Word: betas
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...elusive enzyme could finally offer a target at which drug designers could aim their medications, just as they currently use protease inhibitors to block the activity of the AIDS virus. That potential target is called beta-secretase. It had long been postulated to act as a chemical scissors that helps snip away pieces of excess protein protruding from brain cells, thereby creating the debris that gathers into the toxic plaques called amyloid. The accumulation of these fibrous clumps in the brain of Alzheimer's patients is the likeliest reason for their inexorable decline...
According to Director of FAS Computer Services Franklin M. Steen, the system is at a late stage of development and his department is hoping to release an open beta sometime in the next few weeks--meaning that anyone in the FAS community will be able to use the service and submit feedback...
Macias and two colleagues are members of Grupo Beta, a federal unit set up to protect U.S.-bound migrants from bandits and warn them of dangers north of the fence. The officers can't arrest the youths for trying to cross into the U.S.; that's no crime in Mexico. Instead, the officers hand out bottled water and pamphlets describing the perils that await to the north, including dehydration and scorpions...
...fence for a hole big enough to wedge through. Strolling with the youths, Officer Macias cautions them to watch out for bandits and flash floods. Farther on, the cops come upon a bedraggled family from Veracruz and talk them out of attempting to ford a flooded arroyo. Though Grupo Beta cannot prevent migrants from crossing, it has moved against the "coyotes" who guide them, arresting 90 in three years. But the special teams themselves are widely suspected, by migrants and U.S. lawmen, of taking payoffs from the smugglers. "They go after us, but they can be paid off," says Juan...
...Newly remodeled! Avalon is a concert club (They Might Be Giants, the Beta Band, Cheap Trick, Guided By Voices, and Edwin McCain have played there) and a dance club all rolled into one. Visiting DJs spin occasionally on Fridays and Saturdays. The new Avalon is chic beige and streamlined architecture, with backlit alcohol glowing by the bar. Sadly, its infamous second-story bar that was perfect for scoping the floor for hotties is now located on the first floor. But fear not; Avalon is still home to excellent dance music and glamorous patrons. Wear black or the hippest clubbing attire...