Word: proteins
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Scientists still do not know, for example, whether Alzheimer's kills nerve cells (neurons) and whether it does so from the inside out or outside in. Supporters of the first scenario believe abnormalities in a protein called tau cause neurons in the brain's memory centers to clutter themselves up with tangled filaments, bringing cellular metabolism to a standstill. Still others think the damage is dealt by an external agent: the so-called beta-amyloid protein that aggregates in the brain, forming fibrous plaques. These plaques in turn injure neighboring neurons, causing them...
Developing successful drug treatments for these disorders depends not only on the discovery of the appropriate disease gene but also on the identification of the protein that it controls. Each human gene consists of a coded chemical "message" that directs the cell to produce a particular protein necessary either for body structure or for a metabolic process. After researchers have zeroed in on a gene and learned its code sequence, they are able to identify its protein and eventually discover the larger role this protein plays in the body...
...strategies pharmaceutical firms are using in drug development for genetic disorders vary widely. If the gene defect results in a protein that does not function, says Myriad's Skolnick, "you would try to replace that function by introducing a correct version of the protein into the body. Or you would try to mimic the function of the missing protein with a synthetic compound...
...simple urine test may soon be available for HEART DISEASE. According to a new study, patients with protein in their urine are much more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke than those without. Protein shows up when arteries in the kidneys are leaky, suggesting that arterial damage may exist elsewhere in the body--including the heart...
...more Americans are eating a healthy diet now than 30 years ago. In fact, according to researchers from the University of North Carolina, just about the only people who ate right in the mid-1960s were poor black people, who simply couldn't afford the marbled steaks and high-protein meals that were then considered the most nutritious. According to survey data collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 16% of poor black people in 1965 ate a healthy diet, compared with less than 5% of high-income whites...