Scientists explain how 'death receptors' designed to kill our cells may make them stronger

It turns out that from the perspective of cell biology, Nietzsche may have been right after all: that which does not kill us does make us stronger. In a review article published in the June 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal ( http://www.fasebj.org ), scientists from the Mayo Clinic explain h...

New study overturns orthodoxy on how macrophages kill bacteria

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. For decades, microbiologists assumed that macrophages, immune cells that can engulf and poison bacteria and other pathogens, killed microbes by damaging their DNA. A new study from the University of Illinois disproves that. The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE , shows ...

University researchers to develop coatings that kill superbugs

Researchers at the University of Bath are to be part of a 3 million Europe-wide research collaboration to pioneer research into safer, more effective anti-bacterial plastics and coatings that can be used in items such as food packaging, medical devices to wound dressings, and nappies. The Bath ...

Cleaning up oil spills can kill more fish than spills themselves, say Queen's biologists

Kingston, ON A new Queen's University study shows that detergents used to clean up spills of diesel oil actually increase its toxicity to fish, making it more harmful. "The detergents may be the best way to treat spills in the long term because the dispersed oil is diluted and degraded," says...

MIT student develops new innovations to selectively kill cancer cells

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (March 3, 2009) When it comes to solving complex problems, Geoffrey von Maltzahn, MIT graduate student and biomedical engineer, looks to nature for solutions. Finding inspiration in systems that evolution has produced, von Maltzahn is currently helping to tackle one of society's ...

Nanoemulsion potent against superbugs that kill cystic fibrosis patients

ANN ARBOR, Mich. University of Michigan scientists report highly encouraging evidence that a super-fine oil-and-water emulsion, already shown to kill many other microbes, may be able to quell the ravaging, often drug-resistant infections that cause nearly all cystic fibrosis deaths. Cystic fi...

Jefferson scientists deliver toxic genes to effectively kill pancreatic cancer cells

PHILADELPHIA A research team, led by investigators at the Department of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, has achieved a substantial "kill" of pancreatic cancer cells by using nanoparticles to successfully deliver a dead...

Study shows single insecticide application can kill 3 cockroach generations

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - One dose of an insecticide can kill three generations of cockroaches as they feed off of each other and transfer the poison, according to Purdue University entomologists who tested the effectiveness of a specific gel bait. It is the first time that scientists have shown t...

High hormone levels in seabird chicks prepare them to kill their siblings

The Nazca booby, a Galpagos Island seabird, emerges from its shell ready to kill its brother or sister. Wake Forest University biologists and their colleagues have linked the murderous behavior to high levels of testosterone and other male hormones found in the hatchlings. The study appears in...

Retraining immune cells to kill tumors

Immune cells called macrophages can destroy tumor cells by producing inflammatory proteins that are toxic to the tumor. But the environment inside the tumor somehow halts this production and instead causes the cells to make proteins that promote tumor growth. The new study identifies a protei...

Protein protects lung cancer cells from efforts to fix or kill them

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- A protein that helps lung cancer cells thrive appears to do so by blocking healthy cells ability to fix themselves when radiation or chemicals such as nicotine damage their DNA, according to a University of Florida study to be published Friday (Feb. 29) in the journal Molecul...

Methadone even at therapeutic levels can kill

PORTLAND, Ore. Methadone is a possible cause of sudden cardiac death even when it isnt overdosed but is taken at therapeutic levels primarily for relief of chronic pain or drug addiction withdrawal, a new study by Oregon Health & Science University researchers suggests. The studys findings, de...

Scientists discover rare 'gene-for-gene' interaction that helps bacteria kill their host

Scientists have discovered that a cousin of the plague bacterium uses a single gene to out-fox insect immune defences and kill its host. In research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, scientists have found that Photorhabdus bacteria produce an antibiotic whic...

Investigating the measles virus as a tool to kill multiple myeloma

Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has opened a new Phase I clinical trial testing an engineered measles virus against multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow that currently has no cure. This is the third of a series of molecular medicine studies in patients testing the potential of measles to kill ca...

HIV protein enlisted to help kill cancer cells

Cancer cells are sick, but they keep growing because they don't react to internal signals urging them to die. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found an efficient way to get a messenger into cancer cells that forces them to respond to death signals. And t...

Key found to kill cystic fibrosis superbug

Researchers from the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at The University of Western Ontario , working with a group from Edinburgh, have discovered a way to kill the cystic fibrosis superbug, Burkholderia cenocepacia. These investigators, under the leadership of Dr. Miguel Valvano, Departm...

Common cold virus may kill breast cancer cells

University of Newcastle researcher Kathryn Skelding, funded by the National Breast Cancer Foundation and Viralytics Ltd, has been working on a new treatment which only affects cancer cells ?this would be an improvement on conventional chemotherapy and radiation treatment, which also impact on norma...

Salmon farms kill wild fish, study shows

New research confirms that sea lice from fish farms kill wild salmon. Up to 95 per cent of the wild juvenile salmon that migrate past fish farms die as a result of sea lice infestation from the farms. The results of the research have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scie...

Recurrence of a flu pandemic similar to infamous 1918 flu could kill 62 million

In recent years, health professionals and the general public alike have been acutely aware of the potential ravages that could result from a flu pandemic. Although many people might still recall the pandemics of 1968 and 1957, it is the infamous 1918-1920 pandemic--and the possibility of a recurren...

Marrow-derived stem cells deliver new cytokine to kill brain tumor cells, offer protection

Attaching a recently discovered cytokine to neural stem cells derived from bone marrow, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute have developed a tool to track and kill malignant brain tumor cells and provide long-term protection against their return. Res...

