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New polysaccharide may help combat multidrug resistance in cancer

In a recent study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, scientists report that a molecule previously thought to play a purely structural and inert role in cells is actually involved in multidrug resistance in cancer. Using antagonists for this molecule, the researchers were able to sensitize drug resistant breast cancer cells to chemotherapeutic drug treatment. The research ap...

Fluoride poisoning in China due to clay, not coal

Millions of people in southwest China suffer from potentially-crippling fluoride poisoning because they burn a mixture of clay and coal, say researchers. Because of this belief, last year, the...

Mice lacking social memory molecule take bullying in stride

The social avoidance that normally develops when a mouse repeatedly experiences defeat by a dominant animal disappears when it lacks a gene for a memory molecule in a brain circuit for social learning, scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered. Mice engineered to lack this memory molecule continued to welcome strange...

Salk researchers make fast strides towards understanding how our body controls walking

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified an important circuit in the spinal cord that controls the speed with which our leg muscles contract and relax. Their findings mark an important milestone in understanding the neural circuitry that coordinates walking movements - one of the main obstacles in developing new treatments for spinal cord injuries. "Knowing...

Microscopic passengers to hitch ride on space shuttle

When space shuttle Atlantis rockets into space later this week, it will take along three kinds of microbes so scientists can study how their genetic responses and their ability to cause disease change. The 'Microbe' experiment, part of the STS-115 space shuttle mission scheduled for launch Aug. 27, will study three common microorganisms -- Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa...

McBride shows DNA detective work with paper-eating bacteria that 'glide'

The eco-friendly fuel ethanol is usually made from grain, but the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) would like to find other renewable materials that will be cost-effective alternatives, such as paper pulp, sawdust, straw and grain hulls. A UWM professor recently helped DOE do just that by analyzing the DNA of a bacterium that can break down cellulose, the major structural component of plant...

Fat overrides effects of vitamin C

Fats in our stomach may reduce the protective effects of antioxidants such as vitamin C. Scientists at the University of Glasgow found that in the presence of lipid the ability of antioxidants, such as ascorbic acid (the active component of vitamin C), to protect against the generation of potential cancer-forming compounds in the stomach is less than when no lipids are present. “Our results illus...