Technology

3-D ‘Map’ of Enzyme Completed by MU Scientists Could Lead to More Effective Drugs

Enzyme map created by using a high-powered X-ray device

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The human body is full of proteins called enzymes that help nearly every function in the body. Scientists have been studying enzymes for decades in order to learn how they work and how to create better drugs and medical treatments for many ailments. Now, University of Missouri researchers have completed a 3-D map of an enzyme called Proline utilization A (PutA). PutA facilitates metabolism by adding oxygen to molecules. John Tanner, a professor in the MU Department of Biochemistry, says mapping this enzyme will give researchers a better understanding of its function, which could help drug manufacturers create more effective drugs. (more…)

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Watching HIV Bud from Cells

Study Shows Last-Minute Role of Protein Named ALIX

University of Utah researchers devised a way to watch newly forming AIDS virus particles emerging or “budding” from infected human cells without interfering with the process. The method shows a protein named ALIX gets involved during the final stages of virus replication, not earlier, as was believed previously. (more…)

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Basstölpel für chinesische Bratpfannen?

„Der Falke“ berichtet über Seevogelfang vor Mauretanien

Vor der Küste Mauretaniens überwinternde europäische Seevögel werden möglicherweise zu Zehntausenden mit Fischereinetzen gefangen und zum Verzehr nach China exportiert. Dies berichtet das Vogelbeobachter-Magazin „Der Falke“ in seiner Juli-Ausgabe. (more…)

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Steinzeitdiät – war früher alles besser?

Das Thema Ernährung ist ein medialer Dauerbrenner. Pünktlich zur Badesaison erscheinen jährlich neue Wunderdiäten und Geheimtipps – auch die Paläodiät kommt dabei immer wieder zur Sprache. Klaus Oeggl beschäftigt sich aus archäobotanischer Sicht mit frühzeitlichen Ernährungsgewohnheiten und erklärt, was damals auf dem Speiseplan stand. (more…)

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A plan to share the carbon budget burden

For 20 years, the international community has been unable to agree on a coordinated way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. J. Timmons Roberts, the Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology, has co-authored a four-step compromise toward emissions reduction that offers “effectiveness, feasibility, and fairness.”

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Climate change is an issue of urgent international importance, but for 20 years, the international community has been unable to agree on a coordinated way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In a “Perspective” piece published in the June issue of Nature Climate Change, J. Timmons Roberts, the Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology, proposes a four-step compromise toward emissions reduction that offers “effectiveness, feasibility, and fairness.” (more…)

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STD may heighten risk of prostate cancer

Could a common sexually transmitted infection boost a man’s risk for prostate cancer?

In a new study, Patricia Johnson, a professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, explored the connection between prostate cancer and the parasite that causes trichomoniasis, the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infection in men and women. (more…)

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