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Tag: "triggers" at biology news

How does your brain tell time?

...nsory event, such as a sound or flash of light, it triggers a cascade of reactions between brain cells and their connections. Each reaction leaves a signature that enables the brain-cell network to encode time." The UCLA team used a computer model to test this theory. By simulating a network of interco...

Why don't all moles progress to melanoma?

...ctivity of certain oncogenes in the melanocyte and triggers a response that prevents the malignant transformation of these cells," Soengas adds. According to Soengas, the tumor suppressive mechanism induced by the ER in melanocytes with these cancer-causing mutations is premature senescence ?a form of "sus...

Heavy smoking cuts women's chance of pregnancy -- even with donated oocytes

... the uterus differently in some women to others or triggers a response in the embryo itself, resulting in a reduced general pregnancy rate overall, but an increased chance of multiple pregnancy in those who do become pregnant." Dr Soares said, that as well as confirming these findings in higher numbers of...

Who gives stem cells their marching orders?

...itch is blocked, Nodal has the opposite effect: it triggers a cascade of molecular signals which stimulate differentiation. In an article appearing in the September issue of the journal Developmental Cell, the researchers explain how cleaved and uncleaved forms of the Nodal protein act together to let the s...

Environmental toxins may cause body's defenses to worsen lung disease

...o these stimuli, we hope to gain insight into what triggers and mediates the immune system response," Borchers says. This will help scientists determine which lymphocytes are important for regulating damage in the lungs, so they can develop ways to "tweak" the immune system and prevent the lymphocytes from ...

Hopkins scientists link immune response to 'ghost' parasites and severely congested sinuses

...se of their research, he says, is to look for what triggers the anti-parasite response. However, Lane cautions that this reaction against parasites may come at the expense of the nose's ability to ward off other invaders, such as bacteria, viruses or fungi. "The epithelial cells lining the nasal and sin...

Researchers identify new weapon to fight deadly bacterial sepsis

...ced the specific biochemical pathways by which LPS triggers an inflammatory cycle that damages the cells of the heart. By blocking aldose reductase activity with pharmacological inhibitors or using small interfering RNAs (pieces of genetic material that specifically stop the production of particular cellular ...

Key to lung cancer chemo resistance revealed

...s, proteins manufactured by KEAP1 bind to the NRF2 triggers tagging them for destruction. In cancer cells, NRF2 activity runs amok, sweeping away all cellular toxins, including chemotherapy agents. Biswal says that blocking NRF2 activity could improve the effectiveness of standard chemotherapy drugs, part...

Distinguishing friend from foe in the battle against cancer

... the Nuclear Factor kappa B, known as NF-kB, which triggers both inflammatory and survival responses by inducing transcription of specific genes. Not only did this explain why TSC null cells are vulnerable to insult, but it also provided biochemical evidence that there is crosstalk between two survival mech...

Dragonfly's metabolic disease provides clues about human obesity

...onflies, the reverse happens. Parasitic infection triggers an inflammatory response and immediate changes in metabolism. Unable to metabolize fat, the dragonflies accumulate fat around their muscles. This finding begs the question of whether something similar might be happening in human metabolic diseases,...

Cardiologist's 'living chip' changes science of disease monitoring

...tems, with the ability to detect changes. A change triggers a message to a wireless device to alert the patient early on about a problem. The patient can then contact their physician. For a patient with heart failure, for example, the biosensor could detect a change in blood protein levels at an early stage...

A new understanding of how cells defend themselves against bacterial pore-forming toxins

...er and activate a protein, caspase-1, that in turn triggers an inflammatory response. Van der Goot and her ...a signal for inflammatory response, caspase-1 also triggers the cell's central regulators for membrane synthesis, launching a bout of lipid metabolism. This pre...

Restoring tamoxifen sensitivity in resistant breast cancer cells

.... When estrogen binds to the estrogen receptor, it triggers a series of events that promote cell division. If the cell is a breast cancer cell, this interaction leads to tumor growth. In women with estrogen receptor-positive cancers, cancer cell growth is strongly influenced by estrogen. Tamoxifen works by ...

A human taste for rarity spells disaster for endangered species

...d to manage fisheries. Prizing rarity, they found, triggers a positive feedback loop between exploitation and rarity that drives a species into an extinction vortex. This phenomenon, the authors explain, resembles an ecological process called the Allee effect, in which individuals of many plant and animal s...

Molecular 'on/off switch' controls immune defenses against viruses

...hat when a virus invades a cell, the RIG-I protein triggers the body to generate an immune response. Once the virus has been cleared out, the LGP2 protein turns off the RIG-I signals. This interaction between RIG-I and LGP2 is vital for properly regulating immunity, but viruses such as hepatitis C can disr...

Cell wall of pneumonia bacteria can cause brain and heart damage

... endothelial cells, neurons and cardiomyocytes and triggers a cascade of biochemical signals called the PAFr-beta-arrestin 1 pathway. The St. Jude researchers reported that this pathway is responsible for bacterial uptake into these cells. Furthermore, the researchers succeeded in blocking a key enzyme of thi...

Cell death following blood 'reflow' injury tracked to natural toxin

...han their normal littermates. To figure out what triggers the death switch, the researchers tracked PAR-polymer's journey after cells made it. After 15 minutes, PAR-polymer hadn't gone anywhere. But after 30 to 60 minutes, the researchers discovered that much of it traveled right to areas where the switch n...

Solved: The mystery of flesh-eating bacteria's relentless attack

...le, interleukin-8. In healthy people, an infection triggers the production of interleukin-8, which acts as a distress call. "When the body senses an infection, it creates interleukin-8 to recruit white blood cells to the infection," said Hanski. In a laboratory culture, the M14 strain of Streptococcus destr...

New mechanism explains glucose effect on wakefulness

...c survival mechanisms is the neural machinery that triggers the hungry brain to the alertness needed for seeking food. That same machinery swings the other way after a hearty meal, as exemplified by the long and honored custom of the siesta. However, scientists have understood little about how the basic energ...

ABCB6 is key to production of heme in hemoglobin

...nlight; and acute porphoryia, a nerve problem that triggers pain in the chest, abdomen, limbs or back, as well as paralysis, cramping and personality changes or mental disorders. "Also, people with porphyria can suffer sudden, acute attacks if they take certain tranquilizers and other drugs that interfere wit...

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