Word: celling
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...remarkable transformation takes place. With the help of the enzyme, the naked AIDS virus converts its RNA into double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the master molecule of life. The molecule then penetrates the cell nucleus, inserts itself into a chromosome and takes over part of the cellular machinery, directing it to produce more AIDS viruses. Eventually, overcome by its alien product, the cell swells and dies, releasing a flood of new viruses to attack other cells, including more helper T cells and macrophages. The immune system, deprived of a crucial number of those vital T cells, is unable to direct...
...minimalism, consisting simply of a core of genetic material -- either a DNA or RNA molecule -- and a protective envelope made of proteins (most varieties have a double coat, the outer one consisting either of another protein shell, or of proteins and lipids, fatty substances similar to those in a cell membrane). "There's no waste in a virus," says Dr. Stephen Straus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). "Every piece is there for a reason. It's a magnificent little structure...
Some DNA viruses become inactive and escape detection by the host's immune system by insinuating their genetic material into the DNA of the host cell. A retrovirus, however, must first use its enzyme called reverse transcriptase to convert its RNA into a DNA molecule, which can then insert itself into the cell's DNA and order the cellular machinery to begin producing more retroviruses. Or it can remain dormant and invisible to the immune system, / awaiting some signal to begin causing trouble. Hidden in the cell's DNA, says David Baltimore, who shared a Nobel Prize for the discovery...
...hepatitis B has 100 times the normal risk of developing liver cancer," says Beasley, "and that's being conservative." The Epstein-Barr virus has been associated with a couple of types of cancer. In Central Africa and New Guinea, it has been linked to Burkitt's lymphoma, an immune-cell cancer that primarily strikes children. In southern China, the virus plays a role in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a malignancy of the nose and throat that afflicts more than 50,000 people a year. Retroviruses are known to cause cancer in a wide range of animals, from mice to chickens...
...Godot meets the Three Stooges. If you can get into the rhythms of Waits' disk-jockey patter, Benigni's fractured English and Lurie's sullen explosions, you may find Down by Law mildly ingratiating. Otherwise you will sympathize with the jailbirds as they mark off the days in their cell. The markings, of course, are gorgeous: Chinese calligraphy, bayou-style...