46 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(10/18/12 11:56pm)
The 2012 Laurels for Team Achievement, presented annually by the International Academy of Astronautics, has been presented this year to the collaborators working on NASA’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER mission).
(10/05/12 3:27am)
A group of international scientists have captured their first images of distant galaxies using the world’s most powerful digital camera, a crucial first step towards understanding the reason for the accelerated expansion of the universe.
(05/03/12 6:52pm)
A recent Hopkins study has found that when treating lower back and leg pain, standard steroid injections tend to outperform the emerging treatment using anti-inflammatory pain medicine injections.
(04/27/12 5:00am)
Researchers from Hopkins and the University of Maryland have uncovered the source behind the amazing stability of RNA transcripts that regulate the expression of genes in cells. Ribonucleic acid, or RNA, is one of the three macromolecules essential for the expression of genes. It is the intermediate step in the Central Dogma of Biology, which describes how DNA genes are transcribed to coding RNA, or messenger RNA, which is then translated into proteins, whose activity in cells facilitates their basic functions. Broadly, RNA can be divided into two categories: coding RNA and non-coding RNA. Non-coding RNA has many regulatory functions, each related to the unique 3D structures it can form. RNA exists as one strand, unlike the famous double helix of DNA, which is composed of two strands. The single-stranded RNA can create bonds with itself at different locations to create numerous 3D structures. These structures help it regulate gene expression and catalyze biochemical reactions that are associated with proteins. The most important RNA-protein association is the ribosome, which is responsible for catalyzing the process by which coding RNA is used to build protein structures. By mutating these ribosomes, researchers were able to investigate the relationship between 3D RNA structures and the sequences in their structure that allow their formation. They chose a ribosome whose sequence has already been characterized, had a stable structure and could tolerate a relatively high degree of mutation in its sequence. The most common structures formed in RNA are double helices, similar to the structure of DNA first described by James Watson and Francis Crick. These are held together by tertiary interaction motifs, which are sequences of nucleotides in the RNA itself. How these helices are oriented within the 3D RNA structure is important for its function. The tertiary interaction motifs are therefore extremely important in RNA stability. They created a series of mutants that were all functional to different degrees; some were even 200 percent more active than the original. Despite this, the mutated RNA transcripts had sequences that made them more energetically favorable for them to remain unfolded. They then allowed the mutated RNAs to fold, while exposing them to magnesium ions. Using the general rule of RNA folding - which states that the more stable the structure, the less magnesium is required for its formation - the scientists were able to calculate the stability of the resulting 3D structures. They found that single mutations destabilized both the complete, or native, folded form of the RNA, as well as an intermediate folding step. More importantly, double mutations showed that there is a framework by which the tertiary interaction motifs cooperate with each other to increase the stability of the folded RNA beyond what it would be if they acted independently of each other. This was proved by the change in energy state between the folded and unfolded forms, as characterized by the number of magnesium ions the RNA used to maintain its folded state. The energy coupling of the tertiary motifs is larger than the energy of the individual tertiary structures. This cooperation only occurred during the folding process and was not present in the final RNA construct; therefore it only affected the intermediate structure of the mutants. The researchers postulate that this cooperation is a result of natural selection of RNA structures that were conducive to forming a stable folded structure. This was supported by their observation that random sequences in RNA did not have the folding capabilities of more evolved sequences, even when they had similar composition of nucleotides.
(04/19/12 8:58pm)
Scientists at the University of Utah and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory believe they have discovered the cause of massive black holes that exist at the center of many galaxies.
(03/07/12 5:00am)
Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have applied a process called "squeezing" to one of the smallest building blocks of matter in an attempt to fully understand the nature of atoms.
