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Andrew Artenstein: Essential Enzymes Key to Disease, Maybe Treatments

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2012Healthalzheimer, andrew artenstein, anthrax, athlerosclerosis, bacteria and viruses, biodefense, body, cancer, chemical reactions, david orenstein, disease, ebola, enzymes, essential proteins, Europe, flu, iaips, infectious diseases, inter alpha inhibitor proteins, measles, microscopic level, molecules, natural human proteins, outbreak of h1n1, pathways, pcs, proprotein convertases, proteins, sars, steven opal, therapies, viruses

*Proprotein convertases are enzymes that activate many essential proteins, but they are also implicated in many processes that cause disease. In a research review in the New England Journal of Medicine, Andrew Artenstein and Steven Opal argue that proprotein convertases are potentially rich targets for developing therapies.*

Most people have never heard of proprotein convertases, but the enzymes activate many proteins that are essential for life. Unfortunately, their fundamental role puts them in the middle of many processes that cause disease – not just cancer or athlerosclerosis, but both of those and Alzheimer’s and anthrax and the flu and an amazing variety of other maladies.

In a research review article appearing Dec. 29 in the New England Journal of Medicine, Andrew Artenstein, physician-in-chief in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Hospital, and Steven Opal, chief of infectious diseases at Memorial Hospital, argue that proprotein convertases (PCs) are potentially rich targets for developing therapies. Artenstein, who with Opal is on the faculty of the Warren Alpert School of Medicine, explained PCs to David Orenstein. (more…)

First Person: How We Discovered Fluoride Riboswitches

By Guest PostJanuary 1, 2012Sciencefluoride riboswitches, messenger rna, oral healthcare, pure fluoride, riboswitch function, rna molecules, ronald breaker

Scientific discoveries come through many different means. Breakthroughs can result from purposefully-executed research projects that are perhaps punctuated with unexpected flashes of insight. In rare cases, discoveries occur through a chain of highly improbable, very lucky, occurrences. (more…)

North American Mammal Evolution Tracks with Climate Change

By Guest PostJanuary 1, 2012Environment, Nature, Science65 million years, anthropogenic climatic change, borja figueirido, brown university, changes in climate, christine janis, climate changes, deep sea microorganisms, diversity, early middle eocene fauna, early miocene epoch, evolutionary biologists, evolutionary faunas, fossil record, future climactic changes, global paleotemperatures, herbivores, history, immigration events, jack sepkoski, juan perez claros, levels of atmospheric oxygen, life on earth, mammal species, miocene fauna, natural history, North America, paleocene fauna, paleontologist, paul palmqvist, potential connection, quantitative analysis, rise and fall, savannah, six waves of species diversity, species migrations, university of chicago, vegetation, warming and cooling periods, waves, woodland

*Climate changes profoundly influenced the rise and fall of six distinct, successive waves of mammal species diversity in North America over the last 65 million years, shows a novel statistical analysis led by Brown University evolutionary biologists. Warming and cooling periods, in two cases confounded by species migrations, marked the transition from one dominant grouping to the next.*

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — History often seems to happen in waves — fashion and musical tastes turn over every decade and empires give way to new ones over centuries. A similar pattern characterizes the last 65 million years of natural history in North America, where a novel quantitative analysis has identified six distinct, consecutive waves of mammal species diversity or “evolutionary faunas.” What force of history determined the destiny of these groupings? The numbers say it was typically climate change.

“Although we’ve always known in a general way that mammals respond to climatic change over time, there has been controversy as to whether this can be demonstrated in a quantitative fashion,” said Christine Janis, professor of evolutionary biology at Brown University. “We show that the rise and fall of these faunas is indeed correlated with climatic change — the rise or fall of global paleotemperatures — and also influenced by other more local perturbations such as immigration events.” (more…)

Children Don’t Give Words Special Power to Categorize Their World

By Guest PostJanuary 1, 2012Scienceadults, carrot eaters, dog, experiment, fictional creatures, flurps, jeff grabmeier, language, meat eaters, objects, ohio state, salient feature, scientists, thinking of children, triangle antennae, vladimir sloutsky, wei deng, young children

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research challenges the conventional thinking that young children use language just as adults do to help classify and understand objects in the world around them.

In a new study involving 4- to 5-year-old children, researchers found that the labels adults use to classify items – words like “dog” or “pencil” – don’t have the same ability to influence the thinking of children. (more…)

Breast Cancer Survivors Benefit From Practicing Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, MU Researchers Find

By Guest PostDecember 31, 2011Healthamerican cancer society, breast cancer, health challenges, jane armer, lifestyles and belief, mbsr, meditation, meditation technique, mindfulness, mindfulness based stress reduction, physical awareness, positive effects, post diagnosis, survivors, university of missouri, women, yaowarat matchim, yoga

*Survivors’ psychological and physiological health improved after training*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Women recently diagnosed with breast cancer have higher survival rates than those diagnosed in previous decades, according to the American Cancer Society. However, survivors continue to face health challenges after their treatments end. Previous research reports as many as 50 percent of breast cancer survivors are depressed. Now, University of Missouri researchers in the Sinclair School of Nursing say a meditation technique can help breast cancer survivors improve their emotional and physical well-being. (more…)

Amazon.com Announces “Best of 2011” Lists

By Guest PostDecember 30, 2011TechnologyAmazon, angry birds rio, best of 2011, best selling, born this way, call of duty, crocs classic clog, kindle fire, lady gaga, most gifted, quell, samsung galaxy s ii, Steve Jobs, suzanne collins, the hunger games, walter isaacson

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 30, 2011– Amazon.com, Inc. today released its “Best of 2011” lists, which include the best-selling, most wished for, most gifted, and most loved products as determined by Amazon.com customers in 2011. (more…)

Badwater Basin: Death Valley Microbe Thrives There

By Guest PostDecember 30, 2011Sciencebadwater basin, basin, bw 1, chemistry of the environment, christopher lefevre, david pignol, death valley national park, dennis bazylinski, enriqueta barrera, greigite, greigite producing bacterium, iron oxide, magnetic bacteria, magnetic properties, magnetite, magnetite producing bacteria, microbial magnetism, minerals, nano sized crystals, nanotech, national science foundation, nevada, nicolas menguy of pierre, novel biotech, precious metals, silver state, sulfate reducing bacteria, university of aix marseille, university of nevada las vegas, unlv

*Discovery may lead to novel biotech and nanotech uses*

Nevada, the “Silver State,” is well-known for mining precious metals.

But scientists Dennis Bazylinski and colleagues at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) do a different type of mining.

They sluice through every water body they can find, looking for new forms of microbial magnetism.

In a basin named Badwater on the edge of Death Valley National Park, Bazylinski and researcher Christopher Lefèvre hit pay dirt. (more…)

What do the Iowa Caucuses mean?

By Guest PostDecember 30, 2011Politicscampaign, iowa caucuses, jared wadley, presidential candidate, stephen bloom, university of michigan

University of Michigan visiting professor Stephen Bloom discusses how the Iowa Caucuses can change a presidential candidate’s campaign. – Written by Jared Wadley *Source: University of Michigan

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