Word: pg
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...been discovered barely a decade earlier by his compatriot, Ulf S. von Euler. Even the name of the substance was based on the false assumption that it originates in the prostate gland. Over the next 35 years, with Bergström leading the way, researchers discovered that prostaglandin (PG) is not one chemical but a whole family of substances found in almost every tissue of the body. PGS, it was learned, are extraordinarily versatile and play a variety of roles in maintaining normal blood pressure and temperature, and in protecting organs from damage caused by disease, traumatic injury and stress...
Bergström's explorations of this virgin territory earned him the sobriquet "father of prostaglandin chemistry" and last week an even greater honor, the Nobel Prize in Medicine. The 66-year-old Swede shared the award and $157,500 with two other pioneers of PG research: Bengt Samuelsson, 48, a former student of Bergström's and his colleague at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, and British Pharmacologist John Vane, 55, of Wellcome Research Laboratories in Beckenham, England. All three received the news in Boston, where they were helping to celebrate Harvard Medical School...
...often work in antagonistic pairs. One, for example, lowers blood pressure, while another raises it. One dilates bronchial tubes, a second constricts them. One promotes the inflammatory process, another inhibits it. A type called thromboxanes, discovered in platelets by Samuelsson in 1973, helps blood to clot; prostacyclin, a PG identified by Vane in 1976, is the most powerful natural inhibitor of clotting...
Some physical disorders appear to be linked to an imbalance of prostaglandins. Too little of a type that regulates gastric acid and protects the stomach lining has a role in the development of ulcers. Too much of a PG that causes uterine contraction may provoke menstrual cramps. Other PGs play a part in arthritis, while leukotrienes, PG-related compounds identified by Samuelsson, are implicated in asthma...
ANOTHER DISTURBING ASPECT of the film merits mention. Though there is no foul language, no real violence, and no physical interaction beyond a kiss, Tron is rated PG--parental guidance suggested. That the movie rating system is a farce has been known for several years. Production companies typically pander to an audience's base instincts, holding out the titillating possibility that somewhere in the film is something that only adults should...