(02/22/12 5:00am)
Recent research has reignited interest in the ketogenic diet, a nutritional course of treatment first used in the 1920s, to control the symptoms of epilepsy in children. In 1921, because of the lack of anticonvulsants available for children with juvenile refractory epilepsy, the ketogenic diet was created at the Mayo Clinic to treat the seizures characteristic of this disease. The diet focuses on increasing fat intake while lowering calories derived from carbohydrates, proteins and fluids. The fats are broken down to form compounds called ketone bodies, which can act as an energy source for the heart and brain. In the absence of glucose, which is the basic component of carbohydrates and also the body's preferred source of energy, the use of ketone bodies as an energy source in the brain can rise up to 70 percent. The diet was successful in treating epileptic seizures in approximately 50 percent of patients, but how it did so was, and still is, unknown. With the introduction of the antiepileptic phenytoin and other medications in 1938, interest in using the diet as a means of controlling the effects of epilepsy fell. Starting in 2005, however, new research has led to resurgence in the interest of ketogenic diet treatment, except with some alterations. The resulting three diets, MCT, LGIT and Modified Atkins, use lower levels of fat and higher levels of carbohydrates and proteins. All of these diet are less restrictive in terms of change in the levels of each food group. In the original ketogenic diet, the timing of changes in the diet was strictly regulated. The recent research has been coupled with investigation in decreasing the side effects of these dietary therapies, including hypercholesterolemia, mineral deficiencies, acidosis, constipation and weight loss. Much of the treatment involves the use of supplements like calcium, selenium, zinc and vitamin D. These studies have also sought to discover the nature by which ketogenic diets relieve seizures of epileptic patients. Since the diet basically applies the more beneficial effects of fasting, tests were done to identify the effect of fasts on seizures in mice. Moreover, investigations are underway to determine whether it is the lack of glucose, or the plethora of fats, that causes the relief from seizures. This involves determining the exact concentration of ketone bodies in the brain over the course of the diet. Finally, it is possible that the diet acts in an indirect way, either by altering the activation or repression of signal pathways in the brain, or by affecting neurotransmitters and the other proteins that facilitate their function. If these questions can be satisfactorily answered, it is possible that ketogenic diets can be used to treat other diseases of the brain. They have already been shown to have effects on migraines, autism, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, lateral sclerosis and brain injury caused by trauma.
(02/08/12 5:00am)
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, recently discovered adverse radioactive effects of seawater used to cool nuclear plant damaged during the natural disaster that struck Japan almost a year ago.
(12/01/11 5:00am)
Researchers led by scientists from the Hopkins School of Medicine have isolated the protein directly responsible for the optimal perception of odors in vertebrates.
(11/09/11 5:00am)
Ecologists at the University of Toronto have found that the mere presence of predators is enough to increase mortality in dragonflies, even when there is no imminent threat of attack, suggesting that the stress related to the knowledge that a potential predator is nearby increases susceptibility to other factors that cause death.
(10/19/11 5:00am)
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have determined that some female mosquitoes identify and target human hosts for infection using carbon dioxide trails and odors released through our skin.
(10/12/11 5:00am)
Researchers at the Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered a link between electrical stimulation and the ability to repair damaged brain matter. Focusing on an important type of brain cell called oligodendrocytes, they were able to build on previous research involving electrical stimulation and recovery of damaged brain tissue.
(09/28/11 5:00am)
NASA researchers are searching for water underneath the surface of the arid Kuwaiti desert by utilizing technology similar to that currently being used to search for water on Mars.
(09/21/11 5:00am)
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have identified the cause of an abnormal virus-spreading behavior in the caterpillars of gypsy moths that has caused them to become characterized as "zombie caterpillars."
(09/14/11 5:00am)
Researchers at Georgetown University School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health have linked the mutation of a protein essential in DNA synthesis to abnormal chromosome numbers in several forms of cancer.
(05/05/11 8:40pm)
European researchers have discovered that gut bacteria in humans can be identified in three distinct groups. As one of these groups is unique in each individual, this finding has implications comparable to the ABO system used to characterize blood types.
(04/28/11 6:47pm)
Researchers at the Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered a possible treatment for traumatic nerve injuries from an unexpected source: an experimental drug used for combating Alzheimer’s disease.
(04/21/11 5:50pm)
Researchers at New York University believe that the sleeping patterns of deep-water fish can possibly elicit a deeper understanding of sleeping disorders in humans.
(04/14/11 7:50pm)
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh have investigated how neurons are able to relay their messages without them getting lost among the other signals sent out by the billions of other neurons in the brain.
(04/07/11 8:46pm)
A team headed by Adam Riess of Hopkins and the Space Telescope Science Institute has eliminated an alternative theory to dark energy, the phenomenon believed to be responsible for the constant expansion of the universe.