...

New Scripps Oceanography project to study sediments and ecosystem restoration in Venice lagoon

...e includes using biological indicators to test for toxins and pollutants in San Diego Bay. As in San Diego's waters, when studying Venice's lagoon Deheyn will use luminous brittle stars, a cousin species of starfish, to determine whether contaminants in the Venice Lagoon are bioavailable (the amount of con...

Structures of marine toxins provide insight into their effectiveness as cancer drugs

... from the depths of the South Pacific Ocean harbor toxins that potentially can act as powerful anti-cancer d...The research team has defined the structure of the toxins and provided a basic understanding that can be used to synthesize pharmaceuticals, according to a st...

Molecular miners find pain relief drugs from the sea

...s first discovered ACV1 in 2003 while studying the toxins produced in the venom of Conus victoriae, a marine cone snail found in tropical waters off the coast of Australia. All cone snails produce venom which they use to paralyse prey before killing and eating them. The venom of some cone snails is toxic t...

Carnegie Mellon cyLab researchers work to develop new red tide monitoring

... which form only in the Gulf of Mexico and release toxins deadly to fish and marine mammals. The red tide algae are also potentially harmful to humans if ingested through unmanaged shellfish. On the worst days, the irritating vapors from red tide algae or the noxious smell from the rotting carcasses of pois...

Toxic flood lifts lid on common urban pollution problem

...r other cities nationwide to do more to remove the toxins in urban runoff before, rather than after, it gets washed into waterways. There are several good strategies, he said. Increasingly affordable "permeable pavements" allow runoff to be stored, evaporate or percolate through pavement and into the ground...

A radical solution for environmental pollution

...ul chemicals known as free radicals to degrade the toxins they live on. Such insights could lead to new ways of engineering bacteria to clean up environmental messes, said associate professor of chemistry E. Neil Marsh, who did the work with postdoctoral fellow Chunhua Qiao. Free radicals---highly reactiv...

Corn grain mould used as pesticide

...f aspergillus grows on it: a dangerous producer of toxins ?or the non-toxic variant." ...

Does manganese inhaled from the shower represent a public health threat?

...e cells involved in smell are a direct pathway for toxins to enter the brain. Once inside these small nerves, manganese can travel throughout the brain." Elsner and Spangler extrapolated data from rodents to estimate human exposure to manganese during showering. They found that after 10 years of showering ...

New antibody shows promise as cure for anthrax

...ly eliminated both anthrax bacteria and its deadly toxins in animal tests. If future tests concur, this coul...ontinue to replicate, and the increasing amount of toxins would eventually overpower the treatment." In fact, results differed from the scientists' expectati...

Emerging staph strains found to be increasingly deadly and deceptive

...lt to treat, affecting vital organs and leading to toxins poisoning the blood and infection overwhelming the heart. One of the most severe types of disease is necrotizing pneumonia, where bacteria destroy lung tissue. "The reason that some mild infections become severe or fatal is not well understood, but ...

Anthrax stops body from fighting back, study shows

...ty. "The overall goal is to understand how anthrax toxins paralyze the immune system." Researchers first noticed anthrax's effect on these white blood cells while reviewing the cases in the 2001 anthrax attacks. The victims did not have elevated white blood cell counts, typical for most infections, and a ...

Prenatal exposure to marine toxin causes lasting damage

...ming special issue dedicated to research on marine toxins of Neurotoxicology and Teratology. In 1987, more than 100 people in Canada became ill after eating cultured mussels contaminated with domoic acid. The incident led to three deaths and memory loss in several others. First detected in the U.S. on t...

Plant wounds trigger bacteria

...at the bacteria that cause cholera express protein toxins only when they detect bile salts in the host's intestine. It will be interesting to see whether those bacteria also increase the replication of the genes necessary for disease." The bacterium A. tumefaciens employs a large tumor-inducing plasmid t...

Biotech cotton 8: Bugs 0

...es with insecticides." Dennehy added, "These soft toxins plus the good bugs acting together have driven pes...e to determine how to best use that combination of toxins to stay one step ahead of the pink bollworms. ...

New genetic test can detect clam disease

...n this year, QPX is actually a bigger problem. The toxins that cause red tide in clams and other shellfish in New England do not kill the shellfish and will wash away once the red tide bloom diminishes, eventually making the shellfish safe to eat. QPX kills the clams, and there is no known cure. Gast is wo...

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

...nvasion process, and that additional Streptococcus toxins and the body's own immune response also contribute to the development of meningitis. In their ongoing efforts, the researchers are looking at all of these factors in order to paint a complete picture of how the bacteria invade the brain and spinal co...

Small molecule inhibitor of cholera discovered

... organisms use elaborate virulence factors such as toxins to do their damage, the new approach should be widely applicable. "There is no reason our results cannot be replicated for a number of other important pathogens," Mekalanos said. ...

Plant gene related to cancer treatment may foster new oncology drugs

...ll walls. In humans, related proteins rid cells of toxins such as cancer drugs. "The findings of these two studies have important implications for biomedicine because we now can identify the parts of these proteins that determine whether cells take up or throw off different molecules, such as cancer drugs,...

Biologists discover new pathway into plant cells

...ing up to 50 percent. These fungi produce multiple toxins that attack wheat plants, reducing yields and ruining wheat used as seed. In the United States, it's a particular problem in the Great Plains and Midwest. Ciuffetti has spent much of her career studying these "host-selective" toxins. "Until now, we ...

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