News by Subject Medicine & Health

p38 blockage has been shown to increase the death of tumor cells, thus causing tumors to shrink. The combination of p38 inhibitors with chemotherapeutic drugs (taxanes) strengthens, accelerates or prolongs the antitumor effect in patient-derived tumors grown in mice.

In a discovery that points to potential new antibiotic medicines, scientists from Rice University and the University of Michigan have deciphered the workings of a common but little-understood bacterial switch that cuts off protein production.

Scientists have found a new way of joining groups of atoms together into shape-changing molecules -- opening up the possibility of a new area of chemistry and the development of countless new drugs, microelectronics and materials. Discoveries of new ways to make isomers -- molecules made of the same atoms connected together differently -- were last reported in 1961 and before then in 1914. Proof-of-principle and prototype demonstration of this important finding are expected within 30 months.

A rare genetic disorder in which people are suddenly overcome with profound weakness or temporary paralysis is caused by a hole in a membrane protein that allows sodium ions to leak across cell membranes. The results of a new study reveal the mechanisms of periodic paralysis at the atomic level and suggest designs for drugs that may prevent this ion leak and provide relief to these patients

This vision of simplifying disease diagnosis using topically applied nanotechnology could change the way skin diseases such as abnormal scars are diagnosed and managed.

Motion is crucial for proper functioning of a kinase enzyme, a University of Arizona-led research team found. Not only must the kinase have all needed parts in place, the enzyme must move in the correct manner and at the correct speed to function properly in a cell. Focusing on ways to impede the enzyme's motion may be an avenue for developing new drugs to combat cancer and other diseases.