Elusive HIV shape change revealed; Key clue to how virus infects cells
Structural biologists at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School have shown how a key part of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) changes shape, triggering other changes that allow the AIDS virus to enter and infect cells. Their findings, published in the Feb. 24 issue of the journal Nature, offer clues that will help guide vaccine and treatment approaches. Researchers led...Timing is everything: First step in protein building revealed
Timing is everything, it seems, even inscience. A team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has unraveled the firststep in translating genetic information in order to build a protein,only to find that it's not one step but two.In a series of experiments, the scientists found that when yeast'sprotein-building machinery recognizes the starting line for a gene'sinstructions, it first alters its str...Iron exporter revealed that may explain common human disorder
The first direct evidence that a single protein is critical in the cellular export of iron may help to explain human hemochromatosis, researchers report in the March issue of Cell Metabolism. Hemochromatosis--which affects one in every 200 to 300 people in Western populations --causes tissues of the body to become overloaded with iron. Left untreated, the hereditary disease can lead to org...Vitamin A's paradoxical role in influencing symmetry during embryonic development revealed
In this week's journal Nature, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies report that they have solved one of the "holy grail" puzzles of developmental biology: the existence of a mechanism that insures that the exterior of our bodies is symmetrical while inner organs are arranged asymmetrically. In research with zebra fish, as a model for human biology, Juan-Carlos Belmonte a...Three dimensional structure of apolipoprotein revealed
Researchers from Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease have for the first time created the three dimensional structure of apolipoprotein E using X-ray crystallography. X-ray crystallography technique // is used for determining three dimensional structures so molecules by determining the x-ray diffraction patterns of the crystals present in molecules. Researchers feel that this new discove...Breast cancer ignorance revealed
Three quarters of women over the age of 50 do not realise that breast cancer is more common as women age, according to a survey. Many are also ignorant about other facts which doctors say could save their lives by allowing them to seek treatment early.// One in five women over 50 do not check their breasts for changes from time to time, and the same percentage fail to attend br...Metabolism cycle of Kala-Azar parasite revealed
Researchers have found that Leishmania parasite utilizes mannose for their metabolism// and growth different from human metabolism which requires glucose. Associate Professor Malcolm McConville and his research team from Bio21 Institute at the University of Melbourne have found a break thorough to control the spread of the parasite Leishmania in the blood. Leishmania is found to utili...Secret Of Heart Failure Revealed
It is human nature that we want to know answers to everything. This gains special// importance when we talk about our own self. How often have we questioned the diseases that make our precious body their home? The answers just do not come. Researchers in a breakthrough have unraveled the mystery surrounding heart failure. They found that in the early stages of heart failure,...Link between position and sense of smell revealed
Researchers have found that one can smell better when one is upright than when he is reclining. Humans tend to pick up better sense of smell when they are sitting or standing. // Johan Lundstrom, a post-doctoral researcher at the Montreal Neurological Institute said that there is a significant difference in the sense of smell depending on one’s position. Researche...