From the category archives:

Chemistry

Nutritional Value Of Andalusian Lupins Revealed

by mokosam on November 10, 2009

Researchers from the Fat Institute and the University of Seville have found that several species of lupins from the mountains of Andalusia have a protein content similar to that of other cultivated legumes, as they publish in the online version of the Food Chemistry magazine.
Javier Vioque is a researcher from the Fat Institute (CSIC) in [...]

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University of Utah chemists demonstrated the first conclusive link between the size of catalyst particles on a solid surface, their electronic properties and their ability to speed chemical reactions. The study is a step toward the goal of designing cheaper, more efficient catalysts to increase energy production, reduce Earth-warming gases and manufacture a wide variety [...]

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Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco have developed and experimentally tested a technique to predict new target diseases for existing drugs.
The researchers developed a computational method that compares how similar the structures of all known drugs are to the naturally occurring [...]

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Researchers at Yale University have developed synthetic molecules capable of enhancing the body`s immune response to HIV and HIV-infected cells, as well as to prostate cancer cells. Their findings, published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could lead to novel therapeutic approaches for these diseases.
The molecules — called "antibody-recruiting molecule targeting HIV" [...]

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Researchers at Purdue University have discovered a new approach for repairing damaged nerve fibers in spinal cord injuries using nano-spheres that could be injected into the blood shortly after an accident.
The synthetic "copolymer micelles" are drug-delivery spheres about 60 nanometers in diameter, or roughly 100 times smaller than the diameter of a red blood cell.
Researchers [...]

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Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute have identified a combination of small molecules that significantly improve the reprogramming of general adult cells into pluripotent stem cells, which can then develop into all cell types.
In the study, the scientists screened known drugs and identified small molecules that could replace conventional reprogramming genes, which can have dangerous [...]

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 Two proteins interact in a previously unknown molecular mechanism that may have broad implications in future studies looking for the causes of defective organs in fetuses, metastatic cancers and other diseases, according to researchers at Cincinnati Children`s Hospital Medical Center.
Reporting their work in the Oct. 15 Genes & Development, the researchers said the mechanism coordinates [...]

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Researchers at the University at Buffalo have found that fetuses of obese mother rats were programmed in utero to develop obesity in adulthood.
Moreover, they have shown for the first time that the metabolic programming occurs in the fetal hypothalamus, the area of the brain responsible for maintaining the body`s energy homeostasis (body weight) throughout life.
Levels [...]

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2008 Sees Fifth Largest Ozone Hole

by mokosam on November 6, 2008

The ozone hole over Antarctica, which fluctuates in response to temperature and sunlight, grew to the size of North America in a one-day maximum in September that was the fifth largest on record, since NOAA satellite records began in 1979.
The Antarctic ozone hole reached its annual maximum on Sept. 12, 2008, stretching over 27 million [...]

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Earthworms can change the chemical nature of the carbon in North American forest litter and soils, potentially affecting the amount of carbon stored in forests, according to Purdue University researchers.
The Purdue scientists, along with collaborators from the Smithsonian Institution and Johns Hopkins University, study the habits of earthworms originally brought to North America from Europe. [...]

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