Infant transplant patients resist infections that kill adult AIDS patients

Investigators have discovered that some type of protective system goes into action in some cases when a baby's immune system is deficient. This discovery indicates a hidden safety net that might have far-reaching consequences for treating diseases of the immune system such as AIDS. The Mayo Clinic-...

Researchers find how some antibiotics kill bacteria

Researchers have uncovered how members of one family of antibiotics kill bacteria that make people sick. This new knowledge may help drug developers make slight changes to these antibiotics to make them more effective against drug-resistant strains of bacteria, said Irina Artsimovitch, a study c...

UF researchers kill resistant bugs one bandage at a time

University of Florida researchers have led the development of a new type of wound dressing that could keep dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria from spreading in hospitals, a problem that leads to thousands of deaths in the United States each year. This microbicidal coating - which can be chem...

A vaccine to kill tapeworm

A Vaccine for pigs could help save the 50,000 people a year in poor countries killed by a gruesome parasite. Initial trials suggest it is nearly 100 per cent effective. The vaccine, developed by a team at the University of Melbourne, Australia, targets a tapeworm called Taenia solium. The adult f...

Genetically Modified Natural Killer Immune Cells Attack, Kill Leukemia Cells

Natural killer (NK) immune system cells can be genetically modified to brandish a powerful "on-switch" that prompts them to aggressively attack and kill leukemic cells. This finding, from researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, suggests a way to improve the outcome of children who rec...

Genetically modified natural killer immune cells attack, kill leukemia cells

Natural killer (NK) immune system cells can be genetically modified to brandish a powerful "on-switch" that prompts them to aggressively attack and kill leukemic cells. This finding, from researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, suggests a way to improve the outcome of children who rec...

Protein handlers should be effective treatment target for cancer and Alzheimer's

...ase or vice versa. "A lot of drugs, such as chemotherapeutic agents, can kill cancer but they also kill normal tissue. That is a limiting factor. We are looking for better drugs,"...

Understanding how weeds are resistant to herbicides

...e year after year, you're exerting selection pressure -- you're selecting for that rare plant or mutation that will survive. When you do that, and you kill all of the siblings that are weaker, the mutant survives and all of its progenies will survive and that's how resistance evolves. It's evolution in ac...

Scary ancient spiders revealed in 3-D models, thanks to new imaging technique

...creature suggested that it could have hunted on the open forest floor. It had long legs that enabled it to run through leaf litter to chase, catch and kill its prey. The new models reveal, for the first time, that Eophrynus prestivicii had defensive spikes on its back. The researchers say that the s...

Sustainable agriculture at the ESA Annual Meeting

...s such as perennial grasses." Landscape diversity creates habitat for pest enemies Farmers spend millions of dollars each year on pesticides to kill crop-eating insects. But these insects have natural enemies, too, and new research is investigating what farmers can do to encourage the proliferatio...

Restoring a natural root signal helps to fight a major corn pest

...ts resulted in the release of the naturally active substance (E)-beta-caryophyllene from their roots. The substance attracts nematodes that attack and kill larvae of the Western corn rootworm, a voracious root pest. In field tests, the enhanced nematode attraction resulted in reduced root damage and consi...

MU researchers create drought conditions to unearth solutions

... Droughts have devastating effects on farmers. In most of the world, droughts are the leading cause of crop failure. Droughts increase consumer costs, kill livestock, reduce crop yields, and trigger wildfires and dust storms, which lead to malnutrition and famine, social unrest and political instability. ...

Nanoparticle-delivered 'suicide' genes slowed ovarian tumor growth

...er at the University of Maryland, said this report illustrates significant progress in targeted therapy. "In oncology we have been studying ways to kill tumors for a long time, but much of this has run up against the real estate principle of location, location, location," he said. "In other words, an e...

Test helps in fight against lung infections and for treating other life-threatening infections

...r single bacteria, whereas CF lung infections and other chronic infections were caused by bacteria in a biofilm state which are much more difficult to kill than free-floating bacteria. While the clinical research focused on patients with CF, the bioFILM PA™ test shows potential for use on other...

URI researcher sheds light on 'man-eating' squid; finds them timid, nonthreatening

...n-eating reputation is seriously overblown. For years Seibel has heard stories claiming that Humboldt squid will devour a dog in minutes and could kill or maim unsuspecting divers. "Private dive companies in Mexico play up this myth by insisting that their customers wear body armor or dive in cag...

URI researcher sheds light on 'man-eating' squid; finds them timid, non-threatening

...n-eating reputation is seriously overblown. For years Seibel has heard stories claiming that Humboldt squid will devour a dog in minutes and could kill or maim unsuspecting divers. "Private dive companies in Mexico play up this myth by insisting that their customers wear body armor or dive in cag...

Vaccine blocks malaria transmission in lab experiments

...ansmission of Plasmodium vivax, another major human malaria parasite. Malaria affects greater than 500 million people worldwide and is estimated to kill over one million people each year, most of whom are children living in Africa. ...

Data published in the New England Journal of Medicine support use of raxibacumab (ABthrax) for the treatment of inhalation anthrax

... of immediately life-threatening inhalation anthrax disease." Raxibacumab represents a new way to address the anthrax threat. While antibiotics can kill the anthrax bacteria, they are not effective against the deadly toxins that the bacteria produce. Raxibacumab targets anthrax toxins after they are r...

Scientists track chemical changes in cells as they endure extreme conditions

...of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory observed the chemical changes in individual cells that enable them to survive conditions that should kill them. The team tracked the chemical changes in Desulfovibrio vulgaris, which is a single-cell bacterium that normally can only exist in an oxygen-f...

Finding the constant in bacterial communication

...proteins or chemicals in a coordinated way," You said. "We may even be able to re-engineer bacteria to deliver different types of drugs or selectively kill cancer cells" For example, You has already gained insights into the relationship between predators and prey by creating a synthetic circuit involvi...